Job costing for roofing contractors

Roofing jobs move fast, often a day or two per roof, so there’s no time to sort out costs later. And the biggest surprise usually shows up at tear-off: rotten decking nobody could see at the estimate. JobFigure keeps each roof’s costs and changes straight while the crew is still on it.

What roofing contractors track in JobFigure

• Bids by the square. Price field shingles by the square (SQ), ridge and drip edge by the linear foot, and vents and boots by each.
• Tear-off and disposal as its own cost. Dumpster swaps and extra layers show up here first.
• Decking and hidden damage. Log replacement decking as a change order the day you find it, while the homeowner or adjuster can still see the damage.
• Crew hours per roof. Crews clock in to each roof, so fast multi-roof weeks still cost out correctly.

Set up for roofing from the first day

When you pick Roofing as your trade, JobFigure loads these cost categories for budgets, receipts, and job costs. You can rename or add your own at any time.

• Roofing Materials
• Labour
• Tear-Off & Disposal
• Underlayment & Flashing
• Equipment Rental
• Fuel
• Permits
• Subcontractor
• Other

Bid line items use the units roofing actually bid in: squares (SQ), square feet (SF), linear feet (LF), each (EA), and lump sum (LS).

Example: what a roofing job looks like mid-way

Architectural shingles over new underlayment. Tear-off is done and the roof is about 75% dried in. Eighteen sheets of rotten decking were replaced.

The decking replacement ($1,590 in Other) and an extra dumpster pushed two categories over budget. If your contract prices replacement decking per sheet, that’s a change order to write today, not after the roof is closed up.

Invoices the Canadian way

Set your company to Canada and each invoice applies GST, HST, or GST plus PST or QST for the province where the work is, and tracks the 10% holdback. At year end, the subcontractor payments report gives you the totals for T5018 slips. Prices are in Canadian dollars. More in our guide: GST/HST, PST and holdback on construction invoices in Canada.

Guides and tools for roofing contractors