How to price roofing jobs

Pricing a roof comes down to the same equation as any job: price = materials + labor + other job costs + overhead + profit. What makes roofing different is that a roof is measured three ways at once.

The field is priced by the square, the edges by the foot, and the details by the piece. A price that only counts squares gets the field right and quietly gives away the rest.

This guide shows where your labor hours per unit come from, then prices a 24-square tear-off. Wages and material costs vary by metro and by week, so every dollar figure in the example is yours to fill in. For the general method, see how to price a construction job; for estimating software built around roofing, see the roofing industry page.

How roofing work is measured

A roofing square is 100 square feet of roof surface. Squares are the unit everyone in the trade quotes in, but only part of a roof job is priced that way.

• Field work, by the square foot or square: tear-off, decking, underlayment and shingles. These scale with the size of the roof.
• Edge work, by the linear foot: drip edge, starter, ice and water shield at the eaves, ridge cap, ridge vent, valleys and step flashing. These scale with the shape of the roof.
• Details, by the piece: pipe boots, box vents, chimneys and skylights. These scale with what is sticking through the roof.

Same squares, different edges and details

Two roofs with the same squares can have very different edge and detail counts. A simple gable has two eaves, four rakes and one ridge. A hip roof with dormers has hips, valleys and sidewalls on top of that.

That is why the line-by-line method below beats a single number per square.

Measure the roof surface, not the footprint

Pitch adds area: a 6/12 roof has about 12% more surface than its footprint, and steeper roofs more. The roofing calculator turns a footprint and pitch into squares and bundles.

The formula for a roofing price

Every line on a roofing estimate follows the same pattern:

1. Quantity × labor hours per unit = labor hours for that line.
2. Labor hours × your full hourly labor cost = labor cost. That cost is the wage plus labor burden: payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits. Roofing workers' compensation rates are among the highest of any trade, so use your real policy numbers.
3. Materials at what you will pay near the job now, with waste added.
4. Other job costs: dumpster or disposal fees, permit, delivery, any equipment rental.
5. Overhead for every labor hour: a year of overhead divided by the hours your crew bills.
6. Profit, as a markup on the total cost or a target margin.

Work out the labor rate, don't guess it

The labor rate is the number most often guessed. The labor rate guide and the labor rate calculator build it from your pay, burden and billable hours. Do that once, and every roof after it uses the same number.

Where your labor hours per unit come from

Only you can supply the hours per unit, because they belong to your crew. A published table can't know how fast your crew strips a roof, how steep the roofs in your area run or how far the dumpster sits from the eave. Your own jobs can.

Job costing is how you get them. On every roof, record the hours each stage took and the quantity it covered, then divide.

Do it per square for the field, per 100 linear feet for edges and per piece for details. After a handful of roofs you have hours you can price from, and after a season you can see how they move with pitch, layers and weather.

Track each line, not one roofing rate

Keep a separate number for each line:

Edges can take as long as the field

Count labor hours, not crew hours: a four-person crew working an eight-hour day is 32 labor hours.

Step flashing and valleys take far longer per foot than laying shingles in the field. A roof with long sidewalls and several valleys can carry as many labor hours in its edges as in its field.

Track tear-off by layer and pitch by pitch

A second layer of shingles is more weight to strip, carry and haul, so raise the hours and the disposal line when you find one. Split your records by pitch too: the same crew covers a walkable 4/12 far faster than a 10/12 that needs roof jacks and harnesses.

Taking off roofing materials

Turn each quantity into what you buy, with waste added and rounded up to the purchase unit.

• Shingles: roof area plus waste for cuts at hips, valleys and rakes. Around 10% is a common starting point for a simple gable. A cut-up roof needs more, so track what you actually throw away. Bundles per square depend on the product, so check the coverage on the wrapper.
• Underlayment and ice and water shield: by the roll, from the coverage printed on the roll, rounded up.
• Edge metal and starter: by the piece. Drip edge comes in fixed lengths, so divide the run by the piece length and round up.
• Ridge and hip cap: by the bundle or the foot, from the product's coverage.
• Fasteners and sealant: nails by the pound and sealant by the tube. They are small lines that add up on every roof.

Price every item at what you will pay near the job this week, not what you paid last season. A material price from three months ago can erase the profit on a roof.

Worked example: a 24-square tear-off and reroof

Example: A homeowner wants the old roof stripped and replaced on a simple gable house. The roof is 2,400 square feet of surface (24 squares) at a 6/12 pitch, with one layer of shingles to tear off. Each side is 40 feet long at the eave and 30 feet up the rake.

There are two plumbing vents, one chimney, and a ridge vent along the 40-foot ridge. You allow 64 square feet of decking, two sheets, for rot you cannot see yet.

Edges: 200 feet of drip edge and starter

• Eaves: two at 40 feet are 80 feet.
• Rakes: four at 30 feet are 120 feet.
• Drip edge and starter: along both, 200 feet.
• Ice and water shield: along the 80 feet of eave.

