Free roof inspection with deck photos before we talk money - GAF and Owens Corning certified installation
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterFast, Reliable Roof Replacement Across San Francisco
Roof replacement in San Francisco is less about rain and more about what the fog does to a flat roof for 100+ damp days a year. That’s the fact we work from on every job, whether it’s a Victorian in Noe Valley or a stucco rowhouse in the Outer Sunset. Our crews live in this market and understand salt air, shared parapet walls, and the permitting realities that come with San Francisco’s older housing stock. If your roof is failing, call (945) 303-9821. We’ll give you a written price before any work starts, and a live person answers that number day or night.
Why Tilehurst Roofing Is San Francisco’s Preferred Roof Replacement Company
Tilehurst Roofing is part of the Kingswell family of roofing companies, founded in 2000, and our San Francisco operation is built specifically for homeowners who’ve been burned by no-shows or price changes at the door. Homeowners here tell us the same stories: a contractor vanished for two weeks, then asked for more money before finishing the tear-off. So we structured everything around the opposite of that. A written price is in your hands before any nail is driven. A written guarantee on every repair is delivered before the crew leaves, not mailed later. And if a repair fails inside the guarantee period, we return at no charge under our 365-Day Done Right Promise. That’s documented accountability, not a verbal promise.
Every technician who climbs onto a San Francisco roof is background-checked and uniformed, so you know exactly who’s up there. Greg Holloway, who leads our San Francisco crews, oversees every flat-roof job personally. Callers don’t get a voicemail queue after hours. A live person answers, 24/7, including weekends. That matters when a fog-season leak opens up on a Tuesday night in the Richmond and you need someone to talk to who actually knows what a parapet flashing is.
Flat Roof Replacement in San Francisco
Flat Roof Replacement in San Francisco is the core of what we do, because the majority of the city’s rowhouses, from the Mission to the avenues, were built with flat or very low-slope roofs. A full flat roof replacement here typically involves tearing off the old built-up tar-and-gravel layers (often two or three layers deep on Victorians and Edwardians), inspecting the wood decking beneath for rot, replacing what’s compromised, then installing a new membrane system. Most flat roof replacements in San Francisco run $12,000-$28,000 depending on square footage, decking condition, and how many old layers need to come off. Parapet work adds to that figure, and we’ll show you exactly what it costs in writing before you sign anything.
Built-Up Tear-Off and Decking
San Francisco’s oldest tar-and-gravel roofs are commonly layered, a new roof built directly on top of a failing one. That traps fog condensation between old layers and hides decking rot for years. We strip to the wood decking, inspect every sheet, and replace what’s soft or saturated. You can’t know the true condition of a 1900s roof until it’s opened up.
Membrane Selection for Fog and Salt
We install modified bitumen, TPO, and other membrane systems matched to the moisture that Karl the Fog delivers daily, not the rain that never really comes. Standard inland-California underlayment logic fails here. The seams, the drip edge, the fasteners: everything must be chosen for near-daily condensation and salt-laden air off the Pacific and the Bay.
Roof Installation in San Francisco
Roof Installation in San Francisco takes on a different character than in most U.S. cities because the building stock skews so heavily toward flat and low-slope rowhouses. Whether it’s a new membrane on a Sunset-style 1930s stucco home in the Outer Richmond or a full replacement on an Edwardian in the Castro, the sequence is the same: written price first, permit second, tear-off and decking inspection, then membrane, flashing, and a documented walkthrough. New roof installation in San Francisco generally runs $14,000-$30,000, with the high end reflecting larger square footage, parapet rebuilds, and access constraints. Shared walls change everything here: you can’t properly replace a roof without addressing the party-wall parapet that connects you to your neighbor.
New Construction and Additions
For San Francisco homeowners adding a floor or building new, we coordinate directly with your architect and contractor on structural roof requirements, drainage slope, and DBI-required details. Long-lead materials set the schedule, not labor. We order early and lock your price in writing before ordering, so a six-week membrane lead time never becomes a change order.
Architectural Shingles on Pitched Sections
San Francisco has thousands of pitched roofs too, especially on 1920s single-family homes in the Sunset and beyond. When a home has enough slope for architectural shingles, we install GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning, IKO, and other lines. The shingle you choose should match the home’s exposure; the salt air and constant damp will find any fastening shortcut within a year or two.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
Tilehurst Roofing installs materials from seven manufacturers: GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning, IKO, Atlas, Tamko, and Boral. That means the product selection fits your roof, not whatever happens to be loaded on our truck that morning. For San Francisco’s flat-roofed majority, we stock modified bitumen, TPO, and the flashings, drip edge, and fasteners that hold up to coastal moisture. If a manufacturer has a known issue with a particular membrane seam in a fog-prone climate, we know about it before it shows up on your roof. Roof Replacement crew stock decisions here follow the marine layer, not a national catalog.
