Roofing
Metal roof cost
A metal roof runs about $8.80 a square foot installed with the old roof stripped. This counts panels cut to length rather than squares, on coverage width rather than sheet width, and measures every piece of trim — which is where the quotes diverge.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-16 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
What is the roof?
The footprint, not the slope. The pitch is added below.
Per side. It is roof you have to cover and panel you have to buy.
Zero for a new build or a re-roof over strapping.
Read as 40' × 28' — 1,120 ft² of footprint, 1,409 ft² of roof at 1.118×
Stiffer than corrugated and the common residential exposed-fastener panel. Same screw-through-the-face principle and the same twenty-year washer problem.
Minimum pitch 3:12 · lasts 30–45 years
The simplest roof there is. Waste is edge cuts and the starter course, nothing more.
The most common residential pitch in the US. Adds 12% to the area.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
You need
31 panels
14 across each slope × 2 slopes, cut to 16.8 ft · 520 linear ft · 1,409 ft² of roof
Metal is ordered by the panel, not by the square
A supplier rolls 31 panels to 16.8 ft and delivers them on a lorry. The 14.09 squares figure is for comparing prices — it is not what goes on the order, and a 38 in sheet covering 36 in is how roofs end up a panel short.
Shopping list
- Ribbed / R-panel, exposed fastener, cut to 16.8 ft
14 panels across each slope at 36 in of cover — a 38 in sheet covers 36 once it is lapped. Includes 10% for cuts.31 panels - Which is, in linear feet of panel
The unit a supplier quotes and rolls to length. Squares are for comparing prices, not for ordering.520 ft - Eave / drip trim — 84 ft
At the bottom edge, under the panel, kicking water into the gutter.9 10 ft pieces - Gable / rake trim — 67 ft
Down the sloping edge of a gable. It is what makes the edge look finished rather than cut.8 10 ft pieces - Ridge cap — 42 ft
Over the ridge, with a closure strip under it or the wind drives rain straight in.5 10 ft pieces - Screws with neoprene washers
Through the face, into the high rib or the flat depending on the profile. These are what hold the water out.1,085 - High-temperature underlayment
Under metal the deck runs far hotter than under shingles, and ordinary felt cooks.2 rolls - Strip the old roof
1.69 tons of asphalt shingle to a skip$873
Trim is 6% of the material
22 pieces of 10 ft, lapped 6 in. The line most quotes leave vague.
| Where | Length | Pieces |
|---|---|---|
| Eave / drip trim | 84 ft | 9 |
| Gable / rake trim | 67 ft | 8 |
| Ridge cap | 42 ft | 5 |
Every panel on this roof
Same building, same pitch. Coverage changes how many, and the fixing changes what fails first.
| Panel | Cover | Min pitch | Life |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corrugated, exposed fastener 15 across each slope | 34 in | 3:12 | 25–40 |
| Ribbed / R-panel, exposed fastener — yours 14 across each slope | 36 in | 3:12 | 30–45 |
| Standing seam, snap-lock 32 across each slope | 16 in | 3:12 | 40–60 |
| Standing seam, mechanically seamed 28 across each slope | 18 in | 1:12 | 50+ |
What it costs
National average. Panels, trim, fasteners, underlayment, stripping the old roof and fitting.
$8.80 per ft² of roof. Panels are $4,835, trim $389 and labour $5,494 — on a metal roof the fitting is the larger half by some distance, which is why the panel price on its own tells you very little about the quote.
Worth knowing
- Metal is not bought by the square. It is bought as 31 panels cut to 16.8 ft — eave to ridge — which is 520 linear feet of panel. The square footage is useful for comparing prices and useless for placing the order.
- A 38 in sheet covers 36 in once it is lapped, so 14 panels span your 42 ft of eave rather than the 14 the sheet width suggests. Ordering on sheet width instead of coverage leaves a roof short by a panel or two.
- Trim is 6% of the material here — 22 separate pieces of 10 ft, lapped 6 in. It is not the biggest line, but it is the one quotes leave vague, and the runs roughly double between a plain gable and a roof with hips and valleys.
- An exposed-fastener roof has a few hundred neoprene washers holding the water out. The steel outlives them comfortably, so the roof does not fail — the washers do, at around twenty years, and re-screwing a whole roof is a real job.
