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§ Sheet LP / 06 · For Detroit, MI roofers

Detroit, MI
ROOFING ESTIMATING.

Detroit roofers: go from walkthrough to sendable bid in 8 minutes. Estimate.Pro handles slope, tear-off, and Michigan permit fees.
§ Detroit fast facts

QUICK ANSWERS.

Do I need a license to pull roofing permits in Detroit?

Yes. Michigan requires roofing contractors to hold a Residential Maintenance and Alteration Contractor (RMAC) license issued by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) to perform and permit residential roofing work. Commercial roofing may require a separate classification. Detroit's BSEED will ask for your LARA license number when you pull a permit.

§ Built for Detroit

LOCAL FACTS.

DETROIT RESIDENTIAL ROOFING LABOR RATE (INSTALL, PER SQUARE).

Approximately $75–$110 per square for shingle installation labor in the Detroit metro as of 2024, with tear-off adding $30–$55 per square depending on layer count — higher than statewide average due to prevailing wage pressure in Wayne County union shops.

BSEED RESIDENTIAL ROOFING PERMIT FEE STRUCTURE.

Detroit BSEED calculates residential roofing permit fees based on declared project valuation. A typical $10,000 re-roof falls in the $150–$200 permit fee range under the current fee schedule; contractors must obtain a permit for any roof covering replacement on structures requiring a certificate of occupancy.

MICHIGAN RESIDENTIAL CODE ICE BARRIER REQUIREMENT.

Michigan Residential Code Section R905.1.2 requires an ice barrier from the eave edge to a minimum of 24 inches inside the interior wall line on structures in severe winter climate zones — Detroit (Wayne County) is designated as a severe climate zone, making ice and water shield mandatory on all sloped roofs.

§ Why roofing pros in Detroit use Estimate.Pro

THE BID ENGINE.

## Roofing Estimating in Detroit Moves Fast — Your Bids Should Too Detroit's housing stock is old. The median home in the city was built before 1960, which means you're regularly quoting tear-offs on worn-out three-tab shingles, rotted decking, and ice-dam damage that doesn't reveal itself until you're already on the roof. Writing those bids by hand or in a spreadsheet costs you time you don't have between April and October, when every homeowner in Wayne County calls at once. Estimate.Pro gives you a field-to-bid workflow built for that pace. Walk the job, record measurements on your phone, and get a priced estimate in a median of 8 minutes. No credit card required to start. --- ## What Makes Detroit Roofing Bids Different **Ice and water shield requirements.** Michigan Residential Code requires ice barrier protection extending from the eave edge to a point at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line. On a low-slope or complex roof in a Detroit winter, that coverage adds material and labor that out-of-state estimating templates miss. Estimate.Pro's roofing scope builder accounts for eave-to-wall measurements so your ice barrier quantities are calculated against actual roof geometry, not a flat rule of thumb. **Tear-off labor on older structures.** Detroit's aging bungalows and colonial-revival two-stories often have multiple roofing layers — sometimes three or four — applied over original skip sheathing. Your teardown labor per square on a three-layer job is not the same as a single-layer suburban re-roof in Livonia. The app lets you set material and labor costs per line item in your saved workspace, so your Detroit-specific tear-off rates stay locked in across every bid. **Permit pull timing.** Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) processes roofing permits for residential projects, and permit fees run on a project valuation schedule. Getting the valuation number right on your bid affects both what you quote the homeowner and what you declare to BSEED. Estimate.Pro generates a line-item scope of work you can hand directly to a permitting clerk — no retyping from a napkin. **Flat and low-slope work.** Detroit has significant commercial and mixed-use building inventory — former industrial buildings converted to residential lofts, flat-roof bungalows, and commercial strip retail — where TPO, EPDM, and modified bitumen are standard. The app supports low-slope material types alongside steep-slope shingle work in the same estimate, so you're not maintaining two separate systems. --- ## AR Measurement in the Field On supported devices, Estimate.Pro uses ONNX-assisted live AR measurement to capture roof dimensions during the walkthrough. Measurements taken by camera or photo are marked as estimates in the output — you see exactly which numbers are field-verified versus approximated. That distinction matters when you're explaining a bid to a homeowner who just got a lower number from a competitor who never got on the roof. --- ## Priced Output, Not Just a Scope Every estimate includes: - **Material line items** — shingles, underlayment, ice and water shield, ridge cap, drip edge, flashings, pipe boots - **Labor by task** — tear-off, decking repair, installation, cleanup and haul - **Crew time estimates** tied to square footage and pitch factor - **Permit fee placeholder** you fill with the BSEED valuation-based number - **Client-facing PDF** ready to send from the job site You're not building a template every time. The saved material cost workspace stores your Detroit-market prices — current lumber costs, shingle pricing from your supplier in Dearborn or Sterling Heights — so the next estimate pulls from numbers you already trust. --- ## Pricing That Fits a Roofing Crew Estimate.Pro runs at **$39/seat/month (Pro)**, **$79/seat/month (Elite)**, or **$399/month flat for a crew**. The Crew tier covers your whole operation under one number — no per-seat math when you add a laborer mid-season. The Free forever tier gives you full estimating functionality with no credit card. Pro and Elite add Stripe Connect invoicing with **0% platform fee on Pro+**, invoice exports, and crew management tools. If you're a Detroit roofer losing Saturday afternoons to bid writing, that's the problem Estimate.Pro solves. Eight minutes from walkthrough to sendable bid. Start free today.
§ Equip the crew

Bid faster in Detroit.

14-day Pro trial, no card. Free forever fallback. Built for roofers.