Why do roofers price by the square instead of the hour?
Roofers sell by the square because shingles are bought by the square and homeowners compare quotes that way. A square is 10 feet by 10 feet, or 100 square feet of roof, so a 20-square roof is 2,000 square feet of roof surface, not floor area.
The catch is that the square hides the labour. A simple 6/12 gable and a steep, cut-up two-storey roof can have the same squares and very different crew hours. So build the price from the job, then divide by the squares to see if it looks right, never the other way round.
A 20-square re-roof at 6/12: where the $14,599 goes
The worked example tears off one layer and re-roofs 20 squares at 6/12 pitch with architectural-style shingles, ice and water protection at the eaves and valleys, new metal edge, ridge vent and pipe boots, and it prices at $14,599.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20-square tear-off and re-roof | Amount |
| 2 | Materials, with waste | $4,570.50 |
| 3 | Labour and equipment, about 78 crew hours | $5,622.54 |
| 4 | Dumpster, permit, report and forgotten costs | $1,544.11 |
| 5 | Markup, safety cushion and profit | $2,861.56 |
The full cost is about $587 a square and the price about $730, or $7.30 a square foot of roof. The $2,862 above cost is 19.6% of the price, and it is left after the owner's own wage is already paid. Across all the hours on the job, the crew's time earns about $101 per labour hour against a break-even of $68.55.
What does one crew hour cost a roofing company?
In the example company, an owner who estimates plus a crew of three, each billable hour on a roof has to bring in $68.55 before any profit. That covers wages with payroll taxes and workers' comp, plus $83,800 of yearly overhead, spread over only the hours actually spent on roofs.
The owner's estimating days, supply runs and rain-outs are all paid hours nobody bills, which is why the rate lands well above any roofer's wage. How that number is built, and how markup goes on top, is on roofer hourly rate and markup. Plug your crew's pay and overhead into the free true hourly rate calculator.
How crew hours move your price per square
Every extra crew hour on a roof costs you the break-even rate before a cent of profit, so the hours per square matter more than the shingle price. At $68.55 an hour, the same 20-square roof carries very different labour depending on how long it takes.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crew hours on a 20-square roof | Labour at $68.55 an hour | Labour per square |
| 2 | 60 | $4,113 | $206 |
| 3 | 78 (the worked example) | $5,347 | $267 |
| 4 | 100 | $6,855 | $343 |
| 5 | 120 | $8,226 | $411 |
Going from 78 hours to 120 adds about $2,879 of cost, or $144 a square, before markup and profit. A roofer who quotes both roofs at the same price per square pays for that difference out of the profit line. These rows are our own math on the example's rate, not prices from the market.
Dividing by the margin vs multiplying by the markup
To keep a set share of the price, divide your cost by one minus that share instead of multiplying by one plus it. On $10,000 of roof cost, a 35% gross margin means $10,000 divided by 0.65, about $15,385. Multiplying by 1.35 charges $13,500, which is almost $1,900 short and keeps only about 26%.
It is the most common way a roofer who thinks he is charging 35% ends up with a lot less. The markup vs margin guide explains the difference once for every trade, and the calculator does the math for you.
Rain days, dumpsters and bad flashing: costs that slip off roof quotes
On the worked example, the easy-to-miss list adds $809.11 to cost, and leaving it out drops the price from $14,599 to about $13,647, a gap of roughly $950 that would come straight out of profit. Most of these are hours, so they cost your break-even rate, not a wage.
Before the job:
- The estimate visit. Getting on the roof, writing down every measurement and taking photos and video before you talk price, on every roof you quote, won or lost.
- The aerial measurement report. A small charge per roof, so it quietly comes out of profit unless it is an outside cost on the job.
- Chasing the signature. Homeowners rarely sign on the first call. The texts, calls and second visits are hours of the owner's week, not minutes.
On the roof:
- The dumpster. A tear-off fills a box fast, and a second layer fills it faster, so size it to the layers you found, not the layers you hoped for.
- The supplier's drop fee for bringing material to the house or loading the roof, rarely on the takeoff.
- Waste that differs by product. The waste factor on underlayment is not the same as on shingles, and a cut-up hip roof needs more of both.
- Nails, tubes and odd parts missed on the takeoff, each one a supply run.
- Rain days. The roof gets tarped, the crew goes home, and the morning is paid but not billed.
- The permit and the inspection trip, where the fee is easy to remember and the wait is not.
After the job, or next to it:
- Old flashing you spotted and said nothing about. If the chimney or wall flashing is bad and the homeowner gets a leak there next spring, the roofer is the first call. Note it in writing on the quote.
- Sales commission when a rep sold the job. Some roofing companies pay reps 8 to 15% of gross sales. N/A when the owner sells.
- Leak callbacks. We found no reserve figure in our research, so decide yours on purpose.
- New pipe boots and metal edge. Reusing old pipe jacks saves a few dollars today and invites a leak call, so price new ones every time.
Two quote terms shut the door on the worst of these: a per-sheet price for rotten decking agreed before tear-off, with photos sent before you replace any, and a line that rain moves the date, not the price. The calculator's customer quote comes with roofing terms for both, and anything found after tear-off goes on a written change order.
How much to charge for a roof repair or a flat roof
Price a repair like a small re-roof with a floor under it: materials plus crew hours at your break-even rate, and never less than a minimum charge that pays for the trip, the ladder work and the office time. The example file sets its minimum at $450, which is a setting to change, not a market price.
A repair that takes two roofers three hours is 6 crew hours, or about $411 at the example's $68.55 rate, before a single shingle or any profit. That is why a minimum charge exists: below it, small jobs lose money even when they feel quick.
Flat roofing is the same method with a different price list. Our research turned up no flat roof or metal roof prices, so we don't quote a number. Time your first few membrane jobs closely and you will know your own hours per square.
Roofing bids that lose money
Most roofing losses come from pricing to win rather than pricing from cost. These are the patterns worth checking your own bids against.
Copying a competitor's per-square price. Their number was built on their crew speed, their overhead and their kind of roofs. If your overhead is higher or your roofs are steeper, the same number loses money on every job, and you find out weeks later.
Closing nearly every deal. If almost every homeowner says yes on the spot, your price is probably too low. Losing some bids on price is a sign the number is honest.
Running on deposits. Using today's deposit to finish last month's roof means the company is already behind. The deposit on a roof should buy that roof's materials.
Quoting from the ground. A price given from the driveway misses soft decking, a second layer and bad flashing. Getting up, measuring and photographing every problem before you price is what keeps the quote honest.
Steep, high and cut-up roofs: when $730 a square loses money
A per-square price that works on a simple 6/12 gable loses money on a steep, high or cut-up roof, because every stage takes more crew hours. Some roofers show a high roof charge and a steep roof charge as their own lines on the estimate; others roll the extra time into labour. Either way, it has to be counted.
Valleys, a second layer to tear off and a two-storey drop all push hours per square up too. Track bid hours against real hours on each roof, the job costing habit, and after a season you will know what each kind of roof really takes.
Run your next re-roof through the calculator
The Roofing Pricing Calculator takes your squares, your price list and your crew hours, walks the easy-to-miss list and hands back the price, the price per square and a one-page customer quote, in Excel or Google Sheets.