The Level Index, by trade
Roofing contractor financial benchmarks
The honest benchmark for roofing contractors. 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 demand
share of roofing demand, recession-resistant
$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
There is no public pure-play roofer, so watch the margin ladder: installers earn a much fatter gross margin than distributors of the same materials.
The closest public reads are installation and distribution companies. Installed Building Products, an installer, ran a 33.8% gross margin in FY2024. TopBuild's installation segment ran a 19.7% operating margin versus 15.1% for its distribution segment, the installer arm out-earning the distribution arm inside the same company. And Beacon Roofing Supply, a pure roofing DISTRIBUTOR, ran just 25.7% gross and 6.8% operating. The pattern is a ladder: doing the installation work carries a materially higher margin than moving the materials. A roofing contractor's economics live in the install labor and the job, not in the product.
Your margin is made on the roof, not the shingle. Benchmark against the installer reads, not the distributor, and never against a single blended number.
How to read this: Level measured a blended pool across six trades, so the numbers below are drawn from named public sources specific to roofing contractors (SEC filings, BLS, CFMA, industry research), each tagged by confidence tier. Level's own cross-trade benchmarks (further down) apply across trades and are labeled as such. Every Tier A and B row links its primary source so you, or an AI, can verify it.
The margin ladder: doing the install earns far more than moving the material.
Installation-trade vs distribution gross margin, FY2024
Source / sample: IBP, Beacon, TopBuild FY2024 10-Ks (GM = gross, OM = operating)
There is no public pure-play roofer, so the closest reads are installers and distributors. The pattern is a ladder: the installer (IBP 33.8% gross) out-earns the roofing distributor (Beacon 25.7% gross), and inside TopBuild the installation segment beats distribution on operating margin too. A roofing contractor's economics live in the install labor and the job, not in marking up shingles.
Roofing margin depends more on the labor model than the job type, especially on re-roofs.
Gross margin by work type (directional; re-roof split by labor model)
Source / sample: Directional: RoofPredict, RunClockwork (2026)
Roofing is the most contested trade for margin, and the reason is the labor model, not the job type. The same residential re-roof reads as 40 to 52% gross with in-house crews or 30 to 40% when labor is subbed out. Repairs run highest (45 to 65%) but are a small revenue share; new construction is thinnest. Treat these as directional, and know that your crew structure moves the number as much as the work does.
Source: RoofPredict, RunClockwork 2026 (directional)
The roofer wage runs about $18 to $39 an hour, the lowest base of the major trades.
Roofer hourly wage percentiles (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
Source / sample: BLS OEWS May 2024, SOC 47-2181 (n=136,740)
Base wages look low, but roofing carries some of the highest workers' comp rates of any trade, so the fully-loaded burden is heavier than the wage suggests. Add that plus tear-off, disposal, and callback exposure before you trust a job's quoted margin. Costing at the base wage overstates roofing margin more than most trades.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics, May 2024, SOC 47-2181
Roofing benchmarks, by source
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
Re-roofing/renovation is ~80% of demand. Roughly 80-90% of total roofing demand is non-discretionary (leaks, storm and age-driven replacement); the 80-85% figure is the widely cited manufacturer/distributor baseline (Owens Corning, Beacon), the ~90% upper bound comes from a 2025 mid-market banking report (Brown Gibbons Lang).
Source: IBISWorld, Roofing Contractors (2026); Owens Corning / Beacon investor materials
Roofing gross margin (well-run)
Tier C~35-40% GM; commercial job-level 25-30%+
Directional; job-level commercial margins run well above firm-wide net.
Tier A = public-company SEC filings or BLS government data (highest confidence, permanent URL). Tier B = trade-association or research-firm survey (CFMA, IBISWorld). Tier C = industry publications, directional only. Public-company figures are large scaled operators and read as an upper reference, not a typical private contractor. Where sources conflict, both are shown, never averaged.
What the public installation and roofing-adjacent companies actually earn
Roofing has no public pure-play, so these are the closest install and distribution reads. The ladder from distributor to installer shows where the margin actually sits.
| 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% | Pure roofing DISTRIBUTOR, the thin-margin contrast. |
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, so treat the level as directional and the ladder as the real signal.
The Level lens, reported vs. real margin
The re-roof looked like a 35% margin. After the fully-burdened crew and the callback, it is closer to 20%.
Where a residential re-roof's apparent margin goes
Source / sample: Level analysis; labor anchored to BLS SOC 47-2181 wage + statutory burden
Reproduce it on your own book: start from the quoted gross margin, subtract the fully-burdened roofing-crew hours (BLS SOC 47-2181 median wage times about 1.3 for taxes, workers' comp, which runs high for roofing, and benefits), then the tear-off, disposal, and drive time the job under-charges for, then the callback and warranty rate. The gap between the quoted margin and what lands is where roofers quietly lose money on jobs that priced fine.
Public-company anchors used
Installed Building Products (IBP), TopBuild (BLD), Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN). These are large, publicly traded operators; their audited 10-K figures are hard, verifiable reference points, not a stand-in for a typical private roofing shop, which runs on different economics.
Level's cross-trade benchmarks (apply to roofing too)
These come from Level's own analysis of 2,200+ contractors across six trades. They are cash and sales-process metrics that do not vary much by trade, so they apply to roofing contractors as much as any other. Shown as the blended measure they are, not a per-trade split.
n=464 (blended). Effective cash conversion across the blended 6-trade pool; top decile 96.0%.
n=733 (blended). 1 day with progress billing included; 7 days among post-completion invoicers.
n=794 (blended). On decided quotes; 38.1% across all quotes.
n=430 (blended). Blended across trades; 91% of jobs carry revenue with no cost data attached.
Every Tier A and B figure above links its primary source, and 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 rank you against the public comps and the 2,200-contractor Level Index, then show you the first leak to fix. Free audit included.
No commitment. Real numbers, not generic advice.
Frequently asked questions
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: 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.). CFMA puts all-contractor net profit before tax around 6.3%, with the top quartile near 11.9%. 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?
External, citable sources specific to roofing contractors: 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 layers its own blended analysis of 2,200+ contractors (collection rate, billing speed, quote conversion) on top, labeled as a cross-trade measure, because Level measured a blended pool and does not split its own dataset by trade.
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 30-38% gross (IBP 33.8% FY2024), well-run job-level roofing margins are cited at 35-40% with commercial job-level at 25-30%+ (directional), 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 the installer proxies for gross and keep firm-wide net expectations modest.
Why do roofing distributors like Beacon earn less than installers?
Because distribution is a thin-margin, high-volume business and installation is where the labor value-add sits. Beacon Roofing Supply, a pure distributor, ran 25.7% gross and just 6.8% operating in FY2024, while the installer Installed Building Products ran 33.8% gross. For a roofing contractor the takeaway is that your margin is made on the install work and the job execution, not on marking up materials.