How Much Does a Roof Replacement Cost?

Published: September 2026 | Reading Time: 12 minutes

A roof replacement costs around $9,600 to $10,800 on average in the USA, with most homeowners landing somewhere between about $5,700 and $16,000. The full spread runs much wider than that — a large tile or slate roof can pass $40,000 — because the price is driven by three things at once: the size of the roof, what goes on it, and what the crew finds once the old covering comes off.

This guide breaks down how roofers actually price the job, what each material costs, the line items that appear after the tear-off, and what a quote must say before you sign it.

What a Roof Replacement Costs Right Now

Angi’s 2026 data puts the national average at $9,607, with a typical range of $5,902 to $46,000 and installed pricing of $4 to $11 per square foot. HomeGuide’s guide, last updated in 2025, reports an average of $10,800 with most replacements between $5,700 and $16,000, or $3 to $6 per square foot installed.

Roof size	Published cost range
1,120 sq ft	$4,900–$12,300
1,800 sq ft	$8,800–$22,100
2,235 sq ft (about a 2,000 sq ft home)	$6,700–$13,400
2,460 sq ft	$10,700–$27,100
3,580 sq ft	$15,600–$39,400

Note that roof area is not house area. A 2,000 square foot home does not have a 2,000 square foot roof — pitch, overhangs and dormers push the actual surface higher, which is why a roofer measures rather than asking how big your house is.

How Roofers Price the Job

The roofing square

Roofers work in squares, and one square is 100 square feet. Installed pricing runs roughly $300 to $600 per square for a standard job, of which labour is about $150 to $300. When a quote is written in squares rather than square feet, multiply by 100 before comparing it with anything else.

Pitch and complexity

A steep roof is slower and more dangerous to work on, and it carries a surcharge — published figures put that at $1,000 to $3,000. Valleys, hips, dormers, skylights, chimneys and multiple levels all add cutting, flashing and time. Two roofs of identical area can differ by thousands on complexity alone.

Layers to remove

Tear-off is billed separately at roughly $1 to $5 per square foot, with heavier materials such as tile and slate at the top of that range. If a previous owner laid new shingles over old ones, you are paying to remove two layers rather than one, and that is a common source of a quote coming in above expectation.

Cost by Roofing Material

Material	Per square foot	Typical whole-roof range
Asphalt, 3-tab	$3–$5	$5,800–$20,000
Architectural shingles	$4–$6	Within the asphalt range, at the upper end
Metal	$5–$16	$5,700–$25,000
Tile	$7–$25	$8,500–$26,400
Slate	$10–$30	$5,800–$30,000
Wood shake	Varies by grade	$16,000–$27,000
Flat roofing	$3–$11	Depends heavily on membrane type

Material choice is not purely a budget decision. Heavier materials — tile and slate especially — can need structural reinforcement that a lighter roof does not, and that cost sits outside the roofing quote. If you are moving from asphalt to tile, ask whether the existing structure has been assessed to carry the weight before you compare prices.

Architectural shingles are worth knowing about because they are the common upgrade decision. They cost a little more per square foot than 3-tab, last longer and handle wind better, and on most homes the gap is small relative to the total.

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What Is Under the Shingles Decides the Final Bill

This is the part homeowners are least prepared for. Nobody knows the condition of the decking until the old roof is off, and rotten decking is not optional to replace — new shingles cannot be nailed reliably into soft wood.

Decking replacement runs about $2 to $5 per square foot installed. On a roof with a long-standing leak, that can add thousands to a job that was quoted assuming sound sheathing.

The other under-layer items matter too. Underlayment materials run roughly $0.10 to $0.80 per square foot, and ice and water shield in valleys and along eaves is a genuine performance item rather than an upsell in cold climates. Flashing around chimneys, valleys and wall junctions is where most roofs actually leak, and reusing old flashing to save a few hundred dollars is a false economy on a roof meant to last decades.

