Metal roofing
Tile roofing
GAF
Owens Corning
Flat & low-slopeFree roof inspection with deck photos before we talk money - GAF and Owens Corning certified installation
Trusted Roof Replacement for San Francisco Homeowners
Roof Replacement in San Francisco typically costs between $11,000 and $28,000 for an average single-family home, with most projects finishing in one to two weeks. The two biggest variables are your roof’s square footage and the material you choose, from asphalt shingles to standing seam metal. We’re Birchbark Roofing San Francisco, led by Erik Lindgren, and we replace roofs across the city the way we’d want ours done: with a written price before we start, shoe covers at your door, and a photo of the final clean-up before our trucks pull away. Call (831) 228-3330 and a live person answers, any hour.
The fog, the salt air off the Pacific, and the steep pitches on so many San Francisco homes all work against a roof year after year. When shingles start curling along the ridge of a Sunset District townhouse or flashing fails on a Noe Valley Victorian, a patch isn’t enough anymore. Our crews handle full tear-off and replacement on every roof type common to the city, from flat tar-and-gravel roofs in the Mission to asphalt shingle roofs in the Richmond. And unlike crews that show up with a handshake and a promise, we show up with a line-item price and a 365-Day Done Right Promise stamped on the job. If something isn’t right, we make it right. No fine print, no back and forth.
We’ve been part of the Cedarwell family of roofing companies since 2000. Every Birchbark location is independently owned and operated, which means you get a local San Francisco crew backed by two decades of roofing systems, training, and supplier relationships. Our technicians are background-checked and uniformed, so you know exactly who’s walking through your gate in Glen Park or climbing onto your roof in Bernal Heights. We carry materials from GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning, IKO, Atlas, Tamko, and Boral, and we’ll help you choose what fits your home’s architecture, your neighborhood’s climate, and your budget.
Roof Installation
Roof Installation is the complete construction of a new roofing system on a home, whether for a newly built structure or as part of a full replacement where the old roof is removed down to the decking. In San Francisco, full roof installation on a 1,500-square-foot home with asphalt shingles commonly runs $11,000 to $19,000, while premium materials like standing seam metal or composite shake from Boral can push the number past $25,000. Birchbark Roofing San Francisco installs roofs on new builds, additions, and whole-house replacements, always starting with a written price before a single shingle is ordered.
New Construction Roofing
When you’re building a new home in San Francisco, the roof installation is one of the final major trades, and doing it right means coordinating with your general contractor on framing, sheathing, and mechanical penetrations. We work with architects and builders across the city, and our crews are comfortable reading plans, pulling the right permits, and installing to manufacturer specs. You’ll know the roof will pass inspection the first time.
Full Tear-Off and Replacement
Most older San Francisco homes have at least two layers of roofing material, which means a true roof installation requires tearing everything off to the decking first. This is the only way to inspect the plywood or plank sheathing underneath for rot, which is common near the coast where fog keeps things damp. We replace any damaged decking as part of the job, with the cost captured in your written price before we start, not as a surprise change order.
Styles & brands we work with
Roof Replacement Contractor
A Roof Replacement Contractor is the licensed professional who manages your entire roof replacement project: the tear-off, the materials, the crew, the permits, the inspections, and the clean-up. Hiring the right one in San Francisco is the difference between a roof that holds for thirty years and one that fails after five. Birchbark Roofing San Francisco is led by Erik Lindgren and backed by the Cedarwell family of companies, and we treat every replacement as a full system, not just a new layer of shingles. Costs for the work we manage typically run $11,000 to $28,000 depending on home size and material.
What the Contractor Should Handle
Your roof replacement contractor should pull the city permit, schedule inspections, keep the site safe, and give you a written price that doesn’t change once work begins. We handle all of that in-house. No subcontractor roulette, no surprise invoices at the end. You get one name, one phone number, and one person accountable for the whole job.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Ask any roof replacement contractor in San Francisco how they protect the inside of your home during a tear-off. If the answer is vague, keep looking. Our answer is specific: shoe covers at the door, drop cloths through the halls, tarps over your landscaping, and a photo of the completed clean-up before we leave. We also nail down quiet hours with you in advance, because a roofing job is loud and your family’s routines matter.
