How to Price Roofing Jobs

Price per square is the result, not the starting point

Roofing is measured, ordered and usually discussed by the square, and a square is 100 square feet of roof surface ¹. If the unit is new to you, start with what a roofing square is.

Price per square is useful for comparing jobs and a poor way to set a price. Two roofs with the same number of squares can cost very different amounts once you account for pitch, layers coming off, valleys and walls, and how far the crew carries material.

So build every price from the bottom up: measure, add waste, cost each part of the job, then add overhead and profit. Divide by the squares only at the end and compare the result with similar roofs you've done. If it looks off, an input is wrong.

Measure the roof and correct for pitch

Every roof breaks down into flat planes, and each plane can be measured as a rectangle, triangle or trapezoid and added up ¹. Whether you measure with a tape or order an aerial measurement report, you need the same numbers:

• Roof area and pitch for each section
• Linear feet of eaves, rakes, ridges, hips and valleys
• Linear feet of every wall the roof runs into
• A count of pipes, vents, skylights and chimneys

Roof pitch is the rise in inches for every 12 inches of horizontal run ¹. When you start from a flat footprint (the house plan plus overhangs), multiply that flat area by the pitch factor to get the true roof surface. The factor is the square root of (rise squared plus 144), divided by 12:

The factor only works for an area that shares one pitch. If the main roof is 8/12 and the porch is 3/12, measure and price them as separate sections. Hips and valleys run diagonally across the slope, so take their lengths from the roof or the report instead of scaling them off a plan.

Check any report against the house before you price from it: count the layers at an edge, look at the deck from the attic, and confirm the pitch with a level and tape on at least one plane.

Set waste by how cut up the roof is

Waste comes from trimming. Shingles get cut at valleys, rakes and around every penetration. How much extra you need depends on how many valleys, dormers, hips and penetrations the roof has, and ARMA's residential manual puts it at 2% to 10% in most cases ¹. The logic in practice:

• A plain gable with long, unbroken runs sits at the low end.
• Hips add cuts along every hip line, on both sides.
• Valleys, dormers and short courses between obstacles push you toward the top.

Apply the waste factor to field shingles. Starter, hip and ridge cap, drip edge and valley materials are estimated from the lengths of the eaves, rakes, hips, ridges and valleys where they go ¹, so count them from your linear measurements instead of adding a percentage. Order by the coverage printed on the manufacturer's bundle wrapper, not an assumed number of bundles per square.

Then track what comes back on the truck. If cut-up roofs keep finishing with full bundles left over, your waste factor is too high. If crews keep running short, it's too low.

Price tear-off by the layer

Count layers at every inspection. The number of layers changes three things: tear-off labor, disposal weight and whether you can legally roof over what's there.

Under the 2021 International Residential Code (IRC), a roof recover is not permitted where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering ². Your jurisdiction may enforce a different edition or amendments, so confirm locally, but plan on a full tear-off whenever you find two layers.

Price tear-off per square, per layer, and give disposal its own line:

• Dumpster rental or trailer haul-off, sized for the squares and layers coming off
• Landfill or transfer station fees at your local rate (ask whether a shingle recycler operates nearby)
• Cleanup labor, magnetic nail sweeps and protection for landscaping

Some older roofing materials contain asbestos, and EPA publishes guidance on when its asbestos rules apply to roofing removal ³. If you're pricing a tear-off of materials you can't identify, price testing first, exclude abatement until results come back, and check with your state's environmental agency for any stricter rules.

Price decking as a per-sheet allowance

You can't see the whole deck until the old roof is off, so don't bury a guess in your base price. Look for clues during the inspection (soft spots underfoot, sagging between rafters, stains or daylight from the attic), then:

1. Quote a per-sheet price for replacing damaged sheathing, installed, covering material, labor and margin.
2. Include a stated number of sheets in the contract as an allowance, or state that none are included.
3. Bill up or down from the allowance at that per-sheet price, with photos of each section you replace.

