How to Start a Roofing Business
Roofing pays well because the barriers are real — licensing, height safety, asbestos and weather. Here's how to set up a roofing business that handles all four properly.
Roofing is one of the better trades to own a business in. Every building has one, they all fail eventually, and the work is genuinely hard to do well — which keeps the competition thinner than in the finishing trades. The barriers that keep it that way are the ones you have to clear first: licensing that varies by the type of roof, height safety that is not optional, asbestos on anything built before the nineties, and weather that decides your programme. This guide covers setting up around all of it.
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Decide what kind of roofing business
Roofing splits into work types with different licensing, different gear and completely different clients. Choose deliberately — the licensing consequences alone make this a decision rather than a preference.
- Metal roofing and cladding — new roofs, re-roofs and cladding. The volume trade, with roll-formed sheet and a supply relationship that matters.
- Roof tiling — repairs, repointing, rebedding and replacement. Heavy work with a steady repair market.
- Roof plumbing — gutters, downpipes, flashings, valleys and stormwater. In most states this is plumbing work requiring a plumbing licence with the relevant endorsement, which surprises people.
- Restoration and maintenance — cleaning, repointing, coating, leak repairs. Lower ticket, high volume, great lead generator for bigger jobs.
- Insurance and storm work — repairs paid by insurers. Reliable volume after events, with the insurer's paperwork and payment terms attached.
Almost every roofing job touches guttering and flashings, which is why the roof plumbing question matters so much. Either hold the licence yourself or have a licensed roof plumber you work with every week — running the business without one will cost you jobs you've already quoted.
Licensing, asbestos and the rules you can't skip
Roofing is licensed in most states, and more than one licence class usually touches the same job. Confirm the specifics with your state building authority and your state plumbing regulator before you take work on.
- Roofing licence classes differ by state and by material. Queensland, for instance, runs roof tiling and roof and wall cladding as separate trade classes. Building work there is licensed above $3,300; NSW licenses building and trade work above $5,000 including GST. Both current as at August 2026.
- Roof plumbing is its own licensed class, and its definition is broader than most people expect — in NSW it covers fixing, installing, renovating, repairing and maintaining guttering, downpipes, roof flashings and roof coverings. Victoria calls the equivalent registration Roofing (stormwater) and defines it to include metal and plastic roof sheeting, flashings, guttering, downpipes and above-ground stormwater drainage.
- Home warranty or domestic building insurance applies above its own higher threshold on residential contracts — over $20,000 in NSW, where cover must be in place before you start work or take a deposit. A re-roof clears that comfortably.
- Asbestos. Roofs and eaves on homes built before the 1990s can contain asbestos cement sheeting. Under the model WHS rules, removing more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos requires a licensed removalist — a Class B licence covers non-friable, Class A covers all types — and in the ACT any amount requires a licence. Even under 10 square metres you need asbestos awareness training and the Code of Practice controls. Assume it's there on older buildings until it's been identified.
- Working at heights — fall protection is mandatory, not a judgement call. Edge protection, anchor points, harness systems or scaffold, and a plan for how someone gets rescued if they do fall.
Falls from height are the deadliest hazard in construction and roofing carries a disproportionate share of them. Build height safety into your pricing as a standard line — scaffold or edge protection on every job that needs it — so it's never a cost you're tempted to skip to win a quote.
What you'll be spending money on
Roofing setup is dominated by access equipment and a vehicle that can carry long sheet. Price these categories for your own situation rather than a general figure.
| Category | What sits in it |
|---|---|
| Registration and licensing | ABN and business name, roofing licence classes, roof plumbing licence where applicable |
| Vehicle | Ute or truck with a rack long enough for sheet, plus trailer and signage |
| Access and height safety | Ladders, harness kits, anchor points, edge protection, scaffold or EWP hire |
| Metal roofing tools | Nibblers, shears, folders, seamers, riveters, sealant guns, magnetic sweeper |
| Tiling tools | Tile cutters, pointing gear, mortar mixing, tile lifters |
| Consumables | Screws, rivets, sealant, flashing stock, sarking, pointing compound |
| Waste handling | Skip or truck disposal, and licensed disposal where asbestos is involved |
| Insurance | Public liability, tools and plant, contract works, income protection |
| Working capital | Sheet orders and living costs until progress claims and invoices are paid |
Two lines cost more than people expect. Access equipment is a recurring per-job cost, not a one-off purchase, and it's the fastest way for a quote to go under. Waste disposal on a re-roof is a truckload of old material with a real tipping cost — and if it's asbestos, licensed disposal on top.