- Under metal the deck runs far hotter than under shingles, and ordinary felt cooks and turns brittle. High-temperature synthetic is not an upgrade here, it is the specification.
On this page — 9 sections
- 01Metal is not bought by the square
- 02The trim is where the quote is vague
- 03The screws are the service life
- 04The pitch chooses the panel, not the other way round
- 05What goes under it
- 06What a metal roof costs per square foot installed
- 07Five ways this goes wrong
- 08How the calculator works it out
- 09The words on a metal roof quote
Metal is not bought by the square
The short version
- Panels are cut to length. The order is a count and a length, not an area — 38 in sheets covering 36.
- Trim is counted in pieces, not in feet. Ten-foot lengths lapped six inches, so a 42 ft ridge takes five — and the runs double on a complex roof.
- The pitch decides the panel. Only a mechanically seamed standing seam goes below 3:12.
- On an exposed-fastener roof the washers fail, not the steel. At around twenty years, and there are several hundred of them.
A shingle roof is bought by area: so many squares, so many bundles. Metal is not. A supplier rolls panels to your eave-to-ridge dimension and puts them on a lorry, so the order is a number of panels and a length — and the square footage exists only to compare prices.
That changes the arithmetic in a way that catches people. The panel count comes from the eave divided by the COVERAGE width, and coverage is not the sheet width: the edges lap into each other, so a 38 inch sheet covers 36. Divide by the sheet width and a long roof comes up a panel or two short, which on a cut-to-length product is a second delivery.
panels per slope = eave length ÷ coverage width · panel length = (width ÷ 2 + overhang) × pitch multiplier
- coverage width
- 36 in for ribbed, 16 for snap-lock standing seam
- pitch multiplier
- √(rise² + 144) ÷ 12 — about 1.12 at 6:12
- eave length
- building length plus the overhang at each end
Worked through — A 40 × 28 ft building at 6:12 with a 12 in overhang. The eave is 42 ft, so at 36 in of cover that is 14 panels across each slope. The panel length is (30 ÷ 2) × 1.118 = 16.8 ft. The order is 28 panels at 16 ft 10 in — and nowhere in that sentence is there a square.
Metal Construction Association, Residential metal roofing installation guidance · checked 2026-09-16
The trim is where the quote is vague
Every edge of a metal roof is closed with a formed piece: ridge cap over the top, eave trim at the bottom, rake trim down the gable, valley under the panels where two slopes meet, and flashing wherever the roof dies into a wall.
All of it is sold in 10 foot lengths and lapped 6 inches, which means a 42 foot ridge takes five pieces rather than 4.2 — and that rounding happens on every run separately.
It is not the biggest line on the order. On the reference roof above it works out at about five per cent of the material for a plain gable and nine for one with hips and valleys, because a hipped roof needs cap along every hip as well as the ridge — 63 feet of it against 42. What makes trim worth counting is not its share but its shape: a couple of dozen separate pieces, each of which is either delivered or missing on the day.
| Trim | Where it goes, and what it is really doing |
|---|---|
| Ridge cap | Over the ridge, with a closure strip under it or the wind drives rain straight in. |
| Eave / drip trim | At the bottom edge, under the panel, kicking water into the gutter. |
| Gable / rake trim | Down the sloping edge of a gable. It is what makes the edge look finished rather than cut. |
| Valley | Under the panels where two slopes meet. Every panel that lands on it is cut on an angle. |
| Sidewall / endwall flashing | Where the roof dies into a wall. Needs counter-flashing into the cladding, not caulk. |
MaterialsEstimator, Metal roofing panel and trim price survey · checked 2026-09-16
The screws are the service life
The usual way to compare metal roofs is panel against panel. It is the wrong comparison, because on an exposed-fastener roof the steel is not what wears out.
An exposed-fastener roof has a few hundred neoprene washers holding the water out. The steel outlives them comfortably, so the roof does not fail — the washers do, at around twenty years, and re-screwing a whole roof is a real job.
