Roofing calculator tool estimates residential roof prices
Free roofing calculator tool helps homeowners and roofing contractors estimate total roofing project costs. These prices include costs of materials, roof tear-off and disposal, labor, company overhead and profit. Using this calculator, you can figure out what you can expect to pay a reputable roofing contractor to replace your roof.
Calculate roofing prices to install Asphalt Shingles, Metal Roofing, and Flat Roofs such as PVC / TPO membrane, or EPDM rubber.
Calculate roofing prices now!
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Roofing Calculator v. 3.0 – NEW progressive roof pricing algorithm accounts for smaller residential roofing projects (under 700 sq. ft.) – prices are adjusted to account for smaller size job. Now you can also estimate cost of skylight and chimney flashing.
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Calculator roof prices for the following roofing materials:
Sloped roofs – Asphalt Shingles, Interlocking Steel and Aluminum Shingles, Standing Seam Metal Roofing.
Flat roofs – IB flat roofing membrane (PVC), EPDM Rubber Roofing and Modified Bitumen (torch-down), as well as newer TPO roofs.
Metal Roofing Calculator – We’ve added a specialty Metal Roofing Calculator, which will provide installation prices for most common types of metal roofs, as well as estimate roof life expectancy and Cool Roof energy savings.
Energy-Efficient Cool Roofs: Along with roof prices, roofing calculator will also estimate your approximate annual energy savings achieved when you install a Cool Roof, such as a Metal Roof or Flat roof such as PVC and TPO roofing (which are usually white and cool roofs, similar to PVC roof materials).
Learn more about roofing materials featured in our roofing prices calculator – product details, pros and cons of each roof type and approximate installation price per square.
Limitations of our Roofing Calculator:
Because this roofing calculator was designed to cover nearly all major types of roofing materials at the same time. Therefore, the roof prices which it provides may be a “little off”. This is in part due to different reality of generic roofing market (asphalt shingles installation) and specialty roofing markets such as metal roofing, slate / tile roofs and flat roofing. Thus there will be discrepancy with real world prices that you can get from your local roofing contractor.
We had to adjust the calculation results to fit both ends of the roofing markets spectrum, where same procedures may and will be charged for differently, depending on which type of roof you are purchasing. Good example would be the cost of chimney or sky-light flashing. In case of asphalt singles roof installation, the roofing contractor will 95% of the time reuse existing lead flashing. At the same time a metal roofing system WILL require the removal of old lead step-flashing and installation of custom-made single piece counter-flashing. Same is the case with skylights, where there is a generic skylight flashing which comes with the unit, and is designed for asphalt shingles roof, but is unusable for metal roofs or tile.
Another major limitations, which is related to the one listed above is the fact that tear-off costs will have a significant difference in price between asphalt shingles installers and specialty roofing contractors dealing with metal roofing, slate, tile, etc. Also, when it comes to flat roofing, the contractor’s actual cost of tear-off and disposal is significantly higher than that of a shingle roof. As example we will take one layer of asphalt shingles weighing 250 lb. per square and tar and gravel roof weighing about 800 lb. per square. The removal process of tar and gravel flat roof is also much more complicated, tedious, and overall more difficult, and as a result will cost more.
Because of these multiple complicating factors, as well as those described below, we made our roofing calculator to be more generic and all inclusive. We will introduce specialty roofing calculator for Metal Roofs and Flat Roofs in the near future. These calculators will be more accurate and will also include more material choices.
How roofing calculator works:
We want you to understand that the roofing prices provided by this calculator are approximate and will vary from region to region, depending on local economic situation, cost of living and real estate prices, as well as other factors. Prices are provided assuming you hire a fully licensed and insured, reputable roofing contractor.
As an example of price variations, a price of a 30-year dimensional (architectural) shingles roof for a 1 layer tear-off on a 1 story walkable gable roof (a simple ranch house) in Boston is about $375-425 per square (100 sq. ft.). Same roof somewhere in Indiana may cost $250-275 per square. Therefore after much research of national price levels we put together approximate average roofing prices for asphalt shingles, metal roofing systems and flat roofing membranes.
Also we had to average the cost of roof tear-off and disposal. Do understand that while somewhere in Alabama, it costs about $20 to dump 1 ton (2000 pounds) of old roofing materials, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the disposal fees are $90 per ton. Therefore you are looking to pay about $30-50 more per square of tear-off in New England. Here is a good informational thread on Roofing.com about roofing price/square in different regions of US.
As for the metal roof installation, the prices we’ve provided are more or less in line with national prices, but also keep in mind the local factor. Another thing you really need to account for is the level of experience of metal roofing contractor giving you an estimate. Often you will get a seemingly low price for a metal roof, but be aware that you it may be coming from a desperate roofing contractor in need of work. Chances are that this contractor is uninsured.
