The covering is off one roof plane and the damaged support continues past the area visible during the survey. If the roofer replacement quote has no measurement and approval method for that work, the crew is standing under an open roof waiting for an answer.
Inspect first. Name the existing assembly. Choose the concealed-work method. Then price the replacement in the same order the crew will complete it.
Survey the roof before building the price
Roof area is only one input. Edges, valleys, penetrations, wall junctions, changes in level, access and the debris route all add labour.
Walk the property with a survey sheet. Tie every measurement, note and photograph to a named roof plane or elevation. The quote writer and crew should use the same labels.
Sketch and label every roof plane
Draw each plane and record the dimensions and pitch used for the take-off. Do not leave one unexplained area total for somebody else to reverse-engineer.
Measure eaves, verges, ridges, hips and valleys separately. Mark chimneys, skylights, vents, pipes, walls, gutters and other penetrations. Record where standard installation stops and a separate flashing or drainage detail begins.
Take wide photographs of each plane and elevation. Add close photographs of damage, junctions, penetrations and previous repairs. Put the survey label in the file name or photo note.
Walk the access, unloading and debris routes
Choose where the delivery can unload and where materials can be staged. Walk the route from the truck to the roof and from the roof to the waste area.
Record narrow driveways, landscaping, neighbouring property, gates, overhead services and occupied entrances. If the unloading or debris area may be blocked, settle the alternative before pricing crew time and equipment.
Put scaffold, edge protection, hoists, temporary covering and property protection into the worksheet when the job causes those costs. Access is part of the job. Not an office overhead to hide later.
Separate visible facts from concealed conditions
Write how each condition was observed. Useful notes include visible at eave, observed from roof space and concealed until strip-off.
Do not present an assumption as a fact. If the survey cannot confirm the layers, sarking condition or supporting components, state the assumption and connect it to a written process for exposed work.
Finish the survey only when every unknown has an assumption, an allowance or a variation method.
Run the Australian checks before final pricing
Licensing, contracts, approvals, safety and GST are separate questions. Put the answer to each question in the job file before issuing the quote.
Ask the licensing regulator about your work scope
Ask your state or territory licensing regulator which licence or registration covers the proposed re-roofing scope. Describe the actual work, including any expected replacement of battens, purlins or structural members.
For a NSW job, check the current roofing scope on the official NSW building and trade licences page (opens in a new tab). Check the required customer document separately on the official NSW building contracts page (opens in a new tab). Use the equivalent licensing regulator for another state or territory and write down the answers. Do not rely on an old job file.
Ask the approval authority about the property
Contact the local council or other approval authority responsible for the job address. Ask whether the stated replacement needs approval, inspection or supporting documents and who must arrange them.
State who handles that task in the quote. Put any known job cost in the worksheet. Do not promise that approval is unnecessary unless the responsible authority has answered that question.
Ask the WHS regulator about the planned method
Take work-at-height, roof access, fall-control and suspected hazardous-material questions to your state or territory WHS regulator. For a NSW job, use SafeWork NSW (opens in a new tab). Ask whether the planned work needs job-specific safety documents or controls.
The quote does not replace the safety plan. It does need to carry the cost of the access and controls required for the job.
Check GST and consumer price presentation
Check your ABN, GST registration and tax invoice treatment with the Australian Taxation Office (opens in a new tab). Then check customer price presentation with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (opens in a new tab) and the consumer law that applies to the sale.
Keep the documents straight. The quote offers the work. Any required contract records the agreement. Variations approve changed work.
Name the existing assembly before pricing strip-off
“Replace roof” is not a strip-off scope. The crew still needs to know what comes off, what stays and what happens to the waste.
Identify the existing covering and the layers you could inspect. Then name the supporting parts beneath it where they are known.
Mark every component as remove, retain, protect or replace
List tiles or metal sheets separately from sarking, battens, purlins and structural members. Mark gutters, valleys, flashings, vents, skylights, insulation and attached equipment with a clear action.
State the covering layers assumed in the base scope. If additional layers would change handling or disposal, say where the base scope stops.
Do not use “existing accessories” as a catch-all. The crew cannot order, protect or replace a catch-all.
Put handling and disposal inside the strip-off scope
Cost the work from first lift to final disposal. Include removal, lowering, sorting, loading, transport and disposal where the job causes those tasks.
Separate materials that need a different handling method. Record who supplies bins or other waste arrangements and where they can sit.
Do not call every hidden surface the deck
“Deck” may be accurate for a particular roof. It is not a safe Australian catch-all for everything under tiles or sheets.
