Roofing Metal Cost Per Foot: Accurate Project Estimating

Numbers don’t lie, and right now in Brooklyn, you’re looking at anywhere from $9 to $23 per linear foot of metal roofing, depending on what metal you choose, how complicated your roof is, and who’s doing the work. That’s not a vague “it depends” answer-it’s what I actually quote homeowners and building owners every week after I’ve spent twenty minutes on their roof with a tape measure. Two brownstones on the same Carroll Gardens block can easily sit $4 per foot apart in cost because one has three skylights and a dormer, while the other is a clean, straight 48-foot run from front parapet to back.

Brooklyn Metal Roofing Costs Start With Accurate Measurements, Not Guesses

On a typical Brooklyn brownstone-three or four stories, maybe 18 feet wide at the roofline, running 45 to 55 feet deep-you’d better measure every inch before you talk cost per foot. I see too many homeowners get shocked when a contractor throws out a ballpark number based on “square footage” and then the final price jumps because nobody counted the chimneys, the parapets, or the fact that the roof actually steps down six inches halfway back. Linear footage is king when you’re working with standing seam or corrugated metal panels, and every obstacle on that roof changes how much metal you’re buying and how much time it takes to install.

Here in Brooklyn, most residential metal jobs run on roofs with a ton of character-meaning a ton of details that eat into your simple math. A straightforward gable might give you a clean per-foot number, but the second you add a dormer, a rear extension with its own slope, or one of those old brick chimneys sitting right in the middle of the run, you’re adding cuts, custom flashings, and waste. If you only remember one thing about metal cost per foot, make it this: every interruption costs you material and labor, and both show up in that final per-foot price.

One February in Greenpoint, I reworked a cost estimate for a three-story mixed-use building where the owner had been quoted a vague “price per square” by another roofer. I broke it down to roofing metal cost per foot for the standing seam panels running 42 feet from front to back, and showed how trimming just 6 inches off the overhang on each side saved the owner almost $900 in metal alone. That’s the kind of tape-measure math that keeps you in control of the budget instead of finding out halfway through the job that you’re over.

What Metal Roofing Costs Per Foot in Brooklyn Right Now

Let’s put real numbers on this. Galvanized steel panels-your basic, solid choice-run about $9 to $13 per linear foot installed for a simple roof with minimal penetrations. Aluminum bumps that up to $12 to $17 per foot because the material costs more and it’s lighter, which sounds nice but actually makes it a bit trickier on windy days. Standing seam steel with a higher-grade coating or a cool-roof finish lands you in the $14 to $19 range, and copper or zinc, which I see on high-end brownstones and landmark buildings, can easily push $20 to $23 per foot once you factor in the specialty labor and longer install time.

How I Measure Linear Footage on a Real Brooklyn Roof

Before we touch a single panel, I always start with the tape measure and a notepad. I measure the roof’s ridge or eave line-whichever direction the metal will run-and then I note every single break in that line: chimneys, vent stacks, skylights, roof hatches, anything that sticks up or cuts through. Each one of those means I’ll need extra flashing, a custom cut, or sometimes a completely separate panel piece, and all of that adds to the effective roofing metal cost per foot for the project.

For standing seam, I measure front to back if the panels are running that way, which is typical on Brooklyn rowhouses. If it’s a 50-foot run and the panels come in 52-foot lengths, I’m golden-one continuous piece per column with minimal waste. But if your roof is 54 feet and the coil maxes out at 52, now I’m splicing or ordering custom lengths, and that changes both the material price and the labor time. I write down every measurement twice because one extra foot of error across twelve panel runs means I’m short a whole panel and probably paying rush delivery to finish on time.

Here’s a simple breakdown I use on almost every estimate:

1. Main roof run: Measure eave to eave or ridge to ridge, depending on panel direction-round up to the nearest half-foot.
2. Obstacles: Count chimneys, vents, skylights; each one adds roughly 8 to 15 linear feet of trim and flashing material.
3. Waste factor: Add 10 percent for cuts, mistakes, and overlaps-on a complicated Brooklyn roof, I sometimes go 12 to 15 percent.