The Line Items People Forget

• Permits, published at roughly $100 to $1,400 depending on the jurisdiction and the scope.
• Steep-roof surcharge, commonly $1,000 to $3,000 where pitch requires extra safety measures.
• Disposal, including the dumpster and tipping fees for the old material.
• Ventilation, since ridge vents or replacement vents are often needed and are sometimes quoted separately.
• Gutters and drip edge, which are frequently damaged during tear-off or simply due for replacement at the same time.
• Roof inspection, around $240 if you commission one independently before deciding.
• General contractor fees, 15 to 25 percent of project cost where the roof is part of a larger job managed by someone else.
• Extended warranties, with contractor warranties published at $500 to $2,000 and manufacturer coverage from $500 upward.

Two Warranties, Two Different Promises

Roofing is one of the few trades where the warranty question genuinely decides which quote is better value, because the two warranties on offer cover different failures.

The manufacturer warranty covers the shingles themselves — a defective product. It is set by the manufacturer, not the roofer, and it usually says nothing about whether the roof was installed correctly.

The workmanship warranty is the roofer’s own promise, and it is the one that matters for the failures that actually happen: nails driven wrong, flashing badly detailed, valleys cut short. Ask for its length in writing, and ask what happens to it if the company closes — a twenty-year workmanship warranty from a two-year-old business is worth what the business is worth.

Some manufacturer warranties also require installation by a certified installer, or registration within a set window, to reach their full term. Ask which conditions apply to yours and who is responsible for meeting them.

Storm Damage, Insurance and the Knock at the Door

Roofing attracts more door-to-door activity than any other trade, and it spikes after storms. The Federal Trade Commission’s guidance on home improvement scams names exactly this pattern — unsolicited callers, pressure to decide immediately, and offers involving leftover materials from another job — and specifically warns that scammers target disaster victims.

None of that means every company that knocks is dishonest. It means the knock should not be what starts the process. If someone tells you your roof is damaged, get an independent inspection before agreeing to anything, and be wary of an offer to handle your insurance claim for you or to cover your deductible — the second of those is unlawful in a number of states.

If you are making a claim, photograph everything before any work begins, keep all documentation, and check your own policy for what it covers and what deadlines apply. Coverage for roof damage varies considerably between policies and often turns on the cause and the age of the roof, so read yours or ask your insurer rather than relying on a contractor’s assessment of what you are entitled to.

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What a Roofing Quote Should Spell Out

1. Business name, address, phone and licence number.
2. Measured roof area in squares or square feet, and the pitch.
3. Number of existing layers to be removed, and the tear-off price.
4. Shingle brand, line and colour, plus the underlayment specified.
5. Whether flashing, drip edge and valley material are new or reused.
6. Ventilation work included.
7. The decking clause — price per sheet and how many are already allowed for.
8. Ice and water shield coverage, where the climate calls for it.
9. Permit responsibility and whether the fee is inside the price.
10. Disposal, site protection for landscaping, and magnetic nail sweep at the end.
11. Manufacturer warranty and workmanship warranty, each with a duration.
12. Payment schedule, with what triggers each stage.

Get at least three written quotes on a job this size, and never pay the full amount before the work is done. The licence and insurance checks are the same ones worth running on any trade — the approach set out in how to verify a contractor’s licence and insurance transfers directly.

Repair, Replace, or Wait?

A few isolated missing shingles on an otherwise sound roof is a repair. Widespread granule loss, curling or cupping across whole slopes, daylight visible through the decking, or repeated leaks in different places point toward replacement.

Age matters as much as appearance, since a roof approaching the end of its expected service life will not repay a large repair. Angi’s figures suggest homeowners typically recoup 20 to 50 percent of a replacement’s cost at resale, which varies by local market — worth knowing if you are weighing the work against a move, though a failing roof also complicates a sale in ways the percentage does not capture.

Where a roofer recommends full replacement, ask to be shown the evidence: photographs of the damage, the granule loss, the soft decking. A company confident in its diagnosis will have taken the pictures already.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Sources

• Angi — How Much Does Roof Replacement Cost?
• HomeGuide — Roof Replacement Cost
• Federal Trade Commission — How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam