Unit Cost Pricing for Roofing

What Can & Can Not Be Included

The Unit Cost Pricing method was developed many years ago to make estimating insurance losses much quicker
and more efficient. Due to its simplicity, it has also allowed those that are not necessarily experts in the
construction field to accurately estimate the costs of large construction projects
.Unit Cost Pricing is defined as: The average, all inclusive, cost for a
specific task.

For example, Roofing a home can be "Unit Costed" by the square (100 Square feet) once you know the exact
amount of shingles, nails and labor it would take to cover one single roofing "Square”. Once the cost for that
single square has been established it can be accurately extrapolated to every claim that the adjuster
is estimating. I am sure you can see how this is much faster for an adjuster than attempting to figure the
individual components every time the need arose. It also allows for someone who has no
experience as a roofer to be able to accurately estimate the cost. There are, however, limitations
to Unit Cost Pricing. Any items that may be different from one job to another would be physically impossible be
included in a unit cost. For example, some roofs are very complex in design and have much more Linear
Footage of ridge / hip shingles and edge metal than would a simpler gable roof.
A more complex roof may also have hundreds of feet of valley metal or step flashing where a simple gable roof
would have none at all. Since the amounts of these materials will differ from roof to roof it would not be
possible to factor these items into a unit cost for roofing.

In the roof examples below you can clearly see how two roofs with the same exact square footage of roofing
shingles will cost vastly different amounts to replace due to the differences not able to be
included in a unit cost. These items are;