Nobody likes the honest answer to this, so most contractors give a number instead. Here is what actually drives the price, so you can read any quote you get and know what you are looking at.
Why a phone quote is a guess
Two houses with the same square footage can differ by thousands, and the difference is not markup. It is the roof itself. Until someone has measured yours, any number is a range dressed up as a price.
What moves the number
Roof size, not house size
Roofing is priced in squares, one square being a hundred square feet of roof surface. A single story ranch with wide overhangs can carry more roof than a two story house with the same living space.
Pitch
A steep roof takes longer, needs more safety setup and is harder to move material on. Past a certain pitch the crew cannot walk it at all and everything slows down.
Complexity
Valleys, dormers, hips, chimneys, skylights and wall transitions each need flashing detail and cut shingles. A simple gable roof goes fast. A cut up roofline with six valleys and three dormers is a different job at the same square footage.
Layers coming off
A roof with two or three old layers costs more to tear off and haul away than a single layer. This is one of the hidden costs of a previous contractor having shingled over instead of stripping.
Decking condition
This is the one that turns into a surprise bill on other people's quotes. Nobody knows what the decking looks like until the old roof is off. What you should insist on is a per sheet price agreed in writing before work starts, so if rot is found the cost is already settled and not negotiated while your roof is open.
What goes back on
Synthetic underlayment versus felt. Ice and water shield in the valleys and around penetrations versus skipping it. New flashing versus reusing the old. Proper ridge and soffit ventilation versus a vent cut and called done. Two quotes can look far apart and be quoting genuinely different roofs.
How to compare two quotes fairly
- Is it a full tear off, or a layover on top of the old shingles
- Is rotted decking priced per sheet up front
- Is flashing being replaced or reused
- What underlayment, and where does ice and water shield go
- What happens to attic ventilation
- Is the manufacturer warranty registered in your name
- Is there a written workmanship warranty, and for how long
- Who cleans up, and is a magnet sweep included
A quote that is a single line and a number is not cheaper. It is just less specific about what you are not getting.
What we do
We fly the roof, measure it off the images, and give you a written scope with the price. It does not move unless we find rotted sheathing, and that is priced per sheet before we start. You see the same photos we do.
Written by the crew at GSP Exterior Works, a roofing, gutter and exterior contractor working across Forsyth, Cherokee, North Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Dawson and Paulding counties. Every roof we quote gets a free drone inspection first.