Cost guide · updated September 2026
How much does a new roof cost in Metro Vancouver?
Most detached homes in Metro Vancouver land between $9,000 and $17,000 for a standard architectural asphalt roof in 2026. A small rancher with a simple roof starts near $8,400. A large, steep or cut-up character home runs past $30,000.
That spread is not regional. It is roof size and roof shape. A 6/12 roof is twelve per cent larger than the floor it covers, a 12/12 roof is forty-one per cent larger, and a roof cut up with dormers and valleys wastes more material than a plain gable. Which is why the honest answer to "what does a roof cost" begins with measuring the roof.
This guide gives the 2026 numbers for every system we offer, shows the arithmetic so you can check any quote you are given, works through five real Lower Mainland houses, and lists the eight things that actually move the price. No email required to read any of it.
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The 2026 numbers
What each system costs per square foot of roof.
Roofers price in squares: one square is 100 square feet of roof surface. The ranges below are per square foot of roof surface, installed, with tear-off, disposal, underlayment, flashings, vents and the workmanship warranty inside the number.
| System | Per sq ft of roof | Typical detached home | Workmanship warranty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard architectural asphaltIKO Cambridge, GAF Timberline HDZ | $5 to $9 | $9,000 to $17,000 | 10 years |
| Premium asphaltMalarkey Windsor, Malarkey Vista, IKO Dynasty | $5.50 to $10 | $9,200 to $18,400 | 10 years |
| Designer shake-look asphaltIKO Armourshake, CertainTeed Presidential Shake TL | $6.50 to $14.50 | $11,500 to $37,000 | 10 years |
| Cedar to architectural shinglecedar removed, new plywood deck, shingles | $7.50 to $11.50 | $13,000 to $20,000 | 10 years |
| Two-ply SBS torch-onIKO TP-180 base, TP-250 cap: flat roofs | $7 to $12 | $7,000 to $14,000 | 5 years |
| Standing-seam metal26-gauge snap-lock panels | $13 to $19 | $23,000 to $32,000 | 10 years |
Figures are per square foot of roof surface, not floor area. Your roof lands higher in the range if it has more valleys, hips or dormers, tight access for the bin, or old layers to remove, and roofs steeper than 8/12 carry a steep-pitch allowance on top. "Typical detached home" is the range across the house sizes worked through below. Flat-roof figures are for the flat area only. The free inspection confirms the price in writing for your roof.
The arithmetic
How a roof is priced, so you can check any quote.
Every legitimate roofing quote in this market is built the same way. Four numbers, one multiplication. If a quote will not show you these, that is worth asking about.
- Roof area, not floor area. Multiply the footprint by the pitch factor: 1.05 at 4/12, 1.12 at 6/12, 1.20 at 8/12, 1.30 at 10/12, 1.41 at 12/12. Add eight per cent for eave overhangs if you are measuring from a floor plan.
- Waste allowance. Eight per cent on a simple gable, twelve on a hipped or L-shaped roof, seventeen on a cut-up roof with dormers and multiple valleys. Every cut at a valley or hip throws away material.
- Squares. Roof area × (1 + waste) ÷ 100. A 1,700 square foot roof at eight per cent is 18.4 squares.
- Rate per square for the system you have chosen. Squares × rate is the base price, and any quote should show you its rate.
Then the adders: a steep-pitch allowance above 8/12, and the plywood deck line that is only charged if rot is found. A second layer of shingles is checked on site and written in as its own line. Flashing at every skylight, chimney and pipe is already part of the rate. Nothing else should appear on a residential quote without an explanation.
The shortcut: our estimator does this from satellite imagery. It measures the actual roof area, pitch and number of roof sections from a three-dimensional model of your house, applies the same arithmetic, and has the range on your screen in about a minute.
Worked examples
Five Lower Mainland houses, priced in full.
Two of these are roofs measured from imagery rather than assumed, which is why their areas are not round numbers. All five use the arithmetic above and one layer of existing roofing, so the figures are comparable.
Langley rancher, single storey
Burnaby Vancouver Special
Surrey two-storey
Coquitlam two-storey
Vancouver west side character home
Compare the Surrey two-storey with the west side character home: same city region, same climate, same crew, and one costs more than three times the other. Seventeen roof sections instead of four, a 12.6/12 pitch instead of 6/12, and two and a half times the surface area. That is the whole story of roofing prices in this region.
What moves the number
Eight things, and what each one is worth.
Roof area
The single biggest factor, and the one most homeowners guess wrong because they think in floor area. A two-storey house has roughly half the roof of a rancher with the same living space.
Every extra square adds the rate for your chosen systemPitch
Pitch raises the price twice: a steeper roof has more surface than the footprint it covers, and above 8/12 it needs staging, harnesses and slower work. Below 8/12 there is no steep-pitch allowance at all.
