Metal roof cost calculator

How to calculate metal roof cost

Metal roof cost is the roof's squares times the installed price per square from a metal bid, the same arithmetic as shingles but with a different price. A bid quoted per square foot converts by multiplying by 100. For a simple gable, the calculator also lays out panels: one run of panels per slope, as many as the coverage width fits along the eave.

Panels = ⌈(length + overhangs) ÷ coverage width⌉ × 2⌈50.00 ft ÷ 1.333 ft⌉ × 2 = 76 panels

Panel length = (width ÷ 2 + overhang) × pitch factor(16 + 1) × 1.0541 = 17.9 ft

Hips, valleys and dormers need cut panels and trim, so take the supplier's layout over this count; it is a check on the quantity in a bid, not a cut list. For irregular footprints, find the area with the square footage calculator first.

Metal vs. shingles: cost per year of service

A fair comparison divides each installed price by the years you expect each roof to last. The builders' life-expectancy study rates asphalt shingle roofs at about 20 years; its roofing table lists copper, clay and concrete roofs as lifetime materials but gives no figure for steel or aluminum panels.^[1] For the metal roof, use the term your bid or warranty states, and treat it as an assumption, not a promise.

With both prices and both lives entered, the calculator shows each roof's cost per year and how many shingle roofs you would buy over the metal roof's life, at today's prices.

Can a metal roof go over shingles?

Sometimes. The model code lets a new roof go over an existing one when it is a complete system that carries its loads to the building structure, the category some standing-seam metal systems fall into, but it bars a recover over a water-soaked or deteriorated roof, over slate or tile, and over two or more existing layers.^[2] The reroof cost calculator prices an overlay against a tear-off.

Worked example

1. Roof area: (48 + 2) × (32 + 2) × 1.0541 = 1,792 sq ft.
2. Squares with 10% waste: 19.7. Metal cost = 19.7 × the metal bid's price per square; shingle cost = 19.7 × the shingle bid's price.
3. Per year: divide each by its expected life. At 20 years for shingles, a metal roof that lasts twice as long can cost up to twice as much up front and still match the shingle roof per year.

National survey figures do not split roofing by material: the 2023 American Housing Survey's median roofing job was $10,000 for all materials together,^[3] and roofing averaged $16,732, or 3.9% of construction cost, on new homes in the builders' 2024 survey.^[4] Neither tells you the metal premium in your area; two bids do.

Financing a metal roof

Because a metal roof costs more up front, more owners borrow for it. Interest on a home equity loan or HELOC used for the roof can be deductible, since the IRS treats improvements that prolong the home's useful life as substantial improvements; using the money for anything else is not deductible.^[5] The CFPB reminds borrowers that a loan against the house puts the home at risk of foreclosure if payments are missed.^[6] See the payment on a line with the HELOC payment calculator, or compare loan types in the home improvement loan calculator.