The per-sheet price turns a surprise into a pre-agreed change, so the conversation on tear-off day is about how many sheets, not what they cost. Get the count approved in writing before you close the roof back up; how to handle change orders covers that approval step.

Give code and accessory items their own lines

Note: These code sections come from the International Residential Code, a model code that states and cities adopt by edition, often with amendments. Check which version your building department enforces.

Price each of these from your measurements, one line apiece, so homeowners and adjusters can see what they're paying for. Add the permit fee and the time to pull it and meet the inspector wherever your jurisdiction requires a permit for a reroof.

Drip edge

The 2021 IRC requires drip edge at the eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs, with adjacent pieces lapped at least 2 inches and fastened no more than 12 inches apart ⁴. Price it per linear foot of eaves plus rakes, and allow for the laps when you count pieces.

Ice barrier

Where the local building department designates a history of ice forming along the eaves and backing up water, the 2021 IRC requires an ice barrier under asphalt shingles from the lowest roof edge to at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line ⁵. On slopes of 8/12 or steeper, it must also run at least 36 inches up the slope from the eave edge ⁵. Because that point is measured from the wall line, overhang depth and pitch decide how many courses you need, not just the length of the eaves.

Example: Say the eaves overhang the wall by 18 inches, measured level, on a 6/12 roof. The barrier has to reach 42 inches (18 plus 24) in from the eave edge, measured level, which is about 47 inches along the slope (42 × 1.118). If your membrane comes in 36-inch-wide rolls, one course falls short, so you price two courses along every eave.

Ventilation

The IRC sets the minimum net free ventilating area at 1/150 of the area of the vented space, with a 1/300 ratio allowed only when specific conditions are met ⁶. Check what's there during the inspection, because adding ventilation means new ridge vent, new intake or both, and each is its own line.

Example: An attic with a 1,500-square-foot floor needs 10 square feet of net free area at 1/150, which is 1,440 square inches. Use each product's rated net free area to work out how many feet of ridge vent and how many intake vents get you there, then price both.

Flashing

The IRC's reroofing section says flashings are to be reconstructed following approved manufacturer's installation instructions ⁷. Price flashing from your counts and wall measurements instead of a lump sum:

• Step flashing per linear foot of sidewall
• Chimney flashing and counterflashing per chimney
• Pipe boots and vent flashings per penetration
• Valley lining per linear foot of valley
• Skylight flashing per skylight

Low-slope and very steep sections

The IRC allows asphalt shingles only on slopes of 2/12 or steeper and requires double underlayment from 2/12 up to 4/12 ⁷. A shallow porch or addition roof gets its own line with the extra underlayment, or a different roofing system if it's flatter than 2/12. At the other end, ARMA publishes separate application guidance for asphalt shingles on slopes steeper than 21/12, such as mansards ⁸, so price those faces as their own section with their own labor.

Labor, safety and steep charges

Roofing labor costs more than the wage on the paycheck. BLS reports a median annual wage for roofers of $55,440 in May 2025 ⁹, and notes that roofers have one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations ⁹. Get your actual workers' compensation rate for roofing payroll from your agent and build it, with payroll taxes and nonbillable hours, into a loaded labor cost. How to set your labor rate walks through that math.

Safety is also time. OSHA requires workers doing residential construction 6 feet or more above lower levels to be protected by guardrails, safety nets or personal fall arrest systems, with limited exceptions ¹⁰. Setting anchors and rigging that protection takes crew time on every job, and steep pitches slow everything else too, from carrying bundles to staging material. Build labor in layers:

• A base install rate per square for walkable pitches
• A higher rate for steep sections, set from your own crews' production on those roofs
• Adds for second and third stories, hard access and long carries from the dumpster

Convert your loaded hourly cost to a rate per square using what your crew actually installs per day on similar roofs, not its fastest day.

Overhead and profit

Everything so far is job cost. Overhead keeps the company running between jobs, and roofing carries some heavy pieces of it: inspections that don't close, measurement reports, sales time on claims that stall, trucks and trailers, liability insurance, office staff and warranty callbacks. A simple way to load it in roofing is per square.

