Metal Roofing Labor Costs

We are a custom residential roofing company who does a lot of copper bays, entry awnings & Standing Seam Steel roofing.
We are looking for experienced roofers who install Standing Seam Steel roofing.
I would like to know what the going rate is for labor & how professional was your job at that price?

We hire subs to do our labor due to a lot of reasons, main reason is we want specialized labor for each type of roof.
We have reciently been quoted $460 / square for LABOR ONLY on a project. The roof isn't complicated at all & there are not any access issues.
Last year, we had mixed results & a couple problem projects, but the rates we paid were $225 to $280 / square.
We supply all materials & tools.
What does everyone else pay? What kind of quality do you get?

Dan
EcoWise inc.

What type of metal are you talking about? If standing seam those are dangerously low. If some kind of metal shingle or the cheap imitation standing seam that menards sells, those prices are not at all out of line for easy basic new construction type jobs.

If you think you are getting good work at those prices, send those guys my way. I've got work for them.

We keep accurate records, so I can say that for 1" standing seam steel roofing with a mechanical double-lock, we run from 3 to 6 hours labor per square depending on complexity. We use motorized seamers, this saves a lot of time & effort.

We have just started offering a 1" nail-strip panel, the labor is supposed to be 30% less hours than double-lock. This will be a time & money saver.

We use a Swenson Shear Snap-Table. You line up the panels on a table, clamp them, grab a handle & ker-chunk, the seams are relief cut to any angle you want. A rotary shear cuts the length. This tool cuts roughly 70% of the time usually used to trim panels on a highly cut-up job. It wasn't cheap, but it will pay for it's self quickly.

So, on a simple Ranch, with no dormers, valleys or hips, we would quote 3 to 3 1/2 hours to install, tear-off is additional.

What do you average on jobs?

Dan

$500.00 per square labor for a stright rancher. Add dormas and other things, it goes up fast.

Maybe it is more appropriate to ask how much you charge jobs for daily labor. The tools & equipment we use cut labor effort & time a lot, so quoting dollars per square isn't going to be relevant unless you use the same tools.

How much do you charge your steel roofing jobs for labor?
What I am looking to compare to is, by example;

For a good "roofer", we charge our jobs $*** per 10 hour day.

For a "roofer helper" we charge our jobs $*** per 10 hour day.

For a "general laborer" we charge our jobs $*** per 10 hour day.

We recently had a Union Shop quote us $800 / day per roofer. We thought that this was quite high.

Dan Merrill
EcoWise inc

Eco, your initial post on this said you thought $225 to $280 per sq. was high. ( rates you paid )
I am going to presume that was the amount you paid for just laying the panels, not trim or underlayment, and on a straight run. If it includes more then panels I would very much like to see what kind of person and work one gets for that price.

Saving time does not always mean installations are up to par. Unless to the untrained eye.

Yes, the $225 - $280 is for field panels. We add for everything, rake trim, valleys, ridge, hips, etc. So the 225 to 280 is just the starting point.

Installing the field panels consistently take about 3 man hours per square, less if we are doing the hands-on supervision. We don't work the guys hard at all, we just use the best time saving tools & equipment.

We consistently get inquiries from subs that want to do our standing seam for $500+ per square, $500 is a tad much for 3 man-hours of work!

We recently got a quote for one of our jobs, it was $11,000 for labor alone for a 22 square, walkable 1 1/2 story, the only labor intensive area was about 22 feet of valley.

Dan Merrill
EcoWise inc.