A roofing estimate template needs two parts: a cost sheet you keep, which turns your costs into a price per square, and a one-page estimate the homeowner signs. Both are below, cell by cell, so you can type them into Excel and print the customer page as a PDF.
The cost sheet turns five costs into a price per square
Labels go in column A and values in column B. The last column holds one owner’s per-square costs, posted on r/RoofingSales in September 2025, to check your formulas against.
| Cell | Line | Formula or input | One owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| B2 | Measured squares | From the measurement report | |
| B4 | Materials per square | Material list total ÷ B2 | $115 |
| B5 | Labor per square | Sub’s price a square, or loaded crew cost ÷ B2 | $110 |
| B6 | Other job costs per square | Dump fees and permits ÷ B2 | $10 |
| B7 | Overhead per square | Yearly overhead ÷ squares installed a year | $21 |
| B8 | Commission per square | The rep’s share, if a rep sold it | |
| B9 | Cost per square | =SUM(B4:B8) | $256 |
| B11 | Target margin | Your number | 36% |
| B12 | Price per square | =B9/(1-B11) | $400 |
| B13 | Floor price per square | The lowest you’ll discount to | $365 |
| B14 | Margin at the floor | =(B13-B9)/B13 | 29.9% |
| B16 | Job price | =B12*B2 | |
| B17 | Gross profit on the job | =(B12-B9)*B2 |
His stack lists no commission, so fill in B8 if a rep sells your jobs. Loaded crew cost is crew hours times the wage, with payroll tax, workers’ comp and liability insurance added on top. Check B14 before you discount to match a bid, because on this owner’s costs a competitor’s $260 bid sits at break-even.
A commercial contractor on r/Roofing asked for Excel templates for small service jobs, because typing into his reroof and new-construction sheets breaks his formulas. Keep a separate copy of the sheet for repairs and lock the formula cells. If the sheets still can’t keep up, Roofing Estimating Software: What It Costs and Which Fits Your Jobs compares the tools.
A 30% markup on cost is a 23% margin
Markup is a share of cost and margin is a share of the price, which is why B12 divides cost by one minus the margin. On the costs one owner posted to r/Roofing for a replacement, a 30% markup comes to $496.60 a square, and the same percentage taken as margin needs $545.71.
How to pick the margin, and where overhead sits under it, is in How to Price a Roof: Price per Square, Overhead and Target Margin.
The material list starts from the measurement and the maker’s instructions
B4 comes from a material list built off the roof measurement. Squares to order is measured squares × (1 + your waste %), with the waste figure taken from your own past jobs.
| Item | Quantity | Order unit |
|---|---|---|
| Shingles | Squares to order × bundles a square | bundle |
| Starter strip | Eave and rake length ÷ feet per bundle | bundle |
| Ridge cap | Ridge and hip length ÷ feet per bundle | bundle |
| Underlayment, felt or synthetic | Squares to order ÷ squares per roll | roll |
| Drip edge | Edge length ÷ feet per piece | piece |
| Vented ridge | Vented length ÷ feet per piece | piece |
| Nails | Shingles × nails a shingle ÷ nails per box | box |
| Skylights | Count, with flashing | each |
| Anything else on the report |
Price each row, total the list and divide by measured squares for B4. GAF’s Timberline HDZ instructions call for 3 bundles a square and 4 nails a shingle in the standard pattern, with more nails in the high-wind and steep-slope patterns. Other brands package differently, so take each figure from the instructions for the shingle you’re quoting.
Material prices rose in 2026, so every estimate needs an expiry date
The Bureau of Labor Statistics index of manufacturer prices for asphalt roofing and siding products, which covers shingles, rose 7.6% from April to August 2026 on preliminary figures.
One owner on r/Roofing reported a 10% supplier increase in April 2026 that his customers felt as 16 to 18% once labor rose too.
Fill in the “price good for” line on the estimate further down, and re-price from a fresh supplier quote once it lapses.