That is not an argument against exposed fastener — it is half the price and entirely appropriate on a simple roof. It is an argument for knowing what you are buying: a fifty-year roof with a maintenance event at twenty, rather than a fifty-year roof.
| Exposed fastener | Standing seam | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per ft² installed | $6–$12 | $12–$20 |
| What holds the water out | A washer under every screw head | The seam. Nothing penetrates the face. |
| Minimum pitch | 3:12 | 3:12, or 1:12 mechanically seamed |
| Movement | Slotted holes on long panels | Floating clips, by design |
| First maintenance | Re-screw at around 20 years | None scheduled |
| Fits best | Simple gable, outbuilding, budget | Complex roof, low pitch, or the last roof you want to buy |
0.7/ft²
Screws, ribbed panel
about 80 to the square
20 yr
Washer service life
the steel outlives them easily
30 ft
Where movement matters
floating clips past this
0.78"
Per 100 ft per 100°F
steel expansion
The pitch chooses the panel, not the other way round
Every metal panel has a minimum slope, and it is not a recommendation. Below it, water driven by wind gets under the lap faster than gravity takes it away, and the roof leaks in exactly the weather nobody is up there to see.
| Panel | Cover | Min pitch | Life | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corrugated, exposed fastener | 34 in | 3:12 | 25–40 | The cheapest metal roof and the one on every barn. The screws go through the face, which is why it is quick to fit and why the washers are what eventually fails. |
| Ribbed / R-panel, exposed fastener | 36 in | 3:12 | 30–45 | Stiffer than corrugated and the common residential exposed-fastener panel. Same screw-through-the-face principle and the same twenty-year washer problem. |
| Standing seam, snap-lock | 16 in | 3:12 | 40–60 | Concealed clips, so nothing penetrates the panel face. Narrower panels means more of them, and the clips let each one move as it heats. |
| Standing seam, mechanically seamed | 18 in | 1:12 | 50+ | The seam is folded shut with a machine, which is what allows it down to a 1:12 pitch. The most watertight metal roof there is, and the most expensive to fit. |
The shingle calculator works in squares and bundles, adjusts for pitch and waste, and prices the tear-off — the comparison worth making is installed cost against the years each one buys.
Asphalt shingles instead?What goes under it
Under metal the deck runs far hotter than under shingles, and ordinary felt cooks and turns brittle. High-temperature synthetic is not an upgrade here, it is the specification.
Over an existing shingle roof, metal usually goes on purlins or strapping rather than straight down. That gives solid timber to screw into at a known spacing, keeps the panel off an uneven surface — which is what causes visible waviness — and creates a vented cavity that does a great deal for the temperature of the roof deck.
Before the first panel goes on
- Deck checked for soft spots and flatness. A metal panel shows every dip a shingle would hide.
- High-temperature synthetic underlayment, lapped and fastened to the manufacturer's spec.
- Ice and water membrane at the eaves and in every valley, in a cold climate.
- Eave trim on before the panels; ridge trim after. Getting that order wrong means taking panels off.
- Closure strips at eave and ridge, matched to the panel profile.
- Panel lengths checked against the actual rafter length, measured on site rather than off the drawing.
- Fasteners set to the right torque — a test panel is worth the time.
What a metal roof costs per square foot installed
About $8.80 a square foot of roof — $12,392 for the 40 × 28 ft roof at a 6:12 pitch this page opens with, including stripping the old shingles. Panels are $4,835 of it, trim $389, and the fitting $5,494.
The fitting is the larger half, and by some distance. That is the difference between metal and shingles in one line: the material costs more and the labour costs a great deal more, because panels are cut to length for your roof, carried up whole, and fixed in a pattern where a wrong screw is a leak rather than a blemish.
It is also why a metal roof quote varies so much more between contractors than a shingle quote does. You are buying a skill that fewer crews have, and the cheapest bid is often the one from the crew that mostly does shingles.
Five ways this goes wrong
01Counting panels on the sheet width
Panels lap, so a 38 in sheet covers 36. On a long roof that is a panel or two short, and a cut-to-length product cannot be topped up from a shelf.
Instead — Divide the eave by the coverage width, always. It is printed on the spec sheet next to the sheet width.
02Leaving the trim as a line item
Ridge, eave, rake, valley and wall flashing add up to a large share of the material, and on a hipped roof they rival the panels.
Instead — Measure each edge separately and count 10 ft pieces with the 6 in lap. It is what the tool above does.
