A roofing estimate that holds up when the decking surprises you. Here's the structure, plus a generator that drafts one from a plain description.
Describe the job in plain words. No email needed to see your first estimate — about fifteen seconds for a small job, a little longer for a big one.
A complete estimate you can send to the customer, built from the rate you enter:
| Description | Qty | Unit | Unit price | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor — itemized by task | hrs | hour | your rate | — |
| Materials — with your markup applied | qty | ea / sq ft | cost + markup | — |
| Permits, disposal, access | — | — | — | — |
Plus a plain-English scope summary, assumptions (what had to be guessed), exclusions (what you are not doing — the section that prevents most change-order arguments), and a validity period. Printable, or send the link.
Every figure comes from the rate and markup you supply. We never fill in a market price for you.
An estimating spreadsheet that opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, or prints to PDF. Pre-filled with the line items a roofing estimate should contain, plus a checklist of what roofing estimating most often leaves out — so you price it before you send, not after.
Roofing is bid in squares — 100 square feet of roof surface — adjusted for pitch and layers. Steep pitch slows everything and changes the safety setup; a second or third layer of existing shingles is tear-off labor and disposal weight that the plan area never shows. Flashing, valleys, penetrations and ridge are priced per linear foot or per unit on top of the field.
$26.65/hour — US median wage for roofers, May 2025 ($55,440/year).
That is a wage, not your billing rate. It excludes payroll burden, insurance, the hours you spend driving and quoting, overhead and profit. Billing at or near it means working the job for free once those land — which is where underpricing starts. What your multiplier should be depends on your business, so put the rate you actually bill into the generator and every line prices from your number.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook — national median, May 2025. Wages vary widely by metro.
Generic AI quotes national averages. BidWand builds a price book from every estimate you send and every rate you correct, so by the fifth bid it prices like you do — your labor rate, your markup, your exclusions.
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How to write a contractor estimate · Estimate vs quote vs bid — and which one you should send · What to include in a contractor estimate · How to price a job as a contractor · Should you charge for estimates? · How to follow up on an estimate · How to handle change orders · Estimate vs invoice: what's the difference? · How to raise your prices as a contractor