The Roofing Company
A high-ticket, storm-driven trade sold one bid at a time. Here is how a roofing company actually pencils: the estimate-to-close funnel, insurance claims and supplements, crew utilization, and why materials at ~40% of the ticket make accurate estimating the line between profit and loss.
Read the launch plan: every step from deciding to opening, free →The Snapshot
Is this worth your attention?
Estimated Typical bands for this kind of business, estimated from adjacent public data where no direct benchmark exists; treat them as rough. Estimates, not forecasts; a specific business varies with its location, lease, equipment and owner. Last reviewed 2026-07-07. smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice.
A fit if you...
- Hold or can hire a roofing license and lead a field crew
- Want an essential, storm-resilient, high-ticket trade
- Can work insurance claims and supplements, not just retail bids
- Can estimate accurately and run a bid pipeline
Probably not if you...
- Want a passive, absentee investment from day one
- Dislike managing crews, heights, and safety/liability
- Cannot recruit or retain skilled roofing labor
- Have no appetite for marketing, storm response, and claims
Step Inside the Layout
A live look at one tool inside
This is the actual 3D floor from the full model. Drag to explore it. Inside, you configure the space yourself and watch the economics move with every choice.
Sources and method14 public sources, with the year and a link where the source gives one. The benchmark bands on this page are estimated from adjacent data and labeled as estimates.
Sources & Method
Figures are estimated from the public sources below and from adjacent data; the bands are labeled as estimates
How these numbers were built: roofer wages come from the BLS OEWS (SOC 47-2181 Roofers, median $50,030/yr / ~$24.05/hr in May 2024); industry structure comes from the U.S. Census Bureau (NAICS 238160 Roofing Contractors); per-company revenue is anchored to a secondary, directional industry estimate (~$1M-$3M for a typical 2-4 crew independent shop); the ~40% materials share follows NerdWallet’s roof replacement cost data (installation labor about 60% of a new shingle roof); financing terms come from the SBA; survival and loan-default signals come from Census/BLS business-dynamics data and published SBA-performance analyses; sale prices and multiples come from BizBuySell’s construction valuation benchmarks; insurance costs come from Insureon and Contractors Liability; and the cost to start is the item-by-item opening kit, priced from dealer listings, licensing boards and insurer data. In the simulator, monthly volume is modeled as projects/crew/week x 4 weeks/month: a crew lays roughly 12 to 24 squares a day on the roof (RoofSnap), so after weather, tear-off and travel a four-roofer crew completes about 1.5 projects per week, and a 3-crew shop pencils to about $2.3M a year. Labor per crew is fully loaded: four roofers at the BLS median wage, workers’ comp at about $20 per $100 of payroll (the national mid-range for roofing class 5551) and about 9% employer payroll taxes (7.65% FICA plus federal and state unemployment tax). The average ticket follows the roughly $10,000 national average for a shingle replacement, lifted by some metal and commercial work; marketing cost per won project is an industry-typical placeholder. Figures are current as of 2024-2026.
Cost ratios and margin range are anchored to the same secondary industry revenue estimate and methodology used elsewhere in this model (typical $1M-$3M shop); the materials share is checked against NerdWallet’s roof replacement cost split; labor figures are sourced to BLS OEWS. The revenue anchor is a directional industry estimate, not a primary government dataset, so it is cited but should be treated as approximate.
This is just the surface
The full model is the complete, interactive deep-dive, and every business here is built to the same standard: a live economics simulator you tune to your own numbers, an interactive 3D walkthrough, a location scorecard, an owner-fit assessment, a buy-versus-build comparison, and the full breakdown of how it makes money and what quietly kills margin.
then $29 a month
Time to choose and start, then month to month.
$99 today for your first 3 months, then $29 a month until you cancel.
about $17 a month
The best price: a year to decide, open and run it.
$199 today, then $199 each year until you cancel.
Renews until you cancel. Cancel any time from your account; you keep access to the end of the period you paid for, and your saved plans stay in your account. What membership opens
smbnest is a self-assessment tool. It does not give individualized financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Figures are estimates and benchmarks, not forecasts. Speak with a qualified financial adviser and a licensed attorney before you start, buy, finance or sign anything.