A single-story ranch house with half its gable roof stripped to pale wood decking and a black membrane along the eave, the other half covered in new charcoal shingles, bundles of shingles on the ridge and a rust tarp on the lawn.

How much does a new roof cost? A $15,105 bid, item by item

ByThe Homeowner Files

One ordinary roof priced from the permit to the peak, and the one number to settle before the old shingles come off.

After the last windstorm you picked three shingle tabs off the lawn, and every time it rains the gutter by the downspout collects another little drift of gray grit. The roof on your 1998 ranch is the one the builder put on, and it’s time. On the sample bid we built from published prices, a new one comes to $15,105, and the shingles you’ll spend an evening choosing are less than a quarter of that. Angi’s national average is $9,610,3 well below this bid, and a single average can’t show which of these pieces it covers.

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The short version

  • A full tear-off and new architectural shingles on your roof come to $15,105 on our sample bid.
  • The shingles are the only thing you pick, at $3,500. The other $11,605 is what we call The Backstage Costs: the permit, tearing off the old roof, the wood underneath, the metal edges, the layer under the shingles, the flashing, the labor and the vent.
  • How much of the wood under your shingles needs replacing shows up only once the old roof is off. So before that day, get the roofer’s price for replacing one sheet of it, in writing.
  • Tonight, pull out any roof quote you have and check which jobs it actually covers.

The setup

Your house is an 1,800 square foot one-story ranch with a simple two-sided roof and a moderate slope, rising 6 inches for every foot it runs. A house like that has about 2,000 square feet of roof.1 Roofers price by the “square,” which is 100 square feet of roof,1 so yours is about 20 squares.

What’s up there now is the original roof from 1998: one layer of 3-tab shingles, the cheapest kind, flat and uniform.1 Those usually last 15 to 20 years,1 and yours is 28 years old. A brick chimney comes up through one side, the garage roof meets the house wall along another, three plumbing pipes poke through near the back, and four box-shaped vents sit in a row below the peak.

The job you want is a full replacement: strip the old roof down to the wood, fix whatever wood needs fixing, and put on architectural shingles, which are thicker and last longer.1 One roofing company does all of it, and its prices already cover running the job.

The bid, item by item

The chart shows the whole sample bid, biggest cost first. If you want every number, open the table under it.

Bar chart of the nine items of the roof bid, largest first, with each item's share and the eight Backstage Costs in rust.
The nine items of the roof bid, largest first. The rust bars are The Backstage Costs.
See every number behind the bars (the full table)
Item Low Typical High Materials Labor and fees Share
1. Architectural shingles, 20 squares, material only $2,000 $3,500 $5,000 $3,500 none 23%
2. Permit $100 $300 $500 none $300 2%
3. Tear-off and disposal, one layer $1,500 $3,000 $4,500 none $3,000 20%
4. Decking replaced, 10 sheets, 320 sq ft $640 $1,120 $1,600 $560 $560 7%
5. Drip edge, 180 linear feet $270 $405 $540 $202 $203 3%
6. Underlayment, with ice barrier at the eaves $380 $1,080 $1,780 $1,080 none 7%
7. Flashing at the chimney, wall and vent pipes $400 $700 $1,000 $350 $350 5%
8. Installation labor, 20 squares $3,000 $4,500 $6,000 none $4,500 30%
9. Ridge vent $300 $500 $650 $250 $250 3%
Total $8,590 $15,105 $21,570 $5,942 $9,163 100%

Built from published price ranges. Shares are rounded, and the math is under “How we built the bid”.

Most of the money pays people rather than buying materials: about three fifths of the bid is labor and fees. Where you live matters too, because roof prices run higher in some states than in others.1

Why does Angi say a roof costs $9,610?

That number is an average of 32,999 jobs,3 and Angi puts the average home’s roof at a smaller size than yours.3 A single average also mixes many kinds of jobs, so it can’t tell you which of them tore off the old roof and which simply added a new layer of shingles on top.

Other national guides land around $10,000,1, 4, 10 and the chart sets them beside your bid. Each average is a single number, so it can’t show whether the new wood, the metal edges, new flashing and a vent along the peak are in it. This bid prices every one of them.

Bars comparing four published roof averages, each near $10,000, with the bid and Remodeling magazine's much larger job.
Published roof averages beside the bid, and Remodeling magazine's much larger, fully detailed job.

