Roof replacement cost in Seattle, WA

How much does a roof replacement cost in Seattle?

A roof replacement in Seattle typically costs $14,160 for the example home. The range is $11,040 to $18,970. That is a tear-off of one layer of shingles and a new architectural asphalt roof. It is not a metal roof, not a tile roof, and not a second story added under the old one. The price uses a planning roof area of 1,840 square feet, which is the example home’s 1,600 square feet of floor times 1.15. That 1.15 is a stand-in for a simple roof. It is not a measurement. A steep roof, a complicated hip, or a measured square count replaces it the day someone is on a ladder.

What Seattle labor does to a roof

The national starting point is $6.80 per square foot of that planning roof, before the city. About 52 percent of the price is the crew. Seattle labor is 1.24 times a national crew, which adds about $1,650 versus a crew priced at 1.00. The typical price works out to about $10 per square foot of planning roof. Materials, the shingles themselves, barely move between cities. The hours do. A low labor factor is not a cheap roof if the deck is rotten.

Low, typical, and high on a Seattle roof

Low, $11,040, is one layer, a walkable pitch, a driveway the dumpster can sit in, and decking that does not need sheets. Typical, $14,160, is that same scope on the example house, built around 1968. craftsman houses and newer townhouses, mild wet winters, cheap power by big-city standards High, $18,970, is the same shingles when access is worse, the permit takes a second trip, or a few boards are replaced and hauled. A full redeck, a second layer that has to come off, ice-and-water on a whole valley system, or a crane is a different project and can sit above the high number without anyone cheating.

What the climate does, and what it does not

Seattle is zone 4C, with about 4,420 heating degree days and 200 cooling degree days. Heat and hail and coastal wind change which shingle and which underlayment a roofer specifies. They do not, by themselves, multiply this table. Seattle labor is expensive and the electricity is not. That split matters: a heat-pump water heater may not win on operating cost the way it does in San Jose, while the installed price still hurts. Cooling degree days are small. Anyone selling a large air conditioner on a Seattle ZIP alone is selling weather the model does not have. Moisture, crawlspaces, and rockeries that complicate a condenser pad are the real local risks. Ask the quote to name the shingle line, the underlayment, and whether the deck is included. A price with no scope is not comparable to $14,160.

If you rent, and if the number is for the wrong house

A renter does not replace a roof. Use the range only to understand a building-wide assessment, not to hire a roofer. An owner with a different floor area should not use 1,840 square feet. Set your square footage in the calculator. A 1,000 square foot ranch and a 2,400 square foot two-story are not the same roof, and this page will not pretend they are. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Planning model: IECC climate zone, degree-day normals, a metro labor factor, and a residential rate used only for operating-cost context. Installed costs start from published national ranges and scale the labor share. Rents are planning medians, not listings. Reviewed 2026-09-01.

Before you sign in Seattle, ask three things: how many squares they measured, whether the deck is included, and what happens if they open the roof and find more than a few bad boards. The planning figure here is $14,160 at labor 1.24, on a 1968 home. If their measurement is different, their price should be different. Do not argue them down to this number if they measured a larger roof.