Panel type is the first fork in the road
Exposed-fastener panels — the corrugated and ribbed profiles most people picture — screw down through the face of the metal into the structure below. They are the least expensive metal system and they go on quickly. Every screw is a penetration with a rubber washer, and those washers are the part that ages.
Standing seam hides the fastener. The panels clip to the deck and lock to each other above the water line, so there is nothing exposed to the sun and nothing to back out. It costs more in both material and labor, and it is a different trade skill.
Metal shingles and stone-coated steel sit somewhere else again: they are priced more like a tile job because they are installed piece by piece.
The gap between these systems is not a small percentage. It is the single largest line in the difference between two metal quotes, so the first thing to check on any estimate is which one you are being sold.
Gauge, coating and the things that are easy to leave out
Gauge is the thickness of the steel, and lower numbers mean thicker metal. Thinner panels cost less, oil-can more visibly across a long run, and dent more readily under a dropped branch. Thicker panels cost more and hold their line.
Then there is the finish. A baked paint system holds color and resists chalking under year-round UV far better than a cheaper coating, and on the Gulf side the substrate's corrosion protection matters because of salt carried inland. Two panels of the same profile and gauge can be very different products.
Aluminum costs more than steel and does not rust, which is why it shows up near the water. On an exposed-fastener roof, whether the screws are the right alloy for the panel is not a cosmetic detail — mismatched metals corrode each other.
None of this is visible in a headline price. It is visible in a written scope, which is why you want one.
Two metal quotes can name the same profile and be quoting completely different roofs. The difference lives in the gauge, the coating and the fasteners.
What is under the old roof decides more than the metal does
Tear-off is labor and disposal, and it scales with what is coming off. One layer of shingle is one thing. Two layers, or tile, is another, and tile also means dealing with what the battens and underlayment left behind.
Once the deck is open, the estimate can change. Rotten sheathing gets replaced. In this climate the rot is usually local and usually around a penetration or a valley where water has been working for years, but nobody can tell you how many sheets it will be until the roof is open. An honest quote says how replacement decking is priced and leaves the quantity open.
Underlayment is a real line item too. A high-temperature synthetic or a self-adhered membrane under metal is not the same product as a basic felt, and metal roofs run hot enough that the choice matters.
This is also where the code requirements land — deck fastening, secondary water barrier — and those are decided while the roof is open. Ask what is in the scope before the work, not after.
The roof itself: shape, pitch and access
A simple gable with two long uninterrupted planes is the cheapest metal roof to install, because metal is happiest in long straight runs. Every valley, every hip, every dormer, every skylight and every plumbing boot is a flashing detail that has to be cut, formed and sealed by hand.
Pitch changes the labor. Steep slopes need staging and slow the crew down. Very low slopes rule some panel profiles out entirely.
Access matters more than people expect. A driveway a truck can back into, with room to stage panels that come in twenty-foot lengths, is not the same job as a house behind trees on a narrow lot.
Then the ordinary variables — permit fees for your jurisdiction, whether the ridge and soffit ventilation is being corrected, gutters, and whether there is anything on the roof that has to come off and go back on.
How to compare two quotes without a price to anchor to
Line the two scopes up beside each other before you look at the totals. Panel system and profile. Gauge. Coating and warranty on the finish. Fastener type. Underlayment product. How replacement decking is priced. Whether tear-off and disposal are included. What the permit covers.
If one quote is materially cheaper and the scope does not say why, the difference is in something that was left out. Usually it is gauge, the underlayment, or an assumption that the deck is perfect.
Ask who holds the license the permit will be pulled under. Ours is a Florida Certified Roofing Contractor license, CCC1333347, and you can look it up.
And a fair warning about the other half of this conversation: we will not tell you what a metal roof does to your insurance. The construction details recorded on a wind mitigation form can affect your credits, we are not licensed to perform or sign that inspection, and what your carrier does with it is between you and them.