At the far end of the chart, Remodeling magazine prices a much bigger and more detailed job, a 30-square roof with two skylights, at $31,871.5, 6 Your roof is smaller and simpler, so it costs far less.

And no average knows what’s under your shingles, because nobody has seen it yet. The deck, the wood the shingles are nailed to, has been covered since 1998, and it can move your price by thousands of dollars. It’s not a shingle question. It’s a deck question, and the answer shows up on tear-off day.

What you can settle ahead of time is the price of fixing it. We call it The Sheet Price: what the roofer charges to replace one sheet of that wood, agreed in writing before the old roof comes off.

Who pulls the permit, and what does tear-off cost?

The job starts with a permit, $300 on this bid,1 though some permits cost several times that.2 It’s often easiest to let the roofer handle it, since approvals can take weeks,3 and a proper permit also protects you in later inspections and insurance claims.7

Then the crew strips the old shingles down to the wood and hauls them away, for $3,000.2 Nails from the old roof can scatter into the yard and driveway, and a rolling magnetic nail sweeper picks up the ones left behind.

Here’s your first real decision. Because your roof has only one layer, building code may let a roofer nail new shingles right over the old ones, as long as the old roof isn’t soaked or worn out.9 Skipping the tear-off would save that $3,000. But a second layer shortens the new roof’s life,1 and it makes rot and leaks harder to find.2 On a 28-year-old roof that’s shedding grit, the bid tears it off. Ask the roofer: “Is tear-off down to the bare wood in your price, and does it include the dumpster and the haul?”

An asphalt roof partly stripped, old shingles torn back to show pale wood decking scattered with nails, the sheets nearest the gutter darkened by water stains.
A roof partly stripped to the deck on tear-off day, with water-stained decking near the eave.

What happens if the wood underneath is soft?

With the shingles off, the deck sees daylight for the first time since 1998, and this is the one item nobody can count before that morning. The deck is the layer of wood boards the shingles are nailed to, and when it’s damaged, it’s usually from water.7 The bid sets aside $1,120 for it, enough for 10 sheets.

Replacing one standard 4 by 8 sheet costs $112 on this bid. That’s The Sheet Price, and the chart shows how much it moves from a low published price to a high one.1

Three bars for one sheet of decking installed: $64 at the low end, $112 in the middle and $160 at the high end of published prices.
The Sheet Price: one 4 by 8 sheet of decking, installed, from a low published price to a high one.

The first decision here is what kind of wood. OSB, a board pressed from wood strands, costs less and is the more popular choice, while plywood is stronger.7 OSB is strong enough for most homes,7 so the bid uses it.

The bigger decision is how much to set aside. If every sheet is sound, the $1,120 comes off and the roof costs $13,985. If the whole deck has to go, the roof comes to $20,985 (the math is in “How we built the bid”). Ask for that price per sheet in the contract, and let the count fall where it falls. Try this before you sign: “What’s your price per sheet of decking, installed, and will you show me each sheet before you replace it?”

What goes down before the first shingle?

Before a single shingle goes on, the crew lays what goes underneath. First comes the drip edge, the bent metal strip along the roof’s edges that steers water into the gutter.1 The national model building code calls for it along the edges of shingle roofs,9 and yours costs $405.

Then comes the underlayment, a synthetic sheet over the whole deck, under the shingles. Where ice tends to build up along the edges in winter, code also calls for an ice barrier, a sticky waterproof layer along the bottom of the roof.9 Together they’re $1,080 on this bid.

Your local code decides whether your area needs the ice barrier,9 so in a warm climate it may come off. Your own choice is whether to go further and put the waterproof layer over the whole roof instead of just the bottom edge, which would add about $820 (see “How we built the bid”).4 The question for the estimator: “Is the drip edge new metal on every edge, and where does the ice barrier start and stop?”

Why replace flashing that isn’t leaking?

With the underlayment down, the crew gets to the chimney. Flashing is the thin sheet metal that seals the spots where water tries to get in: around the chimney, along the garage wall and around the three pipes.1, 9 The bid replaces all of it for $700.1

Close-up of an old brick chimney meeting asphalt shingles, with dull, dented metal flashing and cracked sealant along its base.
The old flashing where a chimney meets the roof.

