Kathryn Bruno wanted to replace the roof on her New Port Richey home before listing it. She did what any prudent homeowner should do: she shopped around.

The quotes she received ranged from about $15,000 to $36,000.

“It’s been quite a range of quotes and what needs to be done,” she told WFTS. She remembered the last replacement 19 years earlier. “I remember when they replaced it 19 years ago. I was just a kid. But it was so much cheaper.”

Bruno’s experience is now common. A Verisk report found the average cost of replacing a residential roof reached $17,631 in 2025—33 percent higher than the average from 2021 through 2024. Roofing material prices rose nearly twice as fast as labor costs last year.

Contractors point to several overlapping causes: materials, transportation, labor, and the petroleum that goes into asphalt shingles. Tariffs have added pressure on systems that use metal components.

Ryan Westfall, president of Westfall Roofing, put the sticker shock in plain terms to WFTS: “Most homeowners only replace their roof once or twice in their lifetime. So, if you replaced your roof 15 years ago, it’s probably roughly about half the cost of what it is today.”

The sharpest climb began during the COVID years. West Edwards, owner of Sharpe Roofing, said plants that produce roofing materials shut down and then had to restart. At the same time, many workers were receiving weekly checks from the federal government.

“It was a combination of the cost to catch up after plants were shut down that produce the materials that were used, along with paying more for labor to come back into work if they were receiving a weekly check from the U.S. government,” Edwards explained to WFTS.

He added that the increase is not simply contractors padding their pockets. “This price increase is complex. I do not pay the labor to my crew chief and his men who have worked with me since 2020 more than I paid him six years ago. I do not ask for any more margin either, and overhead is still unchanged.”

Homeowners looking to limit the damage have a few practical options. Some choose less expensive materials instead of metal. Others skip new gutters or select cheaper underlayment. Cheaper legacy products are also disappearing as manufacturers shift to newer lines. Demand after a major storm can swing prices further.

The most reliable way to avoid an even larger bill is to replace the roof before it fails. “The savings is really being proactive and getting the roof replaced when it’s needed,” Westfall said.

Bruno is trying to do exactly that. She hoped $15,000 would be toward the high end of what she would pay. It turned out to be the low end of the estimates she received.

“It has gone over my expectations.”

Follow the St. Pete-Clearwater Sun on Facebook, Google, & X

St. Pete-Clearwater Sun: local St. Pete-Clearwater & Tampa Bay, FL news at PIE-Sun.com