The price is the price.
Most roofers won't tell you what a roof costs until a salesman is sitting at your kitchen table. Here's ours — published, itemized, and the same for everybody.
Here's what a roof costs. Actually.
Prices are per square — roofing's unit for 100 sq ft of roof surface — and include panels, trim, underlayment, and our in-house crew. A typical Michigan home runs 15–30 squares.
| System | Installed Price | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Standing Seam | $— per square, installed Upgrade: 24 ga Kynar® steel +$—/sq |
The premium system — hidden fasteners, 26-gauge steel, the forever-home pick. Tear-off and snow rail included. |
| Exposed Fastener | $— per square, installed Upgrade: 26 ga steel +$—/sq |
The value system — same steel, simpler install, budget-smart. Tear-off and snow rail included. |
| Where you land in the range | Your report decides criteria published, not negotiable |
Simple — plain gable or hip, no valleys. Standard — a typical home: some valleys, a dormer or chimney. Complex — heavy valleys, many facets, wall lines. All measured from your aerial roof report — not a salesman's read of your driveway. |
| Steep pitch | +$— · +$— per square — 8/12 – 10/12 · 11/12 – 12/12 |
Steep roofs are slower and need more safety setup. Steeper than 12/12 (mansard-style faces): +$40/sq per pitch step past 12 — an extreme roof can price past the top of the range, by the same public math. |
| Premium color | +$— per square, if you pick one |
Frost and Matte finishes, Patina Green. Copper Penny is +$—/sq — its paint genuinely costs about a third more, so it carries its own rate. The other 22 colors cost nothing extra. |
| Tear-off & disposal | Included 1 layer · extra layers +$—/sq |
Removing and hauling the old roof is in the base price. Going over one clean layer (exposed fastener) or starting from a bare deck? −$— per square back to you. |
Project minimum: $— · Pricing last reviewed: —
Real roofs, broken down to the dollar.
Actual roofs — steel rolled in our Leslie shop, installed by our own crews — priced line by line at the published rates above, from their real aerial measurements. Add each one up yourself.
Every total above is one exact number, not a range — the line items add up to it to the dollar. Your aerial roof report confirms the tier and the measurements against the published criteria; if they come back different, the same public math produces the new number and you approve it before anything happens.
What drives the price up
- Roof size — more squares, more steel, more hours. The single biggest factor.
- Pitch — steep roofs are slower and need more safety setup. A 12/12 costs real money over a 4/12.
- Complexity — every hip, valley, dormer, and dead-end costs trim, cuts, and time. That's what moves you through the range: the three roof tiers, criteria published in the table above.
- Extra tear-off layers — the first layer is included; each additional layer is +$— per square.
- Premium finishes — Frost, Matte, Patina Green (+$—/sq), Copper Penny (+$—/sq), the 24-gauge Kynar® spec (+$—/sq), or 26-gauge exposed fastener (+$—/sq). A few specialty Kynar coils add their own per-square amount on top — metallics like Copper Penny and Weathered Zinc +$20, Western Rust +$100, Vintage +$175 — shown right on the swatch in the Build Your Roof tool.
- Extras — chimneys, skylights, single-bubble insulation. All priced in the table below, none discovered mid-job.
What drives the price down
- Going over one clean layer (exposed fastener) or starting from a bare deck — −$— per square comes off, because we are not tearing anything off.
- A simple roof — two big planes and a ridge is the cheapest shape there is.
- Walkable pitch — faster, safer, fewer crew-hours per square.
- Standard colors — 22 of our most popular colors are included at base price.
- Exposed fastener — same steel, simpler system, roughly a third less than standing seam.
- What doesn't move it at all — your neighborhood, the car in the driveway, or how hard you negotiate. One price, everybody.
The add-ons, priced too.
This is the stuff other quotes hide in the fine print — or "discover" halfway through the job. Here's every one of ours, with the number attached.
| Add-on | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Chimney package | $— per chimney |
Chimney flashing bent in-house, counter flashing cut into brick, sealed and done. Sided chimneys run less. |
| Skylight — new unit | $— per skylight |
Replaced with a brand-new unit and flashed into the new roof — never resealing a 20-year-old skylight under brand-new steel. |
| Snow rail | Included every eave, color-matched |
Snow retention above every eave is part of the base price — doors, walks, and gutters protected without an upsell. |
| Single-bubble insulation | +$— per square · standing seam only |
A reflective thermal break under the panels — cooler attic in the summer, quieter rain, condensation control. Worth it over living space; skip it on a barn. |
| Deck repair | $— per square affected |
Only if we find rot at verification — you see photos and approve it before a single sheet goes down. Never a mid-job surprise. |
| Pipe boots & vents | Included every penetration |
High-temp boots on every pipe, kits on every bath and kitchen exhaust — flashed, color-matched, part of the price. |
| Ridge venting | Included standing seam |
Vented ridge system built into the roof itself. Your attic breathes without ugly bolt-on vents. |
| 40-yr finish warranty | Included every panel, in writing |
The paint system is warranted against excessive fade, chalking, and peeling for 40 years. |
| Weather-Tight warranty | Included 20-yr standing seam · 10-yr exposed fastener |
The system itself is warranted weather-tight — on top of the finish warranty and our workmanship. |
What's actually in every square.
