“I spent $20k on shirts, jackets, and hats and another $15k on business cards,” an owner on r/RoofingSales wrote in February 2026 about a first year with 15 salespeople, a team later cut to five. Before you spend on anything with a logo, these are the costs you can put a number on:
| Cost | Figure |
|---|---|
| General liability insurance | $1,200 to $10,000 a year (owner quotes) |
| Workers’ comp through a professional employer organization (PEO) | 8 to 9% of payroll, plus about 10% on top (one owner) |
| Texas license | None from the state; a trade group’s voluntary license costs $550 to $1,050 and needs two years as a principal |
| California license | A $25,000 bond, and a qualifier with four years of experience |
| Google Local Services Ads | About $1,400 a month, the floor for one DFW client in September 2026 |
| Startup budget | Count at least a year of monthly expenses, the SBA says |
I couldn’t find a published figure for the whole startup, and owners’ own totals swing too widely to average. As for the first jobs, one owner a month in was knocking doors and posting on Facebook every day, and for a second owner word of mouth took six to seven months to pick up. Google tells a roofer working from home to hide the address on the Business Profile.
I run a marketing company. On insurance and licensing I’m passing on what public sources and owners say, and Google is the part I’ve measured.
Texas has no state roofing license, while Florida and California want years in the trade
“Anyone can call themselves a roofer in Texas,” says the Roofing Contractors Association of Texas (RCAT). Its own license is voluntary and out of reach in year one, since it needs two continuous years as a principal of a Texas roofing company. It costs $550 to $1,050 plus $250 a year to renew, and asks for $300,000 of general liability on residential work.
In a September 14, 2026 letter to Governor Abbott, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) suggested the Legislature “Create licensure or voluntary registration database for roof contractors.” As of October 2026 that’s still a proposal.
Florida licenses roofing contractors who pass an exam and show experience, for example four years with at least one as a foreman. Some companies pay a license holder to qualify them, and a 2024 post on r/Roofing put Florida rates anywhere from $2,000 a month to $500 per completed job.
California requires a license when a job needs a building permit, uses any employee labor, or totals $1,000 or more in labor and materials. The qualifier needs four full years as a journeyman or higher within the last ten, and a $25,000 bond has to be in place first. Roofing License Requirements by State, and How Qualifiers Work covers the other states.
Owners report general liability quotes from $1,200 to $10,000 a year
With no published rates to go on, these are quotes owners posted on r/Roofing in 2024, and they move with the limits you buy and the state you work in. One roofer got quotes from $1,200 to $4,500 a year, and a Dallas roofer was quoted $10,000 a year by Progressive. Another owner pays biBERK $307 a month. Compare quotes at the same limits, such as the $300,000 RCAT asks of residential roofers for its license.
Texas makes workers’ comp optional, and California requires it even with no employees
TDI says comp “is not required in most cases” for private employers in Texas. Going without means telling the state and reporting injuries that cost more than a day of work, and a contract or general contractor can still require it.
Florida requires comp in construction from the first employee, and an owner who is a corporate officer or LLC member counts as one. Up to three officers owning at least 10% each can file a $50 exemption for themselves, and any crew on your payroll still needs coverage. California requires roofing contractors to carry comp or a certificate of self-insurance “whether or not they have employees.”
Elsewhere, owners in New York and Illinois were quoted over $100,000 a year on $350,000 payrolls with no roofers on them, and both suspected their staff had been classed wrong.
One owner wrote in 2024 that no insurer would consider a new roofing company and that new roofers end up in a PEO, paying 8 to 9% of payroll for comp plus about 10% on top. In September 2026 a Pennsylvania owner wrote that biBERK had stopped covering roofing there and no broker could place the company. Roofing Workers’ Comp and General Liability: What It Costs and How Audits Work goes further into both policies.
The SBA says to count at least a year of monthly expenses
The SBA tells a new business to count “at least one year of monthly expenses, but counting five years is ideal” in its startup costs. “Make sure you have capital. I started with way too little and it hurt,” an owner on r/Roofing wrote in 2024.
You’ll hear that most roofing companies don’t last two years, and I couldn’t find a source for it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks survival only for construction as a whole, where 74.9% of business locations opened in the year to March 2015 were still open two years later.
