New House – New Roof. How much will it cost to put it up?

For the most part, people only know that house construction is expensive, in general. They aren’t familiar with the specifics and details of which processes and which materials take the largest chunk out of the budget. Roofing is definitely one of them. In this article, we’ll try to give our readers a general overview of roof costs. We’ll give a general estimation and tips that can help you better determine the cost of putting up a roof!

First things first – what constitutes roof costs?

You may have already suspected this, but roof costs are comprised of two variables – materials & labor. Even though the contractor can give you a single quote (with materials and labor included in the final price), it’s still a must-know.

For some countries, materials will be costlier than the labor, but usually the ratio is anywhere between 30:70 and 45:55 where labor is the more expensive part.

More expensive vs cheaper options

Next up is the choice of roofing material. You may have vast options but, depending on the structure of your home, you will likely be limited to 2 or 3 different roofing options. What you’re able to select depends on the slope angle of your roof and the construction of your house. Some roofing materials, like flashing on a roof can only be put up on a slope that’s no steeper than X-degree angle or no less.

There’s also the weight to factor in and the general aesthetics of your surroundings.

Cheaper options for roofing include concrete tiles, asphalt tabs, architectural roofs, wood and even rubber roofs. More expensive variants are tiles, copper, metal, slate and of course – solar shingles. The difference between solar shingles (usually most expensive) and wood can be as much as 8 times. So, for example, a medium-sized house (around 120 square meters or 1290 square feet) would require around €35,000 for solar panels (without government subsidies) and around €4,500 for a wooden roof.

How to save without compromising safety and quality?

With such an expensive undertaking on your hands, it’s very relevant to know how to save some money, right?

Well, you should know that a roof over your head is super important, hence you should only seek to save money IF it’s beneficial and won’t compromise the safety and integrity of the structure.

Save by looking for discounts on building materials for trusted brands. Also, you can go off of recommendations for contractors and maybe get a discount for that.

Never prefer contractors solely based on price and don’t try and save every single penny for roofing materials because that’s definitely won’t do any favours to help your comfort. Such savings might help you cut roofing project total by 10 or 20%, but this will soon evaporate because you’ll need more immediate repairs…