How to Invoice After Tear-Off Roofing, Layer by Layer

Short answer: How to invoice after tear-off roofing: bill removal separately from install, one line per layer taken off, because a second layer is a second pass of labor and roughly doubles the disposal weight. Reconcile the bundle count against your pitch-corrected squares — three bundles cover one square — then convert the conditional deck allowance into a photographed sheet count. Attach the dump tickets. Ask for the balance on the tailgate unless a carrier is releasing depreciation.

A tear-off is the one roofing job where the invoice cannot be a copy of the estimate, because the estimate was written blind. Everything under the old shingles was a guess until the crew got there, and the bill is where the guesses become counts. How the number was built before the job is in how do roofers send estimates; this is the document you produce after the last bundle is nailed.

Where do the final squares come from once the roof is off?

From the same pitch-corrected measurement you quoted, verified against what actually went on the roof. Do not re-measure from the ground and do not bill footprint.

Pitch	Multiplier	1,900 ft² footprint becomes
4/12	1.054	20.0 squares
6/12	1.118	21.2 squares
8/12	1.202	22.8 squares
12/12	1.414	26.9 squares

The verification is the shingle delivery ticket. Three bundles cover one square on almost every asphalt shingle sold, so bundles installed divided by three is the roof plus your waste. That number should sit above your measured squares by roughly the waste you carry — call it 5 to 10 percent on a simple gable and 10 to 15 percent on a cut-up hip with several valleys. If the bundle count comes back level with or below your measured squares, something is wrong in the measurement, and it is far cheaper to find that out before the invoice than after.

Print both numbers on the bill. Measured squares by plane, bundles installed, and the ridge and hip cap counted separately, since cap comes out of its own bundles and is priced by the linear foot. A homeowner who can follow that arithmetic does not argue with it.

How many layers came off, and how does that show on the bill?

Each layer gets its own line, with its own labor and its own disposal. This is the part of a tear-off invoice that people compress into one number and then have to defend.

The reason to split it is physical. A second layer is another full pass with a shovel, another set of nails, another sweep of the roof, and — because old shingles hold moisture and grit — waste that is heavier per square than the new material going back on. New asphalt shingles run roughly 150 to 240 pounds per square depending on whether they are three-tab or architectural, and tear-off from the same area comes off heavier than that. A typical single-family re-roof produces a couple of tons of debris; two layers is not a rounding difference, it is a second container or a second haul.

Line	Unit	Why it stands alone
Tear-off, layer 1	Per square	Labor, nail pulling, roof sweep
Tear-off, layer 2 (or 3)	Per square	A second full pass, discovered on the day
Underlayment removal from the deck	Per square	Old felt stapled flat is its own job
Disposal, layer 1	Per ton or per container	Weight, not volume
Disposal, additional layers	Per ton or per container	Frequently the overage that busts the container

If the extra layer was discovered on the morning of the tear-off, the invoice line should carry the date and how the homeowner approved it — a text is fine, a text with a photo of the exposed second layer is better.

How do I turn the deck allowance into a number the homeowner accepts?

By having priced it as a unit before the job and documented the count during it. Sheathing is the classic conditional line: unknowable at estimate time, and the fastest way to lose a customer’s trust at invoice time.

The sequence that works is short. The estimate carried a stated rate per sheet, installed. On tear-off day the crew photographed every bad sheet in place, with something in frame for scale, before anything covered it. The count went to the homeowner by text the same afternoon, while the deck was still open and they could climb a ladder and look if they wanted to. The invoice then shows the count, the rate, and the date the count was communicated.

The same structure covers everything else the tear-off exposed: rotted fascia or drip-edge substrate by the linear foot, a chimney that needed a new cricket, a bathroom fan discharging into the attic, delaminated sheathing around a skylight. Each one is a named unit price plus a documented quantity, which turns the conversation into a count rather than a negotiation.

What does the disposal line actually have to cover?

More than the container rental, and this is where a tear-off quietly loses money.

• Weight, not volume. Most landfills and transfer stations bill by the ton, so a container that looks half full can still be over its included tonnage. The dump ticket is the number; attach it.
• Haul count. A second trip is a separate line, not absorbed.
• Driveway protection. Plywood under the container legs, and the note in the file that you laid it.
• Nail sweep. A documented pass with a rolling magnet across the drive, the beds, and the lawn. Photograph the magnet’s catch.
• Gutter cleanout. A tear-off fills gutters with granules and nail fragments. Either clean them and bill it, or exclude it in writing.
• Asbestos survey, on the buildings where it applies. Old asphalt roofing containing more than one percent asbestos is Category I nonfriable material under the federal asbestos rules, and the NESHAP overview sets out where notification and work-practice requirements apply. Residential buildings of four or fewer dwelling units are generally outside the rule, so this is a commercial and multi-family line rather than a house line — but on those buildings it is a real cost with a real deadline and it belongs on the estimate before it belongs on the invoice.

What changed between the signed estimate and this invoice?

Something did. Show the delta as its own dated section rather than folding it into the base price, because a change hidden inside a bigger number reads as a price increase and the same change shown separately reads as accounting.

