[Gracec2328]

I have been roofing new single family homes in one developement. The homes are all the same with 27 sq. The contractor is buying the shingles and Iam furnishing paper,tin tabs, nails, drip, valley, wall flash, ridge vent. To dry-in,metal installed, shingles, and material that i furnished I charged 1890.00. Also the job is Davis Bacon, $12.00 hr roofers. Payroll sheets everyweek. The job is 1-hour drive from my shop each way. The bid iwas told was for 1995.00 which includes everything, from a company that is still 1-hour away from the job. I would like to know how can this company do it for this and stay in business. I looked I think I clear about $300.00 per house. The most that are ready at one time are 2. Am i too high, I thought new const should go for around 100-125 per square not $74.00. Any one have any thoughts.

 

[pgriz]

We stay away from new construction because there's no money in it. The GC are trying to keep their costs down, and they have no incentive to pay for quality. We prefer to deal with homeowners who appreciate good workmanship and quality, and then we get paid what we consider is fair and reasonable.

 

[Grumpy]

If your profit is only $300 on a house you should thank the GC for firing you. I'm not going to try to figure out how the other roofer bid it but it doesnt seem like your too high at all. I think he made a mistake in his math OR this is also a possibility: perhaps you work in-effeciently. I've no idea how many squares your guys can lay in a day.

I personally make more than $300 on each house I sell and my primary role is the salesman.

 

[dougger222]

There can be tons of money to make in new contruction.

I do 80% of my work in the new contruction field and it's nice for job security. I do work for three builders that know quality and pay for it. I don't really care to say what I do anually but I know other roofers that bring in way over $100,000 per year only on new construction doing all the work with no employees.
In 1993 my fathers roofing business that did only new contruction did $240,000 in labor. After paying his subs by the square he was left paying taxes on $110,000. He papered in two houses that whole year, not even a full days work on the roof!!!

If you are only making $300 on a 27 square roof there is something really wrong the economy in your area. My uncle recently did a 12/12 new roof, he installed 30 year laminate shingles and was paid $2,800 for 17 squares of shingles. He bought no materials besides hammer tax and coil nails.

 

[Grumpy]

Douger, what you said about doing the work yourself is about the only way to make a profit in new const. 10-15% is commonly accepted as an overhead in new construction. 10-15%?! That's a salesmans commission. Where does the owners profit come from? Seems like the owner has to be the salesman, or is working for cost... but 10-15% is peanuts, so to increase profit you have to be one of the installers too. Pshaw. That's not the kind of work I want to be doing.

 

[dougger222]

There is no doubt better money in tear offs/re-roofs but they are very hard on the body. I usually make about twice the amount of money per hour doing tear offs but can only do one or two a week versus up to four new roofs a week.

For some reason new construction has been very busy for me lately. With a two day laps I have done 12 roofs in a row. At one point a month or so ago I had 6 roofs sitting.

 

[Grumpy]

One or two a week really? Our guys do them daily, 10 hour days 6 days a week. We hand nail everything also. I think you really get used to it if it's what you do.

 

[dougger222]

I would love to do one a day by myself.

By brother in laws old company did a house in half a day, cheap mexican labor.

 

[Grumpy]

Our crews are 4-6 men depending on roof size. We could easily do 20 squares in half a day. Actually on a 20 swquare roof 4 men might be overkill. I wouldn't say our labor is cheap even though a few are mexicans. We pay better than most of the roofers in our area.

LOL that reminds me of a story... We had two roofs one across the street from the other. Each was 17 squares, two layer tear off. One was a Friday job, the other was a saturday. Our guys finished the friday job so early they walked across the street and finished the saturday job before sun down.

 

[Gracec2328]

There is no doubt better money in tear offs/re-roofs but they are very hard on the body. I usually make about twice the amount of money per hour doing tear offs but can only do one or two a week versus up to four new roofs a week.

For some reason new construction has been very busy for me lately. With a two day laps I have done 12 roofs in a row. At one point a month or so ago I had 6 roofs sitting.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the range you charge for new roofs on new contruction?

 

[Grumpy]

I charge a min of $80 for labor only. This is ONLY for shingle install. Everything else costs. Chimney flash $100 (on average) roof to wall flashing extra. everything is extra. If I have to come back to a job site more than twice I charge extra.

 

[dougger222]

Grumpy, those are some tiny houses. The smallest one layer simple tear off that I have done was 28 sq's, which my little brother and I did in a day. We were done by supper time. My father and I did 28 tear offs in 1998, the year of the hail storm. Most jobs took one day with another helper. The smallest roof was 30 sq.

Gracec2328, I charge $30.00 base rate on any 6/12 or less. Each pitch goes up by $5. $5 per square extra for laminate and up to $5 per square extra for cut up. I don't charge for each bay window or ledge that I do. Then I charge for installing ice and water shield, $25 per roll on a 6/12 and $5 extra each pitch. For installing drip edge I go fifty cents a foot for 8/12 and under and a buck a foot anything over. Most framers cut the air vents/vent a ridge in, but if not I charge $2 per foot or $10 per vent. Some jobs I have to load the roof with shingles, price varies from $75 to $200.

On new contruction all I have to do is go to the job and roof the house. I don't have to measure the roof or order any materials, it's really cake work.

My prices have been the same since 1999 when I was higher than average. Now I'm average or lower for my area. This June I may up my prices a hair. Nails keep going up and up. For tear offs prices range from $150 to $225 a square for one layer jobs. Insurance companies pay up to $300 a squre for one layer 7/12 tear offs!!!

 

[richatnwt]

I'm building a new home - yes, I admit, I'm a homeowner - the roof is a total of about 32 squares - basically three, simple gable roofs in a row. The shingle price the GC quoted was $5000 for Landmark 50s and $6000 for labor. Based on what I see in this forum, that's highway robbery. I'm very concerned about quality, and not afraid to pay fairly for it, but I'd rather see my $ go to a good roofer than into the GC's pocket. Am I missing something here?

 

[Grumpy]

Douger, When we do new const we have to go measure, bid etc... It's like any other sale. Sure the GC's can probably figure it out and order the material for us and just tell us when to show up, BUT I bet they are hoping I make a mistake in my bid so they can take advantage of that.

Richatn, 32 squares, 30 year architectural, $11,000? Does that number include the roof framing as well?

quick math: $6,400 with all the bells and whistles (I know nothing about the arcitecture opf the roof, I am basing my number off my idea of what you described.)

 

[richatnwt]

I was figuring about $65/square for the shingles - including waste - and about $60/square for labor. That's why I was a little blown away by the $$. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[jmorgan]

In our area (ski town), there are lots of nice, custom homes. Most are 35sq+. Roofers up here cannot aford callbacks in the winter with 4' snow on them. The builders here are willing to pay for quality and service....most of the time. The ones that don't eventually have a problem and learn. I guess were lucky here, the builders have learned that going cheap on their roofs won't work. Sometimes even the best installations don't work. This house ia 88 sqs at 9,000 ft elevation. Giant ice dams. Even with full coverage Grace Ice & Water Shield, there are leaks. $3,000 for snow removal, just to get started! Found some shingle nails that penetrated the GIWS along a small gap in the plywood joint, under the top of this ice dam! Pretty insignificant error to cost this much to find & fix!
Jim

 

[jmorgan]

I don't get how this board works. I just posted a reply w/attachemnt photo. I see the paperclip in the list of threads, but no photo or attachment in the actual thread?? Where is the photo?
Jim

 

[Grumpy]

Morgan not actually sure where the phot went. Perhaps ask nate.