Metal Costs More Up Front. It Always Will.
Asphalt in New Hampshire runs $6–$10 per square foot installed. Standing seam runs $12–$20. On a typical roof that is a five-figure difference on day one, and no amount of framing makes it disappear.
What changes across a longer horizon is how many times you do it. Asphalt lasts 18–25 years in this climate, up to 30 for premium architectural. Standing seam is a 40–60 year roof. Fifty years is one metal roof against two or three asphalt ones — plus the tear-offs, plus the disposal, plus whatever the failing years cost in repairs and interior damage.
Freeze-thaw is the mechanism. Repeated freezing and thawing cracks the asphalt binder and loosens granules; metal expands and contracts without cracking. That is why the gap between the two materials is wider in New Hampshire than it is in a mild climate, and why national lifespan figures tend to flatter asphalt here.
The comparison tool runs this on your actual roof size, shows its assumptions, and marks the year the lines cross.
Three Times Asphalt Is the Right Answer
You are selling within a few years
The fifty-year case requires you to be there for some of the fifty years. If you are not, a sound asphalt roof that satisfies an inspector is the rational purchase. We will quote it and install it properly.
The budget genuinely is not there
$6–$10 against $12–$20 per square foot is a real difference. A good asphalt roof installed now beats a metal roof you cannot afford for three more winters, and there is no virtue in stretching for the better material and leaving the roof failing meanwhile.
It is a simple shape on a modest building
A garage, an outbuilding, a rental with a short holding period. The case for metal is strongest on complex roofs over heated space you intend to keep — which is not every building you own.
A specialist who cannot recommend against their own specialty is a salesman. We would rather be the people you call in twelve years.
What a Replacement Actually Involves
Tear-off and disposal
The old roof comes off. That is labour and it is a dumpster, and both belong as their own lines on the quote rather than folded invisibly into a per-square-foot figure.
The deck gets looked at
This is the most valuable hour of the whole job, and the reason we are lukewarm about going over existing shingles. Rot at the eaves, delaminated sheathing, old board decking with gaps, previous repairs — you find out now or you find out in fifteen years. The repair rate should already be agreed.
Ventilation and eave detailing
The moment to fix ventilation is while the deck is open, and it will never be cheaper. If ice dams are part of why you are re-roofing, this step is where any actual improvement happens.
Underlayment and ice-and-water
High-temperature synthetic under metal, and ice-and-water membrane at eaves and valleys. In this climate the membrane at the eaves is the difference between a dam being an annoyance and a dam being a ceiling repair.
Panels, flashing, trim
The visible part, and the fastest. Flashing at chimneys, walls, valleys and penetrations is where the skill is and where roofs fail.
Snow retention
Fitted where a slide would land somewhere that matters. Designed in, not added after an incident.
Questions
Can metal go over my existing shingles?
Sometimes, and it is rarely what we recommend. It hides the deck — the one thing worth seeing during a re-roof — and complicates the eave and ventilation details that matter most here. It also means the eventual removal is twice the job. Check your building department too; rules on the number of layers vary by town.
Will my framing take it?
Almost always, and the surprise is the direction: metal is lighter than asphalt. Standing seam steel is a fraction of the weight per square of a shingle roof. The framing question that does arise is on old barns and connected ells that have been modified over the years, and that gets inspected rather than assumed.
How much does a metal roof add to resale value?
Genuinely hard to put a reliable figure on, and we are wary of anyone who quotes one confidently. What is defensible is the negotiation effect: a roof near the end of its life is one of the most reliably credited items in a New Hampshire inspection, and a documented new roof removes that line entirely.
What happens to the old shingles?
Disposal, and it is not trivial — an asphalt tear-off produces several tons of waste per average roof, which is one of the quieter costs of a material you replace two or three times. Some regions have shingle recycling; ask where yours are going.
Can I do part of the roof now and part later?
On a building with genuinely discrete sections — a separate ell, a garage — yes, and it can be a sensible way to spread cost. On a single continuous roof it is usually a false economy: you pay mobilisation and staging twice, and the junction between old and new is a detail nobody wants.