Pricing guide for roofers
How much should a roofer charge per square?
Roofing is the one trade with a natural unit - the square - which makes it look like pricing should be simple. It is not: published installed prices run from $350 to $1,200 a square for asphalt. Here is what the figures say, why the spread is that wide, and how to build a per-square rate from your own crew cost rather than someone else's.
What the published numbers say
Here is what the widely-cited sources put on it. Read the spread, not the midpoint.
| Job | Published range | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Asphalt shingle, installed, per square | $350 - $1,200 | HomeGuide |
| 3-tab asphalt, per square | $343 - $500 | HomeGuide |
| Architectural asphalt, per square | $550 - $800 | HomeGuide |
| Full replacement, 2,000 sq ft home | $9,000 - $24,000 | This Old House |
Now notice that those numbers do not agree with each other.
A 2,000 square foot roof is reported anywhere from $9,000 to $24,000. Labour is around 65% of the job, so most of that spread is crew cost, pitch and access - not shingles. A walkable single-storey ranch and a 10/12 pitch on a three-storey with no place to put a dumpster are the same number of squares and nowhere near the same job.
That is not sloppy reporting. It is what happens when you average a rural county with a coastal metro, a one-truck operator with a fleet, and a straightforward job with a difficult one. Quoting against a national average is how busy contractors end up broke — it is an average of other people’s costs, and none of them pay your insurance.
The number that actually matters is yours
This is arithmetic, not opinion. Put your own costs in and it tells you what an hour has to bill.
Work out your own hourly rate
Change the numbers to yours. Nothing is sent anywhere — this runs in your browser.
What you want to actually earn, before tax.
Payroll taxes, liability insurance, workers' comp, benefits. Commonly 20-35% on top of your pay.
Van, fuel, tools, license, phone, software, accountant, advertising, rent. Everything you pay whether or not you work today.
Be honest. A 40-hour week is rarely more than 25 billable once you take out quoting, driving, parts runs and invoicing. 25 x 48 weeks = 1,200.
What the business keeps after everything, so it can survive a slow month or replace a van.
- Labor burden on your pay
- $18,750
- Total cost to operate for the year
- $117,750
- Break-even hourly rate
- $98
Your shop rate
$123 / hour
This is what an hour has to bill for you to hit 20% margin after paying yourself $75,000 and covering $24,000 of overhead across 1200 billable hours. Charge less than $98 and you are losing money on every hour you work.
Turning an hourly rate into a price
Build the per-square rate, do not borrow it
Your installed square price is crew hours per square times your loaded crew cost, plus material at your markup, plus a share of overhead and the margin you intend to keep. Borrowing a competitor's per-square number imports their wage bill, their waste factor and their overhead into your quote. Time your own crew on a standard roof once and the number is yours forever.
Pitch and storeys are separate visible lines
Steep pitch and multi-storey work are slower, need more staging and carry more risk. Putting an uplift on its own line - per square, above 8/12, above one storey - is easier to defend than a mysteriously higher headline rate, and it stops you quietly losing money every time you win the difficult roof.
Tear-off is per layer, and decking is an allowance
Quote tear-off per square per layer, because the second layer is real work you cannot see from the driveway. Decking is worse: you genuinely do not know until the roof is open. State an allowance - how many sheets are included - and a per-sheet rate beyond it, agreed in writing before you start. That single line prevents most roofing disputes.
Quote repair, partial and full together
The homeowner is deciding between patching the valley, redoing the back slope and replacing the whole roof. Put all three on one page with real numbers and let them choose. It sells the right job more often than pressure does, and it makes the full replacement look like a decision rather than an upsell.
The lines that quietly come out of your margin
Not charging for these is the most common reason a job that looked profitable was not:
- ▸The second tear-off layer - priced per layer, not per roof
- ▸Decking replacement beyond the stated allowance, at a per-sheet rate
- ▸The dumpster, and the second dumpster on a big tear-off
- ▸Disposal fees by the ton, which are not the same as the dumpster hire
- ▸Steep-pitch and multi-storey uplift as its own line
- ▸Gutter and landscaping protection, and the magnet sweep at the end
- ▸The permit fee AND your time for the inspection
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The Roofing Rate Book Starter (2026)
The full checklist with a blank column for your own rates, plus this worksheet in a form you can keep in the van.
Download the PDFStraight answers
How much should I charge per square for a roof in 2026?
Published installed prices run from about $343 a square for 3-tab up to $1,200 for premium systems, with architectural asphalt commonly quoted at $550-$800. Those are other people's numbers. Yours is your crew hours per square times your loaded crew cost, plus material at your markup, plus overhead and margin. Time one standard roof properly and you will have a figure you can quote from with confidence.
How do I handle decking I cannot see when quoting?
With a written allowance. Say how many sheets the price includes and give a per-sheet rate for anything beyond it, agreed before work starts. Never absorb unknown decking into a headline price and never discover it on the day without a signed rate - that conversation on a torn-off roof is the single most common roofing dispute and it is entirely avoidable.
Should steep pitch be a separate charge?
Yes, and it should be visible. Steep and multi-storey work is slower, needs more staging and carries more risk, so it belongs on the quote as an uplift line rather than hidden in a higher rate. Customers accept a stated reason far more readily than an unexplained number, and it keeps your standard rate competitive on easy roofs.
Does QuoteFlow measure the roof?
No. Measurement is what Roofr, RoofSnap, EagleView and Hover do, and you should keep using whichever one you already have. QuoteFlow picks up after you have the squares: you say the job on the driveway and it prices the lines from your own per-square rates, then the homeowner signs on their phone.
How many billable hours should I assume?
For a crew business the better question is billable crew days, and the answer is fewer than the calendar suggests. Weather, quoting, driving, supplier runs and insurance paperwork are all unpaid. Build your rate on a realistic number of working days and it will survive a wet month.
Once you know your rates, stop retyping them
That is what QuoteFlow does. Enter your rate book once, then stand at the job and say what you are doing — it comes back as priced line items from those rates. Nothing is generated or guessed, and anything it does not recognise arrives flagged with no price, so a made-up number never reaches a customer. The customer signs on their phone before you leave.
First 10 quotes free. No credit card. $29/month flat after that.
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