Asphalt Shingle Roof Replacement
Asphalt Shingle Roof Replacement means removing the old shingles, inspecting and repairing the decking, installing new underlayment, and finishing with architectural or three-tab asphalt shingles from brands like GAF, CertainTeed, or Owens Corning. For a typical San Francisco home, asphalt shingle roof replacement runs $11,000 to $19,000, making it the most affordable full replacement option most homeowners choose. Birchbark Roofing San Francisco installs asphalt shingle systems that stand up to fog, wind-driven rain, and the occasional heat wave, with manufacturer warranties that transfer if you sell the home.
Architectural vs. Three-Tab
Architectural shingles are thicker, carry higher wind ratings, and look more dimensional, which matters on the highly visible roofs of San Francisco’s hillside homes. Three-tab shingles cost less but have a shorter lifespan and a flatter appearance. We’ll show you samples from GAF and CertainTeed and explain the cost difference in writing before you choose.
Bay Area Wind and Fog Performance
Homes in the Sunset, Richmond, and the Presidio take more wind and salt fog than houses in the Mission or Noe Valley. That’s why we recommend shingles with a high wind rating for those western neighborhoods and proper underlayment everywhere to guard against the moisture that fog promotes. Our crews install to the manufacturer’s high-wind spec, not just the minimum code, because San Francisco’s microclimates are real and they change block by block.
New Roof Installation
New Roof Installation is the process of building a roof system from scratch on a home that has never had one, such as a new build, an addition, or a structure where the old roof failed so completely that the entire system, including decking, must be reconstructed. In San Francisco, new roof installation on a new home or major addition typically runs $14,000 to $28,000 depending on the roof’s complexity, pitch, and material. Birchbark Roofing San Francisco handles new roof installation for general contractors, architects, and homeowners building in every part of the city.
Coordinating with New Construction
On a new build in San Francisco, the roof installation has to coordinate with framing, plumbing vents, electrical penetrations, and sometimes solar conduit. We read the plans, flag conflicts early, and stage our work so your builder isn’t stuck waiting. Our crews have installed on everything from modern flat-roof boxes in the Mission to traditional gabled homes in West Portal.
Material Selection for New Builds
Because a new roof installation is a blank slate, it’s the best time to think about what you actually want. Asphalt shingles keep the cost down. Composite shake from Boral gives you the look of wood without the rot. Standing seam metal lasts longest in San Francisco’s damp, salty air. We’ll walk you through the options and give you a written price for each so you can choose without pressure.
Reroofing
Reroofing in the Bay Area usually means one of two things: laying a new layer of shingles over an existing single layer, or doing a full replacement by tearing off the old roof first. On most San Francisco homes, full tear-off reroofing is the right call, because the city’s older houses often already have two layers and the building code won’t allow a third. For homeowners just outside the city, we also handle Roof Replacement in South San Francisco with the same thorough approach. Pricing for reroofing starts around $11,000 for a smaller asphalt shingle roof and climbs with size and material. Birchbark Roofing San Francisco will inspect your roof and tell you honestly which option you actually need.
Overlay vs. Tear-Off
An overlay reroof saves on labor and disposal because the old shingles stay in place and the new ones go over them. But you can’t inspect the decking, and you add weight the structure has to carry. On San Francisco homes built before 1950, we almost always recommend a full tear-off reroof. The decking gets looked at, any rot gets replaced, and the new roof starts clean.
Reroofing Older San Francisco Homes
Victorians and Edwardians in neighborhoods like the Haight, Pacific Heights, and Potrero Hill often have plank decking instead of plywood, and it’s not always level. Our tear-off crews know how to work with older framing, not against it. If a plank is split or a rafter tail is soft, we fix it before the new roof goes on, and the repair is in your written price before work starts.
Flat Roof Replacement
Flat Roof Replacement covers the low-slope and flat roof systems common on San Francisco’s mid-century homes, row houses, and commercial structures. These roofs use membranes like TPO, modified bitumen, or built-up roofing instead of shingles. For a typical flat roof in San Francisco, replacement runs $13,000 to $22,000 depending on size, access, and the condition of the substrate beneath the membrane. Birchbark Roofing San Francisco replaces flat roofs with care for the ponding and drainage issues specific to our wet, foggy climate.
Membrane Options and Drainage
A flat roof in San Francisco lives or dies by its drainage. Low spots collect water, and standing water shortens the membrane’s life, especially in neighborhoods like the Marina or the Mission where flat roofs are everywhere. We level low areas, verify scuppers and drains flow, and install the membrane that fits your roof’s specific shape. You get a written price for the whole system, drainage included.
