The Level Index, by trade
Roofing contractor financial benchmarks
Roofing reference points; the Level blended research pool has no roofing segment. Roofing has no public pure-play, so margins are anchored by insulation/installation public comps (IBP, TopBuild) as the closest read, roofer wages from BLS, and market structure from industry research. Firm-wide net margin is genuinely contested, we show the ranges honestly.
~80%
Re-roof / repair reference
legacy demand reference; population and volume/dollar basis unverified
$50,970
Median roofer wage
BLS OEWS, SOC 47-2181, May 2024
~34%
Gross margin (proxy)
installation-trade comp, Installed Building Products FY2024
~$92B
US market size
roofing contractors (IBISWorld)
The nuance most 'roofing margin' numbers miss
Selected roofing-adjacent proxies: IBP insulation installation, Beacon roofing distribution, and TopBuild installation/distribution.
IBP reported 33.8% gross in insulation installation. Beacon reported 25.7% gross and 6.8% operating in roofing distribution, FY2024, before QXO acquired it in April 2025. TopBuild reported 19.7% installation and 15.1% distribution operating margin. The TopBuild comparison is within one company; IBP and Beacon are cross-industry proxies. These figures do not establish a universal roofing install premium.
Use the proxies to ask which costs are included. Determine your own labor, materials, subcontract and overhead contribution before comparing unlike business models.
How to read this: Level research pools HVAC, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, refrigeration and fire protection. Roofing and general contracting are outside that pool. The sources below are selected for relevance to roofing contractors; some are proxies or all-contractor references (SEC filings, BLS, CFMA, industry research), each tagged by confidence tier. Level's research below combines those trades. Some older figures have not been checked again against their original sources. Each value explains the time period, businesses included and what was measured.
IBP and Beacon are different business proxies; TopBuild offers a separate within-company operating-margin comparison.
Installation vs distribution references, FY2024 (GM and OM are different definitions)
Source / sample: IBP, Beacon, TopBuild FY2024 10-Ks (GM = gross, OM = operating)
IBP insulation installation reported 33.8% gross and Beacon roofing distribution 25.7% gross in FY2024. Within TopBuild, installation reported 19.7% operating versus distribution 15.1%. Different industries, cost bases and gross-versus-operating definitions prevent treating these as one roofing margin ladder.
Roofing planning ranges differ by job type and labor model; compare contribution after each model's full costs.
Illustrative gross-margin inputs by work type and labor model (not a measured cohort)
Source / sample: Repair and re-roof selected planning inputs (RoofPredict/RunClockwork); 23% new-construction bar is fictional
Retained planning ranges are 40-52% for in-house re-roofs, 30-40% for subbed re-roofs and 45-65% for repairs. The 23% new-construction bar is a fictional input, not a verified source range. Include employer burden, equipment and workers' compensation for in-house crews and full subcontract price for subbed work before comparing contribution. Neither job type nor labor model is isolated as the stronger cause.
Source: RoofPredict, RunClockwork 2026 (directional)
The retained roofer P10-P90 wage references run about $18 to $39 an hour; loaded cost needs a separate calculation.
Roofer hourly wage percentiles (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
Source / sample: BLS OEWS May 2024, SOC 47-2181 (estimated employment 136,740, not survey sample size)
Base wages exclude employer burden. Price workers' compensation from your carrier's craft classification and actual payroll, then include tear-off, disposal and callbacks where they are absent from direct costs. This page does not establish a cross-trade compensation-rate ranking or the size of a roofing margin overstatement.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics, May 2024, SOC 47-2181
Roofing benchmarks, by source
4 source-verified rows (Tier A to E)Expand all 4 source-verified roofing benchmark rowsEvery metric is tagged by confidence level, from Tier A through Tier E, with direct SEC filing, BLS wage, and CFMA source links.
