New roof $$$ shock

[ondarvr]

We had some severe storms here at the end of last year and our comp roof aged rapidly during the stress, resulting in some leaks that aren't easy to fix so I figured it was time for it to be replaced.

The first estimate for a metal roof came in at $35,000. This roof has a shallow pitch, maybe 3/12, so metal will work better, and was measured at 3,800 sq feet.

I have no idea what a roof should cost, but this seems very high to me.

For those that know, what should I be looking for in cost, materials and options?

Thanks

 

[oldjeep]

Seems really high. No idea on what his roof square footage is, but my dad had metal roof put down on the lake place for around 1/2 of that a couple years ago. Foundation square footage is around 2000.

In his case he bought all the materials at Menards himself and hired a locally recommended installer. He only had a single layer of shingles, so there was no tear-off.

 

[bajaunderground]

Sounds high to me as well...they measure roofs in squares (10'x10'=100sqft) so your roof should be 38 squares. Depending on what's existing and what type of steel roof you're replacing it with (standing seam, steel shingles, etc..). Personally, I would shop around using the phone asking for tear-off and replacement?

Even if they needed to add insulation or reinforce the structure, $35,000 still seems kinda high to me?

Cheers,

~Brett

 

[64osby]

First question is did you ask your insurance company to access the damage?

Did a roof over with pole barn style steel about 10 years ago. Did the work with the help of one other person over 3 weekends. 80 squares total, 40 x 120 building. Material cost was $4,800. had quotes for shingle roofs ranging from $12 to $22K.

Steel has risen since then and the materials were purchased direct from a company that rolls pole barn steel panels. They cut it to length for me.

Standing seamless systems will be much higher in costs and labor.

It was a great decision to change over to a steel roof. If and when my house needs a new roof it will be a steel roof.

 

[jbcurt00]

The installed price also depends on how simple ~ complex the roof layout is and whether it include tear off AND haul off?

A shed roof (single plane of roofing) would be cheap for labor. A single ridge gable roof would be slightly higher because of the 2 roof planes and a ridge cap that would need to be done.

And up from there w hips and valleys, gables, dormers and multple planes. Esp if there are lots of seperate areas of starting and stopping a run of roofing.

Not that it doesnt sound expensive, 35K is...

Doesnt metal roofing come in multiple gauges-thicknesses?

 

[fhhuber]

Get 3 more estimates....

 

[StarTed]

I'm off to a Trail Blazer meeting in Seattle so I'll ask my son who is a roofer and works for a roofing company in that area about the price of metal roofing. My feeling is that there are lots of variables as stated previously. Complexity, quality of material, pitch, labor, etc. are all involved.

I'd suggest getting several estimates and be very careful about any quote that substantially cheaper than the rest. You don't want shoddy workmanship.

My buildings all have metal roofs. I had to put down ice and water shield on the house that has a 12-12 pitch. My shop is a 3-12 pitch. The others are whatever I happened to make them. I have fire concerns here due to how dry it gets and cheat grass abundance so metal made sense to me.

 

[ondarvr]

This is a very simple roof.

The contractor is well known and very good, so the work should be fine. I'm getting more bids, just weeding through the flakes out there.

I don't mind paying for a good job, but I don't want to throw money away.

Thanks for the info.

 

[StarTed]

My son lives on Ebey Island and I'll be there after the meeting late tonight. I'll try to touch base with him if I get there soon enough to get some kind of feeling for the price. I don't think they specialize in metal roofing but I'm not sure. His side buisness is making roofing products, mostly metal, PVC & TPO. Anyhow, he'd have a feeling if your quote seems reasonable. That price in the Seattle area might be in the ball park. It's expensive to live over there but the wages are also higher so I guess it should all work out.

 

[Boomyal]

It may not be an apples to apples comparison but we just had our roof redone with 30 yr architectural shingles. It was a complete tear off and re-roof with a 7/12 pitch full hip roof. It included 4 new skylights. The total price including tax was $16,800.00. I am not sure how many squares but the house, including the 3 car attached garage is about 3800 sq ft, Fortunately we had no underlying damage to the roof sheeting.