What the crew found	What it added
A second or third layer under the first	Tear-off labor per square, plus disposal tonnage
Soft or delaminated sheathing	Deck sheets at the stated rate, with a photo count
Rotted fascia behind the drip edge	Linear feet of substrate, plus new drip edge
Inspector required ice and water barrier at the eaves	Rolls by the linear foot, at eaves and in valleys
Chimney with no cricket	A flashing and cricket assembly, priced each
Bath fan venting into the attic	A roof or gable termination, priced each
Ridge vent replacing box vents	Ridge vent by the linear foot, intake checked
Container over its included tonnage	An overweight charge from the transfer station

Each row gets the quantity, the date, and how it was approved. A tear-off with four documented change lines and four texts behind them is a job that closes cleanly. The same four folded into a round number is the job that turns into a roofing customer who won’t pay.

What gets handed over before I ask for the check?

Six things, and gathering them takes about ten minutes at the end of the last day.

The photo set, in order: the roof before, each layer during tear-off, the bare deck with the replaced sheets circled, the underlayment and ice barrier down, and the finished planes. The shingle wrappers or a photo of them, since the manufacturer’s warranty registration wants the product and lot information and the homeowner will ask for it in five years. The dump tickets. The nail sweep photo. The permit and final inspection status, with the inspection date if it has not happened yet. And the workmanship warranty in writing, with what it covers, for how long, and what voids it — usually somebody else’s penetration through your field.

Walk the ground with the homeowner before you ask. Look at the gutters, the beds, the driveway, and the siding under the eaves. Finding a dented gutter yourself is a repair; having them find it after they have paid is a callback and a review.

Who is paying — the homeowner or the carrier?

This changes the whole back half of the job, and a tear-off is the roofing job most likely to be insurance funded.

On a retail job, ask for the balance on completion, from the phone, with the payment link on the invoice as a QR code the homeowner scans in the driveway. If they pay on the spot, hand over a receipt rather than a second copy of the invoice — invoice vs receipt covers why those are different documents.

On a claim, the money usually arrives in two pieces. The carrier pays actual cash value up front, holding back depreciation, and releases the recoverable depreciation once the completed work is documented. That means your final invoice is not just a bill, it is the claim document: it has to line up with the carrier’s scope item by item, and anything you added — squares the adjuster missed because the pitch was measured off the footprint, code-required ice barrier, a second layer, drip edge — reads as a supplement rather than an upsell. Two rules before that conversation starts: several states prohibit waiving, rebating, or absorbing a policyholder’s deductible, and several bar a contractor from adjusting the claim while also performing the work. Know your state’s version before a homeowner asks you to make the deductible disappear.

What records keep a tear-off invoice from being reopened?

The measured squares by plane, the delivery ticket with the bundle count, the dump tickets, the change-order texts with their dates, the deck photo count, the permit and inspection record, and the numbered invoice itself. All of it gets made on a phone standing on a driveway next to a full container.

Keel is an iOS app that keeps that on the device — no account, no bank connection, no cloud, no login, and an App Store privacy label that reads Data Not Collected. The invoice goes out before the crew loads the last ladder, in about a minute, with your own numbering, your logo and brand color, a line per layer and per plane, and the payment link rendered as a QR code the homeowner scans in the driveway. Supply house tickets and transfer station receipts get photographed on site and read on device by Apple Intelligence, so the tonnage behind a disposal line has paper attached rather than a memory. Drives between the yard, the job, and the dump get logged as mileage. The ledger is append-only and hash-chained, so a change order dated the morning of the tear-off still reads that date when a carrier queries it in November, and the year exports as one file or as an Accountant Pack of CSV plus a one-page summary PDF. Free is $0 with unlimited invoices, receipts, and mileage; Keel Pro is a one-time $249.99 lifetime purchase, not a subscription. The filing side of it is what a contractor receipt organizer is for.

Frequently asked questions

Should tear-off be billed separately from installing the new roof?

Yes, and each layer removed should be its own line with its own labor and its own disposal. A second layer is a full extra pass with a shovel plus roughly double the debris weight, which is the difference between one container and two. Splitting the lines also lets you show the date a hidden layer was discovered and how the homeowner approved it.

How do I check the square count on a roofing invoice?

Compare your pitch-corrected measurement against the shingle delivery ticket. Three bundles cover one square on nearly every asphalt shingle, so bundles installed divided by three should exceed your measured squares by your waste factor — roughly 5 to 10 percent on a simple gable, 10 to 15 percent on a cut-up hip roof. Ridge and hip cap is counted separately by the linear foot.

How should decking replacement appear on the final invoice?

As the stated per-sheet rate from the estimate, multiplied by a count that was photographed in place before anything covered it and texted to the homeowner the same day. The invoice shows the count, the rate, and the date the count was communicated. Never fold discovered sheathing into the base price and never invent the number after the deck is closed.

How much does a roof tear-off weigh for disposal purposes?

New asphalt shingles run roughly 150 to 240 pounds per square depending on type, and tear-off comes off heavier because old shingles hold moisture and grit. A typical single-family re-roof generates a couple of tons, and each additional layer adds roughly that again. Landfills and transfer stations bill by weight, so attach the dump ticket rather than describing the container.

When do I get paid on an insurance-funded tear-off?

In two pieces on most claims. The carrier pays actual cash value first and releases the recoverable depreciation once completed work is documented, which makes your final invoice part of the claim file. Line it up with the adjuster’s scope item by item, present added squares and code items as supplements, and do not offer to absorb the deductible — several states prohibit it.

What should I hand the homeowner at the end of a tear-off?

The photo set including the bare deck with replaced sheets marked, the shingle wrapper or product and lot information for warranty registration, the dump tickets, a photo of the nail sweep, the permit and final inspection status, and a written workmanship warranty stating what it covers and what voids it. Walk the gutters, beds, and driveway together before asking for the balance.

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This article is general information, not professional or tax advice.