Roofer median wage (SOC 47-2181)
Tier A$50,970/yr
Mean $57,090, 10th pct $37,060, 90th $80,780.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2024
Installation-trade public gross margin (proxy)
Tier A30% to 34%
Installed Building Products (IBP) 33.8%, TopBuild (BLD) 30.5%, FY2024. These are insulation installers, not roofers (TopBuild's figure blends a lower-margin distribution segment), and roofing carries a different material-cost share. Treat as a loose installation-trade analog, not a roofing gross margin.
Roofing contractor firm-wide net margin
Tier B~6% (firm-wide)
Association figure, though dated (2018). Vendor blogs cite 12-25% but those are job-level or best-case, not firm-wide. We show both honestly.
Source: NRCA (National Roofing Contractors Association), 2018
US roofing market size
Tier B~$92B, ~109,000 firms
Retained ~80% re-roof and 80-90% non-discretionary references lack a reproduced original population and volume/dollar basis in this release. They cannot support a current all-roofing demand forecast. Distinguish residential shingle volume, commercial work, dollar revenue and insurance/storm-driven jobs before applying a market mix.
Source: IBISWorld, Roofing Contractors (2026); Owens Corning / Beacon investor materials
Tier A = stated public-company SEC or BLS observations; verify the exact period and scope. Tier B = trade-association survey or research-firm report (CFMA, IBISWorld). Tier C = industry publications or planning references, directional only. Tier D = Level calculations from filing inputs. Tier E = Level pooled research. Public-company figures describe large operators, not typical private firms or attainable upper bounds. Where sources conflict, both are shown, never averaged.
What the public installation and roofing-adjacent companies actually earn
These selected companies cover insulation installation and building-product distribution. Gross and operating have different definitions; the figures are references, not a private-roofer distribution.
| Company / scope | Gross | Operating | Net | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Installed Building Products (IBP)Consolidated, FY2024 | 33.8% | 13.0% | 8.7% | Insulation installer, the closest install-trade analog. |
| TopBuild (BLD)Installation segment, FY2024 | n/d | 19.7% | n/d | The install arm, higher-margin than distribution. |
| TopBuild (BLD)Specialty Distribution segment, FY2024 | n/d | 15.1% | n/d | The distribution arm, the drag on the blend. |
| Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN)Consolidated, FY2024 | 25.7% | 6.8% | 3.7% | FY2024 standalone roofing DISTRIBUTOR reference. Acquired by QXO in April 2025; BECN is the historical ticker, not a currently traded standalone company. |
n/d = not disclosed at that cut. TopBuild distribution margin shown on segment basis (includes intercompany); external basis is 17.3%. These are installation and distribution proxies, not roofing pure-plays. Gross and operating margins have different cost definitions, so neither the levels nor their ordering establishes a roofing margin premium.
The Level lens: cost-completeness scenario (fictional)
Fictional roofing job: a 35% incomplete contribution estimate becomes 20% after three separately identified costs.
Illustrative cost-completeness bridge, percentage of revenue
Source / sample: Fictional scenario; assumed cost percentages, not a measured cohort
Illustrative assumptions on $100 of revenue: an initial incomplete contribution estimate of $35, then separately omitted costs of $8, $3 and $4, leaving $20. This is not measured gross or net margin. Check your ledger before each adjustment: subtract only cost missing from the starting estimate. Fully burdened direct labor already included in gross profit must not be subtracted again. Allocate shared overhead once, distinguish economic contribution from financial-statement margin, and do not treat a rounded scenario as a trade benchmark.
Public-company anchors used
Installed Building Products (IBP), TopBuild (BLD), Beacon Roofing Supply (FY2024 standalone reference, acquired by QXO in April 2025). These are large, publicly traded operators. Filing observations and Level calculations labeled Tier D are separately scoped reference points, not a stand-in for a typical private roofing shop, which runs on different economics.
Level's pooled contractor references
These are pooled references from Level's 2,242-contractor research universe, with a separate eligible sample for each metric. Trade variation is not measured here. The pool covers HVAC, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, refrigeration and fire protection; it has no roofing or GC segment. Match your definitions and work mix before comparing.
