How to write a roofer invoice

What goes on a roofer invoice

Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a roofer document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.

1. Bill access separately. Scaffolding, towers and edge protection are a cost per week, not part of your labor rate.
2. Separate the strip and disposal. Taking a roof off and skipping it is a job in itself and it should be priced as one.
3. Price the covering by area with the rate showing. Square meters at a rate is checkable. A single figure for a roof is not.
4. Name the material and the specification. Tile, slate or membrane, and which. The guarantee depends on it and so does any future repair.
5. Put the guarantee on the invoice. Roofing is bought on the guarantee. If it is not written down, it does not exist.
6. State how weather delays are handled. Standing time on a scaffold you are paying for is a cost that has to fall somewhere.

The lines a roofer invoice usually carries

The generator opens with these lines when you pick Roofer. The figures are placeholders to type over, not a going rate.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $1,210 before tax.

How to write a roofing invoice, step by step

1. Attach the inspection. Open the roofer invoice and start with the inspection and report, with the photographs you took. They show the customer the roof they cannot see.
2. Say repair or replacement. Replacing damaged shingles and resealing flashing is a repair. Say so plainly, so nobody thinks they paid for a new roof.
3. Name the materials. The shingle or tile, the flashing material and the sealant, matched to what was there. Insurers and the next roofer both need it.
4. Put scaffolding on its own line. Access is a cost the customer never sees from the ground. Rental, erection and strike go on one line with the period it was up.
5. Write the guarantee, then send. State what the guarantee covers and for how long, and how any weather days were handled. Set 14 days and send it once the scaffolding is down.

Roofing invoice example, filled in

A storm-damaged rear slope repaired rather than replaced, with the flashing at the chimney renewed and scaffolding up for the job. The inspection report number is at the top, so the customer or their insurer can match the photos to the lines.

Subtotal $1,210, tax $121, total $1,331. Scaffolding at $350 is on its own line, because it is the cost a customer standing in the yard never sees. The guarantee note says exactly what is covered, and records that the rain day was not charged.

Access, scaffolding and the cost the customer cannot see

A customer comparing two roofing quotes is usually comparing one that includes scaffolding with one that does not, and they cannot tell which is which from the totals.

Put access on the invoice as its own line, with the rental period stated. If it is your scaffold, price it per week. If it is rented in, say so, because a longer job then visibly costs more in access and the customer understands why.

This is also the line that protects you when a job overruns for reasons outside your control. Extra weeks of scaffold are a stated unit cost rather than a renegotiation.

Repair against replacement, and being honest about which one this is

Roofing is the trade most exposed to a customer feeling they were talked into more work than they needed, and the invoice is where that impression forms.

On a repair, say what failed and what you did: the number of tiles, the length of flashing, the section of ridge. On a replacement, break the roof into strip, structure, membrane, battens, covering and detail, so the customer can see the difference between the two jobs rather than only the difference in price.

Where you found something worse once the covering was off, that is a variation with its own line and, ideally, a photograph. Nothing on a roofing invoice is verifiable by the person paying for it unless you make it so.

Insurance work and the invoice the insurer will actually accept

Storm damage work is paid by an insurer, and an insurer pays against a document written for them rather than for the homeowner.

That means the claim reference on the invoice, the property address, the date of damage where you know it, a description that separates storm damage from pre-existing wear, and the scope broken into items rather than a single repair figure.

Keep the wording factual. An insurer reading condition described as poor will look for a reason not to pay, while an insurer reading three ridge tiles displaced and bedding failed on the south elevation has something to settle against.

Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how roofers price the work

Roofing is priced by area for the covering and by the item for everything else, and the everything else is where the money is. Access, strip, disposal and detail work are all real costs a customer cannot see from the street, and none of them belong inside a rate per square foot.

Access is the line that decides whether your quote looks competitive or expensive, so state it separately with the rental period. A customer comparing two roofing prices is usually comparing one with scaffolding in it against one without, and only your invoice tells them which is which.

Working out what to charge

Roofing prices depend on the pitch, the access, the covering and the disposal, so a rate from a web page will not fit a real roof. The cost estimator builds a price from your own materials, labor and access costs, and the markup calculator sets the margin on materials.

Getting paid once it is sent

On reroofs, take a deposit that covers the materials and the scaffolding before either arrives; repairs are invoiced the day the scaffolding comes down. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your terms allow and the due date calculator sets the new date.

Five dates decide whether a roofer gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.

Mistakes that cost roofers money

• Scaffolding inside the total. Your quote looks expensive against one that leaves access out.
• Strip and disposal unbilled. A skip and a day of labor absorbed on every reroof.
• Material specification missing. No guarantee trail and no way to match on a future repair.
• Guarantee mentioned but not written. The one thing the customer bought does not appear on the document.
• Insurance invoice written for the homeowner. No claim reference, so it sits in a queue.

Roofer invoice questions

Free roofer invoice template

The free roofer invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 30 designs made for the trade, and exports a print-ready PDF with nothing saved to a server. Opening a design needs a free account.

Invoicing guides for related trades

Everything on this site, set up for roofers

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to roofers rather than in general. The four marked links open with roofer already selected.