How do you guys calculate the square footage of a roof? I realize that after figuring a "base" number, there may be additional fees for peeks, valleys, softscape, hardscape, color of shingles, pitch of roof, amount of neglect, and so on.....
Time is money so, I don't want to physicaly get on the roof to measure it. Somebody has got to have a fast and accurate proceedure for measuring sq. ft.
Note: In my area, I charge at least .35 beers per square foot plus a shot (or two) for difficult landscapes. Beer in mind that everything cost more here.
Thanks, Don
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PaneLess Window Washing Roof Cleaning panelesswashtint@yahoo.com Mongomery Bucks County PA Harleysville,Pennsburg Pennsylvania (215)234-4333
You can take the base square foot and multiple that by 1.3 or 1.5 depending upon the pitch of the roof. or... you can count how many shingles go up the roof. Each shingle should be exposed approx 5". So if you have 60 shingles times 5" per shingle that gives you 300" divided by 12 gives you 25 foot then take that multiplied by the width.
Hope this helps. Someone else might have a better trick.
Wow. This is exactly the type of answer that I was looking for. I plan on appyling the # of shingles going up the roof trick to double check the "pitch multiplier" formula.
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!!!!
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PaneLess Window Washing Roof Cleaning panelesswashtint@yahoo.com Mongomery Bucks County PA Harleysville,Pennsburg Pennsylvania (215)234-4333
I don't know about everyone else but I usualy round up or down. I don't get too hung up on exact numbers of square feet. If I am off by 100, 200 or even 300 sf its not a big deal cost wise.
I'm sure that after I get the hang of it, I too, will be able to round up or down with relative accuracy. I don't see myself spending an hour just measureing a roof. However, I'll have to learn it "longhand" so-to-speak until I get the hang of it. I estimate window cleaning by simply counting the total # of windows, multiply it by $8 then I add $$ depending on various factors. After a while, ya just get a "feel" for it..
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PaneLess Window Washing Roof Cleaning panelesswashtint@yahoo.com Mongomery Bucks County PA Harleysville,Pennsburg Pennsylvania (215)234-4333
I draw the roof layout from a birds eye view. After that you can add the triangle shapes together that are the same (two triangles make a square is what I mean). If you have a section that is cut up just measure it out then on paper chop it up into smaller squares or rectangles. Grid paper helps keep the lines straight if you have a crooked eye like me.
The grid paper is a good idea. I like to document everything about my customers so that when I go back, I'll know exactly what's up. There's no way to remember everybody so, having a drawing and/or picture of the house(s) is quite helpful.
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PaneLess Window Washing Roof Cleaning panelesswashtint@yahoo.com Mongomery Bucks County PA Harleysville,Pennsburg Pennsylvania (215)234-4333
I add the main floor SF to the garage SF (it's public info on our county assessor's website, and, obviously main floor + garage + porch = roof coverage), and multiply by 1.15 to get close (most of our roofs are 4/12 or 6/12). I check google maps and bing maps (bird's eye view), to look for porches or anything else weird.
I do all that in about 5 minutes, and then when I do a drive by, I'm already confident of size, so I'm just confirming the condition of the roof.
You can get a laser that measures feet at homedepot for 39.99 measure length and measure width then multiply together for your total square footage. then add in exteas
Here are the multipliers for converting SF to a pitched area.
So, 1500 SF of area on a gabled roof that is 4/12 only adds about 80 SF of coverage (1500 * 1.054). But go from 4/12 to 6/12 and you add almost 200 SF of shingle coverage!
One thing that I'd like to get clear though is, what is meant when we say a roof is "12x4 pitch" or whatever. Could someone verbalize this. Please correct me if I'm wrong but, what is meant by saying a roof is say... 12'x4' means that for every 12 feet that a roof goes out, it goes up 4 feet. In other words, it is a "4" pitch roof. We could easily walk on that.
Again, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
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PaneLess Window Washing Roof Cleaning panelesswashtint@yahoo.com Mongomery Bucks County PA Harleysville,Pennsburg Pennsylvania (215)234-4333
Yep, the roof pitch is usually calculated in inches since you would normally use a level, a square and a tape measure. Guess it doesn't matter what units you're talking about though. Could be that the roof rises 6 beers for every 12 beers it runs, for instance.
Is this a 60 inch roof or the biggest f*#*@#* human-being EVER????!!!!!
Either way, I need to bid the roof accurately, so please give me your most accurate quote to the penny....
Here are the details....NO water at the site, tons of landscaping, endangered species of lots of everything living in the gutters, can only be done at night during a full moon during the Vernal Equinox, must be a card-carrying member of the Roof Cleaners Union, the Environmental Protection Agency will have 3 onlookers for every One Square of shingle area.
Addendum to proposal: No SH or TSP or H2O to be used.
2nd Addendum to proposal: Flying fish and flying squirrels have been know to frequent the area during the Vernal Equinox.
PS. Although they are known to exist, Flying Pigs have NOT been noticed in the immediate vicinity, so you need not be wary of their sudden appearance nor should you include it in your bid.