The whole-house project
Metal roof replacement and inspection in New Hampshire
A metal roof replacement in New Hampshire starts with an inspection and a written estimate, not a price over the phone. An independent local professional measures the roof, looks at the deck, seams, fasteners and flashing, then puts the panel system, gauge, finish and a per-sheet decking price in writing. Granite State Metal Roofing makes that introduction, free, statewide.
Most standing seam projects here start as an asphalt roof on its second or third round of trouble. Replacing it with metal is a different project than another shingle job, with its own sequence, decisions, and honest tradeoffs. Here is what the inspection finds, what the estimate has to say, and what the project actually looks like.
What does a metal roof replacement cost in New Hampshire?
Roughly $8 to $39 per square foot installed, which works out to about $7,540 to $39,430 on a 1,000 square foot roof and $15,080 to $78,860 at 2,000 square feet. Those are This Old House figures, priced from RSMeans data and updated March 2026, re-read at the source on 2026-08-20. Two other national guides put the same job far lower, so the honest version is a spread rather than a band: Today's Homeowner at $10 to $20 per square foot and Bob Vila at $2 to $10.
None of those are New Hampshire quotes and none of them are ours. Tear-off, deck repair, pitch, and trim complexity move the number, and so does the panel system itself. The line-by-line version with a worked example is the NH metal roof cost guide, and the system choices behind the quote are explained under standing seam metal roofing.
One flag worth repeating: no tax credit or rebate applies to a New Hampshire metal roof. The federal 25C credit expired at the end of 2025, and NHSaves has no roofing rebate. A pitch that leans on either is out of date at best.
What do they do for a metal roof inspection?
They walk the roof against a checklist, and the training material is public. InterNACHI's inspector course Mastering Roof Inspections: Metal Roofs, by Kenton Shepard and Nick Gromicko, sends an inspector through the slope, the sheathing, the underlayment, the seams, the panel edges, the fastening system, and the flashing and sealant at every penetration. That is national inspector training rather than a New Hampshire rule, and it is the closest thing to a published standard for what a metal roof inspection covers.
- Slope. "Metal roofing should never be installed at a slope lower than the minimum recommended by the manufacturer."
- Seams. "Seams are a weak point in the system. A variety of profiles is used on different roofs to prevent moisture penetration."
- Edges and fastening. "The areas of metal panel roofs most vulnerable to wind are panel edges at the peak and eaves, and along the rakes."
- Sealant. "Any installation that relies on a sealant to prevent moisture intrusion will need to have new sealant applied on a regular basis."
- The deck under it. Sheathing condition and underlayment, which decide whether the next roof starts on clean wood.
That last one is why an inspection matters before a replacement quote is worth anything. A number produced from a satellite measurement has not seen the deck, and deck repair is priced per sheet on top of the ranges above.
What will fail a metal roof inspection?
The four conditions above, found and left. A panel run laid below the manufacturer's minimum slope, open or deformed seams, lifted panel edges at the eaves and rakes after a wind event, and a penetration held together by sealant nobody has renewed. Exposed-fastener roofs add their own version of the fastening check, the screw and gasket condition covered under metal roof repair, and the replace-or-repair split is further down this page.
Tear-off or metal over shingles: the first real decision
Tear-off is the default for a reason. Stripping the old shingles exposes the deck, so rot, delaminated sheathing, and past leak damage get fixed instead of buried, and the new ice and water barrier plus synthetic underlayment start on clean wood. It costs more and adds disposal, and it is the version most manufacturers assume in their warranty terms.
Installing metal over shingles, on furring strips or a slip sheet over one existing asphalt layer, is legitimate in narrower conditions: a verifiably sound deck, a single flat shingle layer, a panel manufacturer that permits it, and a building department that signs off. It saves tear-off and disposal money and buries whatever the old roof was hiding. A bidder who recommends going over shingles without probing the deck is answering the price question, not the roof question.
What a metal roof replacement estimate has to include
Panel system, gauge and finish by name, the underlayment, a per-sheet decking price, who pulls the permit, the payment schedule, and the start and completion window. New Hampshire issues no roofing license, so the written estimate is the document doing the work a license board does elsewhere. The five checks that substitute for a license lookup, and the sourcing behind the no-license fact, are on the hiring a roofer in a no-license state guide.
One state requirement rides on the contract itself. RSA 359-G:7, read at the statute on 2026-08-20, says at paragraph I: "Upon entering into a purchase agreement or contract for the construction or improvement of a residence in which the contract amount exceeds $5,000, the contractor shall provide written notice to the owner of the residence of the contractor's right to resolve alleged construction defects before a homeowner may commence litigation against the contractor. Such notice shall be conspicuous and may be included as part of the contract." The wording the statute sets out tells the owner that "SIXTY DAYS BEFORE YOU FILE YOUR LAWSUIT OR OTHER ACTION, YOU MUST SERVE ON THE CONTRACTOR A WRITTEN NOTICE OF ANY CONSTRUCTION CONDITIONS YOU ALLEGE ARE DEFECTIVE." The trigger is the contract amount, so ask for that notice on any job priced above $5,000. The statute says nothing about what follows if it is missing, and neither does this page; a lawyer answers that one.
How the replacement project runs
- Inspection and measurement, on the roof rather than from an aerial image.
- A written, itemized estimate naming the panel system, gauge, finish, and a per-sheet decking price.
- Contract signing. On jobs over $5,000, the RSA 359-G notice above belongs in it.
- Panel fabrication lead time; many installers roll-form panels to length for your roof.
- Tear-off (or over-shingle prep), deck repairs, ice and water barrier at eaves and valleys, underlayment.
- Panel installation, flashing, ridge venting, and trim; snow retention goes on last.
- Final walkthrough, warranty registration, and paid-invoice paperwork you keep with the house.
Replace or repair? What the inspection decides
The inspection decides it, not the phone call. An asphalt roof losing granules everywhere is done and the conversion is the honest answer. An existing metal roof with one leak, a flashing gap, or fastener back-out usually wants a repair visit first; see metal roof repair. When the same failures show up across the whole field rather than in one place, repair stops being the cheaper path and the replacement math starts to win. The decision framework, the snow loads, and the contractor checks all live in the New Hampshire Metal Roofing Guide.
Where we cover metal roof replacement projects
Statewide, with the deepest demand in the shingle-heavy suburbs: Manchester and Nashua, metal roofing contractors in Salem and Derry, and the metal roofing contractors in Concord, where thousands of 1980s and 1990s asphalt roofs are aging out at the same time. The valley is the busiest of those markets, so the credential checks and the local snow numbers live on their own page: metal roofing installers in Manchester and Nashua.
Sources on this page were read at their sources on 2026-08-20: RSA 359-G:7 at the New Hampshire statutes, InterNACHI's metal roof inspection course material, and the three national cost guides. Compass Camper LLC does not perform roofing work, does not inspect roofs, and does not quote them.