Common Roof Replacement Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Layered-over built-up roofs hiding decking rot. The old tar-and-gravel roof gets a second or third layer slapped on, and fog condensation pools between the layers. By the time a leak shows at the ceiling, the decking underneath has been rotting for years.
- Party-wall parapet failures on attached rowhouses. The parapet you share with your neighbor has a base flashing that cannot be properly re-flashed without their sign-off. Skipping that coordination leaves a cold joint where salt air and fog moisture corrode fasteners and start a slow, stubborn leak.
- Inland-style material choices in a marine climate. Standard underlayment and untreated fasteners that hold up fine in Sacramento fail in San Francisco within a season or two. The daily condensation, not rainfall, saturates seams and penetrations from the outside in.
- Unpermitted replacements that surface at escrow. San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection requires a permit for full roof replacement. Homes sold in one of the country’s most litigious real-estate markets frequently hit inspection snags when the buyer discovers the roof was replaced without a permit.
Pricing for Roof Replacement in San Francisco, CA
Let’s put numbers on it. A typical flat roof replacement on a San Francisco rowhouse runs $12,000-$28,000, with the spread driven by square footage, decking repair, parapet scope, and how many old layers need to come off. A new architectural shingle roof on a pitched home in the Sunset typically lands between $16,000 and $34,000, depending on roof complexity and the shingle line you choose. What changes the price? Decking rot, parapet rebuilds, access constraints on narrow lots, and the membrane system you select. Every bid we give is fixed and in writing before ordering materials. No change order games. Call (945) 303-9821 for a free estimate, and we’ll walk your roof with you and hand you a written number.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Tilehurst Roofing works across the Peninsula and North Bay, serving Roof Replacement in San Francisco plus Daly City, Brisbane, Sausalito, and South San Francisco. Same fog, same salt air, same shared-wall rowhouse realities. If you’re just over the county line, we can help.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Roof Replacement in San Francisco
Yes, the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection requires a permit for a full roof replacement, and we pull permits on every job. Skipping it is common among less careful contractors, but an unpermitted roof surfaces during escrow inspections and can stall a sale. We handle the permitting, schedule the inspections, and make sure the job passes before we call it done. Call (945) 303-9821 and we’ll explain the permit scope for your specific rowhouse.
Because the failure mode here is fog condensation, not rainfall. San Francisco roofs sit under a marine layer on 100+ days a year, and that condensation saturates membrane seams, parapet flashings, and built-up layers independent of any rain event. If a repair only addressed rainwater entry points, the fog-driven moisture finds a new path within months. We diagnose leaks by where condensation accumulates, not by where rain hits the roof. Call (945) 303-9821 for a roof evaluation that accounts for the marine layer.
No, and you shouldn’t want us to. The base of a shared party-wall parapet is a common roof element; properly re-flashing it means working across the property line. We coordinate with your neighbor to get the sign-off needed before we touch the shared wall. Without that coordination, you get a cold joint that salt air and fog moisture will attack within months, and a leak that no amount of caulking fixes. We’ve handled this on attached rowhouses throughout the Mission, Castro, and Noe Valley.
We install architectural shingles wherever the roof has enough slope to handle them, and San Francisco has thousands of pitched roofs, especially on 1920s and 1930s single-family homes across the Sunset and Portola. GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning, and IKO are all in our material lineup. But we won’t sell you shingles on a low-slope roof where they’ll fail; flat membrane work is the right answer for most of this city’s rowhouses.
You ask each bidder to itemize square footage, decking replacement assumptions, membrane system, parapet scope, and permit costs. A bid that’s $5,000 lower often assumes no decking rot and no parapet work, which is almost never true on a 1900s San Francisco rowhouse. We write our bids line by line so you can compare them directly against any other proposal. Call (945) 303-9821 and we’ll walk your roof and hand you a written, itemized number.
If you’re tired of contractors who disappear and leaks that come back, call (945) 303-9821. We’ll send a background-checked crew to your San Francisco home, put a written price in your hands before any work starts, and stand behind the job for a full year under the 365-Day Done Right Promise. A live person answers, day or night.
Written by Greg Holloway, who leads the San Francisco crews at Tilehurst Roofing and has spent his career on the flat and pitched roofs this city asks for.