Roof replacement cost per square florida
By Shelly Marchetti, Florida homeowner advocate. Reviewed by Hal Winstead, Editor, licensed roofing contractor.
One August afternoon in Fort Myers, I stood in a front yard with a homeowner while a roofing salesman explained why his quote was “twenty percent better” than the other bid. He had no square count written down. The homeowner didn’t know the roof had a second layer and a skylight that wasn’t in the scope. That’s the afternoon I learned to start every roof conversation with a page like roof replacement companies in Florida, not with a price. Price without scope is just a story.
I of been wrong about this before, so let me be honest with you: no honest person can quote a flat roof replacement cost per square Florida over the phone. The cost depends on the house. Roofers price by the square, and a square is 100 square feet of roof surface. But the pitch, the layers underneath, the skylights, the plumbing boots, the decking, and wether the last roofer used staples instead of nails can change what that square has to include. And don’t get me started on the homeowner who picked a roofer because he texted back fastest. That is not a roofing skill. It’s a response time.
Roof replacement cost per square Florida: what the bid is really showing you
“Per square” only means something when you compare the same list of materials and actions. One roofer’s square can include tear-off, felt, flashing, ridge vent, permit, and dumpster. Another roofer’s square can be the shingles and labor only, with every other line item listed as an extra. Same number on the page, different roofs entirely.
So ask the roofer: does this square count include the ridge, the starter shingles, the pipe boots, the cap, and the permit? Does it include eight or ten percent waste? Does it include replacing rotted decking? If the answer is “we’ll see once it’s open,” that answer is fine, but it needs to be written as an allowance, not hidden. The roof that gets torn off can be uglier than whatever is showing. I’ve stood over a deck that looked solid until the first shingle came off, and what was under there made the whole bid irrelevant. Call it an allowance. Make sure it’s in writing.
What I would actually do: before comparing two bids, write one list—tear-off, felt, flashing, ridge vent, permit, dumpster, and a decking allowance. Ask each roofer to price that same list. Then compare the square counts and the totals. If one roofer is dramatically cheaper, find out which item they left off.
The licence line is not a decoration
Florida roofing contractors are licensed throught the DBPR, and the DBPR licence prefixes CCC and RC tell you something importent. A certified contractor’s number starts with CCC. That roofer can work anywhere in the state. A registered contractor’s number starts with RC. That roofer can work only in the local jurisdiction that issued the licence, not everywhere in Florida.
Before you spend energy on the per-square price, check that licence number on the DBPR roll and make sure it’s active. I have seen quotes with a licence number that belonged to another company entirely. Some of those homeowners caught it. Some didn’t. The price per square looked fine on paper. The problem was who was standing on the roof.
The permit is not a fee you can skip
A roof replacement in Florida requires a