 

[Scott Danforth]

roof on 2400 square foot ranch house in Maribel Wisconsin with hip roof - $4500, or $2200 if I did it myself. 3 days later, I was out 2350 (materials and equipment rental)
roof on 2384 square foot ranch house in Bradenton Florida with hip roof - $19,000 and the local laws written to make it extremely difficult for home owner to do his own work.

 

[Boomyal]

.......and the local laws written to make it extremely difficult for home owner to do his own work.......

And what is their excuse for that, SD? Here in Washington State, you could re-roof yourself and no one would know the difference, even though technically you are probably required to have a permit. It is not like you are making an addition that could trip you up down the line. However, if you have a licensed contractor do it, you are pretty well forced into getting a permit.

A permit is nothing more than a fund source for the local government. It is a joke. I happened to be standing out front when the inspector came to sign off. She barely even looked at the roof. She glanced up and said "it looks nice, see ya"! Then took the permit off the wall and marched off.

 

[MTboatguy]

The permit system here in Montana is a joke, I am still waiting for the electrical inspector to come back and sign off on our electrical hook up, where I purchased you have to hook up your own box and wire to the house and then they inspect it, well she stopped by two days after it was hooked up, said fix this and I will come back and sign the permit, that was almost 20 years ago!

 

[Scott Danforth]

With the Florida building code change of 2010, any roof work now requires a pre inspection, and a post inspection. A complete water proof barrier layer, etc. Sarasota county banned home owners without a contractor license. Manatee county is so back logged in the inspection department, it's months to get on the schedule

 

[bajaunderground]

Ahh...the building department...

I ALWAYS say "they have all the authority, but none of the responsibility" for us lay-people it loosely translates too: "it's our way or the highway...if there's a problem with a finalized permit, then contact your contractor, we don't take ANY responsibility...

I've always liked the look of a thatched roof...maybe that's the route to take?

 

[keith2k455]

Wow, it's surprising to me how roof prices very so much by geography. In central il, a 1300sf ranch house with hip roof is about 4500 for tear off and install. I estimate my current house to be about 35 square (1300sf second floor, 1800 1st floor w garage) and think I can get asphalt tear off and re roof for about 10k. Steel costs more, I think close to double. Where I'm at I'd be looking in the 20k range for that roof so 35k seems really high to me.

In my experience, price of job has nothing to do with quality of work when it comes to contractors.

 

[ondarvr]

Luckily no permits are required here, and there's no problem in doing it yourself. 10 years ago I would have just Jumped on the roof and got it done, now I'm not sure I would survive the tear off of the old roofing materials. I have others coming out to give me bids, plus looking at going back to comp roofing, even one of my customers said he and his buddies were roofers at one time and would come out and bang out the job. Seven years ago I did the roof on a new addition over new large deck and it's in great shape. I may invest in more of those great looking blue tarps and wait for better weather and hire a few guys to help me do it.

 

[ondarvr]

I forgot to mention the other things going on. The roof on my shop was also damaged, the resulting leaked soaked the insultion and ceiling material and caused it to collapse. Cleaning up that mess has been fun too.

Then we get to discuss the yard, I live on a river, the county, state and other organizations just did some "riverbank enhancements" on the property just up river from mine, the changes they made caused the river to flow directly at my yard instead of just flowing past it. We had 4 floods starting Oct 31st to just after thanksgiving, my yard now has a new lagoon, it's about 10' deep and 100' X 100', there's other damage, but the lagoon is my biggest new water feature.

The corp of engineers came out and said its the worst damage they've seen related to the recent floods. They did say they're going to jump right on it, I'm not exactly sure what that means though.

 

[ondarvr]

Wow, it's surprising to me how roof prices very so much by geography. In central il, a 1300sf ranch house with hip roof is about 4500 for tear off and install. I estimate my current house to be about 35 square (1300sf second floor, 1800 1st floor w garage) and think I can get asphalt tear off and re roof for about 10k. Steel costs more, I think close to double. Where I'm at I'd be looking in the 20k range for that roof so 35k seems really high to me.

In my experience, price of job has nothing to do with quality of work when it comes to contractors.

They quoted $7,200 for tear off and disposal. But then discounted it a bit.

 

[bajaunderground]

They quoted $7,200 for tear off and disposal. But then discounted it a bit.

= We're too busy to make our standard profit