Tool 1 of the Get Paid Kit · For roofers

Roofer Hourly Rate Calculator

This free calculator works out the hourly rate a self-employed roofer should charge for their time, starting from the income you need, then builds the day rates, repair call-outs and re-roof prices clients actually pay out of the hours a roof really holds. Clients rarely buy “an hour of roofing”; they buy a house that stays dry — the stripped-back inspection, the felt and battens, the tiles laid true and the ridge finished before the weather turns. The tiles, membrane and fixings are materials, billed as their own line; the rate prices your skill, your head for heights and your hours. With the honest presets below the rate lands near $106 an hour, $847 for a full day — and the jobs built from it: a leak repair starting at two hours door to door, $212 — with a small re-roof at forty hours, $4,233 of labour, about $282 a square across fifteen squares.

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The pricing reality for roofers

A roof is bought flat and earned across more hours than the finished slope suggests. Inside the price sit the inspection clamber, the strip-back, the felt and batten work nobody will ever see, the laying, the ridge and the tidy-up — plus the days the weather simply cancels. A rate copied from the roofer across town carries all of that whether it covers it or not. Price the hour first, and the job becomes an assembly: so many hours of your skill, at height, at a rate that adds up.

Access and materials are separate honesties. Tiles, slates, membrane, battens and fixings are bought for the job and billed as their own line — at cost or with a stated mark-up, agreed up front. Scaffolding and access hire belong to the job’s line too, not buried in your hour. A roofer who buries either inside a rate looks expensive on a small repair and bleeds money on a re-roof. Your rate prices time, skill and nerve; the roof’s ingredients are the client’s, on the client’s line.

The numbers below are starting presets, not a survey: a $58,000 target income, $18,200 a year of expenses — vehicle and fuel leads, with ladders, access equipment and scaffold hire, tools and nailer upkeep, liability and height-work insurance, waste disposal, PPE and safety gear, marketing and admin, and phone and software — a 25% tax estimate, four weeks of vacation, a 40-hour week and 55% billable time. With those starting numbers the calculator lands near $106 an hour.

Your numbers — roofer presets

Your recommended rate

$0 / hour
$0Day rate (8 hours)
0Billable hours per year
Income + expenses needed$0
Grossed up for tax$0
With profit margin$0
Working weeks0
Total working hours0
Billable hours0

Your rate is saved on this device only, so the Proposal Generator can show it when you price a project.

Easy to miss

Costs roofers forget to put in the rate

  • The rained-off days. Weather cancels roofing without asking. Those days earn nothing and still cost — the billable share in the presets already assumes they exist. A rate built on an always-dry year is a fair-weather fiction.
  • The access. Scaffolding, towers and ladder hire vary by job and belong on the job’s line, quoted per job — but the deposits, the waiting days and the hire extensions when weather pushes a job are costs your planning must carry, not surprises.
  • The height-risk cover. Liability insurance that actually covers work at height costs more than the generic policy, for a clear reason. The cheap policy that excludes your real work is not a saving; it is an uninsured rate wearing a certificate.
  • The strip-back and disposal. Old tiles, felt and battens come off and must go somewhere legal. Skip hire and disposal fees are job costs — agreed on the quote, not absorbed quietly into your hour.
  • The ladder and nailer wear. Access gear, nail guns, cutters and safety lines wear, fail inspection and get replaced. Their upkeep is paid by the rate or by the overdraft; a rate that ignores it borrows from the next failure.
The maths

How this calculator works

Start with the hours you can genuinely sell. Take 52 weeks, subtract your vacation weeks, multiply by your hours per week, then multiply by your billable percentage. With the roofer presets — four weeks off, 40 hours a week, 55% billable — that is 1,056 billable hours a year: the stripping, laying, flashing and finishing clients can pay for, once quoting, travel, rained-off days and scaffold waits have taken theirs.

Next, work out what those hours must bring in. Add your desired income and your annual business expenses together — $76,200 on the presets — gross the total up for tax by dividing by one minus your tax rate — at a 25% estimate, divide by 0.75 to get $101,600 — then add your profit margin to reach $111,760 and divide by your billable hours. That final number, $106, is the rate below which the year stops adding up.

Now translate the hour into the prices clients actually buy. A full day on the roof is the day rate, $847. A leak repair — diagnose, strip, re-flash and seal — starts with a two-hour minimum door to door, $212, because the driving, the laddering and the making safe are half the job. A small re-roof at about forty hours across a week is $4,233 of labour — spread over fifteen squares, about $282 of labour a square — with tiles, membrane, battens and the scaffold on their own lines, agreed before the strip-back starts. What never works is copying the per-square price from the roofer across town: his pitches, his access and his weather are not yours.