"Per square, installed" isn't hand-waving — it's a specific bill of materials plus our own crew. If another quote is cheaper, hand them this list and ask what they cut.
Standing Seam includes
- Tear-off & disposal of one existing layer
- 26-gauge steel panels, roll-formed by Platinum Metals Michigan in Leslie, MI and cut to your roof to the inch
- Hidden clip-and-screw fastening — zero exposed fasteners on the roof surface
- Synthetic underlayment across the whole deck, Ice & Water shield at eaves and valleys
- Every trim piece — ridge, valley, eave, rake, sidewall, endwall — bent in-house to match
- Built-in vented ridge, butyl-sealed under the cap
- Snow rail on every eave, color-matched
- Color-matched rivets, caulk, and closures throughout
- High-temp boots and vent kits on every penetration
- Our own in-house crew — never subs — plus full cleanup and magnet sweep
- 40-year finish warranty and our workmanship warranty, in writing
Exposed Fastener includes
- Tear-off & disposal of one existing layer (or the −$100/sq credit if we skip it)
- Ultra Pro steel panels, 36" coverage, rolled by the same Leslie, MI mill and cut to length
- Color-matched screws that disappear into the panel
- 1×4 furring strips over the old roof — a straight, vented base for the new one
- Synthetic underlayment plus Ice & Water shield at eaves and valleys
- Full trim set — ridge, valley, rake, gutter apron, walls — bent in-house
- Vented ridge closures and foam closures at every edge that needs them
- Snow rail on every eave, color-matched
- High-temp boots and vent kits on every penetration
- Same in-house crew, same cleanup, same magnet sweep
- 40-year finish warranty and our workmanship warranty, in writing
The expensive roof is the one you buy three times.
Yes — a metal roof costs more up front than shingles. Nobody hides that. Here's the same 20-square house over 45 years, and why the sticker price is the wrong number to compare.
Illustrative, in plain dollars: 20-square roof; standing seam at our published mid-range ($30K); architectural shingles ≈ $550/sq installed today, replaced every ~15 years with conservative price growth. Shingle prices have actually risen much faster than that over the last 15 years. Not a quote — build yours instead.
By the second shingle re-roof you've nearly matched the metal price. By the third you've passed $40K — on a roof that's never more than 15 years from another tear-off. The metal roof is still on its first (and only) install, still under its 40-year finish warranty. That's the whole argument for the name.
Why is one roofer half the price of another?
Get three metal-roof quotes and they can be $20,000 apart for the same house. That's not random — it comes from how each company is built. No trash talk, just the mechanics:
Commissioned salesmen (often 8–12% of the job), paid lead-generation, subcontracted crews with a markup on top, and a big office to feed. The roof on the truck is the same — you're paying for the kitchen-table pitch that sold it. That's also where "sign tonight and I'll knock off $4,000" comes from: the discount was padding.
Thin farm-grade panel sold as house roofing, crews paid by the square racing the clock, flashing details skipped where you can't see them, no real warranty behind the paperwork, sometimes no insurance. The cheapest bid is usually the most expensive per year of roof you actually get.
Our steel comes mill-direct from Platinum Metals Michigan — people we've worked alongside for years, thirty minutes from the roofs we put it on — and our own employed crews install it. That strips out the overhead of the expensive quote without cutting the corners of the cheap one — and it's exactly why we can publish these numbers.
Is a metal roof actually worth it?
Honestly: not for everyone. We sell metal roofs and we'll still tell you when the answer is no.
Worth it when…
- This is your long-term home — 10+ years. The lifetime math above does the talking.
- You're done re-roofing — you want the last roof, not the next roof.
- Michigan is Michigan — snow sheds, ice doesn't dam the same way, 60-mph gusts don't lift panels like they lift shingles.
- Resale matters — "new metal roof" is a line that moves appraisals and buyers.
Honestly not worth it when…
- You're selling within ~5 years — you likely won't recoup the premium over a fresh shingle roof. Shingle it and move.
- Your roof has 10 good years left — keep your money. Seriously. Call us in a decade.
- The budget is strained — a properly installed architectural-shingle roof is a fine roof. A metal roof financed painfully isn't a win.
- You want this exact look gone in 7 years — metal is a commitment; that's the point of it.
We'd rather tell you "not yet" today and be the first call you make in ten years than talk you into the wrong roof now.
The stuff people actually ask.
Is the number the builder shows really my price?
Is the price guaranteed once I have it?
Will steel prices change these numbers?
Do you offer financing?
Can I negotiate? Is there a "sign tonight" price?
What hidden costs should I expect?
Why do you publish prices when no other roofer will?
Build your roof. See your price.
Two minutes, real numbers, zero pressure — pick your system and color, describe your roof, and watch the price build itself.
Real people · Fast answers · No call center in between