Name the component you mean. Sarking is not a batten. A batten is not a purlin. A purlin is structural support. It is not roof decking.
Write when the crew must stop
Write what the crew will inspect after strip-off. State the condition that can remain and the condition that needs refixing, local repair, component replacement or a structural decision.
Use observable descriptions. Record movement, corrosion, decay, failed fixing points, damaged sarking and other conditions against the named component and location. Avoid “replace bad material”. It gives nobody a usable boundary.
If the damaged substrate continues beyond the surveyed area, stop covering that section. Photograph it, mark the roof plane and measure the exposed extent using the method in the accepted quote.
Keep structural work in its own scope
Separate refixing from replacement. Separate local replacement from structural alteration. They require different labour, materials and authority.
If the exposed condition moves the job outside your licensed or agreed scope, protect the opening and get the right decision before proceeding. Ask the state or territory licensing regulator which work can be contracted and performed under your licence.
Choose what happens after strip-off
Set the concealed-work method in the accepted quote before the covering comes off.
Use customer-ready wording like this:
> Concealed [named component] work: The base price includes [included extent] measured by [square metre, linear metre, item or stated task]. When that included extent is used, the crew will stop at the affected roof plane, photograph and measure the exposed condition, and install temporary weather protection. [Customer or roofing business] pays for that temporary protection. Additional work is priced at [added price] per [measurement unit] and starts only after the customer approves a written variation. The approved variation authorises the crew to restart that part of the roof.
Include a defined task in the base scope
You can include a stated task or quantity in the base price. Name the component, work included and measurement method.
State what happens if the included work is not used. If work beyond the included scope will be priced separately, explain how it will be measured and approved.
Use the contract term and form required locally
Australian domestic building documents may prescribe how allowances, provisional sums and variations are named, calculated and approved. Ask the state or territory licensing regulator which term and contract form apply to the work, then use that wording instead of making a home-made allowance clause.
Describe what the stated amount covers, including labour, materials, handling and disposal. Put the measurement and reconciliation method into the required document before strip-off.
Exclude unconfirmed work and raise a variation
You can exclude concealed replacement from the base scope. Tell the customer that work stops at the affected area while you document and price the addition.
Record the roof plane, component, measurement, photographs, added price and effect on the programme. Get approval in the form required by the contract before the crew covers the condition or starts the extra work.
Use the same rule when hidden battens, purlins, framing or extra covering layers change the accepted scope. The base quote should already tell the crew when the variation process starts.
Specify the replacement assembly from the support out
Choose the assembly before completing the material take-off or installation labour. A product name alone does not define the finished work.
List preparation, sarking or membrane, covering, flashings, fasteners, sealants, ventilation and accessories. Match the intended detail to valleys, ridges, hips, edges, penetrations and wall junctions.
Record any components that will be reused. Record what must be inspected before reuse and what happens if it fails that check.
Write down customer selections. If a product or finish is unresolved, state the selection process and hold the dependent price until you have a current supplier cost. Do not guess the material cost to make the quote look complete.
The accepted assembly is the purchasing instruction. Check every order against the roof planes, details, retained parts and accepted selections before releasing the delivery.
Build the roofer replacement quote in crew sequence
Build roof replacement pricing in the order the work happens. This catches costs that disappear when you start with one area rate.
For each task, calculate task quantity × labour hours per unit × your loaded labour cost. Loaded labour cost includes wages, superannuation, paid leave and the payroll costs you assign to productive hours. Keep direct equipment, delivery, handling and waste outside that labour figure. Add those direct job costs to the labour and materials, add allocated overhead using your own method, then apply markup once to the completed cost base.
Use your own figures for labour hours, loaded labour cost, supplier costs, overhead and markup. Keep the calculation in the worksheet even when the customer sees a grouped selling price.
Cost setup and property protection
Estimate labour for delivery coordination, unloading, access setup, edge protection, material staging and protection of the building and grounds.
Add equipment hired for this roof as a direct job cost. Do the same for temporary protection required by the planned work.
Cost strip-off and disposal
Estimate labour for removal, lowering, sorting, loading and cleanup. Adjust the task for pitch, height, roof complexity, access and debris distance.
Add transport, waste handling and disposal costs caused by the job. Keep them visible. A missed bin or extra handling run can wipe out profit without changing the installed roof.
Cost battens, purlins or framing separately
Use separate lines for inspection, refixing, local repair and component replacement. Add the roofing labour and materials, fasteners, equipment and waste attached to each task.
