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Trade Playbook
Roofing pays well for work most people won't do, and it's honest about what it costs your body. The real questions: residential or commercial, how to survive the seasonality, whether the storm-damage/insurance game is worth it, and how fast you can go from crew to owning a roofing business. Almost everyone in roofing is planning their move off the roof — the smart ones plan it early.
Where it starts
$18–24/hr
Labourer / loader
Where it tops out
$120k–200k/yr
Commercial roofing business owner
Union route
United Union of Roofers locals
Ontario figures for roofing, from the first day on site to the top of the trade. Approximate, and worth checking against current collective agreement rates and job postings in your region.
| Stage | Pay | What is going on at this stage |
|---|---|---|
| Labourer / loader | $18–24/hr | Carrying bundles and tear-off — the entry, and where turnover is highest. |
| Experienced roofer | $26–35/hr | Once you can run shingles or membrane and lead a section. |
| Crew lead / foreman | More + truck | Running the crew, the schedule, and the quality. |
| Residential roofing business owner | $85k–150k/yr | Revenue- and season-dependent; volume game. |
| Commercial roofing business owner | $120k–200k/yr | Higher barrier (manufacturer certs, torch safety), higher ceiling, recurring service contracts. |
Two roofers with the same ticket can be twenty dollars an hour apart because they picked different work.
Homeowner customers, faster jobs, door-knocking and storm season, lower barrier to entry. Shingles, nail guns, and a lot of tear-off.
Best for: People who want to start fast and sell directly to homeowners.
Membrane systems (TPO, EPDM, mod-bit), manufacturer-certified warranties, property-manager clients, and service contracts. Torch and heat-weld skills, higher barrier.
Best for: People ready to invest in certification for the bigger, steadier market.
Every figure above is what roofers get paid. It is not what you charge once you run a roofing business. Your rate has to carry the hours you are not on the tools, the truck, the tools themselves, WSIB, insurance, the quote you wrote and lost, and the holdback sitting in someone else's account for 60 days. Contractors who set their rate off their old hourly wage are the ones who work every weekend and still cannot say whether the year was profitable.
The step from paid by the hour to paid by the jobRoofing is the hardest on the body of the common trades — heat, height, and heavy material — so the exit ramps matter more here than almost anywhere. Off the roof: foreman, estimator, sales, manufacturer rep, roofing inspector/consultant, or owning a company. Almost everyone plans a move to sales, estimating, or ownership before their knees and back force the issue; the ones who don't plan it get forced out with nothing.
Wage data, union rate sheets, and the places roofers talk about money openly.
The rates above are the market. The live feed is the market this week: which builders and contractors just pulled a permit or won a contract in Ontario, what they are about to need, and who to call.
Roofer Jobs in Ontario: Who Is Hiring Right NowAEC Stack handles incorporation, WSIB, insurance certificates, quoting, invoicing, and chasing the money, so a roofing business runs like one with an office behind it.
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