Roofer Job Description: Template, Duties, Requirements & Pay (2026)
A roofer tears off, repairs and installs the covering that keeps a building dry — shingles, membrane, metal or tile — almost always at height, in weather, and on a schedule set by the forecast. Below is a copy-paste roofer job description template, the safety language this trade genuinely requires, and what it costs to reach crews on social, from Boostpoint's campaign data.
What a roofer does
The job is tear-off, deck inspection and repair, underlayment, flashing at every penetration and edge, then the covering itself — asphalt shingle on most homes, single-ply membrane or built-up systems on commercial decks, standing seam metal, tile or slate on the rest. Loading material to height, staging it so the deck is never overloaded, and hauling debris down are a real share of the day. Flashing is where the skill concentrates and where callbacks come from.
The BLS counts 166,900 roofers in 2025 at a median of $26.65 an hour, or $55,440 a year, with about 12,000 openings projected each year over the decade, most of them from workers who transfer to other occupations or retire. Employment is projected to grow 5% for 2025–35, faster than average, and no formal educational credential is required to enter.
Two facts from the same source should shape how you write the posting. First, the BLS states that roofers have one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations, as well as one of the highest rates of occupational fatalities — falls from height and burns from hot bitumen among the named hazards. Second, in northern states this work may be limited during the winter months, while summer demand pushes crews into overtime. An ad that is quiet about safety and quiet about winter is answering neither of the two questions an experienced candidate is actually asking.
Roofer job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and cut anything that does not apply. It is ordered the way crews read a posting: pay, hours, where, what work, then the rest.
Job title
Roofer — [Residential / Commercial / Service and repair], [City]
Summary
[Employer] is hiring roofers for [residential tear-off and re-cover / commercial flat deck / service and repair] work in [city, state]. Pay is $[XX.XX]–$[XX.XX]/hour depending on experience and system. Hours are [Mon–Fri, 6am–3pm] with [overtime through the summer] and [weather days called by 5:30am]. Work is [within a 40-mile radius, home every night].
Responsibilities
- Tear off existing covering, inspect the deck, and replace damaged sheathing
- Install underlayment, ice and water barrier, drip edge and starter courses
- Flash chimneys, walls, valleys, vents and every other penetration to spec
- Install [asphalt shingle / single-ply membrane / standing seam metal / tile] systems
- Load, stage and distribute material to height without overloading the deck
- Set, tie off to and work safely from [ladders, harnesses and anchor points] all day
- Keep the ground clean as you go: magnet sweeps, debris in the dumpster, gutters cleared
- Walk the finished job with the [lead / customer] and correct punch-list items
Requirements
- [1–2] years on a crew, or a willingness to start as a helper and be trained
- Comfortable working at height in heat, cold and wind for a full shift
- Able to lift and carry [70] lbs up a ladder repeatedly
- Valid driver’s license and reliable transport to the [shop / first job] by [6am]
- [OSHA 10 safety certification, or willingness to complete it — we pay for the course]
Preferred
- Experience with [low-slope membrane, metal, tile or slate] beyond asphalt shingle
- Flashing, chimney or leak-diagnosis work on service calls
- Comfortable operating [lifts, conveyors or a boom truck]
- Bilingual [English / Spanish] on a crew that runs both
Schedule and pay
- $[XX.XX]–$[XX.XX]/hour, reviewed at [90 days]
- [Mon–Fri, 6am–3pm]; [overtime at time and a half from May through October]
- [Weather days: called by 5:30am, with X hours of shop work guaranteed]
- [Year-round work — service and repair carries the crew through winter]
Benefits
- Health, dental and vision from day [1 / 30 / 60]
- Paid time off and [6] paid holidays
- [401(k) with X% match]
- [OSHA certification, fall-protection training and manufacturer certifications paid for]
- [Harness, boots and PPE provided]; [posted path to crew lead and foreman]
Requirements: what to keep, what to soften, and what quietly costs you applicants
This is the trade where the posting most often understates the hazard and overstates the gate. Both cost applications.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Safety certification | Say it out loud. The BLS notes that most employers require workers to complete safety certification meeting Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines, either before or after being hired. Writing “we pay for your OSHA 10 in your first month” converts a barrier into a reason to apply. |
| Height and hazard | State it plainly rather than burying it. This occupation has one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations and one of the highest rates of occupational fatalities. Candidates who do this work know that; what they are screening for is whether your company treats it seriously. Naming your fall-protection standard does more for applications than any perk line. |
| Experience | Usually a preference. No formal educational credential is required to enter and most workers learn on the job from experienced colleagues. A helper who shows up at 6am and can carry weight becomes productive fast — an experience gate on a 12,000-openings-a-year occupation is a choice to hire slowly. |
| Physical demands | Give real numbers. A stated weight and a stated shift length are more useful to a candidate and more defensible for you than “must be in good physical condition”. |
| Seasonality | Disclose it in the first two lines. In northern states this work may be limited during the winter months. If service and repair keeps your crew paid in January, that is a headline; if there is a genuine off-season, saying so attracts people who plan for it instead of people who quit in December. |
| Driver’s license | Keep it only if the job needs it. Where crews ride together from a shop, dropping the requirement opens the role to a meaningful share of the local pool at no cost to you. |
How to customize it for your setting
Residential tear-off crews
Pace and pay structure decide this hire. Say whether the crew is hourly, piece rate or a hybrid, how many squares a day the crew typically runs, and whether the company provides the dumpster and the loading. Experienced crews compare those details, not slogans.
