What a Metal Roof Costs
Metal spans an enormous price range, because "metal roof" covers everything from exposed-fastener corrugated panels to hand-formed copper. What you are buying is the system, not the metal.
Cheapest to dearest
- Exposed-fastener corrugated or ribbed steel — the agricultural and outbuilding option, and the only metal that is cost-competitive with composition
- Stone-coated steel shingle or tile profiles — mid-range, and the usual residential choice where appearance matters
- Standing seam with concealed clips — the premium architectural system, priced well above composition
- Copper — hand-formed, priced by weight as well as labour, in a category of its own
- Slate — not metal, but the other genuine lifetime roof, and the heaviest structural question of all
What moves the number most
- Panel gauge and the finish system: a PVDF (Kynar) finish costs more than SMP and holds colour far longer
- Roof complexity — hips, valleys, dormers and skylights all mean custom flashing, which is where the labour is
- Whether the panels are site-formed or factory-formed
- Substrate work: sheathing condition and whether a solid deck is needed for the chosen system
- Structural check where slate or heavy tile is being considered
The honest version
For most Sacramento homes, composition shingle is the rational purchase, and that is why roughly 4.6% of county re-roof permits are metal. Metal pays back on a long hold, on a house whose style carries it, or where the owner simply wants to buy the last roof they will ever install.
If your plan is to sell in five years, we will tell you that composition is the better financial decision. We would rather say that now than have you discover it at resale.
How rare metal is on Sacramento homes
Across more than twenty thousand City of Sacramento house re-roof permits since 2016, asphalt shingle is the overwhelming choice and metal barely registers. That matters for you in two ways: fewer crews install it often, and a metal roof stands out on a block, for better or worse.
92%
of City of Sacramento house re-roofs were asphalt shingle (2016–2026)
<1%
were metal, rounding to zero of 23,405 permits
Because so few local roofs are metal, ask any installer how many standing-seam houses they've done in Sacramento, and to see them.
Source: City of Sacramento building permit applications (open data), house re-roof e-permits 2016–2026, analyzed by Cutting Edge General Contracting. City limits only.
Common questions
Is a metal roof worth it in Sacramento?
On a long hold, often yes — it survives our UV and heat better than composition and it is the last roof many homes need. On a five-year hold, usually not: the premium over composition is unlikely to come back at resale in this market.
How much more does metal cost than shingles?
Broadly two to four times composition depending on the system, with exposed-fastener panels at the low end and standing seam or copper at the top. The spread within metal is wider than the gap between composition and entry-level metal.