Example: If your overhead runs $120,000 a year and you expect to install 2,400 squares, each square has to carry $50 of overhead before any profit. If a slow year drops you to 1,800 squares, the same overhead works out to $66.67 a square, so set the target from a realistic volume.

Then price to the gross margin that covers overhead and profit. Use margin, not markup, because any markup percentage produces a smaller margin percentage. Markup vs margin has the conversion table.

A worked example

Example: These are made-up round numbers to show the method, not market prices. A hip roof has 2,500 square feet of plan area at 8/12. Multiply by the 8/12 factor (1.202) and you get about 3,000 square feet, or 30 squares. It has two valleys and a dormer, so you allow 10% waste on field shingles.

• Field shingles: 33 squares × $150 = $4,950
• Underlayment, starter, ridge cap, ice barrier, drip edge, flashing, vents and fasteners, each counted from its own measurement: $2,700
• Tear-off, two layers: 30 squares × 2 layers × $40 = $2,400
• Install labor at your loaded 8/12 rate: 30 squares × $90 = $2,700
• Dumpster and disposal for two layers: $900
• Permit: $200

Job cost: $13,850. To reach a 40% gross margin, divide by 0.60: $13,850 ÷ 0.60 = $23,083, so you quote $23,100, or $770 a square. Add a decking allowance of 5 sheets at $100 a sheet installed ($500), adjusted up or down at that price once the deck is exposed, for a contract total of $23,600. If you had added a 40% markup instead, you'd quote $19,390 and keep only a 28.6% margin.

Insurance jobs vs retail jobs

On a retail job, the homeowner pays your price and can choose options such as a heavier shingle or added ventilation. On an insurance job, most of the money comes from the claim, so the question is whether the claim's scope covers the work the roof needs.

Start the same way: build your own estimate from your own measurements. Then compare it with the adjuster's estimate line by line:

• Roof area, pitch and waste
• Number of layers removed
• Steep and high-roof labor
• Starter, ridge cap, drip edge, ice barrier and flashing
• Vents, permit and disposal

Missing items and short quantities are what an insurance supplement is for: send photos and measurements, not just a bigger number. Code-required items the old roof didn't have, such as drip edge or an ice barrier, may or may not be paid, depending on whether the homeowner's policy covers the added cost of meeting current building codes (often called ordinance or law coverage). Ask the homeowner to check their policy and confirm with their insurer. If the claim pays less than your cost on a line, decide before you sign whether the job still works, and never close the gap by padding quantities or billing for work you won't do.

Know how the policy pays, because it changes what the homeowner owes:

• Replacement cost coverage pays to repair or replace at current prices, while actual cash value pays replacement cost minus depreciation ¹¹.
• Many policies reduce roof coverage based on the roof's age and material, and some insurers switch older roofs to actual cash value ¹².
• The wind and hail deductible can be different from the deductible for other damage ¹².
• With replacement cost coverage, the insurer pays in two checks: the estimated repair cost minus depreciation and the deductible first, then the amount held back for depreciation after it gets the bill for the finished job ¹².

The deductible is the homeowner's to pay. Texas, for example, makes it illegal for a contractor to offer to waive, rebate or absorb a policyholder's deductible, requires contracts of $1,000 or more that involve an insurance settlement to include a notice that the policyholder must pay the deductible, and doesn't allow a roofer to act as a public adjuster on a claim for a job they're doing ¹³. Rules differ by state, so check with your state's department of insurance before you write insurance contracts.

Anything the homeowner adds beyond the claim is a retail upgrade: price it at your retail numbers on its own line and get it signed separately. For how the money moves after the work, including depreciation and the final invoice, see how to invoice roofing jobs.

Put the price on paper

A price built this way turns directly into an estimate the homeowner can follow: measured squares, pitch, waste, each line item, the decking allowance with its per-sheet price, and what's excluded. Give every quote an expiration date so a supplier price increase doesn't come out of your margin. How to write a roofing estimate covers the layout, photos and warranty terms.