When Patches Stop Working
If you’ve patched the same area of your flat roof twice in three years and it’s still leaking when the winter rains come, the membrane has likely reached the end of its service life. Continued patching on a failing flat roof costs more per year than replacing it once. We’ll show you the condition of your membrane with photos and explain exactly what we found and what we recommend, without pushing you into work you don’t need.
Brands We Service
We work closely with the manufacturers whose products we install, because the warranty is only as good as the installation behind it. GAF is our most-installed asphalt shingle brand, and our crews are trained on their high-wind installation specs, which matter on exposed San Francisco hillsides. We also carry GAF’s full accessory line – ridge caps, leak barriers, and ventilation – so the finished roof is a true GAF system, not a mix of parts.
CertainTeed shingles are a common choice for homeowners who want a deep, rich color palette and a strong transferable warranty. We install CertainTeed architectural shingles regularly and can pull samples for you to compare. Boral composite shake and tile roofing shows up often on homes in Marin and the East Bay, and we install them on San Francisco homes that want the look of wood shake without the fire risk or rot. We also provide Roof Replacement in Alameda for East Bay homeowners seeking the same quality. Whether you have GAF, CertainTeed, Boral, Tamko, or any other system, we can service it and replace it when the time comes.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterSigns You Need a Pro Right Now
- Granules in your gutters. Asphalt shingles shed granules as they age, and finding piles of them in your gutters means the shingles are losing their protective layer. Once that layer is gone, the shingle bakes in the sun and cracks, which lets water in. If your gutters look like they’re full of coarse sand, the roof is telling you it’s near the end.
- Daylight in the attic. Go into your attic on a bright day and turn off the light. If you see pinpoint holes of daylight through the roof boards, water can get in through those same holes. This is more than a leak risk; it means the decking or the shingles above it have failed.
- Curling or cupping shingles. Shingles that no longer lie flat are losing their seal. Wind gets under them, they break, and they tear off in San Francisco’s winter storms. Once you see curling along the lower edges of your roof, replacement is usually within a couple of years.
- Sagging rooflines. A visible dip between the rafters means the decking may be waterlogged and failing. This is a structural problem, not a surface one. A sagging roof in San Francisco’s older homes needs a professional inspection quickly, because the longer it sits, the more expensive the repair becomes.
- Water stains on interior ceilings or walls. A brown ring or stain inside your home means water has already penetrated the roof system. By the time you see a stain, the leak has likely been active for weeks. Getting a roofer out now prevents mold in your insulation and damage to your drywall.
Our Process, Step by Step
- 1
Free on-site inspection. Erik Lindgren or one of our lead technicians walks your roof with a moisture meter and a camera. We document what we find, measure the roof’s square footage precisely, and check the condition of your decking, flashing, and ventilation. You get photos of everything we saw, whether you hire us or not.
- 2
Written line-item price. Before any work starts, you get a written price in dollars that covers every part of the job: tear-off, dump fees, decking repair, underlayment, shingles or membrane, flashing, ventilation, and clean-up. If we find hidden damage during tear-off, we show you photos and get your approval before spending another dollar. The price never changes without your sign-off.
- 3
Pre-job protection. The morning we start, our crew lays down drop cloths from your entry door to the work area, puts shoe covers on before stepping inside, and tarps your landscaping and any outdoor furniture below the roof line. We coordinate door schedules with you if you have a dog or cat that needs to stay inside, and we agree on quiet hours before day one.
- 4
Tear-off, repair, and installation. We strip the old roof down to the decking, repair or replace damaged wood, install new underlayment, and then build the new roof system to the manufacturer’s specification. This is where the craftsmanship happens: straight lines, tight flashing, proper nailing patterns, and ventilation that actually moves air.
- 5
Final inspection and clean-up. We do a full magnetic sweep for nails, blow off the roof and gutters, remove all tarps and drop cloths, and photograph the completed clean-up before our crews leave. Then we walk the finished roof with you and give you your warranty documents. You see the same photos we see.
How Much Does Roof Replacement Cost in San Francisco?
