FAQ

It can be, if you know what the 50 years covers. Published guides describe the strongest version as a full-system, non-prorated manufacturer warranty available only through installers the manufacturer has certified, and one leading shingle maker limits its lifetime warranty to single-family detached homes owned by individuals. The price is in the scope: a New Jersey roofer put a complete system with a 50-year warranty and a full redeck at $14 to $18 per square foot of roof. And it covers the materials, not how they were installed, so ask the roofer's own workmanship term too.

Published 2026 figures put most New Jersey replacements at $9,000 to $40,000 or more, and most North Jersey asphalt roofs on single-family homes at $9,000 to $25,000. Closer to home, a Union County guide puts architectural shingle on an 1,800 to 2,200 square foot home at $11,000 to $18,500, and a roofer serving Cranford publishes $10,000 to $20,000 or more. Size, pitch, layers and the warranty level move it, so yours is a written quote once the roof has been seen.

The warranty document says, and it is worth reading before you sign rather than after a leak. The conditions that come up in this market's research are who installed the roof, since the strongest system warranties need a certified installer; what kind of building it is, since one maker's lifetime warranty covers only single-family detached homes owned by individuals; and, for workmanship terms, damage from later storms or structural movement, which published Cranford repair terms exclude. Some must be registered. Ask for the document itself.

For a typical Union County house in architectural shingle it is well above the published $11,000 to $18,500. For a large or steep roof with a full redeck and a 50-year system warranty it may not be: at the $14 to $18 per square foot a New Jersey roofer gave for that scope, 2,000 square feet of roof comes to $28,000 to $36,000. Ask which warranty level and how much decking the number includes. The total alone tells you little; the itemized lines tell you a lot.

National figures put most roof repairs at $300 to $3,000 or more, with the average around $900, and a second survey puts the usual spend at $395 to $1,967; no New Jersey-specific survey was found. Storm-damaged roofing is estimated at $9.20 to $11.62 per square foot. Before paying for any repair on a roof less than fifteen or so years old, check whether the installer's workmanship warranty still applies.

The New Jersey HIC registration number on the quote, which the Division of Consumer Affairs will confirm; a written contract for anything over $500, with the three-day cancellation notice; a roofer who goes on the roof rather than pricing an older Cranford house from a drone image; materials named; and both warranties in writing, the manufacturer's with its conditions and the roofer's own workmanship term. A good one will also tell you when a young roof should go back to whoever installed it.

Two of them. The manufacturer's covers the materials; the contractor's workmanship warranty covers the installation. A guide to Cranford roofers advises a manufacturer warranty of 30 years or more on shingles and a workmanship warranty of five years or more, and treats less as a reason for caution. Terms published for repair work in Cranford run shorter, two years on one roofer's repairs. Whatever the numbers, both belong on the quote in writing.

Leaks in more than one place; shingles curling, cracked or missing across whole slopes; granules piling up in the gutters; a sagging roof line or soft spots; and daylight through the attic boards. Asphalt shingles are commonly given 15 to 30 years, so age is a reason to have the roof looked at, not a verdict. One sign on its own is usually a repair, and on a younger roof a warranty question first.