The most popular residential roofing material in America vs. the most popular type of metal roofing. A bit like comparing apples and oranges. There are several common criteria where Architectural Asphalt shingles and Standing Seam are worth comparing and contrasting side by side. Let’s explore!
Cost of Asphalt Shingles vs. Standing Seam Metal Roofs
All roofs have a hefty price tag. There’s the cost of the materials and supplies itself, plus labor, building permits and warranty provided by professional contractor. Roofers always price materials and labor by the square.
Note: 100 square feet equals to 1 (roofing) square.
On average, professional roofers charge between $3.50 and $7.50 per square foot or $350 and $750 per square for common roof applications such as 3-tab (low-end), architectural or laminate shingles (mid-range), and premium designer shingles on the high-end. — That’s quite a range, but pricing varies greatly by geographic location, company size and experience of the roofer/crew, familiarity with the product, and competition among roofers in your area.
Architectural and Premium Shingles: The cost to install architectural shingles (professional labor, materials and supplies, and warranty included) comes in around $4.00 to $7.50 per square foot or $400 to $750 per square (100 square feet) installed, depending on the project specifics and where in the country the house is located.
Standing Seam – Kynar-500 coated Aluminum or Steel Panels: both field-locked and snap-locked panels, the overall installation cost can range between $10.00 and $16.00 per square foot or $1,000 to $1,600 per square.
Cost of Materials Comparison:
The average cost for typical architectural shingles from manufacturers such CertainTeed, GAF, Owens Corning, IKO, Atlas, and Tamko, range between $1.00 and $2.50 per square foot or $100 to $250 per square.
Most Kynar 500 (premium protective paint finish) coated standing seam panels start at around $3.50 per square foot or $350 per square, but generally range in price from $3.50 to $6.50 per square foot or $350 to $650 per square (or 100 sq. ft.) of materials and trim, depending on the order size, color, metal thickness, etc. The smaller the order size the higher the price per square foot will be due to the set up costs necessary for the order fulfillment at a sheet metal shop.
For materials alone, standing seam is roughly two to three times higher in cost than architectural shingles.
Installation costs are almost double (or more) for standing seam compared to architectural shingles. The cost of labor for standing seam may also depend on how the metal panels are fastened:
Snap-locked panels require less effort and tools than the alternative method of field-locked panels. A metal roofing pro will sometimes prefer to go with a field-lock standing seaming installation method (a more tedious approach) because it is inherently more reliable.
Bottom line:
On cost alone, architectural shingles are an obvious winner. Yet, there is far more to a roof than the price you pay to install it.