A 12/12 roof is 41% larger than its footprint, plus a labour allowanceComplexity
Dormers, valleys, turrets and changes of direction mean more cuts, more flashing and more waste. This is the difference between an eight and a seventeen per cent allowance, and on a large roof it is thousands.
8% to 17% of the material costPlywood decking
The plywood underneath stays hidden until the old roof comes off. It is quoted at a set price per sheet before work starts and charged only if rot is found: about one tear-off in ten, usually a couple of sheets around a chimney, skylight or valley.
A set price per sheet, only if foundA second layer of shingles
Older homes sometimes carry two layers. The second one doubles the tear-off labour and the disposal weight. If you do not know, it is checked on site rather than guessed at.
Checked on site, quoted as its own lineSkylights and chimneys
Every penetration needs new flashing when the roof comes off. Reusing old skylight or chimney flashing is the most common reason a new roof leaks in its first winter.
Flashing included in the rate. Replacing a skylight is quoted separately.Access
A two-storey house, a steep driveway, a tight lot or a neighbour's fence in the way all change how material gets up and debris gets down. It is priced at the inspection rather than guessed at from a map.
Quoted on siteVentilation
Most Lower Mainland roofs that fail early were under-ventilated. New vents sized to the roof are part of a replacement, not an upgrade: roughly one per five squares, plus new plumbing and HVAC flashings.
Included in the rateWhat is in the number
Included, and not included.
In every price on this page
- Removal of the existing roofing and disposal
- Ice and water shield and underlayment
- Your chosen system installed to the manufacturer's specifications
- New hip and ridge
- Existing attic vents replaced with new
- New pipe jacks and flashings
- Full clean-up of job debris
- City permit where one is required
- WorkSafeBC-registered, insured crews and a workmanship warranty on top of the manufacturer's product warranty
Priced separately at the inspection
- New decking, per sheet, only if rot is found
- Removing a second or third layer of existing roofing
- Replacing a skylight itself
- Difficult access or a second storey with no working room
- Gutters, fascia and structural repairs
- Anything the inspection finds that this page could not know about
Each of these goes on the written proposal as its own line, with its own figure, before anything is signed.
The question everyone asks
Why are two quotes for the same roof thousands apart?
It is the most common question on a quote call, and it is almost never because one roofer is greedy and the other is honest. Four line items explain nearly every gap.
- Tear-off and disposal. Inside the number, or added after? Disposal alone on a full roof is a real cost, and a quote that leaves it out looks cheaper on page one.
- The plywood deck. A quote with no decking line is not a quote without deck risk, it is a quote that will have a conversation about deck risk later, on the day the roof is open.
- What is actually specified. Synthetic underlayment or felt. Peel-and-stick at the penetrations or not. Twenty-six-gauge custom flashings or a lighter stock metal. These are invisible from the street and they are most of the difference in a roof's twenty-year performance.
- Ventilation. New vents sized to the roof, or the old ones reinstalled. Under-ventilation is the fastest way to lose a decade off a shingle roof in this climate.
Ask every roofer bidding your job to put those four lines in writing. The quotes usually converge, and the one that stays low usually explains why on its own.
Repair or replace
When spending less is the wrong call.
Repairs are the right answer more often than a roofing company's website usually admits. They stop being the right answer at a fairly clear point.
Repair when the field of the roof is sound and the problem is local: a flashing detail, a cracked pipe boot, a few lifted or missing shingles after a windstorm, a valley that was never done properly. A well-made repair on a roof with years left is straightforwardly good value.
Replace when granule loss is widespread and the shingles have gone brittle, when the deck feels soft underfoot, when you are paying for a third repair in a few years, or when you can see daylight or damp staining across more than one area of the attic. Roofs in this region generally give about twenty-five years; past twenty, money spent on repairs is usually money spent twice.
The in-between case is a roof with five or six years left and a leak over a finished room. That is a judgement call about how long you plan to stay, and it is a conversation to have with the person on the roof rather than with a website.
Questions
Costs, plainly answered.
How much does a new roof cost in Metro Vancouver?
Most detached homes in Metro Vancouver land between $9,000 and $17,000 for a standard architectural asphalt roof in 2026. Small ranchers with simple roofs start near $8,400; large, steep or cut-up character homes run past $30,000. The figure depends far more on the measured roof area and pitch than on the city you live in.
Is $30,000 too much for a roof?
For a standard asphalt re-roof on an ordinary detached house, usually yes. On our 2026 price list most detached homes land between $9,000 and $17,000 in standard architectural asphalt. $30,000 is within range for 26-gauge snap-lock metal ($23,000 to $32,000 on a typical detached home), for designer shake-look shingles on a larger roof, or for a large, steep or cut-up character home. Ask any quote at that level to show the squares, the rate per square and each adder, and check them against the table on this page.
