A roof repair is priced from what's wrong with your roof, so no web page can give you an honest number for it. Replacements have a rate. Repairs don't. Two repairs covering the same area can differ several times over depending on what's wrong, where it is, and how much has to come apart to reach it.
So there's no dollar range on this page, on purpose. Every repair we do is priced by hand after someone has been on the roof. The problem is written up as an itemized scope under one price you approve before any work starts. Anything found once the roof is open, like soft decking, is a signed change order at a price you see first. Most repairs take no deposit and are invoiced on completion, and the repair carries a 1-year workmanship warranty on the work we did.
If water is coming in right now, start with finding a roof leak for what to do tonight, or go straight to emergency roof repair.
Why there's no square-foot rate
The area of a repair is a poor predictor of its cost. What actually decides it:
- Access. A repair on a walkable back slope and the same repair on a steep third-storey gable are different jobs with different equipment.
- Finding the leak. Tracing a leak is frequently most of the work. Water travels along the decking and rafters before it drops, so the ceiling stain is rarely under the spot where it got in.
- What has to come apart. Replacing a few shingles is quick. Reaching failed flashing (the metal that seals the joint) behind a chimney means removing and reinstating the shingles around it.
- Whether the decking is sound. Decking is the wood the shingles are nailed to. Nobody knows its condition until the roof is open.
- Matching. Discontinued shingle lines and ten years of sun fade make an invisible repair genuinely hard, and sometimes impossible.
The common Calgary repairs
The ones that come up most often on Calgary houses, in no particular order. Chinook freeze-thaw cycles and summer hail are behind a lot of them.
- Flashing at chimneys and walls. A frequent repair on older houses, and a frequent cause of leaks on a roof that's otherwise sound. Roof flashing explained covers each kind.
- Wind-lifted or missing shingles, usually on a windward slope or at the ridge and hip caps.
- Valley failures, particularly where debris has packed in and holds moisture.
- Skylight leaks, which are usually the flashing around the unit rather than the unit itself. See skylight repair.
- Vent boots and seals around pipes, which have a shorter life than the shingles around them.
- Leaks behind ice dams along the eaves in winter, which start as an attic problem. See ice dams in Calgary.
What a repair price from us shows
Once someone has been on the roof, you get the problem and the fix in writing before anything is touched.
- What's wrong, where, and what caused it.
- The repair itself, line by line: labour, materials and clean-up, under one price.
- Whether the repair will be invisible or only watertight, if the old shingle can't be matched.
- Payment: usually invoiced on completion. A large repair that needs a 30% deposit says so in the proposal before you sign.
- The warranty: one year on our workmanship, on the work we did.
When a repair stops being sensible
If a repair holds, do the repair. Spending replacement money on a roof with ten years left is a bad trade. The signs that it won't hold: shingles brittle enough to crack rather than flex when lifted, damage across multiple slopes rather than one area, widespread granule loss, and a roof near the end of its expected life. InterNACHI's rough guideline is about 20 years for a 3-tab asphalt roof and about 30 for an architectural one, and Calgary weather can shorten either. At that point a repair is buying a season, and you'll pay for the access twice. Repair or replace walks through the decision.
Repairs and insurance
You pay the deductible on any claim, so a small repair that costs less than your deductible can leave you with nothing back and a claim on your record. Where it flips is storm damage across a whole roof, which is a replacement conversation rather than a repair one. If hail or wind caused it, photograph everything and read the roof insurance claim, step by step before you decide.
How much does a roof repair cost in Calgary?
There's no standard rate. The price depends on access, how long the leak takes to find, what has to come apart and whether the decking is sound. We price each repair after someone has been on the roof, as one itemized price you approve before any work starts.
Can you match my existing shingles?
Sometimes. Discontinued lines and sun fade make exact matching hard on an older roof, and we'll tell you before we start whether the repair will be invisible or merely watertight. On a front-facing slope that distinction matters.
Do I pay anything up front for a repair?
Usually not. Most repairs are invoiced when the work is done. If a large repair needs a 30% deposit, the proposal says so before you sign.
What warranty comes with a repair?
One year on our workmanship, on the work we did, plus the manufacturer's warranty on any parts we supplied. It doesn't cover the rest of the roof, and it isn't the 5-year warranty that comes with a full replacement.
Should I just replace the whole roof instead?
Only if the roof is genuinely near the end. Brittle shingles, damage across several slopes, widespread granule loss and an aging roof are the signs a repair is only buying time.
Where the facts on this page come from. If a source has changed since we last checked, tell us and we'll fix the page.
- Hiring a contractor · Government of Alberta
- Home insurance · Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
- Is it hail damage? · Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
- InterNACHI's estimated life expectancy chart for homes · InterNACHI
