Here is the short answer. A full roof replacement on a typical 3-bedroom Bellingham home runs $11,000 to $26,000 in 2026. Most of those jobs land in the middle of that range, around $15,000 to $19,000, for a tear-off and a new architectural asphalt shingle roof on a normal one or two story house. Go bigger, steeper, or pick metal, and you climb. The rest of this guide shows you why the range is that wide and how to figure out where your roof falls.
The number is wide for a reason. Two houses on the same street in Columbia can be $8,000 apart. One has a simple gable roof with one layer of old shingles and solid decking. The other is a 1920s Foursquare with steep pitch, three valleys, a couple of layers to tear off, and skip-sheathing that needs sheets of plywood added before anything new goes on. Same square footage, very different job.
What a new roof costs by material.
Material is the first big lever. Here are the 2026 Whatcom County ranges we stand behind, for a full tear-off and replacement on a typical home, not a tiny shed and not a 6,000 square foot estate.
| Roof type | Typical 2026 range | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural asphalt shingle | $9,500 to $22,000 | 20 to 30 years |
| Standing-seam metal | $18,000 to $45,000 | 40 to 60 years |
| Flat or low-slope (TPO, membrane) | $8,000 to $20,000 | 20 to 30 years |
| Full replacement, typical 3-bed (any common material) | $11,000 to $26,000 | varies |
Asphalt shingle is the workhorse here, and for good reason. A quality architectural shingle from GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed, or Malarkey handles our rain well when it is installed right, and it is the most affordable way to get a roof that lasts decades. Metal costs more up front but can be the last roof you ever buy. We dig into that trade-off in our guide on metal vs. asphalt roofing in Whatcom County.
What a new roof costs by size.
Roofers price by the square, which is a 10 foot by 10 foot area, so 100 square feet. A typical Bellingham house has 18 to 30 squares of roof once you count the pitch and overhangs. Bigger roof, more material and more labor, so the price climbs in a fairly straight line. Here is a rough feel for asphalt shingle replacement by home size in 2026.
- Small home or rambler, under 1,500 sq ft of floor space: often $9,500 to $14,000
- Typical 3-bed, 1,500 to 2,400 sq ft: often $13,000 to $20,000
- Larger or two-story home, 2,400 sq ft and up: often $18,000 to $28,000 and beyond
Those assume asphalt. Swap in metal and you can add 50 to 100 percent. A steep cut-up roof with lots of dormers also costs more per square because the crew moves slower and uses more material on all those edges and valleys.
What actually drives your number.
Material and size set the baseline. These local factors decide where inside the range you land, and they are the reason an honest quote has to come after someone climbs up and looks.
Tear-off layers
The old roof has to come off. One layer of shingles is normal. Two layers, which we find on a lot of older Bellingham homes, means more labor and more dump fees. We quote a tear-off down to the deck, not a layover, because a second layer nailed over old shingles traps moisture and fails fast in our climate.
Decking and skip-sheathing
This is the wildcard. We do not know what is under the shingles until we pull them. On homes from the early 1900s through the 1970s, the Craftsman bungalows and mid-century ranches all over town, we often find skip-sheathing, which is gapped boards meant for old cedar shake, plus soft or rotted decking at the eaves where years of rain crept in. Adding plywood over skip-sheathing or swapping rotted sheets is priced per sheet so you see exactly what it costs. Budget a few hundred to a couple thousand here on an older home.
Pitch, valleys, and penetrations
A steep roof needs more safety setup and slower work. Every valley, chimney, skylight, and vent pipe is a spot that has to be flashed and sealed by hand. A simple gable is cheap to roof. A cut-up roof with five valleys and three dormers, common on Victorians in Fairhaven and the Lettered Streets, costs more per square.
Code-required upgrades
Washington State Building Code, the 2021 IRC and IBC family we build to, requires an ice barrier at the eaves and proper attic ventilation on a replacement. If your old roof never had balanced intake and exhaust vents, fixing that is part of doing it right, and it shows up as a line item.
A roof replacement is not a commodity. The shingles might be the same brand as the cheap quote down the street, but the tear-off, the deck repair, the flashing, and the ventilation are where a roof is actually won or lost here.
Should you even replace yet?
Not every roof that looks rough needs a full replacement. If you have a single leak, a few blown-off shingles, or one bad flashing, a repair in the $450 to $2,500 range may buy you years. Replacement is the answer when the roof is near the end of its life, has two layers already, or has leaks in several spots. We walk through that decision in roof repair vs. full replacement, and you can read how long roofs actually last here in how long does a roof last in Bellingham.
How to read a roofing quote.
A fair quote is line by line. Ours always spells out the tear-off, the underlayment and ice-and-water, the flashing, the shingles or metal by brand, the ventilation, the deck repair as a per-sheet add-on, the permit, and the cleanup. If a quote is one round number with no detail, you cannot tell what you are buying or what got left out. Ask for the breakdown every time.
When you are ready for a real number on your roof, our roof replacement page covers exactly how we work, and a free inspection gets you a written line-item quote with no guessing.