Labor: 117.7 hours

Say your crew's own records show the hours per unit below. They are example inputs to show the arithmetic, not a standard: use your own.

The check: 1.5 + 30 + 1.6 + 9.6 + 3.2 + 6 + 5 + 48 + 4.8 + 1 + 5 + 2 = 117.7 labor hours. For a crew of four, that is about 29.4 hours each, or four working days with a little room for weather.

Edges and details are a quarter of the job

The field (tear-off, underlayment and shingles) is 87.6 hours. The edges, details, setup and cleanup are another 30.1 hours, about a quarter of the job.

A price built only on squares would have to hide those hours inside the per-square number and hope the next roof is just as simple.

Materials: 80 bundles of shingles

With 10% waste on the shingles, and the rest from the coverage printed on each product:

• Shingles: 2,400 × 1.1 = 2,640 square feet, or 26.4 squares. At 3 bundles per square, a common coverage for architectural shingles, that is 79.2 bundles, so 80. Check the wrapper.
• Underlayment: if your roll covers 10 squares, 24 squares is 2.4 rolls, so 3.
• Ice and water shield: one 3-foot course along 80 feet of eave. From the roll length printed on the product, round up to full rolls, usually 2.
• Drip edge: 200 feet. In 10-foot pieces, 20, plus 2 for laps and cuts: 22 pieces.
• Starter strip: 200 feet, from the linear feet per bundle on the wrapper, rounded up.
• Ridge vent and cap: 40 feet of each. Ridge vent in 4-foot sections is 10 pieces, and cap from the linear feet per bundle.
• Decking allowance: 64 square feet. A 4 × 8 sheet covers 32, so 2 sheets, plus 1 for cuts: 3 sheets.
• Pipe boots, chimney flashing, nails and sealant from the detail lines.

Price each of these at your supplier near the job, and add them up. Call the total M.

Add five cost lines, then markup

With a 25% markup, the price is the total cost × 1.25, which is a 20% margin. A 20% markup gives only about 16.7%. The markup vs margin guide explains the gap, and the job cost calculator adds the lines up for you.

Check the price per square

Divide the price by 24 for your price per square on this roof, and compare it with similar roofs you have done. If it is far off, look for the missing or doubled line before you send it.

Common roofing pricing mistakes

• Pricing the footprint, not the roof. Pitch adds area. Measure the surface or apply the pitch factor, or every steep roof comes in short.
• One number per square for every roof. A plain gable and a cut-up hip roof are not the same job. Count the edges and details.
• No decking allowance. Rot under old shingles is common and invisible until tear-off. An allowance with a per-sheet price for overage protects you and the homeowner.
• Forgetting the second layer. If there are two layers, the tear-off and disposal lines both grow. Check at the eave or a vent before you price.
• Leaving out setup and cleanup. Tarping landscaping and sweeping for nails are real hours, and they matter to the homeowner.
• Using last season's material prices. Re-price on every estimate, and give the estimate an expiration date.

How to present a roofing estimate

Homeowners compare roofing bids side by side, and the clearest one is easiest to say yes to.

• Group the lines into field, edges and details, so the homeowner sees what each part of the roof costs and why.
• Name the system: the shingle line and color, the underlayment and whether ice and water shield goes at the eaves. If the homeowner has not chosen a color, say so.
• Put the decking allowance in writing, with the amount included and the price per sheet beyond it. Read more about allowances.
• List exclusions: rafter repair, gutters, skylights you are not replacing, anything you saw and are not pricing.
• State the warranty, both the manufacturer's and your workmanship warranty.
• Set the deposit and schedule. Many roofers take a deposit before ordering materials and bill the balance at completion. The progress billing guide covers how to structure it.

The roofing estimate template lays these sections out, and the roofing invoice template bills the deposit and the balance. For a one-off estimate without a template, the free estimate generator makes a clean PDF.

Pricing roofs with BuildWell

BuildWell builds a roofing estimate from a description of the job, such as "tear off one layer, 24 squares, 6/12, two pipe boots, reflash the chimney, new ridge vent." Each part of the roof becomes its own line. The AI decides what work the job needs and how much; it does not set prices.

BuildWell prices materials at stores near the job and labor at the metro's median roofer wage, plus your overhead and markup. You can change any quantity, hour or price before you send it, and the homeowner signs on their phone.

A roofing pricing checklist

• Roof surface measured with pitch, in squares
• Edges in linear feet: eaves, rakes, ridge, hips, valleys, sidewalls
• Details counted: pipe boots, vents, chimneys, skylights
• Labor hours line by line, adjusted for pitch and access
• Materials with waste, at current prices near the job
• Disposal, permit and a decking allowance
• Overhead on every labor hour, then profit
• A per-square check against similar roofs before it goes out