FAQ

An architectural asphalt roof in New Jersey runs $9,500 to $26,000, and on a typical 2,000 square foot house most people pay $12,000 to $18,000 installed. Per square foot that is $5.50 to $8.00 for architectural shingle and $4.50 to $6.50 for three-tab. National calculators read low here because northern-climate detailing is not optional.

It is Florida Building Code, Existing Building, section 706.1.1: not more than 25 per cent of a roof area may be repaired, replaced or recovered in any twelve-month period unless the whole system is brought up to current code. It is quoted all over the country because it sounds universal. It is not New Jersey law, and in New Jersey the question that decides your job is whether your dwelling is detached.

It depends on the building, not the work. Replacing the roof covering on a DETACHED one- or two-family dwelling is ordinary maintenance under N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.7 -- no permit, no notice, no inspection. An attached house, a three-family or larger, or anything touching rafters, trusses or pitch does need a construction permit. In this city the answer changes street by street, so we establish it at the survey.

Not automatically. Age tells you to look, not what to do. A twenty-year-old architectural roof that still lies flat, still holds its granules and has sound flashings can have years left; a twenty-year-old three-tab on a shaded northern slope may be finished. What settles it is the condition of the field away from any failure, and the number of layers already up there.

Because most online figures are national and this is not a national market. New Jersey pricing is $9,500 to $26,000 for an architectural asphalt roof, and a large part of the difference is detailing a warm climate does not need: ice barrier at the eaves, drip edge, and the nailing to survive a February gust. A quote that matches a national average has usually left one of those out.

Shingle, clearly, and by roughly half. Architectural shingle installs at $5.50 to $8.00 per square foot in New Jersey against $10 to $19 for standing seam metal. Metal earns that premium on long simple runs, on low-pitch sections and where snow shedding matters. On a cut-up roof with dormers and valleys it mostly does not, because every detail is formed by hand.

Two to four days on site for a house once it starts: tear-off and dry-in on day one, covering after. A multi-family building is three to six. Weather moves it and we will not dry-in a roof we cannot finish. If the building needs a permit, the filing and inspection are days on top of that, which is why the permit question is settled first.

No. The inspection is free, the written quote is free, and neither carries an obligation. The survey also answers the permit question in writing, which is worth having even if you decide to use somebody else. What we will not do is give you a number at the curb without going up.