Free roof estimating software: from measurement to a number without a subscription
Measure the roof, price it with your own material and labor rates, add overhead and margin. What's free, what's Pro, and the full math from squares to a number you can bid.
Free roof estimating software can get you to a number if it does two jobs: measures the roof and lets you price the quantities at your own rates. In RoofStruct that part costs nothing: free, unlimited self-serve measuring and PDF reports, no card, plus the Cost & Takeoff worksheet and water-flow analysis on every plan.
What costs money is the document you send the homeowner. Branded Good / Better / Best estimates with e-signature, and the Material Order Builder, are Pro at $69/month. The number itself doesn't need either.
What's free and what's Pro
| Step | Free plan | Pro, $69/month |
|---|---|---|
| Measure the roof | Unlimited, on satellite imagery or your own drone or phone photo | Same |
| Report | Full PDF with RoofStruct branding | Your logo and colours, plus CSV, XLSX, JSON and DXF |
| Cost the job | Cost & Takeoff worksheet at your own rates | Same |
| Drainage | Water-flow analysis | Same |
| Send a price | Your own quote template | Branded Good / Better / Best estimate with e-signature |
| Order materials | Count from the worksheet | Material Order Builder |
The worksheet is where the number comes from. Before you trust any software's total, run the math by hand once on a roof you know.
The math, from squares to a number
Swap in your own roof as you go. The example here is a plain gable, 54 × 32 ft traced at the drip edge, 7/12, one layer, one story, three pipe boots.
Squares, then waste
Plan area: 54 × 32 = 1,728 sq ft. The 7/12 pitch factor is 1.158, so the true area is 1,728 × 1.158 = 2,001 sq ft: 20.0 squares.
A simple gable runs 6–10% waste; at 7/12, take the top of that bracket. Waste factor by roof type has the other brackets. Order squares: 20.0 × 1.10 = 22.0.
Bundles and accessories
The measurement also gives you the edges: 108 lf of eave, 74 lf of rake (four rakes at 18.5 ft on the slope), 54 lf of ridge. Coverages below are common figures; your wrappers win.
- Shingles: 22.0 × 3 = 66 bundles
- Starter, eaves and rakes: 182 lf ÷ 105 = 1.7 → 2 bundles
- Hip & ridge cap: 54 lf ÷ 25 = 2.2 → 3 bundles
- Underlayment: 2,200 sq ft ÷ 1,000 = 2.2 → 3 rolls
- Ice & water, one course at the eave: 108 lf ÷ 66 = 1.6 → 2 rolls
- Drip edge: 182 lf ÷ 9.83 ft per stick after the lap = 18.5 → 19, plus a spare → 20 sticks
- Nails: 2 boxes, field plus starter and cap
- Pipe boots: 3, counted on the roof
From a satellite measurement to a material order shows which edge feeds which line in more detail.
Material subtotal
The dollar figures in this section are example rates to show the arithmetic, not market prices. Your supplier's quote replaces every one.
| Line | Quantity × example rate | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Shingles | 66 × $42 | $2,772 |
| Starter | 2 × $60 | $120 |
| Hip & ridge cap | 3 × $75 | $225 |
| Underlayment | 3 × $100 | $300 |
| Ice & water | 2 × $115 | $230 |
| Drip edge | 20 × $12 | $240 |
| Nails | 2 × $65 | $130 |
| Pipe boots | 3 × $12 | $36 |
| Materials | $4,053 |
Labor per square
Price labor per square, and watch which squares:
- Tear-off on measured squares, because you strip what's on the roof: 20.0 × $60 = $1,200
- Install on the squares you pay your crew on. Subs paid on material handled means order squares: 22.0 × $90 = $1,980, your 7/12 premium included
- Disposal: one roll-off, $650
Labor and disposal: $3,830.
Overhead and margin
Add your overhead share as a line: your yearly overhead spread over the jobs you expect to run. Say $900. Total cost: $4,053 + $3,830 + $900 = $8,783.
Then price on margin, not markup: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin). At 30%: $8,783 ÷ 0.70 = $12,547.
The number
$12,547 for the job, or $627 per measured square ($12,547 ÷ 20.0). How to estimate a roof replacement from measurements takes the same math into three tiers.
What the free worksheet does for you
The Cost & Takeoff worksheet runs that sequence on a shingle roof you've measured. Quantities come from the measurement and its waste setting, so a corrected facet updates the bundles. The rows are grouped as tear-off and disposal, area materials, linear accessories and edge metals, and installation labor with a decking rot allowance. Tear-off labor runs on measured squares, install labor on order squares at your $/sq with the pitch premium applied to the default.
Every row comes with a suggested rate you overwrite with your own, and Save as my default rates keeps your edits for the next job. In the US, a Market rates switch shows reference prices on material rows. Labor and disposal never use market data, so those rates have to be yours. Add overhead as a custom line, set a target margin, and the worksheet shows Total Job Cost, Net Profit and break-even per measured square.
When Pro earns its $69
Pro is for what happens after the number. Good / Better / Best estimates put three tiers in front of the homeowner under your logo, and they sign by typing their name. The Material Order Builder fills a supplier order from the same measurement. If you send two or three quotes a month from a template you already have, the free plan covers the estimating itself.
Where you trip
- Markup for margin. $8,783 × 1.30 = $11,418, a 23% margin. That's $1,129 short of the 30% price on one roof.
- Labor on the wrong squares. Tear-off on order squares bills 2 squares of roof that don't exist.
- Software defaults left in. A suggested rate is somebody else's price. Change every row you'd defend to a homeowner.
- Accessories off the field area. Starter, cap and drip edge come from edge footage, not squares.
FAQ
Is RoofStruct's estimating worksheet free?
Yes. The Cost & Takeoff worksheet is on every plan, including Free, with no card. It prices shingle roofs from your measurement at your own rates.
Do I need Pro to send a homeowner a price?
No. You can put the worksheet's number into your own quote. Pro adds the branded Good / Better / Best estimate with e-signature.
Should labor run on measured or order squares?
Tear-off on measured squares. Install on whatever basis you pay your crew; for subs paid on material handled, that's order squares.
Where do the worksheet's default rates come from?
They're starting points to overwrite, not your prices. Material rows in the US can show regional market rates for comparison; labor and disposal rates are plain defaults, so put in what you pay.
Close
Measure the roof, count from the edges, price at your rates, divide by one minus your margin. The software is free; the rates have to be yours.