Weather, sequencing and the open roof problem
Roofing has a constraint no other trade has: once you strip a roof, the building is open. You cannot down tools and come back Monday. That single fact shapes how you schedule, how you price and how many jobs you can safely run at once.
- Never open more than you can close. Strip and re-cover in sections sized to what the crew can finish that day, with a margin for something going wrong.
- Carry weatherproofing on every job. Tarps, sandbags, temporary sarking and the means to fix them fast. This is standard equipment, not emergency equipment.
- Watch the forecast against a hard cutoff. Decide the night before whether you're stripping tomorrow. Half-opening a roof on an uncertain forecast is how you end up paying for someone's ceilings.
- Build weather days into the programme. Quote a realistic duration that assumes you'll lose days. A client who's been told three days and takes eight is unhappy regardless of why.
- Don't run too many jobs at once. Roofing punishes overcommitment harder than any other trade, because a delay on one job leaves a building exposed on another.
Pricing a roof you can only see half of
Roofing quotes go wrong on what's under the covering. Rotten battens, rusted purlins, sagging rafters, missing sarking, and a ceiling that won't survive being walked on — none of it is visible when you're quoting from the ground or a ladder.
- Build your charge-out rate from real overheads and genuinely billable days, then price roofs against it.
- Price access and height safety as a visible line on every quote — scaffold, EWP, edge protection, anchor installation.
- Include strip and disposal as its own item, with a separate allowance if asbestos is suspected.
- State clearly what happens if structural timber or purlins are found rotten — a per-metre rate for replacement, agreed upfront, turns a nasty surprise into a straightforward variation.
- Quote the flashings, valleys, capping and penetrations as items. They're the fiddly part and they're where the leaks come back.
- Note the roof pitch and complexity. A simple gable and a cut-up hip roof with three dormers are not the same job per square metre.
- Take a deposit covering the sheet order. Roll-formed sheet is made to your measurements and can't be returned.
Our guides to quoting a roof replacement and quoting a roof restoration cover the itemisation, and working out your charge-out rate covers the number underneath.
ServiceYak keeps your rates and standard roofing line items — sheet, flashings, access, strip and disposal — in a reusable kit, so a re-roof is quoted from saved pricing rather than rebuilt each time. Photos of the rotten battens go on the same job record as the quote, so the variation you raise has the evidence attached to it.
Frequently asked questions
What licence do I need to start a roofing business in Australia?
It depends on the material and the state. Roof tiling, roof and wall cladding, and roof plumbing are usually separate licence classes with separate requirements, and roof plumbing — gutters, downpipes, flashings and stormwater — generally requires a plumbing licence with the right endorsement. Confirm with your state building authority and plumbing regulator before quoting.
Do I need a roof plumbing licence as a metal roofer?
Very likely. Roof plumbing is a distinct licensed class and its definition is wide — in NSW it covers guttering, downpipes, roof flashings and roof coverings; Victoria's Roofing (stormwater) registration covers metal and plastic roof sheeting, flashings, guttering, downpipes and above-ground stormwater. Since almost every roofing job touches those, you either hold the licence or work regularly with someone who does.
How do I handle asbestos on an old roof?
Assume it's present on anything built before the 1990s until it's been identified. Under the model WHS rules, removing more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos requires a licensed removalist — Class B for non-friable, Class A for all types — and in the ACT any amount does. Below that you still need asbestos awareness training, the Code of Practice controls and licensed disposal. Get it identified before you quote so the cost is in the price rather than in your margin.
How do I price a re-roof when I can't see what's underneath?
Quote what you can see, then set an agreed per-metre or per-item rate upfront for the things you can't — rotten battens, rusted purlins, missing sarking. That turns a nasty discovery into a documented variation the client already agreed to the price of, rather than an argument on the day the roof is open.