03Putting an exposed-fastener panel on a low pitch
Below the minimum slope, wind-driven rain backs up under the laps. It stays dry for years and then leaks in one storm.
Instead — Respect the 3:12 minimum, or use a mechanically seamed standing seam, which is the only thing here rated to 1:12.
04Fixing long panels rigidly
Steel moves with temperature. Past about thirty feet the panel drags on its fasteners, elongates the holes and starts to weep at every screw.
Instead — Floating clips on a standing seam, slotted holes on an exposed-fastener panel, and the manufacturer's detail rather than an assumption.
05Ordinary felt under metal
The deck under metal runs much hotter than under shingles. Standard felt cooks, turns brittle and stops being a barrier well before the roof needs it.
Instead — High-temperature synthetic underlayment. It is the specification, not the upgrade.
How the calculator works it out
- 01Measure the footprint, then add the pitchLength and width of the building plus the overhang, multiplied by the pitch multiplier. A 6:12 roof is about 12 per cent larger than its footprint.
- 02Work out the panel lengthHalf the width, plus overhang, times the pitch multiplier. That is the eave-to-ridge dimension every panel is rolled to.
- 03Count panels by COVERAGEEave length divided by the coverage width, not the sheet width. The difference is one to two inches a panel and it compounds.
- 04Measure every edge separatelyEave, rake, ridge and valley each take a different trim, and trim comes in ten-foot lengths that lap six inches.
- 05Check the pitch against the panelExposed fastener wants 3:12 or more. Only a mechanically seamed standing seam goes down to 1:12.
- 06Allow for movement on long panelsPast thirty feet a panel moves enough to matter, and the fixings have to let it.
Minimum slopes, coverage widths, fastener spacing and the length at which movement has to be allowed for follow the metal construction association’s residential guidance. The pitch multiplier is geometry — the square root of rise squared plus 144, over 12 — and the same one the roof pitch table publishes. Prices come from a survey of panel and trim suppliers. Everything is on the sources page, dated.
Two assumptions worth stating. Edge lengths on a hip or a complex roof are derived from the shape rather than measured, so they are an estimate for ordering and not a takeoff — measure the real roof before cutting trim. And the waste allowance goes on the panel count rather than on the area, because a cut-to-length panel is wasted whole when the cut is diagonal.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere — the whole calculation runs in your browser.
The words on a metal roof quote
Coverage width and minimum pitch are the two that decide the order and whether it stays dry.
- Coverage width
- The width a panel covers once it is lapped into its neighbour, which is less than the sheet. A 38 in sheet covers 36 in, and ordering on the sheet width leaves a roof short.
- Exposed fastener
- A panel screwed through its face, with a neoprene washer under each head sealing the hole. Quick, cheap, and the washers are the part with a service life.
- Standing seam
- Panels joined by a raised seam with concealed clips underneath. Nothing penetrates the face, which is why it lasts longer and costs more.
- Snap-lock versus mechanically seamed
- A snap-lock seam clips together by hand and goes down to a 3:12 pitch. A mechanically seamed one is folded shut with a machine and goes to 1:12, which is the only way to use metal on a nearly flat roof.
- Floating clip
- A clip with a sliding top that lets a long panel expand and contract without dragging on its fixings. Required past about thirty feet of panel length.
- Closure strip
- Profiled foam or metal filling the gap under a panel at the eave and the ridge. Without it the roof is open to wind-driven rain, insects and birds along its whole length.
- Oil canning
- Visible waviness in the flat part of a panel. It is an appearance issue rather than a defect, it is worse on wide flat panels and shiny colours, and striations or a heavier gauge reduce it.
- Trim
- The formed pieces that close every edge — ridge, eave, rake, valley, sidewall. Sold in 10 ft lengths and lapped 6 in, which is why a 42 ft ridge needs five pieces rather than 4.2.
- Purlins and strapping
- Horizontal battens over an existing roof or across rafters, giving something to screw into. They allow a metal roof to go over shingles without a tear-off, and they create a vented cavity.
- Galvalume and G90
- Coatings on the steel. Galvalume is aluminium-zinc and is the usual residential substrate; G90 is a heavier zinc galvanising. The paint system on top — usually a fluoropolymer — is what holds the colour.
