Additions
Historic Districts - Staunton, VA
What's the Cost Effectiveness of Metal Shingles?
While the initial cost for a premium metal roof is higher than most other roofing materials; we will actually save money in the long run by paying for metal roof. A new professionally installed metal roof will potentially last a lifetime. Whereas materials such as asphalt shingle may require re-roofing every 10 to 20 years. A new metal roof will also increase the resale value of our home. Thus our initial roofing cost gets partially offset by the capital gain in our house.
Metal Roofing can decrease our insurance premium. In some states, like Texas, a metal roof may even lower our homeowner's insurance by as much as 35%.
There is also a Government Tax credit available to homeowners who obtain metal roofs for their house. From January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2007, the US Government will be following Congress' Energy Policy Act of 2005, rewarding consumers of quality metal roofs with tax credit savings up to $500.
Consider this as an example that illustrates the cost of metal roofing in real life settings;
Our house requires a new roof and we decide to save money by purchasing a less expensive asphalt shingle roof which costs us $350.00 per square of asphalt shingle and includes installation, which comes to $7,000 for a 20 square house, for both materials and labor. Now, let’s assume that this asphalt roof lasts for 15 years, and after that it started developing leaks... So we decide to hire a roofer to patch up our leaking roof, which cost us another $1000.00, as well as much aggravation.
Let's say that patches managed to shelter our house for another year, after which our roof starts leaking again. At this point we decide to get another "inexpensive" roof that lasts us for another 15 years before it fails again.
Now let's do the math.
At year zero - the decision making point for purchasing a new roof we spend:
$7000.00
After 15 years has passed we patched up the roof and spend another:
$1000.00
After another year, we had to pay for a whole new roof which adds another: $7000.00
Thus, at year 16 we have already spend a total of:
$15,000.00
And at year 31 we will have to spend another:
$7000.00
And we had never imagined that it can get expensive as:
$22,000.00
After just 31 years from a decision making point of zero years...
In addition to that, we can add aggravation and high air conditioning, and heating costs.
Say that these combined over the 31 years equate to:
$9,300.00
Now let's take a look at what would happen if we looked further ahead:
Say we hired a metal roofing contractor and we were able to negotiate a great deal at
$580.00
per square of metal roofing, for both material and labor.
Based on the same 20 square home the price would be:
$11,600.00
Now our house has the most gorgeous roof in the neighborhood, and we save considerable amounts of money on cooling costs every summer.
Our metal roof has increased the value of our house by say:
$7,000 - $10,000.00
We have zero maintenance costs, and our professionally installed metal roof will last us a lifetime.
Over the course of 31 years, we could save up to
$15,400.00.
Life is beautiful!