That’s tape-measure math in three steps, and it keeps the roofing metal cost per foot honest instead of inflated by bad guesses.

During a hot July in Bay Ridge, I spent an afternoon on a narrow driveway, tape measure in hand, explaining to a homeowner how every vent, chimney, and skylight on their 60-foot run of roof affected waste, and why their roofing metal cost per foot was higher than their cousin’s simpler ranch house on Long Island. Once she saw the sketch I drew on the back of her permit paperwork-twelve interruptions across five panel columns-she got it. Complexity drives cost, plain and simple.

Common Brooklyn Roof Types and Their Measurement Quirks

From the sidewalk, two roofs can look identical, but when you’re up top with the tape, you see the details that matter. A classic flat-top Brooklyn rowhouse with parapets front and back usually means your metal panels run uninterrupted for the full depth, which is ideal. A Victorian with multiple roof levels, a turret, or a bay window means you’re measuring and cutting for at least three different planes, and every transition eats time and material. I always walk the perimeter first, count the levels, and then measure each section separately so my per-foot cost reflects the real work, not some fantasy single-plane roof.

What’s Actually Inside That Per-Foot Metal Roofing Price

Here’s the part most people don’t see until the quote shows up. When I tell you $15 per linear foot installed, roughly $6 to $9 of that is raw material-the metal coil or panel itself, plus underlayment, fasteners, and sealant. Another $4 to $7 is labor, which covers the crew’s time to measure, cut, install, and finish all the trim and flashing. The rest-about $1.50 to $3 per foot-goes to overhead, insurance, permits if needed, waste disposal, and profit. In Brooklyn, parking permits, truck tolls, and the occasional need for a crane or hoist on a tight block can add another 50 cents to a dollar per foot on top of that.

Material costs have been bouncing around the last couple years, honestly. Steel prices spiked hard in 2021, dropped a bit, then climbed again in late 2022. Right now, galvanized steel coil is running about $2.80 to $4.20 per linear foot wholesale for 24-gauge standing seam, depending on the width and finish. Add another $1.50 to $2 per foot for underlayment, clips, and trim, and you’re at $4.30 to $6.20 in raw materials before a single installer shows up. That’s why when someone tells you they can do a metal roof for $7 per foot installed, I get pretty skeptical-either the quality is suspect or they’re skipping steps.

Labor in Brooklyn isn’t cheap, and I wouldn’t want it to be because skilled metal roofers are worth every dollar. Installing standing seam correctly-making sure the seams lock tight, the fasteners are hidden, and the thermal expansion is accounted for-takes experience. A good crew can lay about 800 to 1,000 linear feet per day on a straightforward roof, but drop that to 400 to 600 feet if there are a bunch of penetrations or tricky details. When you divide the daily labor cost across those feet, you see why roofing metal cost per foot climbs on complicated jobs.

How Do You Decide Between Metal Types and Installation Methods?

Now once we know that measurement and we’ve broken down the cost, you’ve got choices to make. Standing seam is my go-to recommendation for most Brooklyn buildings-residential or light commercial-because the hidden fasteners mean fewer leak points, and the clean lines look sharp on a rowhouse. Corrugated or ribbed panels cost less per foot, maybe $9 to $12 installed, but the exposed fasteners need maintenance and they’re more likely to leak over time if you skip the re-sealing every few years.

Back in early spring on a job in Park Slope, a client asked me whether aluminum or steel made more sense for her 1920s brownstone. I walked her through the numbers: aluminum was $3 per foot more expensive but wouldn’t rust if the finish got scratched, while steel was tougher, less prone to denting from falling branches, and easier to paint down the road if she wanted a color change. She went with steel because her block has mature trees and she liked the idea of repainting in ten years. That’s the kind of real-world tradeoff you make when you understand what’s behind the per-foot price.

Full Replacement Versus Overlay: How It Changes Your Cost Per Foot

If you’ve already got an old layer of roofing up there-asphalt shingles, rolled roofing, maybe even an older metal roof-you might be able to install new metal right over it, which can save you $2 to $4 per linear foot by skipping the tear-off and disposal. That said, I only recommend an overlay if the existing roof is flat, dry, and structurally sound. Any rot, sag, or moisture trapped underneath will just get worse under the new metal, and you’ll be ripping it all off in five years anyway.

After Hurricane Ida’s remnants pushed heavy rain through Brooklyn, I re-visited an older metal roof I’d installed eight years earlier in Carroll Gardens. I compared the original cost per foot to updated material prices, using that real example to help a neighboring brownstone owner decide whether a full metal replacement or a partial overlay made more financial sense. Turns out the deck had a soft spot near the rear scupper, so we did a full tear-off and added new plywood in that section. The overlay would’ve been cheaper up front-about $11 per foot versus $16-but the repair work we found meant the full replacement was the smarter long-term call.

How to Spot a Bad Estimate and Protect Your Budget

A sketchy estimate usually shows up as one big lump-sum number with no breakdown. If a roofer hands you a piece of paper that says “Metal roof: $18,000” and doesn’t show you how many linear feet, what material, or what’s included in labor, walk away. I always write out the measurements, the per-foot cost for material and labor separately, and a line item for extras like new flashing, ridge caps, or gutter tie-ins. That way you can see exactly where your money’s going, and if something changes mid-job-like we find rotten decking-we can adjust that one line item instead of renegotiating the whole contract.

Before we touch a single panel, I always start with the tape measure and a notepad, and I make sure the client sees those numbers too. That transparency is how you avoid the classic “sticker shock” moment when the final invoice lands. If a quote seems way lower than the range I’ve laid out here-say, $7 per foot installed for standing seam in Brooklyn-ask what’s missing: Are they using thinner gauge metal? Skipping underlayment? Planning to slap it over a rotted deck? Cheap isn’t always a bargain when you’re looking at a roof that should last thirty to fifty years.

Why Metal Roof Masters in Brooklyn

At Metal Roof Masters, we’ve been measuring, cutting, and installing metal roofs across Brooklyn for years, and we treat every linear foot like it’s our own house. We know the difference between a quick Park Slope gable and a complex Bed-Stuy Victorian, and we price each one based on real tape-measure math, not rough guesses. When you call us for an estimate, you’ll get a line-by-line breakdown that shows your roofing metal cost per foot, the material grade we’re quoting, and the labor hours we expect to spend on your specific roof.

We’re not the cheapest option in Brooklyn, and we don’t pretend to be. What we are is accurate, reliable, and completely transparent about where every dollar goes. If you want a metal roof that’ll still look sharp in twenty years, installed by a crew that won’t cut corners or surprise you with change orders halfway through, give Metal Roof Masters a call. We’ll walk your roof, measure it properly, and give you a real number you can actually trust.

Final Takeaways: Control Your Metal Roof Cost Per Foot

Let’s put real numbers on this one more time. Brooklyn metal roofing runs $9 to $23 per linear foot installed, and the spread comes down to material choice, roof complexity, and who’s doing the measuring. If you want to keep your project on budget, start with accurate measurements-grab a tape, measure your roof’s main runs, count every chimney and skylight, and add 10 to 15 percent for waste. Get at least two detailed quotes that break out material and labor separately, and don’t be afraid to ask questions when a number doesn’t make sense.

Metal roofing is one of the best investments you can make on a Brooklyn building-it lasts decades, handles our weather, and looks great doing it. But only if you go into the project with your eyes open, knowing what you’re paying per foot and why. That’s the difference between a roof you’re proud of and a roof that feels like you got taken for a ride. I’ve spent nineteen years making sure my clients land in the first category, and that starts with honest, tape-measure-backed estimates every single time.