Commercial and low-slope
Different systems, different candidates. Name the membranes you run and the manufacturer certifications you hold, because installers who are certified on a system identify themselves by that vocabulary. Night and weekend work on occupied buildings should be stated with its premium attached.
Service and repair
This is a diagnostic job with a customer standing underneath it. Leak-tracing skill, tidy work and the ability to explain a repair matter more than raw production speed, and the posting should say so — otherwise you get production applicants and a mismatch at week two.
Storm and restoration work
Volume arrives suddenly and leaves. Be honest about the duration, the travel and the hours, and pair it with the pay that justifies them. Crews that have been burned by an unstated three-week job read vagueness as a warning.
What it costs to reach roofers on social
Across 35 skilled trades campaign-months in our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, the median cost per applicant was $14.14, with the middle half of campaigns landing between $7.58 and $21.49. The apply rate was 15% and the click-through rate 1.07%.
Two things move that number in this trade specifically. Timing is one: everyone hires in the same eight weeks after a storm or at the start of the season, and the auction prices accordingly. Form length is the other — an apply rate of 15% means most of the people who clicked never finished, and a phone-first, three-question form recovers more of them than extra budget ever will. Our direct recruiting versus agency cost comparison works through both. These are advertising costs only, and they buy an applicant, not a hire.
If you are hiring a crew rather than writing the description, the recruiting side — where these candidates are, when to launch, and what an applicant costs to reach — is on our exterior contractor hiring page.
Writing the ad version
The template above belongs in your ATS and on your careers page. The advertisement that runs on Facebook or Instagram is much shorter and answers three questions in the first two lines: how much, what hours, where. Something like: "Roofer — $28–$34/hr, home every night, overtime all summer. 6am start. [City]. We pay for your OSHA 10. Apply in 60 seconds, no résumé."
Then two or three knockout questions on the form — years on a crew, comfort at height, distance from the shop — and nothing else. Every extra field costs completions, and each screening question trades volume for precision. The mechanics are in our candidate conversion rate guide, and fifteen worked examples are in our help wanted ad examples library.
Frequently asked questions
What does a roofer do?
Tear off worn covering, inspect and repair the deck, lay underlayment and ice barrier, flash every penetration and edge, then install the system itself — asphalt shingle, single-ply membrane, metal, tile or slate. Loading and staging material at height and clearing debris are part of every job, and flashing detail is where most of the skill and most of the callbacks live.
How much do roofers make?
The BLS median was $26.65 an hour, or $55,440 a year, in 2025 across 166,900 workers. That is the national midpoint spanning residential shingle crews, commercial low-slope installers and service technicians, so local pay varies widely by market, system and whether the crew is hourly or on piece rate. Publishing your actual range is what turns a browser into an applicant.
Do roofers need certification?
No formal educational credential is required to enter the occupation, and most workers learn on the job from experienced colleagues. Safety is the exception: the BLS notes most employers require workers to complete safety certification meeting Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines, either before or after being hired. Manufacturer system certifications are separate and usually employer-sponsored.
Is this seasonal work?
Partly, and it depends where you are. The BLS notes that in northern states the work may be limited during the winter months, while peak summer demand often means overtime. Companies with service, repair and commercial work frequently keep crews paid year round. Whichever is true for you belongs in the opening lines of the posting, not in an interview conversation.
Other job description templates
See all job description templates — free, editable templates for frontline, trades, healthcare and warehouse roles.
Hiring roofers?
The job description is the document; the ad is the thing that gets read. We write it, run it where crews are actually scrolling, and report what each applicant cost — cost per applicant, not cost per hire.
Pay, employment, outlook, education, training, safety certification, injury and fatality rates and seasonality: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, Roofers (last modified August 27, 2026; 2025 wage and employment data), read August 28, 2026. Cost-per-applicant figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark — skilled trades role family, 35 campaign-months, advertising costs only. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire. Last updated August 2026.