Does a roof replacement include gutters?

Usually not. Gutters are typically quoted separately, though many roofers will price them alongside the roof because access is already paid for - which is genuinely the cheapest time to replace them if they are near the end of their life. Ask for it as a separate line so you can compare it independently.

Is the permit included in a roof replacement quote?

Sometimes, and it is worth asking explicitly rather than assuming. Who customarily pulls the permit varies by jurisdiction, and a contractor pulling it in their own name is generally the arrangement you want - it puts the code compliance obligation on the party doing the work.

National guide

What does a roof replacement include?

Updated Sep 20262 sources

The short answer

A complete replacement means stripping the old covering down to the deck, repairing any decking that has failed, then rebuilding the assembly: underlayment, ice barrier where required, drip edge, flashing at every penetration, the new covering itself, ridge ventilation, cleanup, disposal, and the permit. Anything a bid leaves off that list is work someone will still have to do.

What an average can't tell you

A national average compresses very different roofs into one number, and most of what sets your price is invisible to it. It cannot tell you how many square feet of roof you actually have — which is not your floor area, and is the single biggest driver of the total — or what covering is going back on, and those two choices alone move the figure more than anything else on the page.

It also cannot see how many layers have to come off before anything new goes on, how steep the roof is, how many storeys the crew is working above, or whether the decking underneath has rotted — which nobody knows, including the contractor, until the old roofing is off. Even within one metro, labor pricing and disposal fees shift in ways a single average flattens out.

Those are answerable questions, and they are exactly the estimator’s inputs. It starts from sourced national cost data and recomputes the range for your area, covering, pitch, height, and tear-off — the factually correct next step after any national average.

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The full sequence, and what each step is for

Replacement begins with tear-off. One named jurisdiction's adopted code puts it plainly: roof replacement shall include the removal of all existing layers of roof assembly materials down to the roof deck. That is what separates a replacement from a recover, and it is why tear-off is a line item rather than an afterthought - it is charged around $50 per square for a straightforward layer.

With the deck exposed, the crew can see what they are building on. Fixr's guide notes that once the old roof is removed, contractors may uncover hidden damage from long-term leaks, and replacing decking runs $2 to $8 per square foot on top of the quoted price. Then the assembly goes back: underlayment across the deck, ice barrier in cold climates, metal drip edge at the eaves and rakes, new flashing at chimneys, valleys, vents and skylights, and finally the covering.

Flashing is where most bids quietly differ. Reusing old flashing saves a few hundred dollars and is the single most common source of leaks on an otherwise new roof.

What is usually excluded unless you ask

Gutters are normally separate. So is fascia and soffit repair, chimney masonry, skylight replacement, attic insulation, and any structural work to rafters. Decking is a special case: it is nearly always excluded from the headline number and priced per sheet or per square foot as found, because nobody can see it until tear-off.

The practical move when comparing bids is to ask each contractor the same three questions: is the flashing new, what is the per-unit price if decking needs replacing, and who pulls and pays for the permit. Bids that look thousands apart often converge once those three are answered.

Get a local answer

National ranges only go so far — labor rates, tear-off rules, weather, and insurance practice move the numbers in every metro. See the local guides, each with a cost estimator:

Sources

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