The decision is replace or reuse. Most roofers include new flashing in their estimate,1 and patching the old metal costs less,1 so a roofer who reuses the chimney flashing could quote you less. The bid replaces it anyway, because the shingles it was sealed against are already in the dumpster. On a new roof, the code also calls for replacing any old flashing that’s rusted or damaged.9 Put this to the roofer in writing: “Are you replacing the chimney and wall flashing or reusing it, and are new rubber boots on the vent pipes in your price?”

What does $4,500 of labor buy?

Now the shingles go on. Installation is the biggest item on the bid: $4,500 to lay the underlayment, the ice barrier and 20 squares of shingles.1, 4 On an asphalt roof the job takes one to three days, and cold weather below about 40 degrees holds it up.1

Slope can raise this price. Roofs steeper than yours need extra safety gear and more labor,1 and a steep roof can add up to $3,000.2 Yours sits right at that cutoff, so your labor price is the standard one. Ask: “Is your labor price set for this slope, and what happens to the schedule if the weather drops below 40 degrees?”

Why swap the box vents for a ridge vent?

The last job is the peak, where the bid swaps your four box vents for one vent that runs the length of the peak, for $500.8 A box vent lets air out through one small opening, so an attic often needs several of them, each with its own hole in the roof.8 A ridge vent is the most effective kind that works without power.8

Four new box vents would cost about $2,000, so the ridge vent costs less (see “How we built the bid”).8 Closing up the old holes is extra work, though,8 so make sure it’s in the price. Ask the crew lead: “Does the ridge vent price include cutting the slot at the peak and patching the old vent holes?”

The one thing you pick, the shingle

You pick one item on this bid, the shingles, at $3,500.1 It’s the item with the color chart, and it’s less than a quarter of the money. It still has two catches a sample board won’t show you.

The first is the grade. Plain 3-tab shingles, the kind you have now, would cost about $1,400 less for your roof (see “How we built the bid”).1 But they last 15 to 20 years instead of 20 to 30,1 so the cheaper shingle buys a shorter-lived roof, the same kind you’re replacing.

The second is the warranty. The shingle maker’s warranty and the roofer’s own workmanship warranty can each add hundreds or even thousands of dollars when they aren’t in the base price.3 A roofer’s warranty often covers checkups and small repairs, like missing shingles.3 Before you sign, ask the salesperson: “Which shingle is this, and which warranty, the manufacturer’s or yours, is in this price?”

Short, medium and long: three budgets for the same roof

The only thing that changes in these three budgets is the deck: every sheet sound, 10 sheets replaced as in the bid, or the whole deck replaced.

Three bars: the same roof with a sound deck, with ten sheets replaced and with the whole deck replaced, the whole deck the longest.
The same roof with three different decks under it.

So on your roof the deck is the biggest unknown, bigger than the choice of shingle, and The Sheet Price is how you know what each sheet will cost before tear-off day.

The finished roof

From the street, you see charcoal shingles with a little shadow under every tab, a clean metal edge along the bottom and no boxes below the peak. Most of what you paid for, you can’t see: the new sheets in the deck, each one at the price you agreed to before tear-off, the waterproof layer at the edges, new metal around the chimney and the vent along the peak.

What to do tonight

Tonight, pull any roof quote you have and look for these jobs: tear-off down to the wood, the dumpster, decking priced by the sheet, the drip edge, the underlayment and ice barrier, the flashing and the ridge vent. For each one, ask whether it’s included in another price, listed as a placeholder amount, or missing. In daylight, a pair of binoculars from the yard shows the chimney flashing and any missing shingle tabs, so you can match what you see to the quote. If you want a one-page sheet for comparing three bids side by side, drop your email here.

How we built the bid

Most items use the middle of a published national range for a 20-square roof, about 2,000 square feet.

