About RoofCostLab
Roofing calculators that show their working. Every number has a source you can check.
Why this exists
Search "roof replacement cost" and you get a dozen pages quoting a range with no explanation of where it came from. That is not much use when you are holding three contractor bids that differ by $6,000 and trying to work out which one is reasonable.
RoofCostLab takes a different approach. It builds the estimate the way a contractor builds it, with a material take-off of real quantities plus crew hours at a defensible labor rate, then shows the whole thing. The methodology page documents every input, including the parts we are uncertain about.
Founded and built by Muhammad Tayyab
Founder, MergeMain
Muhammad Tayyab is a software engineer who builds software for contractors, through MergeMain, the software studio Tayyab founded, and Contractor+, a job and crew management platform used across more than thirty trades. That work sits close to how trade jobs actually get measured, quoted, scheduled and billed.
RoofCostLab applies that to one trade. Tayyab runs the site and answers for every figure on it, and each one traces back to a public source named on the methodology page.
Tayyab is not a roofer, and the site does not pretend otherwise: what it offers is the arithmetic, the sources and the willingness to be corrected. Corrections from working roofers are the fastest way the numbers improve, and they are acted on.
Who operates the site
RoofCostLab is a MergeMain project: MergeMain operates the site and is responsible for what it publishes. Write to hello@roofcostlab.com about anything on it.
Where the data comes from
- Labor: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey, May 2025, occupation 47-2181 (Roofers), adjusted for roofing's labor burden and typical contractor overhead.
- Materials: published 2026 retail pricing, with verified in-stock retail prices used wherever we have them. Every line was checked against its job on 23 October 2026.
- Geometry: standard roofing math, implemented once and unit-tested, shared by every calculator on the site.
How we make money
RoofCostLab is a free calculator and reference site. Every calculation runs in your browser, and nothing you enter is sent to us or stored. We do not collect, route or sell leads, and there is no quote form or phone line. The site is funded by display advertising through Google AdSense, which starts once our application is approved, and by retailer affiliate links on some material lines. Neither changes a figure our calculators produce.
- Display advertising. Ads served by Google AdSense, labelled as advertising and kept out of the calculators themselves: never between a form and its result. No ads run until the application is approved.
- Retailer affiliate links. Some material lines link to the retailer that sells them. If you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. These links are marked under every table.
The pricing dataset is built from public sources and is independent of any commercial relationship. Until 31 October 2026 the site also carried a phone line that connected callers with roofing contractors for a referral fee. It has been removed, and RoofCostLab no longer has any arrangement with contractors.
What we are not
We are not roofing contractors and we do not provide quotes or recommend contractors. Our estimates are planning figures for comparison and budgeting. Anything structural, and any final number, needs a licensed roofer on site.
Questions or corrections: hello@roofcostlab.com