Without a doubt, the most common question that a homeowner or business owner will ask in a roof installation is how long it will take to replace a roof. And rightly so – a roof replacement is a cumbersome project that could cause a business to shut down for several days and may put a family out of house and home throughout the installation process.
Although there’s no hard and fast answer to this question, most roofing contractors will be able to provide you with an estimate of how long a typical project will take.
Of course, an estimate is just that – an approximation of the expected length of a project. In any type of home improvement project, delays are likely to occur if a roofer runs out of materials, discovers serious internal damage, or doesn’t have enough staff to finish a job on time.
Don’t forget – bad weather is a major factor that can delay a roofing project.
Even if a roofing company quotes a roof installation at several weeks, it’s best to remain flexible in the exact time frame of the job. After removing old roofing materials, a roofer may quickly discover that more work must be done than originally anticipated before putting on a new roof.
The amount of time that a roof installation takes will depend on:
- Size of a property
- Season
- Roofing materials
To get a better idea of how long you can expect to be “inconvenienced” in your home or business during a roofing project, request both price and time estimates from at least three local contractors.
On average, you may find that a typical residential roofing job is estimated between 2 to 5 days, depending upon the number of roofers in a crew. A larger commercial roof for a multistory property could take much longer, depending upon the complexity of the roofing structure.
Removing and replacing a flat roof may proceed at roughly 1500 ft.² a day. A single-ply roof replacement may proceed at 2000- 4000 ft.² a day.
As the old saying goes, you must expect the unexpected. Although an inefficient roofer that delays the length of a project is unacceptable, most roofing companies should be given extra cushioning around the estimated project time frame.
Like any other job, emergencies can arise. Even more likely is the fact that poor weather conditions could delay a roof installation considerably to add several days onto a project total.
Once you contact a roofer to schedule services, a job may not begin immediately, depending on the busyness of the season and current bookings.
After signing a contract with a roofing company, a roofer could arrive as early as the next day in the slow off-season. Yet in most cases, roof installation will be scheduled immediately after a contract is signed, and a roofing crew may arrive on the job within 2 to 3 weeks.
Keep in mind that weather can delay not only your project but the projects of other clients. If bad weather delays a project several weeks before your roof installation is scheduled to begin, it can cause major setbacks before your project even starts.
To keep roofing short and sweet, stick to the seasonal scheduling guidelines listed in this chapter to book roof repair and installation in a temperate, dry season with less likelihood for rainouts.