Another possibility is that you are dealing with a roofer who is new to metal roofing and A) does not know the price levels suitable to run a metal roofing company, and B) is inexperienced in installation of various metal roofing systems. In the second case, as our experience shows, these roofs begin to leak very soon after the installation. Truth of the matter is such that any roofer cannot just install a metal there. There is a great deal of special training involved in installation of trim, flashing around chimneys, skylights and along valleys. The roofing underlayment must also be installed differently from shingle roofing felt. Therefore, an untrained roofer will 95% of the time screw up the installation, resulting in leaks.
After speaking with my suppliers, I’ve learned that most first-time metal roofers never buy the product again and there are also usually warranty issues between the customers and suppliers / manufacturers, due to faulty installation.
How to Calculate Roofing Prices and use our Roofing Calculator
To calculate a roof you need to first understand which style roof you are dealing with. Most common roof style is gable roof, followed by a hip roof. Very often the roof is a combination of styles, with addition of valleys, dormers, etc. See diagram below for detailed explanation of what is what on the roof.
Roof Difficulty:
You need to identify you roof style, additional roof components such as sky-lights, chimneys, dormers and determine roof’s difficulty level. For example, the roof in a diagram above, is about medium level of difficulty. Here is why. Roof is a non walker – roof’s pitch is about 10 in 12. It has a dormer, hips, sidewall and different levels on the same plane (see how eave on the left hand side is much lower than right eave).
Roof size:
You will also need to get roof’s ground dimensions to insert roof sizes. Just take a measuring tape and get rough ground dimensions of your house. Do not forget to include roof overhangs, as they may add significant amount to the total roof area.
Roof Pitch/Slope:
To determine whether you roof is walkable or not you can use two methods. One – actually get up on the roof and try to walk there. Just kidding of course – walking on the roof is quiet dangerous. We recommend using a simple protractor. You can also use a level together with measuring tape.
Basically roof pitch is determined by roof’s rise to roof’s run ratio. For run you take 12 units (usually inches) and measure the rise. A 12 in 12 pitch (or simply 12 pitch) is a 45 degree angle.
Check out our comprehensive guide for more information on measuring and calculating roof pitch using level + tape measure or simple geometry and Pythagorean theory.
Plugging roof information into calculator:
Once you determine the pitch of the roof, plug in your numbers and other information into calculator and click “Calculate” button. Results will appear right below. Do not forget to include skylights / chimneys, as these add significant installation time and will increase your actual roofing costs.
When measuring your roof and using our calculator, be honest with yourself. If your roof is difficult, do not use medium setting, as you will get wrong results and will be disappointed to get higher than expected roofing quote from your local contractors. To get more accurate results read our extensive roof estimating and measuring guide.
To learn more about roofing materials used when calculating roof prices, read our roofing materials guide
Thank you for using our roofing calculator – we sincerely hope it was useful and helped you. Please leave your comments and feedback in a form below – we want to know what you think and have to say about our roofing calculator. Your feedback helps us improve the quality of this great tool, so more people get more accurate results.
Roofing prices:
Research the metal roofing prices in New England – find out how much it costs to install a standing seam, metal shingles or a copper roof in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Truly yours – RoofingCalculator.org team.
11 Responses to 'Roofing Calculator'
What do you think about Roofing Calculator and how can we improve it?
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Excellent website i ever found for roofs calculation. This site easy to use like abc… simple right on money
Sam Kuzmenko
30 Mar 10 at 7:06 am
Would like to see a note about how current is pricing… showing month and year would be helpful! (Ex: Pricing updated as of Jan 2010). Its probably more complicated than you would like to do but a simple factor for major geographic regions of country would also be useful. Maybe use Means as a guide.
Thanks for the work you have done.
Howard Ellegant
5 Apr 10 at 2:59 pm
Hi Howard,
The we update the roofing pricing pretty often to reflect current state of roofing market.
Here are some things that limit the accuracy of the our Roof Calculator:
The roofing materials prices (mainly cost of roofing asphalt shingles) depend on price of oil. Shingle prices skyrocketed together with oil picking out at $140+ per barrel in the summer of 2008, but never really came down. Now they’ve stabilized more or less, but still there is constant movement.
Metal roof prices also spiked along with oil, but also did not come down much, and stayed VERY high for a very long time as manufacturers were sitting on expensive inventory, even when metal prices dropped more than 50 percent. Again these are more or less stable now.
The biggest factor which limits the accuracy of roof calculatoer is local economic conditions / natural (weather) conditions in each geographic zone. For example if a hurricane hits in Texas, roof prices there will spike, but will remain the same everywhere else.
As for economic conditions – local roof prices are usually directly related to local cost of living (unless there is abundance of cheap labor – usually illegal). For example, roof prices in Michigan are very low, as many people there (mainly those working for big three companies, lost their jobs). In Boston, roof prices are some of the highest in US, because cost of living in Massachusetts is very high.
