Serving Salt Lake City, UT & Nearby Areas
(385) 438-3591
Serving Salt Lake City, UT & Nearby Areas
(385) 438-3591
On paper the math favors metal: it runs roughly 1.75 to 2 times the cost of asphalt and delivers about 2 to 2.5 asphalt lifespans. So you are buying more years than you are paying for. The catch is that the payoff arrives in decades. You only collect the years you are actually in the house. Asphalt in Utah gives you about 20 years if you are lucky. Metal is a decision about the next 40 or 50.
Divide the price difference by the years you realistically expect to stay.
Metal buys more lifespan per dollar, but only over a horizon long enough to reach the second roof.
If you are staying past the point where a shingle roof would need replacing, price both properly.
Metal costs about twice a Utah shingle roof and lasts about two and a half times as long. That math only pays out if you're still there to collect it.
Mattie Tueller, Master Roofing
Strip out everything else and the comparison is simple. You are paying somewhere between 1.75 and 2 times the price of an asphalt roof for something that lasts about 2 to 2.5 times as long.
Those ratios do not line up evenly, and they favor metal. Cost per year of service is lower. That's the only apples-to-apples way to compare two products with different lifespans.
Work it with round numbers. If an asphalt roof gives you 20 years in Utah. That's roughly what it does if you are lucky, then two asphalt roofs get you to 40. Metal gets to 40 or beyond on one installation, at less than the price of two asphalt roofs, and without the second tear-off, the second disposal, and the second round of living through a re-roof.
There is also a hidden cost people leave out of the shingle side: the second roof will not cost what the first one did. You are buying it decades later, at whatever labor and material cost twenty years from now. That historically has not gone down.
The ratio only helps you if you are there to collect it. This is where most of the honest no answers live.
A few items belong in the comparison that rarely make it into either bid.
Three steps, and you can do all of them at the kitchen table.
If the annual number looks reasonable and none of the disqualifiers bite, metal is worth it and the math is on your side. If you are moving, or the budget is tight enough that something else would get cut to afford it, a well-built asphalt roof is not a consolation prize. It is the right answer.
Whether metal fits your house at all, separate from cost, is covered in whether a metal roof is a good idea for your Utah home.
When someone asks me this, the number they are staring at is the gap between two bids. The number that actually decides it is one they have not written down yet: how long they are staying.
The ratio really favors metal. You pay somewhere around 1.75 to 2 times asphalt and get 2 to 2.5 asphalt lifespans, so per year of service it is cheaper. That is real and it is not a sales line. But a roof is a 20-plus year decision. The savings show up in year 28, so the arithmetic only pays out for the person still living under it.
Here is the fair part. It cuts against the bigger sale: plenty of homeowners should buy the shingle roof. If you are moving in five years, or if reaching metal means economising on the ventilation to afford it, the honest recommendation is asphalt done properly. A well-built shingle roof over a correctly vented attic is a good roof, not a compromise.
So Master Roofing asks about your timeline before we talk about materials. That's because the same house can have two different right answers depending on the person in it. Do this yourself before you decide: take the price difference, divide it by the years you honestly expect to stay, and look at that annual number. It makes the decision much easier to make truthfully.
This article is general information about Utah roofs, not an assessment of yours. Every roof is different, and no article can tell you what is actually happening on your specific house. Have a licensed roofing contractor look at it in person before you act on anything here.
It generally helps a listing and it rarely returns the full premium in the sale price. Buyers and inspectors evaluate a roof's condition rather than its remaining service life. So a five-year-old metal roof and a five-year-old shingle roof often read the same on paper. Buy metal for the years you will spend under it, not for the resale line.
Sometimes, especially for fire exposure and in wildland interface areas where noncombustible roofing matters. The discount varies a great deal between carriers. So it is worth a direct call to your agent before you decide rather than assuming. Treat any saving as a bonus rather than as part of the core case.
Hail can dent metal. That's usually cosmetic on most systems but can be visually significant depending on profile and finish. Stone-coated steel behaves differently than smooth standing seam. If you are in a hail-prone pocket, ask about impact ratings and specifically how your carrier treats cosmetic denting in a claim, since that is where disputes happen.
Not cheaper, but it is possible, which sometimes matters more. Asphalt shingles should not be installed below 42 degrees and rising. That's because the sealant strips will not bond properly. Metal installs year-round. If your roof fails in January, that difference can be the deciding factor regardless of the long-term math.
Then the question becomes whether your current roof can safely wait. That is a condition question rather than a budget one. A warrantied repair that buys two or three years is often the better path than stretching for a purchase that forces cuts elsewhere. What you want to avoid is affording metal by economising on ventilation. That undercuts the durability you were buying.
We're here to see what's going on with your roof. A real assessment starts with your history and your attic, not a number from the driveway. You'll get a straight answer about what's up there, what it needs, and what it costs. Sometimes the honest answer is: your roof looks great.