Cost guide · Greater Boston
How much does a roof replacement cost in Essex?
Most roofing projects in Essex run $9,000 – $18,600, with a typical roofing project around $13,800. Adjust the estimate for your job below. Figures reviewed 2026-07.
A square is 100 sq ft of roof surface — bigger than the floor plan because of pitch and overhangs.
Estimated range
$9,000 – $18,600
Typical roofing project around $13,800
A ballpark from regional averages — not a quote. Your price depends on the specifics of the job, so get written quotes from two or three licensed pros before deciding.
How this estimate works
A ballpark from regional averages — not a quote. Your price depends on the specifics of the job, so get written quotes from two or three licensed pros before deciding.
- Replacement tiers are built from $450–$950 per square installed for architectural asphalt ($550–$750 is typical), anchored to the metro's $9,000–$18,600 whole-roof range for a 20-square colonial.
- Base bands include single-layer tear-off, disposal, underlayment, ice-and-water shield, and standard flashing; a second existing layer adds $50–$100 per square of extra tear-off.
- Metal, cedar, and slate price as multiples of the asphalt baseline (about 1.8×, 1.5×, and 3.5×), from their $8–$18, $5–$15, and $20–$30 per sq ft installed ranges.
- Steep pitches are modeled at +35%; sources put the labor premium at 25–50% depending on how much staging the roof needs.
- Rotted sheathing isn't included — replacement runs $70–$120 per sheet, and 5–10% of sheets commonly need swapping on older roofs.
Ranges reflect published Greater Boston contractor pricing and regional cost data, last reviewed 2026-07.
What drives the price
Size in squares
Roof area — not house area — drives the bill, and pitch inflates it: the same footprint gains surface as the roof steepens. Contractors measure in squares and price $450–$950 per square for asphalt in Essex, so pinning down the square count is the fastest way to sanity-check a quote.
Material choice
Architectural asphalt is the Essex default and the price anchor. Metal roughly 1.8×s the job, cedar about 1.5×, and slate 3.5× or more — but the multiples buy lifespan: metal and slate can outlast two or three asphalt roofs. Match the material to how long you'll own the house.
Pitch, layers, and access
Steep roofs add 25–50% for staging, harnesses, and slower work; a second shingle layer adds $50–$100 per square of tear-off; and tight urban lots — common around Essex — add cost for dumpster placement and material handling on three-story homes.
What's under the shingles
Nobody knows the deck's condition until tear-off. Rotted sheathing runs $70–$120 per sheet to replace, and 5–10% of sheets commonly need it on older roofs. An honest quote states its per-sheet price up front rather than leaving decking as an open-ended extra.
Get real quotes from top-rated roofers in Essex
An estimate is a starting point — written quotes are the real number. These are the strongest roofers on the evidence: reviews weighed across sources and licenses verified against the state registry.
Roof Replacement cost questions, answered
- How much does a roof replacement cost in Essex?
- A full asphalt replacement on a typical 1,600–2,000 sq ft roof runs $9,000–$18,600 in Essex, with most jobs landing between $12,500 and $15,000. Per square — 100 sq ft of roof surface, the unit roofers quote in — that's $450–$950 installed including tear-off and disposal, with architectural shingles typically at $550–$750.
- How much more does a metal roof cost than asphalt?
- Roughly 1.8× — standing-seam metal runs $8–$18 per sq ft installed against $4–$8.50 for architectural asphalt, so a roof that would be $15,000 in asphalt lands somewhere around $27,000 in metal. The offset is lifespan: 40–70 years versus 20–30 for asphalt, which is a real argument in New England freeze-thaw weather.
- How much do roof repairs cost in Essex?
- Most roof repairs in Essex — leak chasing, flashing fixes, a patch of blown-off shingles — land between $415 and $2,100 depending on how much of the roof is opened up. If repair quotes on an aging roof keep climbing toward that upper end, get a replacement quote too; two or three repairs can add up to a meaningful share of a new roof without buying you one.
- Do I have to tear off the old shingles?
- If there's a single existing layer, code generally allows shingling over it, but most roofers recommend a full tear-off anyway — it's the only way to inspect the deck, and base pricing here already includes it. If there are two layers, tear-off is mandatory (building code caps a roof at two), and the second layer adds $50–$100 per square in extra labor and disposal — roughly $1,000–$2,000 on a 20-square roof.
- How many squares is my roof?
- A square is 100 sq ft of roof surface, and roofs run bigger than the house footprint because of pitch and overhangs. As rough guides: a 1,200 sq ft ranch is usually around 15 squares, a 2,000 sq ft colonial around 20, and a large or steep home 28 or more. It's worth estimating before quotes arrive, since every square is another $450–$950 on an asphalt job.