How much does a roof replacement cost?
A roof is priced by the squares of surface area, not by the footprint of the house, and then adjusted for how hard that surface is to work on. Pitch, the number of existing layers, the state of the decking underneath, and how many penetrations there are move the number more than the shingle you pick.
What a roofer is actually measuring
Roofing is sold in squares, which is one hundred square feet of roof surface. A steep roof has far more surface than its footprint suggests, so two houses with the same floor plan can differ substantially.
Pitch also changes the labour. Past a certain steepness the crew needs staging and fall protection and cannot simply walk it, and everything slows down.
The items that move the price most
How many layers are already up there. Tearing off two layers is twice the disposal and twice the labour, and some jurisdictions cap how many layers may remain.
Decking condition, which nobody knows until the tear-off starts. Soft or delaminated sheathing has to be replaced because it will not hold a fastener.
Penetrations and detail work. Chimneys, skylights, valleys, dormers and vent stacks are where the flashing goes and where the leaks come from. A plain gable roof and a cut-up roof of the same area are not the same job.
Access. A roof a truck can park beside is cheaper to do than one at the back of a rowhouse with no driveway.
What should be in the estimate, itemised
Tear-off and disposal. Underlayment type. Ice and water shield at the eaves and in the valleys. Drip edge. Starter and ridge. The shingle by name and line, not just a brand. Flashing, and whether it is being replaced or reused. Ventilation. Cleanup and a magnet sweep for fasteners.
It should also carry a stated price per sheet for replacement decking, agreed before anyone goes up, so the one genuine unknown does not become an argument on day two.
Why we do not publish a range for this
The spread between a simple ranch and a cut-up roof with three penetrations and two layers to remove is wide enough that a published range would mislead more people than it helped.
We measure the roof, document its condition with photographs, and give you an itemised written price. If the damage is storm related, that same documentation is what supports the claim.
The half that is not on the roof
A roof that leaked long enough to stain a ceiling has done interior damage as well, and wet insulation does not recover. That work belongs in the same estimate rather than turning up as a separate job afterwards.
The Work Behind This Answer
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