  • Shingles, $3,500. 20 squares at $175, the middle of HomeGuide’s $100 to $250 a square for architectural shingles, material only.1 Plain 3-tab shingles at $105 a square, the middle of $80 to $130, would be $2,100, which is $1,400 less.1
  • Permit, $300. The middle of HomeGuide’s $100 to $500.1 HomeAdvisor’s range runs up to $1,400.2
  • Tear-off, $3,000. The middle of HomeAdvisor’s $1,000 to $3,000 for removal plus $500 to $1,500 for hauling and disposal.2 The tear-off works out to $150 a square, inside HomeGuide’s $100 to $300.1
  • Decking, $1,120. 320 square feet at $3.50, the middle of HomeGuide’s $2 to $5 installed.1 Ten sheets is our own estimate. A 4 by 8 sheet is 32 square feet, so The Sheet Price is $112, and $64 to $160 across the range.
  • Drip edge, $405. 180 feet of eaves and rakes, our estimate for this ranch, at $2.25, the middle of $1.50 to $3.00.1
  • Underlayment and ice barrier, $1,080. 2,000 square feet at $0.45, the middle of $0.10 to $0.80 for materials,1 is $900. 120 feet of eaves times a 3-foot strip is 360 square feet, and at Fixr’s $0.50 that’s $180.4 Covering all 2,000 square feet would be $1,000, or $820 more.
  • Flashing, $700. The middle of HomeGuide’s $400 to $1,000 to replace it all; repairs run $200 to $500.1
  • Labor, $4,500. 20 squares at $225, the middle of HomeGuide’s $150 to $300.1 Labor and fees total $9,163 of $15,105, about 61 percent, against This Old House’s 65 percent.10
  • Ridge vent, $500. Angi’s average, inside its $300 to $650; Angi puts the labor at $100 to $400, and we counted $250 as labor. A box vent runs about $500 each, so four would be $2,000.8
  • Materials and labor. For decking, drip edge and flashing we applied the middle of Fixr’s 40 to 60 percent labor share.4
  • One trade. The roofer is the contractor, so these installed prices already carry its overhead and profit. If a general contractor runs your roof as part of a bigger job, Angi puts that fee at 15 to 25 percent.3
  • Three budgets. A sound deck takes off the $1,120, for $13,985. A whole new deck is 2,000 square feet at $3.50, or $7,000, in place of the $1,120, for $20,985.1
  • Averages. Angi’s $9,610 comes from 32,999 projects, and Angi puts the average home’s roof at 1,300 to 1,800 square feet.3 Fixr’s average is $10,000.4 This Old House prices a 2,000 square foot asphalt roof at $10,319.10 HomeGuide’s average is $10,800.1 Remodeling’s Cost vs Value job, 30 squares, costs $31,871, more than twice the bid.5

Sources

  1. HomeGuide, “How Much Does a Roof Replacement Cost? (2026)” (2025-11-07). https://homeguide.com/costs/roof-replacement-cost – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  2. HomeAdvisor, “How Much Does Roof Replacement Cost in 2025?” (2026-06-17). https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/roofing/install-a-roof/ – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  3. Angi, “How Much Does Roof Replacement Cost? [2026 Data]” (2026-10-22). https://www.angi.com/articles/how-much-does-roof-replacement-cost.htm – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  4. Fixr, “How Much Does a Roof Replacement Cost? [2026 Data]” (2026-02-04). https://www.fixr.com/costs/roof-replacement – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  5. Journal of Light Construction (Remodeling Cost vs Value), “Cost vs Value 2025: National averages” (2025). https://www.jlconline.com/cost-vs-value/2025/national/ – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  6. Journal of Light Construction (Remodeling Cost vs Value), “Roofing Replacement | Asphalt Shingles” (2025-06-20). https://www.jlconline.com/cost-vs-value/roofing-replacement-asphalt-shingles/ – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  7. Angi, “How Much Does Roof Decking Cost to Replace? [2026 Data]” (2026-10-22). https://www.angi.com/articles/roof-sheathing-cost.htm – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  8. Angi, “How Much Does a Roof Ridge Vent Cost to Install? [2026 Data]” (2026-09-24). https://www.angi.com/articles/ridge-vent-cost.htm – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  9. International Code Council, “Chapter 9 Roof Assemblies – 2021 International Residential Code (IRC)” (2021). https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IRC2021P2/chapter-9-roof-assemblies – retrieved 2026-10-26.
  10. This Old House, “How Much Does a New Roof Cost? (2026)” (2026-10-07). https://www.thisoldhouse.com/roofing/new-roof-cost – retrieved 2026-10-26.

About this article

How this article was made: The Homeowner Files uses AI tools to help research, draft and illustrate articles. Every cost figure traces to a public source listed under Sources, and a person reviews and approves each article before it publishes.

All content on The Homeowner Files reflects general industry knowledge and publicly available data. It is not construction, legal, financial, or professional advice. Consult licensed professionals for your specific project. None of it reflects the views, positions, or confidential information of any employer.

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