For a metal estimate, swap the shingle rows for panels, flashing, drip edge and fasteners, counted from the manufacturer’s coverage figures. Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum and listed products made from them rose to 50% in June 2025, and since April 2026 they apply to the full customs value regardless of metal content. Ask your supplier which items on your list carry the duty, and keep a metal estimate’s price window short.
The homeowner’s page shows the scope and one price, and itemizing is your call
A contractor on r/Roofing who was new to insurance work had two homeowners ask for an itemized quote because their insurers wanted one. Another owner sends a detailed scope naming the materials and won’t list costs: “This is not something we do, nor would we do it.”
The page below lists the scope by material with one price. If an insurer wants line items, give each scope line a quantity and a price. In Texas, showing materials as their own charge also changes how sales tax works, which the Texas section covers.
[Company name] [Phone] [Email]
ROOF ESTIMATE No. ______
Date ______ Price good for ____ days
Prepared for ________________________
Property ________________________
SCOPE OF WORK
1. Tear off to the sheathing
2. ____________ underlayment
3. Drip edge
4. Starter strip at eaves and rakes
5. ____________ shingles (brand, line,
color), nailed to the maker's pattern
6. Ridge cap and vented ridge
7. Replace and flash ___ skylights
8. Haul away all tear-off debris
Other: ______________________________
PRICE $____________
Payment terms _______________________
[Texas insurance jobs: deductible notice]
[Signed in the home: cancellation
statement and notice forms]
Homeowner ________________ Date ______
Company ________________ Date ______
Put the estimate on its own tab and link the price cell to B16, so the PDF always shows the current number.
In the US, a roof sold at the kitchen table can be cancelled for three business days
The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule lets a buyer cancel a sale of $25 or more made at their home within three business days. It applies once the homeowner signs the estimate as a contract in their house.
The seller must hand over a completed contract or receipt in the language used in the sales pitch. Next to the buyer’s signature it needs a cancellation statement in at least 10-point bold type, and two copies of a Notice of Cancellation form go with it. If roofs get signed at the kitchen table, add the statement and the form to the PDF, and use Roofing Contract Template: The Clauses a Residential Roofing Contract Needs for the rest of the contract.
Texas adds a deductible notice on insurance jobs and a sales tax choice
Texas requires a notice that the policyholder must pay the deductible on any contract of $1,000 or more for work expected to be paid from a property insurance settlement (Business and Commerce Code 27.02). Contractors may not waive, rebate or absorb the deductible, and insurers may ask for proof it was paid (Insurance Code Chapter 707).
Texas also bars a roofer from acting as public adjuster on a claim where he is doing the work (Insurance Code 4102.163), and the Texas Department of Insurance lists offering to negotiate a settlement among the things contractors may not do. Keep the insurance version of the estimate to scope and price.
Texas Comptroller Publication 94-116 says labor to repair, remodel or restore residential property isn’t taxable. On a lump-sum contract you pay sales tax on materials when you buy them and charge the homeowner none. On a separated contract you buy on a resale certificate and collect state and local tax on the materials charge, which must be at least what you paid. On nonresidential property the whole repair or remodel charge is taxable, reroof labor included.
Pick one form before you print: a lump sum needs no tax line, and a separated contract shows the materials charge and the tax. Outside Texas, ask your state’s tax agency how it treats residential roofing before you add a tax line.
Check these before an estimate goes out
- The material list comes off the measurement, with your own waste %.
- Every unit price comes from a current supplier quote, and the “price good for” line is filled in.
- Labor is loaded if your own crew installs, and B8 holds any commission.
- B14 gets checked before any discount.
- A roof signed in the home carries the cancellation statement and two cancellation forms.
- In Texas, insurance jobs carry the deductible notice, and every job is set up as lump sum or separated.
An estimate only gets written once a homeowner has found you and asked for one. If you want to see where that happens, the free Google Maps heatmap lets you pick your Google profile and a search, and in a few minutes it shows your rank at 49 points around your office.