Tear-off or recover
Stripping to deck adds labor, dumpsters and landfill tonnage. Recovering over one existing roof skips most of that — when the code and the core allow it.
Tear-off vs recoverRoof Cost Per Square Foot, at a glance
Per-square-foot pricing only means something once the assembly is defined. Tear-off versus recover, insulation thickness, deck repair, membrane mil, attachment method and warranty term can swing the same building by double. John Beal Roofing prices line by line so three bids can be compared honestly. Free inspections. (314) 429-6000.
Every owner opens with the same question, and it’s a fair one. What’s this going to run per square foot? The honest answer is that nobody can give you a real number over the phone, and anybody who does is quoting a system they haven’t chosen for a deck they haven’t seen.
Roofers price in squares — one square is a hundred square feet. Converting is arithmetic once you’ve got a scope. The scope is the hard part, so here’s what actually moves it.
What Moves The Number
Six Lines That Decide Your Price
Insulation to current code
Bringing R-value up to today’s energy code is often the biggest line after the membrane itself, and on a full replacement it isn’t optional.
Deck repair allowance
Nobody knows how much rusted deck is up there until it’s open. A good bid carries a unit price per square foot for it. A bad one pretends the number is zero.
Roof core samplingMembrane type and mil
45, 60 or 80 mil isn’t a rounding error at scale. Neither is PVC over TPO where grease or chemical exhaust is in play.
TPO vs EPDM vs PVCAccess and how cut up it is
A clean 60,000 foot warehouse prices nothing like 20,000 feet chopped into six sections with a crane setup and a downtown alley to stage from.
Warranty term and type
A 20-year no-dollar-limit warranty costs more than a 10-year material warranty, and it should. Make sure all three bids quote the same one.
NDL vs material warranty
Comparing Bids
Making Three Numbers Comparable
Get all three bidders onto the same assembly first. Same membrane, same mil, same insulation R-value, same attachment method, same warranty term. Otherwise you’re holding three different products with three prices on them.
Then hunt for the unit prices. Deck replacement per square foot, wet insulation removal per square foot, extra plies, curb re-flashing each. Those lines are where a low bid quietly turns into the high one — more on that in our bid and RFP guide.
Ask what the number assumes about weather days, overtime and night work. A store or a plant that can’t take daytime noise is a real cost, and a bid that never mentions it hasn’t carried it.
And get the maintenance requirement in writing. Most manufacturer warranties require documented inspections, so budget that annually or the coverage you paid extra for won’t be there — see maintenance programs.
Related: commercial roof cost in St. Louis for the wider budget picture, and roof capital planning for phasing it across budget years.
Common Questions
Why won’t you quote a per-square-foot price over the phone?
Because it’d be a guess and you’d hold me to it, fairly. Ten minutes on your roof with a core cutter produces a number that means something, and the inspection doesn’t cost you anything.
What’s a square?
A hundred square feet. It’s how material and labor get counted in this trade, so a 40,000 square foot roof is 400 squares.
Is a recover always cheaper than a tear-off?
Up front, usually. Across twenty years, not always. If there’s wet insulation under it you’re roofing over the problem and buying it back later with a deck bill attached.
Does a bigger roof lower the price per foot?
To a point. Mobilization, crane time and setup spread across more area. Past a certain size the curve flattens out and you’re mostly paying for material.
Can we phase a large roof across budget years?
Yes, by section, written so each phase stands on its own watertight. That’s how most of the schools, churches and property managers we work with here fund it.
Free Roof Cost Estimate
Tell us about the property and a dispatcher will call to schedule. No cost, no obligation.