Another factor is seasonal nature of roofing business. Although many roofers work throughout winter (http://www.coolflatroof.com/flat-roofing-blog/winter-roof-installation/), the average homeowner thinks that roofs are installed Mar. 1st through Nov. 30th. Therefore, competition increases in the winter as there is less work, and to get business, many roofers resort to lowering their prices.
Due to these and many other factors, the prices generated by the roof calculator are averaged. We are planning to implement a “Choose your State” feature, which would adjust roof prices to the geographic location, but even within a stat as small as MA, there can be huge difference in roof prices depending on how far from Boston you live. So it make averaging the roof price for major geographic locations pretty difficult and time consuming.
Please explain what you mean when you say “Maybe use Means as a guide”.
We are constantly fine-tuning the roof calculator formula, to make it as accurate as possible. Right now we are planning some major updates / improvements to the roofing calculator.
Roofer with a vision
12 Apr 10 at 2:26 pm
Hi,
My son is in the roofing business in Canada and I am looking for a roofing calculator to add to my new and up and coming classified ad service like Craig’s list but much better. I am starting with the car section of the ad service but will be adding all the categories just like Criag’s List but much much easier to use with a search that will allow much more flexibility in the search process. I am looking for a partnership with the right group where I will advertise and promote their product through out North America….for the use of it here in Canada.
If you might be interested in talking about this please let me know and I am wondering what the prices per square are set at….and if they could be changed easily for Canada if we did some kind of deal…??
I am very interested but only for Canada even though my ad service covers the whole of North America…..every Province, State, Region and City…
If you would like to talk to me …please either send me an email or a number to call you and I will..
Thanks
God Bless
Freddy
Freddy
5 May 10 at 1:29 pm
Hi Freddy,
We can definitely do something and create a custom roofing calculator, that would reflect roof prices in Canada (you would have to provide pricing structure, as I’m not too familiar with Canadian roofing market). This calculator would also be in Canadian dollars, and we can add custom functions to it, upon your request.
We will be improving our roof calculator very soon, adding new functionality and making the roof prices more accurate – possibly even include major metropolitan area selection for better accuracy. All this functionality can be implemented in your custom roof calculator.
Let’s discuss the details via email – info @ roofingcalculator.org (please remove the spaces – I added them to prevent spam)
I will also be emailing you the copy of this comment (from a different email address, which I normally use).
Sincerely, Leo
Roofer with a vision
11 May 10 at 4:20 pm
Interested in possibly integrating a custom version of Roofing Calculator into our website. Please tell me how pursue.
adanac.ca
Warde Shearing
16 Jun 10 at 8:01 am
Hi
im running a construction business in South Africa,can anyone tell me where can i get a software that can calculate in a SOUTH AFRICAN CURRENCY,and further more who decide the price estimate on square meters?
Regards
Mastermind
corerecycling.co.za
Mastermind
18 Jul 10 at 9:14 am
Hi,
I really like your application and think you would be able to benefit greatly by adding a field that determines how much the stripped roofing will weigh. Additionally, you could add a basic field that would recommend what size dumpster a consumer would need to rent in order to accommodate all of their waste. These numbers fluctuate but based on the number of squares, you can determine roughly what the materials will weigh and the cubic yardage. Please let me know if you are interested in adding this and I will be happy to figure out an equation.
localdumpsterrental.com
Marc Segel
20 Jul 10 at 7:37 am
Hi Mastermind (?)
We can custom-program a roofing calculator for you in your currency and using meters instead of feet. Here is more information on obtaining a custom roofing calculator and installing it on your site – http://www.roofingcalculator.org/roof-estimating-software.php
Roofer with a vision
26 Jul 10 at 8:50 pm
Hi Marc,
It would be great if you can help us with figuring out the equation (I can estimate the weight, but not the volume and the size of the dumpster). I will think how we can integrate it into the calculator, and will add it in the next calculator update, which should be coming in the next few weeks.
BTW, the update will include the number of floors in the house which will affect price per square, as well as option for ridge vent, plywood replacement and other options and price adjustments.
Thanks for the great idea.
Roofer with a vision
26 Jul 10 at 8:54 pm
Hello Warde,
We have finished the distribution system for the roofing calculator, and you can now implement it for free into your website – more details here: http://www.roofingcalculator.org/roof-estimating-software.php
If you need a custom programmed roof calculator with additional features and different prices, that relate to what you charge your customers to install a roof, as well as using Canadian dollars instead of US $, as well as meters instead of feet, we can do all that.
Simply respond in the comment box below, and we can go ahead and start working out the details and pricing for you.
Leo.
Roofer with a vision
26 Jul 10 at 8:59 pm