Roofing Season: Why Tear-Off Quotes Go Wrong
Roofing is the project where the listed price and the final invoice most often disagree, and the reason is always weight.
Shingles are heavier than the container suggests
Architectural shingles run roughly 400 to 430 pounds per square, a square being 100 square feet of roof. Three-tab is lighter, around 230 to 250. A 25-square single-layer architectural tear-off is about five tons, and that is comfortably past what most rentals include.
Layers multiply everything
A second layer doubles the weight. A third triples it. If you don't know how many layers are up there, the roofer does. Ask before you book the container, not after the tear-off starts.
Tell the hauler it's a roof
This one sentence prevents most roofing overage bills. A company that knows it's a tear-off quotes the right tonnage and sends a container rated for the weight. A company that thinks it's a general cleanout quotes for one ton.
Placement matters more on roofing jobs
Crews want the container directly beside the roof line so they can drop straight in. That usually means the driveway rather than the street, and it means moving cars for the whole job, not just delivery day.
It is not only shingles coming off
A tear-off produces underlayment, old flashing, drip edge, vents, sometimes decking, and a remarkable quantity of nails. The shingles dominate the weight, but the rest dominates the mess and some of it is worth separating: flashing, drip edge and vents are steel or aluminium and go to a scrap yard rather than into the load you are paying for by the ton.
Assume some deck replacement even if the estimate does not. Once the roof is open, soft sheets get found, and that plywood has to go somewhere.
Protect the ground before anything comes off
Tear-off debris does not land tidily. Tarps against the wall of the house, plywood over anything paved that matters, and the container as close to the eaves as the truck can place it, because every foot between the roof and the container is a foot somebody carries a shovel-load.
Nails are the part people underestimate. A magnetic sweeper over the driveway and the lawn at the end of each day costs very little and saves the conversation about a punctured tyre two weeks later.
Work out the swap before the crew starts
A roof of any size will fill a container mid-job, and a crew standing around waiting for a swap is more expensive per hour than the haul itself. Agree the swap arrangement when you book rather than calling when the container is full.
Most yards can commit to a next-day swap and many can do same-day if they know it is coming. That one question, asked at booking, is the difference between a smooth tear-off and a lost afternoon.
Keep the tear-off in its own container
Clean asphalt shingle is recycled into road surfacing in a lot of markets, at a rate well below the mixed-debris rate. One wheelbarrow of general rubbish tipped in removes that route for the entire load.
If the roof job is happening alongside other work, that is a strong argument for two containers rather than one. The saving on a clean tear-off load frequently covers most of the second delivery.
Common questions
- What size dumpster does a roof tear-off need?
- Usually a 20-yard, occasionally a smaller container if the hauler caps roofing loads by weight. Roofing is dense, so the constraint is the weight allowance rather than the volume, the opposite of a household cleanout.
- How much does a roof weigh?
- Architectural shingles run roughly 400 to 430 pounds per square, a square being 100 square feet of roof; three-tab about 230 to 250. A 25-square single-layer tear-off is around five tons before you add anything else.
- Should the roofer supply the dumpster?
- Many do, and it is usually worth asking what they charge for it against booking your own. Either way, agree who is paying for overage before the tear-off starts, because that is the line item that surprises people on a roofing job.
- Where should the container go for a roof job?
- As close to the eave the crew is working from as the truck can reach, so material goes straight in rather than being carried. Protect the driveway underneath, because roofing debris is loaded fast and heavy.
- What size dumpster for a roof tear-off?
- A 20 yard is the usual ceiling, because shingles are dense enough to hit the weight allowance before the container fills. A 25-square single-layer tear-off is around five tons before underlayment and flashing.
- Should roofing waste go in its own container?
- Yes where practical. Clean asphalt shingle is recycled into road surfacing at a rate well below the mixed-debris rate, and one wheelbarrow of general rubbish removes that option for the whole load.
- What else comes off a roof besides shingles?
- Underlayment, old flashing, drip edge, vents, often some decking, and a great many nails. The metal is worth separating for scrap, and a magnetic sweeper over the driveway each evening saves a punctured tyre later.
For current pricing see the Dumpster Price Index.