5 Things You Need to Know About Roofing Cost

In this post, the founder of Directorii.com - Dmitry Lapinskiy, will review different roof sizes and prices across the US. Dmitry had been a roofing contractor for seven years. He sold his roofing business one year ago, and today he's making videos like this to help educate homeowners and roofing contractors on anything related to roofing.

This post is perfect for you if you're a homeowner and need a roofing job. You'll learn how much it should cost and what to expect during the process.

How Is The Cost Of Roofing Changing

Roofs are more like car sales. You will never see roofing prices go down. In the last 30 years, roofing only has been increasing. While it's a commodity business, it's not like buying gas, where prices might fluctuate based on economy or materials. Gas or oil might go up or down.

Roofing prices usually stay up for two reasons.

Number one is materials never go down.

Asphalt shingle manufacturers never lower their prices. And last year alone, we've seen about seven price increases, costing roofers about 30% more than the previous year. In the last twelve years, prices for asphalt shingles almost doubled. And it's the most popular material in the US. An estimated 80% of asphalt shingle roofs in the United States.

And the second one, inflation and labor cost also never goes down.

Simply put, roofers would like to get paid more, not less.

The Difference Between Lower Bidders and Higher Bidders

You should be more worried and careful with lower bidders than with higher ones. You're more likely to get screwed going with the cheapest bid. And if you look at the complaints reports, most problems happen with the cheapest bids and contractors who don't charge enough.

Average Cost For A New Roof In The US in 2022

Good to Know: Roofing Squares

So first, let's establish the average size and price and then build from there. This is a typical smaller house in the United States.

This one is actually in New Jersey, 2000 square feet, or 20 “roofing squares.” The roofing square is 10ft by 10ft or 100sqft = 1 roofing square. 2000 sqft is 20 roofing squares. You'll hear it often from roofers, and we'll often refer to it.

A typical roof is anywhere between 2000 to 2500 sqft. Everything is bigger in Texas. In Texas, the average roof will be more on a 3000 sqft level. In downtown metropolitan areas, Minneapolis, Chicago, and New Jersey, you will see a lot of smaller houses, about 1500 sqft. But typical is about 2000 to 2500 squares.

Average Roofing Replacing Price

And so, if your roof looks like this, the average price in the United States is anywhere from $8000 to $10,000. This is 2022. Next year and years later, it will cost more.

$8000 is the lowest price. We recommend you be on alert if you get cheaper bids. So $400 to $500 a roofing square is the minimum cost. There are a lot of contractors who will give you lower prices, but they usually add to the statistics. 80% of roofing contractors go out of business in a few years. And if you pay for a house like this, $6,000 - $7,000, someone is probably cutting corners or not doing what they are supposed to be doing.

That's why we thoroughly vet all contractors listed on Directorii, so you'll get a fair price and the best deal in your area.

5 Factors That Affect Roofing Cost

We'll explain what it costs to replace the Roof in different parts of the country, what affects the price, how you can save money, and how to converse with your contractor.

Understanding Roofing Cost

• Roofing is a complicated business and very competitive.
• Labor has to be compensated.
• Workers’ compensation has to be purchased.
• Overhead has to be met.
• Materials have to be paid.

Hence it's hard to do it for less.

It will cost more in LA. Or New York. Everything is more expensive in LA. You have different labor rules. You have to buy work comp. You cannot use subcontractors. In LA, it's a pretty expensive market, the same as New York. Now, Texas Midwest will be a little bit less. Alabama and Atlanta will be a little bit less. But overall, you're getting the picture.

Now let us show you a few details. What will increase the price of your roofing job?

1. How A Steep Roof Can Cost You More

If your roof looks like this, which is dome-looking, you will definitely pay more. Why? It will take way more time to go through all the different areas. You will pay more if your roof is steep and you cannot walk on it. How much more? Well, sometimes double. Why? Because roofers charge per day, how many days will it take? If you have a 4/12 roof pitch and it's walkable. Roofers must tie themselves with the ropes for safety, but they can still walk. On some roofs, you can't do that. If it's 12/12, you're going to move way slower.

And most jobs are walkable. 20-30 squares will take you one day, while roofs like in the picture above might take a week. So if you spend four more days on a project, think about all the labor that goes into it and the waste for all the shingles. Something like this will have a 20-30% waste factor. So you will pay double or triple the price for a roof like in the picture above.

In contrast, a typical gable roof like we've seen in the first picture will be 5% waste.

- Justin Dean Huber sent this picture.

Here's an example of a very steep roof. You can see the details. You can see all of these gables. It all reaches corners. They will add quite a few details and time to the production. And it's tough to walk on this one.

