Roofer Pricing Question

U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 17:46

Serious question for anyone in the roofing trade or knowledgeable about such matters. What do roofers make per day?

I recently had some work done to re-bed and point the roof at my single storey house, including gables.

I had three quotes come in at almost the same price of $10k. One of which I accepted and work complete. All is happy.

My question is why so high a rate? Two guys were here for 1.5 days - call it 2 days for easy maths. All tiles provided by me. They supplied concrete and pointing.

My best guess is $100 in cement and $500 in pointing. Call it $1000. That leaves $9k.

Are these guys really making $2k+ a day for basic roofing? Am I vastly underestimating material costs? Does the 'company' take all the cash and give the sub contractors the usual $800 per day? Am I being scammed by some systemic price fixing scheme? Should I quit my job on IT and become a roofer?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • MS Paint on 23/10/2024 - 17:48
    +5

    making $2k+ a day

    Probably. But it's not all profit if they are operating legitimately.

    • HeWhoKnows on 24/10/2024 - 20:44
      -6

      Lets see Op get up there and do it himself?

      Wanna take the risk OP?

      HeWhoKnows on 24/10/2024 - 20:44 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
      • MS Paint on 24/10/2024 - 20:53
        +4

        Why are you replying to me? FFS

      • 2025 on 24/10/2024 - 22:54
        +1

        It looks like you’re trying to reply to @U4333439 and not @MS Paint. Was that a mistake?

  • brendanm on 23/10/2024 - 17:49
    +3

    Hard/crap work at heights. Tools, insurance, vehicle, etc etc etc.

    Should I quit my job on IT and become a roofer?

    Yes for sure, don't complain when you are sore every single day and your back is stuffed by 30.

    • MrThing on 23/10/2024 - 18:28
      +6

      and youre doing a roof in the middle of summer and its 35degrees

      • garetz on 23/10/2024 - 18:30
        +2

        With the amount you make as a roofer you dont even need to work during summer.

        • MrThing on 23/10/2024 - 18:36

          evidently at $2000 a day, I guess not

        • JIMB0 on 23/10/2024 - 19:30
          +3

          They still work in summer to make up for the lost rainy days in winter. It's incredibly hot on a tile roof in summer. I worked on my roofs in summer and had to do it in the evenings as it's far too hot during the day.

          • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 20:48
            +1

            @JIMB0: Good point on the rain. Wet days would cut a chunk out of their earnings so probably needs to be made up somewhere.

      • Euphemistic on 23/10/2024 - 19:34

        And you cant work for weeks out of the year because its raining.

  • sumyungguy on 23/10/2024 - 18:27
    +1

    Your quotes should be itemised. I'm sitting on a quote to replace a 7m piece of colourbond guttering; 45% of the price is trestle hire and delivery fees. Per @brendanm, to work on your roof there's a whole bunch of edge protection and safety rails to be hired, delivered, fitted, dismantled and collected.

    • JIMB0 on 23/10/2024 - 19:32

      to work on your roof there's a whole bunch of edge protection and safety rails to be hired, delivered, fitted, dismantled and collected

      Most of them choose to risk it and go without to collect extra profit.

  • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 18:32
    +2

    Fair enough…
    This was purely bedding and pointing, so no delivery. They also had no scaffolds etc, just a ladder. Legit operators to the best of my ability to judge. Highly recommended and booked out months in advance.

    @brendanm I'm sure it is hard work and in the sun etc. We had a couple of sparkies around the same week though which is also unpleasant manual work I expect, and their rate was less than half the roofers. Just seems odd…Also if I was making $2k a day I would retire at 30!

    Maybe there's a roofer shortage?

    • brendanm on 23/10/2024 - 19:13
      +1

      As I said, it's not actually $2k a day. I personally think it's high, and wouldn't pay that, but that's the joy of supply and demand for you.

    • MS Paint on 23/10/2024 - 19:29

      also had no scaffolds etc

      Not even harnesses?

      • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 20:00

        Nope.

        I am obviously not a roofer, but it seems a bit overkill for a single storey.

        None of the people I've ever had up there have used kit, eg solar air con, etc. I would never consider using that sort of gear when doing my own work up there.

        • sumyungguy on 23/10/2024 - 20:03

          Obligations on a PCBU are more stringent than for a homeowner. Is your roof quite low pitch?

          • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 20:45

            @sumyungguy: I think it's just standard? It's not flat, but certainly not a high pitch roof.

        • MS Paint on 23/10/2024 - 20:27
          +1

          overkill for a single storey.

          Killed falling over single storey

          FTFY

  • bmxr on 23/10/2024 - 18:50
    +7

    Not a tradie, but these discussions come up a lot. The fact you got 3 quotes (well done! that puts you ahead of 95% of OzB posts about trades) and they were all thre same tells you that's where the market is at, at the moment. The fact that you are happy with the work, absolute bonus! Check the itemised quote you received for a breakdown of labour vs materials.

    There's a huge shortage of skills in the construction industry at the moment, further exacerbated by all tiers of Government attempting to address the housing issues through more suuply.

    Insurance, tools, risk of/actual time lost for injuries, work days lost to bad weather. Allow for downturns in the construction industry every couple of years (evidently not in one now!) when you don't have work for months. Needing to retrain, find another job at 30-40-50 when you can't physically do it any more. Take the $2k and cut it in half, then cut it in half again. $120k p.a. Seems about right.

  • netbies on 23/10/2024 - 19:50
    +2

    I did similar with similar size of house and paid 8k for only one guy worked half a day.

    • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 19:56

      At least we're all in the same boat I guess 🙂

    • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 19:55

      Sorry you lost me?

      • boomramada on 23/10/2024 - 19:57

        Oops read it incorrectly my bad

        • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 20:01

          All good 👍

  • TEER3X on 23/10/2024 - 19:54
    +2

    I asked a roof plumber today if they knew anyone that does roof repointing, he said no and that there aren't actually many people that do it, there's a shortage.

    That may explain part of the pricing.

    There's many factors and it seems most consumers don't consider the oh&s cost at all. I know I didn't.

  • morse on 23/10/2024 - 20:52
    +2

    There’s not many qualified people in this trade. Sounds about right. Ours was cheaper but likely different region and size. But yes, $2k per day with costs (including staff) sounds about right. It’s definitely worthwhile getting into a trade if you’re not the academic type right now - but consider the long term impact on your body etc.

  • mskeggs on 23/10/2024 - 20:53
    +3

    This is like the threads about teacher’s pay.
    If it is an easy job apparently wildly overpaid, why not go change careers instead of complaining?

    • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 21:09
      +2

      I don't think it was a complaint, just an enquiry into whether roofers really are taking home $2k per day. It seems significantly above what other tradies make, and from what I have heard, roofers are usually looked down on as the bottom rung in the trades (not my own view, just what I have heard multiple times).

      Or whether I have missed something significant in my sums. Others helpfully mentioned hiring and set up of safety gear (though I do not believe that was a factor in this scenario).

      I satisfied myself that I was paying the market rate, so was happy enough on that front.

      • MS Paint on 23/10/2024 - 21:29
        +8

        roofers are usually looked down on

        Logically it's quite the opposite, most other trades look up to the roofer.

        • U4333439 on 24/10/2024 - 09:29

          Have a +1!

        • Nugs on 27/10/2024 - 04:43
          +1

          "other trades look up to the roofer"
          Upshorting
          .

  • POSITIVEVIBESONLY on 23/10/2024 - 21:09
    +3

    I would say this about all trades if you want to calculate it like that. Ducted Aircon replacement costs $8k while the unit is only $3.3k with 2 guys taking half a day around 4hours, with them going to a 2nd job afterwards.

    Even giving extra $700 for additional items, that's $4k for labour half a day for 2 guys that equals to $4k a day.

    You don't see all the overhead of securing the jobs, writing invoices, quoting and just running the business costs. Sure they earn that rate when on site but when they're not on site they don't earn anything.

    I'm sure they would take your office job any day of the week.

    • U4333439 on 23/10/2024 - 21:13

      Yeah fair point.

      This may indicate that the individual sub contracted roofers don't make $2k (which is what I suspect), and the company hiring them out take half to cover the items you mentioned.

      This again probably indicates that if you could arrange directly with the subbie, you could cut costs considerably - though with more effort and risk.