Expand all 4 pooled cross-trade contractor reference metrics (n=2,242 universe)Includes blended gross margin, net profit, labor share, AR days, and cash reserve references across mechanical and specialty trades.
n=464 (blended). Cash collected divided by billed revenue across the six-trade pool; top decile 96.0%. The benchmark window is not published. Timing, credits and write-offs need separate reconciliation.
n=733 total; post-completion subset count not published (blended). 1 day with progress billing included; 7 days among post-completion invoicers. Subset and bottom-decile populations are not separately counted.
n=794 (blended). On decided quotes; 38.1% across all quotes.
n=1,747,089 jobs / 1,791 companies (blended). Blended across trades. Compare only jobs where revenue and direct costs are assigned to the same job.
Tier A and B rows name their source and link the record or source index where available. The full tiered dataset for all six trades (public-company actuals, BLS wages, CFMA and market figures, each with its source URL) is downloadable and free to cite with attribution. Download the per-trade benchmark facts (JSON).
See where your roofing numbers land
We pull your margin, labor economics, and collections and compare your matched-scope figures with public references and the pooled Level Index, with each sample identified, then show you the first leak to fix.
No commitment. Real numbers, not generic advice.
Frequently asked questions (4 questions)
Margin definitions, confidence tiers, and data source scope
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Frequently asked questions (4 questions)
Margin definitions, confidence tiers, and data source scope
What is a good profit margin for a roofing contractor?
It depends on whether you mean gross or net, and on commercial vs residential work. The best hard reference points are public-company actuals: Installation-trade public gross margin (proxy): 30% to 34%. Installed Building Products (IBP) 33.8%, TopBuild (BLD) 30.5%, FY2024. These are insulation installers, not roofers (TopBuild's figure blends a lower-margin distribution segment), and roofing carries a different material-cost share. Treat as a loose installation-trade analog, not a roofing gross margin. This is a scoped reference, not a measured distribution of private roofing firms.. The retained CFMA 2024 Benchmarker (2023 financials, 1,290 valid financial respondents) reports 6.3% net income before tax for all respondents and 11.9% for its Best in Class group, the top 25% ranked by performance metrics rather than a net-margin percentile. These are historical all-contractor references, not a measured roofing-only cohort or a current target. Small private shops vary widely, so use the tiered sources on this page rather than a single number.
Where does this roofing benchmark data come from?
Named sources selected for relevance to roofing contractors, including separately labeled proxies and all-contractor references: public-company SEC 10-K filings, BLS wage data, CFMA's Construction Financial Benchmarker, and industry research, each tagged by confidence tier with a source link. Level's pooled research covers HVAC, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, refrigeration and fire protection; it excludes roofing and general contractors. Its collection, billing and quote metrics are adjacent specialty-trade context only on this page, not measured roofing contractor benchmarks. The broader 2,200+ research universe is not the contributing sample for each metric.
What is a realistic gross margin for a roofing contractor?
It is genuinely contested, so treat any single number with caution. There is no public pure-play roofer. The closest installation reads run about 30-34% gross (IBP 33.8% FY2024), the retained re-roof planning ranges are 40-52% in-house and 30-40% subcontracted (directional, not a measured distribution), and the association firm-wide net figure is a much lower ~6% (NRCA, though dated). Vendor blogs cite 12-25% net, but those are job-level or best-case, not firm-wide. Use installer proxies only to check which costs gross margin includes. Build roofing gross margin from your own labor, materials and subcontract costs, and keep firm-wide net expectations modest.
Why do roofing distributors like Beacon earn less than installers?
In FY2024 Beacon roofing distribution reported 25.7% gross, while IBP insulation installation reported 33.8% gross. Within TopBuild, installation operating margin was 19.7% versus distribution 15.1%. Different cost bases and work scopes prevent isolating a labor-value-add cause or predicting your roofing margin.