How much does a roof replacement cost per square foot?
Our architectural asphalt shingle replacements run $5 to $9 per square foot of roof surface, installed. Premium and designer shingles, cedar conversions, torch-on and standing-seam metal cost more. Roof area is not floor area: a 6/12 roof is about 12 per cent larger than the footprint it covers. Pitch, valleys, access and old layers decide where your roof lands in the range.
What is a roofing square?
A square is 100 square feet of roof surface. Roofers price in squares because that is how materials are bundled. A typical Lower Mainland rancher is 18 to 20 squares once the waste allowance is added; a large two-storey is 25 to 30.
How much does it cost to replace a roof on a 2,000 square foot house?
If 2,000 square feet is the floor area of a two-storey house, the roof over it is usually around 1,100 to 1,300 square feet of footprint, or roughly 15 to 18 squares once pitch and waste are counted, which puts a standard asphalt replacement roughly $7,500 to $12,500. If 2,000 square feet is the footprint of a rancher, the roof is closer to 23 squares and the figure is roughly $11,000 to $16,000. This is why a measured estimate beats a rule of thumb.
Why are roofing quotes so different from each other?
Four things explain nearly every gap: whether the quote includes tear-off and disposal or adds them later, whether it prices a plywood deck that may be needed once the old roof is off, which underlayment and flashing metal it specifies, and whether ventilation is being corrected or simply reused. Ask every roofer to put those four lines in writing and the quotes usually converge.
Does a new roof include removing the old one?
It should. Tear-off and disposal are included in the rate on every quote we produce. If a quote looks unusually low, check whether tear-off, disposal bin fees and the permit are inside the number or waiting on a second page.
How much does new plywood decking cost if they find rot?
Rotten plywood is replaced only where it is found at tear-off. The per-sheet price is written into your quote before work starts, so you know the cost of every sheet up front. Roughly one tear-off in ten turns up rot, usually a couple of sheets around a chimney, skylight or valley rather than the whole roof.
How much extra does a steep roof cost?
Anything above 8/12 needs staging, harnesses and slower work, and carries an allowance on top of the base price. Below 8/12 there is no steep-pitch charge. A 12/12 roof is also about 41 per cent larger in surface area than the footprint it covers, so the pitch raises the price twice over: once in area, once in labour.
Is it cheaper to replace a roof in winter?
Not meaningfully, and it is harder to do well. Torch-on and shingle work both want dry decking, so late spring through early autumn is the easy window in the Lower Mainland. Roofs do get replaced here year round, and a roof that is leaking should not wait for better weather.
How much does a metal roof cost compared to shingles?
Our 26-gauge standing-seam metal runs $13 to $19 per square foot, against $5 to $9 for architectural asphalt shingles on the same house, roughly two to three times the upfront cost. The trade is lifespan and maintenance rather than price; ask at the inspection about the manufacturer finish warranty on the specific panel.
How long does a roof replacement take?
One to three days for a standard detached home, weather permitting. Two to four days is more realistic for larger or steeper roofs, cedar conversions, roofs that need a new deck, or work done in the wet months.
Do I need a permit to replace my roof?
Where a municipality requires one, it is handled as part of the job and included in the price. Some Metro Vancouver neighbourhoods also require a street-occupancy permit for the disposal bin; that is handled the same way.
Should I repair or replace my roof?
Repair makes sense when the roof is sound and the problem is local (a flashing detail, a cracked boot, a few lifted shingles) and when there is meaningful life left in the field of the roof. Once granule loss is widespread, the shingles are brittle, or you are repairing a second or third time in a few years, repairs stop being the cheaper path. Roofs in this region generally give about twenty-five years.
Method
Where these figures come from.
Every rate on this page comes from our own 2026 price list, not an industry average scraped from a national calculator. The per-square figures are ours; the arithmetic that turns them into a total is standard estimating practice and is shown above so you can repeat it.
Roof areas in the worked examples marked "measured from imagery" come from a three-dimensional model of the building, the same source our instant estimate uses. The others are stated footprints with the pitch factor applied.
The regional roof lifespan of about twenty-five years, and the roughly one-in-ten rate of deck rot found at tear-off, come from jobs across the Lower Mainland.
This page is updated when the rates change and dated at the top. It is a preliminary estimate for information only and is not a quote, a contract or a final price. The price is confirmed in writing after a free inspection, and it can change if the inspection finds damaged decking, additional roofing layers, unusual flashing, ventilation work or access complications. The written quote comes after we have seen the roof in person.
Next
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