So how much does a new roof cost? I could give you numbers, but without knowing at least some of the variables from the previous pages, it would only be a guess, and could be way off from the actual roof price, which could disappoint and upset a lot of readers.

I will tell you this, I know some people who live in Texas, have a nice, single-story home with a roof about 2800 square feet in size. The gutter is in good shape and will not need to be replaced. The roof has a slope of about 7/12 (not real steep but not comfortable to work on), no skylights, a few penetrations, several valleys and hips (I call it moderately cut-up), good accessibility with moderate landscaping to be protected. When they get ready to replace it, with today’s roofing material and labor prices (figure February 2011), and using 30 year dimensional shingles, their roof is going to cost around $9,000.

That could be a little high, and may be a little low but it’s a budget number I was comfortable giving them, and it’s pretty accurate. If they lived in California, and all things being equal, the budget would be the same. Roofs are reasonably priced in California. In New York City? I don’t know. I’ve never done a roof there. In Massachusetts or New Hampshire, where I’ve been involved in several roof replacement, I might raise the budget about $1,000 or so, but there are very good, efficient roofers there who might do the roof for equal or less.

I know that not having dollar numbers to go by upsets a lot of my readers, but I would feel bad if I were to provide inaccurate pricing. Most roofing contractors give free estimates, so your best bet is to call a roofer and ask him for an estimate.