A full roof replacement on a typical San Francisco home runs $11,000 to $28,000. Here’s a useful breakdown by material: asphalt shingle replacement on a 1,200 to 1,500 square foot home in the Sunset or Richmond typically costs $11,000 to $16,000. Flat roof replacement on a similar-sized home in the Mission or Noe Valley usually lands between $13,000 and $20,000. Standing seam metal or Boral composite shake on a larger Victorian in Pacific Heights or Presidio Heights frequently exceeds $25,000. Those numbers include tear-off, dump fees, decking repair where needed, underlayment, the new roof system itself, flashing, and clean-up.
Several factors move the price. Roof pitch is the biggest one after square footage; a steep roof on a hillside home in Diamond Heights costs more in labor because crews work slower and with more safety equipment. Access matters too; if our truck can’t reach the home and materials have to be carried or crane-lifted, that’s reflected in the price. Decking condition is the wild card, which is why we inspect before we quote and give you a written number that accounts for what we can see. If rot is hidden under the old shingles, we show you photos and get your written approval before any additional charge. That’s how you avoid overpaying: a written price before work starts, no surprises, and no change orders without your sign-off. Every estimate from Birchbark Roofing San Francisco is free and includes the complete line-item scope in writing.
Our Service Area Near San Francisco
Birchbark Roofing San Francisco serves the entire city, from the Outer Sunset to Bayview and everywhere between. We also take on roof replacement work in nearby communities across the Bay, including Oakland, Vallejo, Richmond, San Mateo, Alameda, South San Francisco, San Rafael, Danville, Pacifica, Pleasant Hill, and San Pablo. Response time for an estimate visit is typically within one to three business days, depending on your location and our schedule. Call (831) 228-3330 and a live person will get you on the calendar.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently Asked Questions About Roof Replacement in San Francisco
Roof replacement is the process of removing your existing roof down to the decking and installing a completely new roofing system, including underlayment, shingles or membrane, flashing, and ventilation. It’s different from roof repair, which addresses isolated problems like a leak or a few damaged shingles. A replacement is the right call when the roof’s overall structure has aged past the point where repairs make financial sense. Call (831) 228-3330 for a free inspection and we’ll tell you which one you actually need.
Most asphalt shingle roof replacements on San Francisco homes take three to seven working days from tear-off to final inspection. Flat roof replacements usually run three to five days. Weather delays happen, especially during the winter rain season, and we’ll keep you posted daily on our progress. We give you a schedule in writing before we start, so you know exactly what to expect.
Roof replacement in San Francisco typically costs $11,000 to $28,000 depending on your home’s size, roof pitch, material choice, and the condition of the decking underneath. Asphalt shingle systems occupy the lower end of that range, while metal and composite materials sit at the higher end. You’ll get an exact written price before any work begins. Call (831) 228-3330 to schedule your free estimate.
Yes, we install and replace roofs using materials from GAF, CertainTeed, Tamko, Boral, Owens Corning, IKO, and Atlas. Our crews are trained on the installation standards for each manufacturer, which keeps your warranty valid and your roof performing as designed. We can also service and replace roofs originally installed by other contractors using these brands. Bring us your roof’s history and we’ll work with it.
A live person answers our phones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including nights and weekends. If a storm has torn off shingles or a tree limb has punctured your roof, call (831) 228-3330 and we’ll get a crew to tarp and stabilize the damage until a full replacement can be scheduled. Safety comes first; we’ll tell you what to do and what to avoid until we arrive.
Every roof replacement from Birchbark Roofing San Francisco is covered by our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the work isn’t right, we make it right. That promise is stamped on every job and backed by the Cedarwell Care Promise. Your materials also carry manufacturer warranties from brands like GAF and CertainTeed, and our installation methods are designed to keep those warranties intact. Get the details in writing at your estimate.
Move vehicles out of the driveway and away from the house, clear fragile items from walls inside since hammering creates vibration, and secure any loose valuables in rooms below the work area. If you have pets, keep them inside during the day and let us know so we can coordinate door schedules with you. Our crew handles the rest: tarps, drop cloths, shoe covers, and a full clean-up with a photo before we leave.
Schedule Your Roof Replacement Service in San Francisco Today
You’ll get a written price before any work starts, a crew that treats your home like a home, and a 365-Day Done Right Promise behind every shingle. Call (831) 228-3330 now for your free, no-obligation roof replacement estimate. A live person answers 24/7.
Written by Erik Lindgren, Owner at Birchbark Roofing San Francisco, serving San Francisco since 2000.