Roofing square
What is a roofing square?
The unit roofers price by — one square equals 100 square feet of roof area.
Definition
A roofing square is 100 square feet of roof surface — a 10-by-10 area. It’s the standard unit for measuring and pricing a roof, so material and labor are quoted per square rather than per square foot.
A roof’s size in squares, plus its pitch and complexity, drives the whole estimate. A 30-square roof means roughly 3,000 square feet of surface to tear off and replace.
Squares show up everywhere on a claim — in the scope of loss, on material orders, and in supplements. Getting the square count right keeps the numbers honest from estimate to final invoice.
Related terms
Roof pitchHow steep a roof is, written as inches of rise per 12 inches of run — and a driver of both safety and price.Aerial measurement reportA roof measurement built from aerial or drone imagery — squares, pitch, ridges, and valleys — without climbing for tape measurements.Scope of lossThe carrier’s itemized estimate of the damage and what they’ll pay to repair it — the document every claim is built on.XactimateThe estimating software most insurance carriers use to price roofing claims, line item by line item, at regional rates.