- The cost of a new roof varies wildly
depending on many factors.
But by the end of this video,
we're gonna demystify how much a roof costs
and give you the means to figure out a rough cost
for your roof.
(bright music)
Hello, friends.
I'm Brandon and welcome to the Roofing Channel.
Now, if you look up how much a roof costs,
then you'll receive broad ranges at best
or at worst, you'll just hear, "It depends."
While there is a little bit of merit of that,
it doesn't mean we can't break down the factors
that go into your roof cost
and then give you a rough number for your roof.
We've broken it down
into six main factors that affect the cost of your roof.
What's the square footage of your roof?
What's the complexity of your roof?
What material are you replacing it with?
Do you have any rotten roof decking?
What type of contractor are you using?
And lastly, are you installing any upgrades?
Number one, what's the square footage of your roof?
This is the most obvious factor,
but we'll go over it anyways.
The larger your roof is, the more material,
and therefore, the more cost it is to replace it.
When you hear people referring to costs,
contractors will often use the term square
instead of square foot.
And a square simply means 100 square feet,
so don't be confused when you hear somebody say something
like, "It's gonna be 500 per square."
There are a lot of ways
to get the square footage of your roof.
But if you want a good video
to determine how to roughly get the square footage
of your roof,
then click on the video in the link below
where we have a nice short video
with Bill Ragan explaining how to do so.
Two, what's the complexity of your roof?
The complexity of your roof will directly affect
how long it takes a contractor to replace it.
A simple up and over roof, as we like to call it,
like the one depicted here,
is gonna take a lot less time to replace
than the one depicted here,
even though they may be around the same square footage.
The other factors that fall under the complexity of a roof
may be the steepness or the pitch of your roof,
or how easy it is to get on your roof in the first place.
Basically, if there's a factor that makes it
to where the contractor takes longer to replace it,
it's gonna cost more money.
Three, what material are you using for your roof?
This is another obvious one.
The more expensive the material,
the more expensive the roof replacement,
but we'll give you some numbers to give you an idea.
The most common roofing material that you'll see used today
is asphalt shingles.
Three-tab asphalt shingles
will run you about $250 per square.
Whereas dimensional or architectural asphalt shingles
will run you about $325 per square as starting point.
Luxury asphalt shingles will start
at around 375 and can go up to $600 per square.
The cost of a metal roof is about 300 to $500 per square
for a screw-down metal roof,
and about 1300 to $1600 per square
for a standing seam metal roof.
Four, do you have rotten decking?
Decking serves as the foundation
for your entire roof system.
So if any of it is rotten, you need to replace it.
Now, most contractors will actually factor in
some replacement costs of decking into their quote,
but if they find more than expected,
you could see your roof replacement rising up
in price a little bit.
Now, this used to not be a big impact on your roof cost,
but with the recent prices of lumber
as of 2021 posting this video, they are sky high right now.
So they can actually put a pretty big dent
into your roof replacement.
Five, what type of contractor are you using?
Depending on the roofing contractor,
they charge different prices depending on their overhead,
with the prices they get from manufacturers of materials,
and their style of workmanship.
Now, that last one is the one I wanna focus on here
because you'll often see contractors
who charge you a cheaper rate for roofing,
employing various methods that save them money,
but have a worst impact on your roof.
Some contractors charge less
simply because they're inexperienced
and trying to build up a repertoire.
Whereas other ones, they can actually afford
to charge cheaper because their practices allow them
to blitz through roofs and then not have to go back
and replace those roofs.
If you do find a pretty expensive contractor,
you wanna make sure that they are the way they are
because they employ careful and meticulous methods
to make sure that your roof is gonna last a lifetime.
Six, are you installing any upgrades?
If you have a little wiggle room in your budget,
then a roof replacement is always the best time
to get upgrades for your roof.
Upgrades include copper flashing, gutter guards,
extra ice and water shield,
different ventilation, and so on.
These upgrades vary wildly in price
and can probably warrant a video of their own,
so be on the lookout for that video in the future.
If you want a rough estimate
as to how much your roof replacement will cost,
then click on the link in the description below.
It'll take you
to Bill Ragan Roofing Company's calculator page,
where you can put in the square footage
and it'll tell you a rough cost for your roof replacement.
That's all for this video.
Thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time.
(light music)