      • POSITIVEVIBESONLY on 23/10/2024 - 21:21
        +2

        That's true but things like insurance, licenses and having assurance they're come back to fix things to keep company image. I have dealt with subbies and usually they're terrible at writing invoices, dealing with problems/customer services but you get a cheaper price. Overall from my experience I would stick dealing with someone who overseas the subbies work to make sure they're doing a good job.

  • netjock on 23/10/2024 - 22:01
    +2

    The comical part is most of them do end up going broke or broke because they have ruined their bodies at 50 with no back up plan.

    Every extra $10k you are spending on a ute is worth $200k in 20 years time (the data is in the vanguard annual investment report latest edition).

    • Some Human on 24/10/2024 - 05:11
      +1

      From what I've noticed, a lot of the older ones will start their own business and hire young'ins to do the grunt work.

      • netjock on 24/10/2024 - 08:58
        +1

        That is how it is meant to be. You move from on tools to off tools.

        Unfortunately a lot of people don't have capacity to manage and don't want to learn then blame it on lazy employees (because they don't hire correctly and fire, then have wrong expectations)

        I had a CIO that said to his people. We outsource to India but you got to know what they do well and their purpose, don't confuse what they get paid / capable of doing vs your expectations.

  • geekcohen on 24/10/2024 - 05:51
    +3

    As a Small Business Owner, I have had a few people query my quotes/costs for installation work and go, "thats a bit high" but I think people don't consider a number of things:

    • Time and Admin Effort that goes into said job (orgnaising parts etc, site visit etc)
    • Insurances
    • Tools and other items required to do said job
    • Travel (time, fuel, tolls etc). Tolls themselves for a Light Commercial Vehicle can be $30 return.
    • Tax/GST etc
    • Any possible return visits for any issues
    • Paying for additional person, yes having extra help does make the job quicker but you have to pay them. Often have to pay travel time on top of the time onsite. If they are actually employees, you need to pay them super as well.

    I had one guy query it when I did the site visit, quoted and he was like, "it is a max 1 hours work". Well that was his estimate, it could've been an hours work, it could've been two hours work, who knows until you actually do the job if you run into issues. I've estimated only a few hours for a job to then be 5 hours because of an issue. It took longer to do a certain component.

    If we break yours down. $10k quote, less other consumables you have said is $9k which is $4.5k a day.
    $4.5k a day split between two is $2.5k.
    $2.5k less say 30% for tax is $1.75k
    $1.75k less 10% for super is $1.5k

    $1.5k a day each and then less any other wear and tear on tools, travel time and costs. So maybe say $500 for that (might be a bit excessive, but lets do rough and whole numbers here). So that would be $1k a day in the pocket after everything. IT jobs pay about $800 a day as a contractor which you need to then take out Super, Tax and travel (if it is required).

    Plus it is physical and weather dependant work. If the weather is bad, they could lose a days pay. If the weather is hot, they work through it and suck it up. If they hurt themselves, then they also lose some sort of income (even if they had income protection insurance).

    Thats just my view, but I have had a lot of people question my quotes and if they do, they are customers I do not want because they will be picky and/or not pay the final amount. You are also paying for the experience in said job and making the responsibility theirs. With the work I do, a lot of people could do DYI but they don't know what they are doing or don't want to stuff it up. So they just pay for the experience and responsibility of the installation/setup to be someone elses problem.

  • AustriaBargain on 24/10/2024 - 06:08
    +1

    $600 for cement and pointing. $9,400 for knowing where to put it.

  • skillet on 24/10/2024 - 09:29
    +1

    In Victoria you need a roof plumber to do the gutters and drain. So, you are effectively hiring a plumber to do your roof. Chaching Chaching.

  • Msfrugal on 24/10/2024 - 14:16
    +2

    Former Housemate is a roofer. He keeps very fit as job is physically demanding as mentioned. Hes 41 years old. He would get asked about work by neighbours of the job he was doing for his boss’s company (rolling in money btw).
    He does the work for half the price the big companies charged. He worked company 5 days a week. Every Saturday he’d do his own jobs. So he’d make $2000-$3000+a day cash in hand job on Saturdays and Sundays. Rarely a 2-day job as Sunday he rested.
    He repointed my roof for $700 when I’d been quoted $2700 —my lucky day when he happened to move in shortly after I’d gotten a quote.

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