What Does a New Roof Cost?

We recently had a client come to us with a quandary. 

They needed a new roof. Their shingles were folding up and eroding. It looked terrible and they knew it was an issue – we didn’t have to tell them that.  We did tell them the facts though: that if they didn’t move fast, they might face damage to the interior parts of their home though and those would likely cost them far more than the roof repair.

Like most people in Regina, they didn’t have the time, knowledge or expertise to remove the old roof and replace it on their own.

But after getting a few quotes from different Regina Roofing companies, including us, Innovation Renovation – they weren’t sure they could afford to have the roof professionally replaced either.  They were taking the Professional Quotes that they received and comparing them with an estimate they came up with on their own, after estimating the square footage of their roof, garage and shed and figuring out what shingles and nails would cost at the local Home Supply Store.

So they thought they had a rough idea of the costs involved in replacing the roof . When they compared this to professional quotes, the do-it-yourself roofing option seemed far less expensive.
The problem was they didn’t know how to do it themselves and didn’t want to either.
And so, the quandary.

However, the issue they were struggling with was not some extra cost they were being charged – it was actually with the information they had in weighing the two options. 
They were comparing apples to oranges but not seeing it.

Here’s what they were doing:

Estimating the square footage of their roof and then calculating how many bundles of shingles it would take to cover that space (plus a guess at some labor costs.)
vs.
The estimate totals that they were getting from the local Regina Roofing companies.

Since the roofing quotes were more than double what they thought the replacement costs were, they were worried they were being taken advantage of, or misunderstood something major, yet they still couldn’t do the job themselves. This is actually a common experience for homeowners.

So, to help out, we’d like to offer some perspective on roofing costs and share them with you.

Roofing Costs – Factors to Consider

Here are some items you need to keep in mind when comparing the “cost” of “doing it yourself” to roofing quotes.

1. The Cost of your Time – not just for the actual work but for planning, buying supplies, transporting them etc.
2. The Cost of the stress that doing the job will cause you – this one is hard to calculate till after but if you’re not the handy type or have never done a roof repair – this could be significant!
3. The Potential Cost of an injury – What happens if you slip and fall? What if you just get a repetitive strain injury or hurt your back? What’s that going to cost in other areas of life?
4. The Cost of buying or renting tools and equipment. If you don’t own them already – you will need to rent them. 
5. The Cost of all your supplies (don’t just use shingles – remember to include: drip cap, underlay, lumber, new vents, nails, delivery of the shingles, etc…)
6. The Cost of hassling your friends or neighbors to help – or paying them to do so (even if its just beer and pizza)
7. The Cost of removing the old roof and transporting it to and discarding it at the dump.
8. The Cost of cleanup – not just on the roof but around your house as well
9. But most importantly we think the #1 cost you should consider when you think about a DIY Roof replacement is the cost of water damage to your home and your belongings if you don’t get your roof properly repaired or replaced before its too late. Or worse yet – doing it yourself and having issues with the roof afterwards.

Think about those costs/potential costs.
Put a real number besides each line on what you think those costs would be.
Then add up the lines and compare THAT total to the roofing estimates you are receiving from professionals.

Now you are comparing apples to apples and have much more accurate information on which to base a decision.  

We think, when you factor in all these things that it makes clear sense to hire a professional Roofer (like us) to do this important but difficult job.
 For most people, their home is their single largest investment. Isn’t it worth professionally protecting it from the elements?

By the way, did we mention we offer a 5 year guarantee on our work – on top of the 25-35 year guarantee you’ll get on the shingles?  Give us a call at 306-525-8344  and we’ll provide you a free and fair estimate on the cost of replacing your roof.