Roofing estimating software: from squares and linear feet to the work order
- Work order total
- $863.16
- Labour
- $510
- Parts, marked up
- $288
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Jobcardo publishes no tax rate, no wage figure and no trade standard: the rate, the markup and the tax on the parts line are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
Roofing is estimated in squares, and the estimate stands or falls on three numbers a takeoff gives you: the roof area after pitch and waste, the linear feet of ridge, hip, valley and eave, and the number of penetrations that need flashing. Roofing estimating software is worth paying for when it carries those quantities into a priced estimate with your own material costs, your own crew rate and your own margin, and then carries the accepted estimate into the work order the crew is dispatched on. Software that stops at a pretty PDF leaves the second half of the job on a spreadsheet.
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Quantities first: squares, linear feet and penetrations
A square is 100 square feet of roof surface, measured after the pitch multiplier and before waste. Hips and valleys add cut waste, so the estimate carries a waste allowance you set from your own material returns rather than a figure borrowed from a manufacturer's guide. Get the quantity wrong and no amount of pricing discipline saves the estimate.
Roofing estimate software should price from your own book, not a national average
Material prices move by the quarter and labor by the crew. A price book you maintain, with a line for each shingle, underlayment, drip edge and vent you actually buy, is what makes two estimates comparable. Commercial roofing estimating software adds membrane, insulation and fastener patterns, and the same rule applies to those.
Roofing estimator software should carry the accepted estimate into the work order
The point of a roofing estimator software is not the document, it is that the accepted lines become the job: materials ordered against the same quantities, the crew dispatched with the same scope, and the invoice built from the same figures. Re-typing between those steps is where the margin quietly goes.
Roofing estimating software: common questions
What is the difference between roofing estimate software and a takeoff tool? A takeoff tool measures: it turns a drawing, an aerial report or a walked roof into quantities. Estimate software prices those quantities from your cost book and applies markup, tax and terms. Some products do both, and if yours does not, the handover between them is the step to keep clean.
Do I need commercial roofing estimating software for residential work? No, and the reverse is expensive. Commercial systems carry assemblies, submittals and schedules of values that a re-roof crew never uses, and they price accordingly. Buy the one that matches the work you bid most weeks.
How much waste should a roofing estimate carry? Enough to cover the cuts on hips and valleys and the starter and ridge courses, which is small on a simple gable and considerably larger on a complex cut-up roof. Set the allowance from what you actually returned to the supplier on your last few roofs, and state it on the estimate as a line so the customer sees it rather than discovering it as a change.
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Keeping what you raise
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