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General Roofing Prices

Roofing Calculator - Estimate any roofing project:

This tool calculates ballpark roof estimate figure for virtually any residential roofing project (Pricing is calculated in U.S dollars). Bottom-line roofing price changes depending on the choice of roofing materials used, roof size, steepness of roof slope, and general complexity of the roof. Figures obtained with roofing calculator, reflect hiring skilled roofing professionals with experience, right tools, liability insurance, and workers' compensation. Calculated roof prices apply to North Eastern region of U.S. Roof prices may require substantial adjustment for other parts of the country.

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How to use our Roofing Calculator:

You need to input lenght and width of the section of the roof you want to calculate. Lenght and width are measured in feet.
Select appropriate pitch from the roofing pitch menu.
Take a look at your roof, and ask yourself, "How complicated is my roof"? If it is a simple gable type roof, then your roof is considerd simple. But, if there are a few sky-lights, some dormers, or even a roof tower or two, then your roof is a complex one. Make appropriate selection in the roof difficulty menu.
Select Roofing Materials you would like to use. Final roof price varies with the choice of roofing materials used. It gives you an easy way to compare the cost of many different roofing systems.
How many existing layers of shingle are there on your roof currently? If you have two or more layers on your roof, then complete Tear Off, and roof deck inspection of your existing roof is required.
The bottom line calculated based on your inputs, gives you a reference point of how much it would cost to install a new roofing system on a building such as yours in economically prominent states of North Eastern Region.
Pricing assumes that new roof will be installed by a professional company that uses correct industry practices and adheres to state regulations in regards to roofing contractors.
If you live in a location where economic and industry situaton is different, then your roof pricing should be adjusted to account for general roofing prices in your state, contractor's insurances and worker's compensation, use of safety equipment, material and labor warranty provided with work, ability of the contractor to provide references and manufacturer certifications. It goes without saying, that factors mentioned above can make a difference in the final product and support you will get with the service you pay for. Refer to Re Roofing guide for more information on how to re-roof your house.

To get started, grab a 100 ft. tape measure and obtain accurate ground measurements of the sides of your roof. In other words, you need to simply measure the length and width of the building, over which the roof is seated.

The easiest way to obtain accurate roof measurements, is to walk around the house and take ground measurements right underneath the roof. Keep in mind that your roof will usually overhang / extend away by a foot from the walls of the house. Thus, you will want to use the actual roof edges / eaves / overhangs of the roof, as a starting and ending reference point for taking your measurements. sketch a diagram of your roof, to minimize errors, and make the whole process nice and easy. Take a look at the roofing diagram below to see what you need, and how easy it can be.

Do not use the walls of the building alone when taking roof measurements, because this will throw your numbers off. Have a pen and a paper ready to write down length and width of all sections of the roof, or ground dimensions of all sections of your roof. All measurements will be taken in feet.

Now that you have the ground dimensions of your roof, it is time to figure roofing pitch, also known as roof slope. It tells you how steep your roof is. The question many people will ask, is "How do I figure out the roof pitch from the ground?". You can calculate roofing pitch in several different ways; Go to your local hardware store, and buy a pitch meter for estimating roof slope from the ground. Antoher way to do it is very simple: Take a look at your roof, and ask yourself "Is possible to walk on this roof with ease?". If the answer is yes, then your roof pitch is low, or walkable. Thus, you would select "low" in the roofing pitch selection field of calculator.
If it looks like you could kind of try to walk up the roof, but you would be taking chances, then your roofing pitch is medium.
And finally, if walking on the roof would seem dangerous or impossible, then your roof slope is steep and non walkable.

Now that we have figured roofing pitch, it is time to determine the type of our roof. To do this, simply look at your roof and count the number of sides that it has:
If our roof has only two sides connected by a straigth ridge line, then it is a gable type roof, or a simple roof.
Now, if our roof has four sides, then it is a hip roof. The hip roof is considered to be more complex, and will require more roofing material and time than gable roof to cover the same ground area. There is also, about ten percent material waste with the hip roof installation.
A quick rule of thumb is that the more complex your roof is, the more material will be wasted during new roof installation. If your roof has a lot of sophisticated dormers, hips, slope changes, and valeys, then installation process becomes a very involved. It will take longer time to complete, which will increase our bottom line.

Selecting Roofing Materials

In order to help you better understand the numbers involved in getting a new roof, we have included both, regular / commonly used roofing materials, and premium metal roofing materials in material selection field of our roofing calculator.

The commonly used roofing material for slopped roofs is conventional asphalt shingle, which, by the way, has many different grades and ratings of its own. For flat roofing, conventional materials are EPDM, rubber, TPO, modified bitumen, and other commonly used flat roofing systems.

The materials above represent typical non-premium roofing materials that are commonly installed on the roofs of regular buildings. If you are interested in premium roofing, then you are probably considering Slate, Clay Tiles, Cedar Shake, and Metal Roofing. For your convinience We have included all four of these premium roofing types in our calculator.

Any premium roofing installation is a specialized job that requires special skill set, tools, and experience installing specific roofing system. No matter what roofing contractors you decide to hire, make sure that your roofing contractor in question, is actually capable and has the experience installing the particular roofing system you are interested in. Be sure to ask for references of actual roofing work that contractor has done. Go out and look at their work, talk to the owners, and ask questions. See if people are actually happy with their new roof and with the service they recieved.

Points to keep in mind

If you are located in a different part of the country, then your numbers / roofing prices may be lower or higher depending on your geographic location. For instance, you may find generally lower roofing prices in Mid-Western States, and in the South. North Eastern Region and California will usually have higher figures for the similar type of roof replacement project.

All the figures aside, keep in mind that materials such as Natural Slate, and Clay Tiles are very heavy and may require additional reinforcement of your exisiting roof. Consider metal roofing that offers styles and looks of Slate, and Tile at the fraction of the weight, and at a lower cost.

You may be interested in Estimating and Measuring Roof yourself

Roof estimating guide shows you how to estimate your roof - from the ground using these four easy steps. Knowing this gives homeowner awareness of the size of their roof, its relative complexity and explains cost calculating basics.

Need to estimate roofing materials? Use specialty roofing search: