A full roof replacement on a typical Los Angeles single-family home, around 2,000 square feet of living space with an attached two-car garage, runs about $24,000–$35,300 with asphalt shingles, $38,100–$77,600 with Spanish tile, and $49,400–$73,400 with standing-seam metal. Owners of existing tile roofs have a money-saving alternative most cost guides skip entirely: a tile reset, which reuses your tiles and comes in around $26,800–$39,500 on the same home.
Installed prices by material
| Material | Typical rate | Typical LA home |
|---|---|---|
| Asphalt shingles | $9–$13.50 /sq ft | $24,000–$35,300 |
| Tile reset (reuse existing tiles) | $10–$15 /sq ft | $26,800–$39,500 |
| Flat / torch down | $10–$15 /sq ft | $24,700–$36,300 |
| TPO membrane | $13–$19.50 /sq ft | $32,400–$48,000 |
| Spanish tile | $14–$28.50 /sq ft | $38,100–$77,600 |
| Flat concrete tile | $16–$37.50 /sq ft | $43,700–$103,000 |
| Standing-seam metal | $18–$27 /sq ft | $49,400–$73,400 |
| Slate | $20–$30 /sq ft | $55,000–$81,800 |
These are installed rates: material, labor, tear-off of the old roof, new underlayment, flashing, and disposal, and they’re LA-market figures, not national averages, which often understate what roofing costs here. Totals reflect the example home above; estimates vary by roof size, pitch, and material grade. The same rates power our estimate calculator, so the number it shows you won’t contradict anything on this page. (Wood shake, once common here, is now a niche product because of LA’s fire-zone rules, most shake owners re-roof into tile, metal, or shingles.)
What moves your number
- Roof size, pitch, and material grade, the three inputs behind every range on this site.
- What’s under the old roof. Rotted sheathing, multiple old layers, or skip-sheathing under a tile roof only reveal themselves at tear-off, and they’re the most common source of mid-job change orders.
- Access and complexity. Hillside lots, multiple roof planes, skylights, and solar panel removal and reset all add labor hours.
Where the money goes
On a typical LA re-roof, labor is the largest single line, usually somewhere near half the total. Materials come next, followed by tear-off and disposal (dump fees in LA County are not trivial), then permits, overhead, and the contractor’s margin. This is why prices in Los Angeles sit above national averages: you’re paying LA labor rates and LA disposal fees regardless of which material you pick.
Permits deserve a special mention. Re-roofs in the City of LA go through LADBS, most commonly as an express permit, and neighboring cities like Glendale, Burbank, and Pasadena each run their own building departments with their own fees. Budget several hundred dollars, and see our LA roof permit guide for the city-by-city picture.
Costs that catch LA homeowners off guard
- Cool-roof requirements. California’s Title 24 energy code and LA’s cool-roof ordinance push many re-roofs toward reflective materials, which can nudge material cost up slightly.
- Two-layer rule. Code allows a maximum of two roofing layers. If your home already has two, a full tear-off is mandatory, not optional.
- Fire-zone materials. Homes in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones, common in the hills, need Class A assemblies, which rules out some budget options.
- Wood repair. Older housing stock (much of LA’s was built before 1960) frequently needs sheathing or fascia repair priced per board once the old roof comes off.
Getting a number for your roof
Averages only get you so far. The full range for a roof in LA runs from around $14,800–$21,400 on a compact two-story shingle job to six figures for top-grade tile on a large single-story home. The fastest way to narrow it is to run your own home through our calculator, then compare that band against written quotes from licensed contractors.
If you’re still weighing materials, start with the tile vs. shingle comparison, those two cover the majority of LA re-roof decisions, or see how costs scale with home size in our 2,000 sq ft breakdown.
Figures on this page are informational estimates based on regional pricing data and automated roof measurements. They are not quotes or bids. Actual pricing requires an on-site inspection by a licensed contractor.