Keep confirmed work apart from concealed work that may become a variation. That boundary protects the quote and gives you a clean cost comparison after completion.
Cost the new assembly detail by detail
Estimate preparation and installation labour across the field areas. Then price the detail work around edges, valleys, ridges, penetrations, changes in level and wall junctions.
Build the take-off from the specified product. Record field covering quantities; sheet lengths and counts or tile quantities; ridge, hip, valley and flashing lengths; every penetration; fasteners; laps; cuts; and waste allowed by your own take-off method. Keep retained components separate so purchasing does not order replacements by mistake.
Add the remaining job costs
Add delivery, access equipment, subcontractors, approvals and inspections as direct costs when this job causes them. Add allocated overhead only after the direct job cost is complete.
A completed roof replacement quote should be traceable back to plain cost buckets. Setup. Strip-off. Battens, purlins or framing. Installation. Disposal. Subcontractors. Overhead. Keep the buckets boring so actual costs have somewhere to land.
Add roofing markup without confusing it with margin
Build the full cost base before applying roofing markup. Include the labour, materials, equipment, waste, subcontractors and allocated overhead your business intends to recover.
Markup is profit divided by cost. Margin is profit divided by selling price. They answer different questions. Use the markup versus margin formulas with your own cost base and target.
Worked example: Oak Street house example
This is the house electrical example, not roof replacement pricing or a roofing rate card. All figures are sample currency units.
R. Chen at 14 Oak Street received Quote Q-1847 for a bathroom exhaust fan, ducted through the roof, and four LED downlights. The quote total was 1,105. Job cost measured against the original quote was 850, leaving profit of 255.
Margin was 255 ÷ 1,105, or about 23%. Markup was 255 ÷ 850, or 30%.
The ceiling was lined and the quote excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing were approved on site as a 160 variation, taking Invoice INV-1847 to 1,265.
Do not calculate profit from the invoice total. The costs of the variation are not given. The known profit, margin and markup relate only to the original 1,105 quote and its 850 job cost.
Write the customer-facing roofer replacement quote
The customer document needs enough detail to define the deal without dumping the whole costing worksheet onto the page. Use plain scope lines tied to the surveyed roof areas.
State the property, named roof planes, strip-off boundary, exact retained components and work included below the covering. Show the required customer price presentation and contract details.
List inclusions, exclusions and assumptions separately. Add customer responsibilities such as access, clear unloading space or approval of outstanding selections where those matters affect the work.
State what happens after strip-off. Explain how extra work will be measured, priced, photographed and approved as a variation. Use the quote-writing guide to keep the commercial details separate from the site scope.
Roof replacement scope worksheet
Use this worksheet to build the scope. Then transfer it into the quote and any contract form required by your state or territory regulator. Do not treat the worksheet itself as customer acceptance or variation approval.
Business and licence details: [details] Customer and property: [name and job address] Quote reference and survey date: [details] Roof plane register: [plane label, elevation, pitch, dimensions and linked photographs] Strip-off boundary: [covering and layers removed from each plane] Retained components: [name each gutter, flashing, vent, skylight, insulation section or attached item that stays] Access, protection and disposal: [unloading point, staging area, edge protection, property protection, debris route and waste responsibility] Included concealed work: [named component, included extent and measurement unit] Concealed-work stop rule: [condition that stops work, roof plane, photograph record and measurement basis] Temporary protection during a stop: [method, who arranges it and who pays] Added work: [price per measurement unit and required written variation record] Authority to restart: [name the signed variation or other required contract record] Replacement product and unresolved selections: [specified product, retained parts and selection deadline] Approvals, GST presentation and payment terms: [responsible party and contract details]
Release the accepted scope to the crew
Turn the accepted roof replacement quote into matching material-order lines, crew tasks and job-cost buckets. Attach the survey, labelled photographs, approvals and contract record to the job before purchasing starts.
Copy each estimate line into a matching cost code. Issue purchase orders against those codes. Record crew time, supplier invoices, equipment hire and disposal costs against the task that caused them.
Keep variation labour, materials, hire and waste separate from the original scope. Do not bury them in the base roof costs.
After completion, compare estimated cost with actual cost by bucket. Review setup, strip-off, battens or framing, installation, disposal and subcontractors separately using the job-costing guide.
Use the Yes Foreman quoting tools to prepare each roofer replacement quote from the accepted scope. Keep the crew brief tied to the same scope when the job is released.
Before releasing the next roofer replacement quote, copy its accepted lines into material orders, crew tasks and matching cost buckets.