- Gauge
- Steel thickness, where a smaller number is thicker. 29 gauge is common on agricultural panels, 26 is the residential standard and 24 is what standing seam uses.
- Panel length
- Eave to ridge along the slope, which is the run times the pitch multiplier. Panels are rolled to this dimension, so the roof is ordered as a count and a length rather than an area.
Common questions
- How do I calculate metal roofing panels?
- Divide the eave length by the panel's COVERAGE width, not its sheet width, and round up — that is the panels across one slope. Their length is half the building width plus overhang, times the pitch multiplier. A 38 in ribbed sheet covers 36 in once lapped, so a 42 ft eave takes 15 panels rather than the 14 the sheet width suggests.
- How much does a metal roof cost?
- Exposed-fastener panels usually run $6 to $12 per square foot of roof installed, and standing seam $12 to $20. The panels are well under half of it: labour is the larger share by some distance, which is why a quote cannot be sanity-checked from the panel price alone. Trim is a smaller line than people expect — around 5 per cent of the material on a plain gable and 9 on a roof with hips and valleys — but it is the one that gets left vague.
- Is metal roofing sold by the square?
- Prices are quoted per square for comparison, but nothing is ordered that way. Panels are rolled to your eave-to-ridge length, so the order is a count and a length — 22 panels at 18 ft 4 in — and the square footage never appears on it.
- What is the minimum pitch for a metal roof?
- 3:12 for exposed-fastener panels and for snap-lock standing seam. A mechanically seamed standing seam goes down to 1:12, because the seam is folded closed rather than clipped. Below the minimum, wind-driven rain backs up under the laps — the roof does not leak on an ordinary day, it leaks on the worst one.
- Exposed fastener or standing seam?
- Exposed fastener is roughly half the price and perfectly good on a simple roof. Standing seam costs more, lasts longer, goes to a lower pitch and has nothing penetrating the panel face. The honest way to compare them is not the panel — it is what fails first, and on an exposed-fastener roof that is a few hundred neoprene washers at around twenty years.
- How long does a metal roof last?
- The steel lasts forty to sixty years and more. An exposed-fastener roof has a few hundred neoprene washers holding the water out. The steel outlives them comfortably, so the roof does not fail — the washers do, at around twenty years, and re-screwing a whole roof is a real job. So an exposed-fastener roof is a twenty-year maintenance event and a fifty-year roof, and a standing seam is just a fifty-year roof.
- Can you put a metal roof over shingles?
- Usually yes, and it is one of metal's real advantages — no tear-off, no skip, no exposed deck. It normally goes over purlins or strapping rather than directly on the shingles, which gives something solid to screw into and creates a vented cavity. Check the local code first: some jurisdictions limit total roof layers.
- How many screws does a metal roof need?
- About 0.7 per square foot for a ribbed exposed-fastener panel, so roughly 80 a square — into the flat or the rib depending on the profile, and at the manufacturer's spacing rather than by eye. They are torque-sensitive: over-driven crushes the washer and under-driven leaves it loose, and both leak.
- What is oil canning and can it be avoided?
- Visible waviness in the flat of a panel. It is an appearance characteristic rather than a defect and it cannot be eliminated, only reduced — by a heavier gauge, by striations or a pencil rib rolled into the flat, by a matte or lighter colour, and by a flat deck. Any supplier who promises none of it is promising something nobody can deliver.
- Do metal roofs need special underlayment?
- Yes. Under metal the deck runs far hotter than under shingles, and ordinary felt cooks and turns brittle. High-temperature synthetic is not an upgrade here, it is the specification. It is not the place to save fifty dollars, because it is the last barrier and it is under a surface that will be there for fifty years.
- How much does a metal panel expand?
- About 0.78 of an inch per 100 feet for every 100°F of temperature swing. On a thirty-foot panel between a winter night and a summer afternoon that is a fraction of an inch — enough that the fixings have to allow it, which is what floating clips and slotted holes are for.
- Is a metal roof noisy in rain?
- Over a solid deck with underlayment, no more than any other roof — the noise people remember is from a barn, where the panel is on open purlins with nothing beneath it. On a house with a deck, insulation and a ceiling, the difference is very small.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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