- Independent · Unbiased · Free
Roofing Costs, Guides and Calculators for Homeowners.
A roof problem rarely arrives at a convenient time. A stain spreads across the ceiling, shingles turn up in the yard after a storm, or three contractors give you three completely different prices for the same job and you have no way to know which one is honest. Rainy Roofers was built for exactly that moment.
We are an independent information website for homeowners: we research roofing costs, explain every major roof type in plain language, and publish free calculators that help you plan a repair or replacement with real numbers before you speak to any contractor.
We sell no roofing work
We sell no leads
35+ free calculators
Last-reviewed dates shown
Free Calculators
Roofing & construction — no signup
Roofing Coverage Areas
Types, costs, decisions & maintenance
Signs of End of Life
In our repair-or-replace decision guide
Our only job
We do not sell roofing work, and we do not sell leads. Our only job is to make the information clear enough that you can decide for yourself.
- Why Unbiased Information
Why Homeowners Need Unbiased Roofing Information
Roofing is one of the most expensive systems in a home and one of the hardest to judge from the ground. Most owners cannot see their own decking, do not know what a square of shingles costs, and hear terms like underlayment, flashing and drip edge for the first time while a salesman is standing in their kitchen. That knowledge gap is where money gets lost — on repairs that were never needed, on replacements priced thousands above the going rate, and on the opposite mistake: patching a roof that should have been replaced, again and again, until water damage costs more than the roof would have.
Good information closes that gap. When you know the typical price range for your roof type, the realistic lifespan of your material, and the warning signs that actually matter, a contractor’s quote becomes something you can evaluate instead of something you have to trust blindly.
Roofing: Our Main Coverage
Roofing is the heart of this site, and it is where we publish deepest. Our roofing library covers the full life of a roof — choosing it, paying for it, maintaining it, and knowing when to let it go.
Roof Types and Materials, Explained
Every material fails differently, costs differently and suits a different climate. Our guides walk through asphalt shingles (including 3-tab and architectural), standing seam and corrugated metal roofing, EPDM and rubber roofing for flat and low-slope roofs, PVC and bitumen systems, and traditional pitched styles such as saltbox and jerkinhead roofs. Each guide explains how the material is installed, what it typically costs, how long it honestly lasts, and the problems it is known for — including the unglamorous ones, like whether you can paint a metal roof, install metal over existing shingles, or what asbestos shingles in an older home mean for your plans.
Roofing Costs and Pricing Guides
Cost is the question behind almost every roofing search, so we treat it as a research task, not a sales page. Our pricing guides — including roof repair costs, metal roofing prices and rubber roofing cost — break prices down by material, roof size, pitch and region, and separate material costs from labor so you can see where a quote is heavy. Because prices move, we revisit our main cost guides and mark each one with the date it was last reviewed. If a number on this site ever looks out of date, the date at the top of the article will tell you so honestly.
Repair or Replace? Decision Guides
The most valuable roofing decision is often not which shingle to buy but whether to repair at all. Our decision guides cover the twelve signs that a roof is at the end of its life, a direct repair-versus-replacement comparison, how to negotiate a replacement with your insurance company, and whether a roof replacement is tax deductible. These guides are written to be neutral: sometimes the right answer is a $300 repair, and we say so.
Maintenance and DIY Guidance
For owners who maintain their own roofs, we publish practical how-to coverage — cleaning, inspection routines, applying EPDM roofing, understanding roof decking — with the limits of DIY stated clearly, including when a job genuinely needs a professional and a permit.
Free Roofing and Construction Calculators
Reading about costs is useful; running your own numbers is better. Rainy Roofers publishes more than 35 free calculators, and no signup is needed for any of them.
- Roofing
Roof Pitch Calculator
The roof pitch calculator turns two simple measurements into pitch, angle and rafter length.
Formula shown on the page
- Roofing
Roof Shingle Calculator
The roof shingle calculator tells you how many bundles your roof actually requires.
Formula shown on the page
- Flat Roofs
EPDM Roofing Cost Calculator
The EPDM roofing cost calculator estimates material and labor for a flat roof.
Formula shown on the page
Each calculator shows the formula behind it, so the result is something you can check rather than a number you have to take on faith. Contractors estimate with these same calculations — our aim is simply to put them in homeowners’ hands too.
Beyond Roofing: Concrete, Construction and Home Improvement
A roof does not sit on a house by itself, and homeowners’ questions rarely stop at the eaves. Alongside our roofing coverage we publish supporting guides in three related areas. These sections exist to support the main one — roofing comes first here, and it always will.
How We Research: Our Editorial Standards
Information is only useful if it is trustworthy, so our process is public.
Named Authors, Visible Dates
Articles on Rainy Roofers are researched and written by named authors, with a visible last-reviewed date on the articles themselves — so you always know who wrote a guide and how current it is.
Cross-Checked, Presented as Ranges
Cost figures are cross-checked against manufacturer pricing, published cost surveys and regional labor ranges, and we present them as ranges — because an exact price for an unseen roof would be false precision.
Advertising Revenue — Not Contractors
We earn revenue from advertising, not from contractors or manufacturers, and no company can pay to be ranked better in one of our comparisons.
Corrections on the Page
When we make an error, we correct it on the page. That independence is the entire point of the site: a publisher that sells nothing to you has no reason to tell you anything but what the numbers show.
Priya Chandrasekaran
Priya Chandrasekaran leads roofing content at RainyRoofers, covering sustainable, commercial, and residential roofing. She holds an M.S. in Sustainable Building Systems from UC Berkeley, is a LEED AP BD+C, and has 10 years of experience consulting on commercial roofing for institutional clients across California and the Pacific Northwest. She authors RainyRoofers’ recycled metal roofing, roofing materials, and LEED credits content and consults for the US Green Building Council (USGBC).
Start With the Guide That Matches Your Problem
If you have a roof problem today, begin with the guide that matches it — then run your own numbers before you accept any quote
Signs You Need a New Roof
Check the twelve signs that a roof is at the end of its life if you are unsure where you stand.
Read the decision guides
Roof Repair Cost Guide
Read the roof repair cost guide before accepting any quote, with material and labor broken down separately.
Read the pricing guides
Run Your Own Numbers
Run your measurements through the roof pitch calculator and the shingle calculator so your own numbers are on the table.
Open the calculators
Free, Unbiased, and Written for the Person Under the Roof: You
From there, the full roofing library and the complete calculator collection are one click away — free, unbiased, and written for the person who has to live under the roof: you.