Metal roofing in south florida: The Florida Guide
By Dale Prescott, Roofing contractor, Central Florida. Reviewed by Hal Winstead, Editor, licensed roofing contractor.
The one I keep thinking about was a standing-seam job in Winter Park. I was in a hurry to beat the afternoon storms and still pulled a chalk line a quarter inch off at the eave, and that first panel sat wrong in the sun like a crooked tooth. If you're comparing metal roofing in south Florida, the boring place to start is a list of metal roofing companies in Florida, then cross-check every licence against the DBPR roll yourself.
That mistake cost me half a day. My crew had to pull the panel and start over. Metal is not forgiving. Tile will hide a bad nail line, shingles have some give, but a long straight metal panel shows every mistake from the street for the next thirty years. I of torn off more storm-damaged roofs than I care to count, and the roofs that failed were rarely the material's fault.
Metal roofing in south Florida: my honest take
Metal can work on most houses here. I have installed it on ranch houses and townhouses and a church outside Orlando. On the coast, it handles salt, sun, and wind-driven rain better than alot of alternatives. But the roof is only as good as the man on top of it and the deck underneath it.
Do not let anybody oversell the material. I've torn off screw-down metal that failed because the rubber washers baked out. I have also seen standing seam done right and watched it stay dead straight while the tile roofs around it started cracking. It depends on the profile, the pitch, the flashing, and what's under the metal. A metal roof over a rotten deck is just a shiny way to hide rot for a few more years.
Standing seam uses hidden clips, so there are fewer holes in the outside skin. Screw-down is cheaper and still works, but those exposed fasteners take a beating. If you are near the coast, I would rather have fewer holes in the outside skin. Inland around Orlando, you have more room in the budget and the wheather is not quite as salty. But I have been wrong about this before, and every roof is different.
The licence prefix tells you more than the logo on the truck
Florida roofing contractors are licensed by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, not by the nice lady who designed their logo. A certified roofing contractor holds a licence that starts with CCC and may work anywhere in the state. A registered roofing contractor holds a licence that starts with RC and may only work in the local jurisdiction that issued it.
That distinction is not paperwork for paperwork's sake. It tells you wether the guy from three towns over has any business standing on your roof. Look the number up on the DBPR roll and confirm it is active before you let anyone measure. If a man cannot explain the prefix on his own licence, that tells you how much he cares about the legal side of the job.
I have had people tell me they do not need a roofing licence because it is just a repair. Repairs are roofing work. A roof is not a handyman special. If someone tells you the licence is not neccessary, what they are really telling you is that they do not have one and hope you will not check. Check.
Permits, the 25 percent rule, and the contractor who says skip it
Roof replacement in Florida requires a permit pulled from the local building department, and it gets inspected. If a contractor offers to skip the permit to save you hassle, walk away. An unpermitted roof can make an insurance claim miserable and can come up on a home sale. The permit is not the county trying to make your life hard. It is the county making sure the next big storm does not make your life worse.
For years, the state building code had what everybody called the 25 percent rule. If you repaired or replaced more than 25 percent of a roof in any 12-month period, the whole roof had to be brought up to current code. That rule caused a lot of full replacements after small storms. Then SB 4-D (2022) changed things for a lot of roofs.
If your roof was built, repaired, or replaced to the 2007 code or any later edition, only the part you are working on has to meet current code. The 2007 code took effect on March 1, 2009, so older roofs generally do not get that break. With older roofs, the old 25 percent rule can still force a full replacement. I am not a lawyer, so I do not make that call. The local building official does.
What I would actually do: Ask the roofer which building department covers the house, then confirm the permit number before work starts. I would also call that office and ask whether the roof falls under the SB 4-D (2022) change or the old 25 percent rule. The building official gets paid to know. I only have to live with the result.
Wind mitigation inspections are worth the money
Wind mitigation is one of the few ways a roof can actually pay you back before a storm. A wind mitigation inspection documents the roof covering, roof deck attachment, roof-to-wall connection, roof geometry, secondary water resistance, and opening protection. The standard form is OIR-B1-1802. Florida insurers have to offer premium discounts for qualifying features on that form.
Metal roofing can look good on a wind mitigation report because a properly attached metal roof is a strong roof covering. But the report does not stop at the covering. If the roof deck nails were wrong or the roof-to-wall connections are weak, a pretty metal panel will not fix any of it. The inspector photographs all of that.
The inspection usually costs less than the discount it can open up, but I do not know your exact premium and I have been wrong about this before. Ask your agent what discount your policy would get for each feature before you pay for the inspection. Then read your declarations page and see what your hurricane deductible actually says. Coverage varies by policy, and anybody who tells you different is guessing.
What I would actually do: I would get the wind mitigation inspection before I paid for the full metal roof, not after. If the report shows a soft deck or weak connections, that changes the whole quote. Some metal roofs need new plywood underneath. Better to find that out before the panels are ordered.
Questions I get asked
Does metal roofing in south Florida cost less than tile?
No, not usually. Metal is priced per square, and installed cost depends on pitch, access, and how much flashing has to be detailed around pipes and valleys. I cannot give you a flat number without seeing the roof. Ask a roofer for a price per square, then ask what the price includes before the deck gets exposed.
Can I walk on a metal roof?
Yes, but only if you know what you are doing. I can walk a standing seam roof with the right shoes and dry panels. Most homeowners should not be up there. I once watched a guy try to climb a steep metal roof in socks after rain, and he slid all the way to the gutter. He was fine. I was not fine for about ten minutes.
Will my insurance company pay for a metal roof?
That depends entirely on your policy, not on what I think about metal. Coverage varies by policy, and roof age and condition matter at claim time. Pull out your declarations page and ask your agent how the policy handles a roof replacement before you file anything. I can tell you what holds up in a storm. I cannot tell you what your carrier will do after one.
Do I need to replace my old roof just because it is old?
Not just because it is old, no. Age matters, but leaks, deck condition, and what the local building department says matter more. If you are only repairing a small section, the 25 percent rule question depends on when the roof was completed. If it was built under the 2007 code or later, SB 4-D (2022) generally limits the work to the section you are touching. Older roofs can still trigger the whole thing.
How long will a metal roof last in south Florida?
Depends on the material, the install, and how much salt is in the air. I have torn off metal roofs that failed before their time and others that were still going strong after decades. Anyone who promises exact years is reading from a sales brochure, not from a roof. Pay attention to edge details, underlayment, and flashings. Those are what actually die.
What if the contractor says my roof does not need a permit?
Hire somebody else. That is the whole answer. A contractor who will skip the permit will also skip the inspection, and you are the one who has to live with the roof and the paper trail. The permit protects you more than it protects me. When the next storm comes through, you want that permit in the file.