Disclaimer: This is a planning estimate, not tax advice. Tax rates, deductions and allowances vary by country, state and business structure. Enter the rate you expect to pay, and check significant decisions with a qualified accountant.
Next: build a proposal with this rate Use the general rate calculator
Questions

Roofer rate questions

No — keep them as their own line. Tiles, slates, membrane and battens vary enormously between roofs; buried inside a rate they make a small repair look dear and a re-roof quietly loss-making. Bill materials at cost, or with a stated mark-up agreed in advance — the mark-up honestly covers your ordering, your merchant account and your time matching a discontinued tile. The rate stays for what it should price: your hours, your skill and your nerve at height.
You price the work, and you agree the weather rules in writing before the job starts: which days count as lost, whether standing time is charged, and who pays when a hire period stretches because rain pushed the job. Inside your own maths, lost days are already real — the presets bill only 55% of the year precisely because roofs cannot be laid in every weather. What never works is silently carrying all the weather risk yourself and discovering in November that the rate funded it.
For an established solo roofer, yes, as a starting point: quoting, measuring, travel between roofs, rained-off days and waiting on scaffolds take the rest. In a wet season or a quiet market, set it lower and let the rate rise to tell you the truth — the calculator is not being unkind, it is showing what the year needs. As the diary fills with booked re-roofs, the same expenses spread over more billable hours and the rate can ease, or the income can grow.

Rates differ by trade — the same maths runs with different presets for graphic designer rates, freelance writer rates, web developer rates, marketing consultant rates, photographer rates, video editor rates, virtual assistant rates, social media manager rates, bookkeeper rates, translator rates, business coach rates, illustrator rates, copywriter rates, UX designer rates, SEO consultant rates, data analyst rates, motion designer rates, technical writer rates, podcast editor rates, email marketer rates, life coach rates, proofreader rates, event planner rates, voice actor rates, online tutor rates, personal trainer rates, interior designer rates, music producer rates, grant writer rates, UX researcher rates, book editor rates, transcriptionist rates, presentation designer rates, brand strategist rates, video producer rates, art director rates, WordPress developer rates, mobile app developer rates, 3D artist rates, game developer rates, Shopify developer rates, online business manager rates, podcast producer rates, data entry specialist rates, UX writer rates, copy editor rates, wedding photographer rates, resume writer rates, data scientist rates, instructional designer rates, business analyst rates, email designer rates, interpreter rates, audiobook narrator rates, landscape designer rates, wedding planner rates, wedding videographer rates, personal chef rates, dog trainer rates, music teacher rates, florist rates, cake baker rates, tour guide rates, pet groomer rates, house painter rates, handyman rates, locksmith rates, home organizer rates, pressure washer rates, carpet cleaner rates, chimney sweep rates, pool cleaner rates, window cleaner rates, tattoo artist rates, massage therapist rates, barber rates, makeup artist rates, hairstylist rates, nail technician rates, tailor rates, house cleaner rates, electrician rates, plumber rates, pest control technician rates, ppc specialist rates, content strategist rates, wedding DJ rates, dog walker rates, audio engineer rates, caterer rates, mover rates, appliance repair technician rates, nanny rates, piano tuner rates, garage door technician rates, bicycle mechanic rates, house sitter rates, upholsterer rates, jeweller rates, cobbler rates, blacksmith rates, sign writer rates, farrier rates, mobile car detailer rates, genealogist rates, saddler rates, arborist rates, travel agent rates, watch repairer rates, doula rates, sleep consultant rates, home stager rates, wedding officiant rates, college admissions consultant rates, mobile notary rates, personal shopper rates, welder rates, carpenter rates, glazier rates, plasterer rates, tiler rates, bricklayer rates, HVAC technician rates, dressmaker rates, concrete finisher rates, drywall installer rates, flooring installer rates, gardener rates, fence installer rates, gutter installer rates, solar installer rates, stonemason rates, deck builder rates, insulation installer rates, cabinet maker rates, paving installer rates, furniture restorer rates, blind installer rates, driving instructor rates, picture framer rates, aerial installer rates, car mechanic rates, clock repairer rates, oven cleaner rates, smart home installer rates, alarm installer rates, drain cleaner rates, curtain installer rates, irrigation installer rates, shutter installer rates, artificial grass installer rates, fireplace installer rates, bathtub refinisher rates, snow removal professional rates, landscape lighting installer rates and radon mitigation specialist rates, or start from the general freelance hourly rate calculator.