2. How The Height Of A Building Affects Its Roofing Costs

Another factor that dramatically increases the roof replacement price is how tall the building is. There's a massive difference between one, two, and four stories.

This house right here is three-story high.

So safety measures are on another level. Plus, you will spend way more time preparing everything on the ground to get materials and crew to clean and work overall. Everything that is on the top of the roof is going to take way longer. So this house in the picture above is an excellent example of one expensive roof.

We asked our fellow roofer, Justin Dean. He is in Cincinnati, Ohio. This job was $37,000, and it's 7,200 sqft. Very complex, very tall building. Roofs usually don't get much more complicated than this.

And for that reason, a homeowner will pay from 20-30% to 200% more than if there is one level and 4/12 roof pitch. Now, if your house looks like this, you should expect to pay about $40,000. If this house was in New York or California, the roof replacement would probably cost from $50,000 to $70,000.

Just another example. Still, it's a big roof, 30 squares. This one comes from DT Roofing in Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas. This is your typical Texas roof. It's actually not as bad. It's not as complex, not as many details. One-story 30-square roof. And this one, $7,000. Way cheaper, still the price per square is similar to the previous one in Ohio.

Another cool roof with a pretty cool design.

Caleb Helmuth sent us this picture, 58 squares. So you can now imagine how much this is going to be. I would probably estimate about $500 - $600 a square. A massive job great design, but you get the idea.

3. Waste Management

Another reason the roofing cost may go up is waste management.

This is a cedar roof. If you don't have Caleb, also send us this. 146 squares. Very complex. Make sure your roofer understands how much it takes to remove cedar shakes on a job like this.

Looking at this picture, we estimate that you'll need about six to eight dumpsters. Very common. A rookie mistake if your roofer does not replace a lot of cedars. Cedar roofs are going away, and they're not trending anymore. We see fewer and fewer cedar jobs. So many roofers, new businesses, never bit it on a job like that. And they need to put six to seven dumpsters on a project like this. The average dumpster would cost $4,000 to $5,000 these days. So you can imagine how much of a mistake a roofing contractor can make. And often, it eats into profit, and they might ask you for extra money.

What we see with the complaints from homeowners, frequently when disputes happen, is because of things like this. When a contractor makes a math error, he does not calculate all the expenses.

Avoid disputes with the contractor by ensuring they have good waste management practices.

4. How Many Layers Your Roof Has

Another problem with cedar and asphalt roofs is how many layers your roof has. So if your roofing sales rep comes out and he's not thorough, he's not pulling up your shingles to see how many layers your roof has, he will lose money on the job. Because if you have two or three layers, it will double or triple the waste factor.

5. How Complex The Roof Does Influence The Cost Of A New Roof

Brian Espinosa sent us this picture. You can see the complexity of the job here.

You see scaffolding. You see planks. Jobs like this will take ten times longer than a typical walkable roof. Not only how steep it is but how complex and tall it is. This is a tricky one. So if your house looks like this, please don't think about how many square feet the roof is.

Think about complexity and how labor-intensive the project is going to be.

Example of an Easy Roofing Job

Jarrett, one of our preferred contractors in Directorii, sent us this picture. You can see when a job is simple. When everything is open, you can offload it and move faster. Beautifully done job. Here's the final project. You don't have too many details. And actually, it would be much quicker.

How Directorii Can Help You Save Time And Money

One of the services we offer: you can send us a picture of your house, address, and location. We will look at it and estimate the price for your roofing project. Directorii.com is a platform where you can find roofing contractors and excellent deals on roofs. For example, Mr. Roofer offers $8,000 for complete roof replacement for IKO Dynasty shingles up to 2000 sqft. If you click on this deal, you will see the full description, no gimmicks. One of the reasons contractors can offer total roof replacements at an affordable price is that they are saving big on marketing expenses. It's expensive to advertise a roofing business because Google is expensive, advertising, TV, everything is costly. And roofing is a very competitive business.

You Save Because Roofers Save With Us

So when contractors list their businesses on Directorii and get endorsed by our platform, they can afford to pass the savings to you. Check out Directorii.com for all deals from our roofers.

Our $20,000 Guarantee

We recommend and endorse every contractor. Every offer and every deal comes with our $20,000 Guarantee. If you find contractors on Directorii.com, you can call or contact us to claim your Guarantee.

We'll step in if the contractor doesn't do the job, doesn't have the capacity or knowledge to do it right, or is incapable of fixing their mistakes. We'll help you find a better contractor and fix the mistakes so you don't have to have those headaches.

We are here to help you to find a good contractor. Because the roof is essential, and no one should be going through headaches ending up hiring a bad contractor. And we are here to help you the best way we can. Start using Directorii today!