Relative Cost of Roofing Materials

The pricing of roofing materials ranges from dirt cheap to blindingly sky-high. And it is almost impossible to talk about roofing materials without rolling in the cost of labor, too. Few homeowners will take on a roofing job themselves. The work is hard and dangerous and requires a skill set that few homeowners have. Even if they do DIY the job, by the time they have gained the skill set the job is done, with few chances (hopefully) to ever practice these skills again.

Yet if we can divorce the price of roofing materials from related expenditures we can begin to see how materials drive the price of the entire project up or down. Raw materials costs also play into these figures. Since asphalt shingles are derived from petroleum, and petroleum prices fluctuate wildly, asphalt shingles do not always cost the same from season to season. Similarly, copper roofing--if you are looking to install a genuinely antique and unique roof--have shot up in price recently due to the cost of raw copper.

Finally, most roofing materials are not easily available at the retail level for the DIY market. A limited number of types of roofing materials can be found around the corner at the local Lowe's or Home Depot--notably composition, asphalt shingle, and roll roofing--but most are not. This is why we present the cost of roofing materials in general groupings:

Low Cost

• Asphalt shingle.
• Composition shingle.
• Rolled roofing.

Moderate Cost

• Standing seam metal roofing.
• Metal shingles.
• Tile.
• Faux slate.

High Cost

• Slate.
• Copper.