Word of mouth took one owner six to seven months to pick up
“People don’t want to hand over $50k to an unheard of company,” an owner on r/RoofingSales wrote in 2025. A month into a new company, an owner on r/Roofing had roofed a single house by September 2026, knocking doors and posting on Facebook every day. The owner of a ten-month-old company wrote that organic and word-of-mouth appointments started to climb after six to seven months, and that it had been modestly profitable for the last four.
An owner eight months into a roofing company wrote on r/localseo in September 2026 that its website of about 1,390 pages had shown up 62,000 times in Google search by month six and drawn 166 clicks. I wouldn’t count on unpaid search to bring in the first jobs. How a Newer Roofing Company Earns Trust Before the First Call covers what a new company can show a homeowner in the meantime.
Texas and Florida make it illegal to offer to cover a homeowner’s deductible
In Texas, TDI says it’s illegal “for a contractor to offer to waive, rebate, or absorb a property policyholder’s deductible” (Business and Commerce Code 27.02), and a roofer doing the work can’t act as the public adjuster on the claim (Insurance Code 4102.163). A contract of $1,000 or more paid from an insurance settlement needs a deductible notice. Texas also counts a website as an advertisement, so check what yours says about claims. I’m not a lawyer, so have one read your contract.
Florida bars offering “a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon, waiver of any insurance deductible, or any other thing of value” for a roof inspection or a claim, or paying anyone for claim referrals, with fines of up to $10,000 per violation. A gift card for letting you inspect a roof, legal in some states, is illegal there.
Google tells a roofer working from home to hide the address
Google’s guidelines say “If you’re a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers,” and use a plumber working from home as the example. An address can show only where the location is “staffed by your team and able to receive customers during its stated hours.” Virtual offices, P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes don’t qualify either, which rules out renting an address for the profile.
A new Central Texas roofer wrote in 2024 that Google kept suspending its profile. The post gives no reason, and the address rules are the first thing I’d check. Google says verification reviews take up to five business days, and a verification video has to show where you are, proof you manage the business, and your “branded equipment, marketing materials, or tools,” which a wrapped truck covers.
Google says “The categories you select affect your local ranking on Google,” so pick a specific primary category and as few others as you can.
Google weighs reviews and distance, so a new profile starts behind
Google says local results are “mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity,” and it measures distance from “the customer who’s searching.” It doesn’t say how it does that when the address is hidden. The third factor is judged partly on “how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have,” and a new company starts with few of either. “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google,” the page adds.
Most DFW roofers I’ve grid-tested rank well near their own yard, and one in Fort Worth made the top three at 143 of 169 points. I haven’t grid-tested a brand-new roofer.
In September 2026 I ran “roofing contractor” and “roof repair” for an established Rockwall roofer with hundreds of reviews and its address hidden, from 169 points about three quarters of a mile apart, centered where the owner’s own photos were taken. It came back outside the top 20 at every point on both, and I haven’t re-run it since. With its website showing a blank page that week and Google’s pin just south of the grid, I can’t tell whether the hidden address played any part.
Local Services Ads check your insurance and set one DFW client’s floor at about $1,400 a month
Google’s Local Services Ads screening for US roofers lists general liability and professional liability insurance, plus state business and owner licenses “Where applicable by local law.” Google doesn’t say how that works in Texas, and professional liability is unusual for a roofer. Ask Google support which policies it wants before you buy one.
When we checked on September 26, 2026, Google’s minimum for a DFW roofing client of ours was $327 a week, at about $109 a lead. That works out to about $1,400 a month before you’ve signed a job, and more over a year than any general liability quote above, though it comes from one client in one week. Local Services Ads are also moving into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals. Roofing was in the first wave from August 2026, and the minimum may change with the move.
Price the insurance before you print the shirts
- Get general liability quotes at the same limits from more than one place, and price workers’ comp even where it’s optional.
- Find out whether your state or province licenses roofers and, if it does, who will qualify your company. Ask each city’s permit office what it needs too.
- If you’ll work insurance claims, read your state’s deductible rules before you write a contract or a website.
- Set up your Google profile with your home address hidden and a specific primary category, then verify it and add photos from your own jobs.
Once your profile is verified, run the free Google Maps heatmap on it. Pick your Google profile and a search, and in a few minutes you’ll see your rank at 49 points around your office.