Research
How HyreRoof research works
What we build our studies from, how we build them, and where they stop being reliable.
Every HyreRoof study is built from primary sources: the agency that produced the data, not a site quoting it.
Each states the window it covers, the date the data was retrieved, the formula behind any figure we derived, and the geography it applies to.
Where coverage is incomplete we leave the gap visible rather than fill it.
The distinction that matters most. Source data is what an agency published. Analysis is what we did to it. Every study labels which is which, because a derived number passed off as an official statistic misleads the reader.
Why we do research at all
Plenty of what circulates about roofing is asserted rather than measured: whether there is a roofer shortage, whether licensing means anything, how much housing is due for a new roof, what the law does about storm chasers. Those questions can be answered from public data, so we answer them.
Primary sources
Each kind of source and what the studies use it for. Where a figure has passed through an intermediary, the study names the intermediary.
| Source | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| State statutes and licensing boards | Whether roofing is licensed, what the license requires, and what the authority checks before issuing. Read at the statute and the board, not from summaries. |
| City codes and application forms | What a city requires of a roofer where the state does not, read at the ordinance or the city’s own form. |
| State insurance departments | Guidance on contractor insurance and post-storm contracts, where a study cites it. |
| Bureau of Labor Statistics | Roofer employment, wages, price series and occupational fatality data. OEWS employment counts exclude self-employed roofers, so they run low. |
| OSHA | Enforcement and severe injury records for the fatality atlas. |
| U.S. Census Bureau (ACS and American Housing Survey) | Housing units and year built, the denominator for our per-home rates, and the roofing projects the AHS counted. |
| NOAA (Storm Prediction Center and NCEI) | Severe hail reports, and the 1991–2020 climate normals behind the ice barrier study. |
| Model codes | The International Residential Code text, read from an adopting jurisdiction’s published edition where the publisher blocked retrieval. |
Not every study uses every source. Each study lists the ones it actually used, with the date the data was retrieved.
Source data is not our data. A figure an agency published is labeled with that agency and the retrieval date.
Something we derived, such as a rate, an index, a ranking or a per-home figure, is labeled a HyreRoof calculation, with the arithmetic stated.
How we collect
Public datasets are downloaded from the publishing agency. Statutory and licensing material is read from the statute or the board’s own pages, state by state, rather than inferred from a national summary.
Our licensing study exists precisely because the national summaries disagree with the statutes. Where a figure comes from a single jurisdiction’s portal, the study names the portal.
Calculations
Every derived figure states its formula, its numerator and its denominator. Where a normalization choice changes the answer (per household against per housing unit, say, or employment against establishment counts) we state which we used and why, because the choice can matter as much as the data.
Geographic limitations
A state hail count is not your roof’s exposure. State licensing does not describe city requirements, which can be stricter. A metro figure is not the city, and a weather station is not a jurisdiction. We say which geography a figure is at, every time.
Time periods
Every study states the window it covers and the date the data was retrieved. Agencies revise their data, so a figure retrieved today may differ from the same figure retrieved next year. The retrieval date is what lets you tell.
Missing data
Coverage is incomplete in places: some sources blocked retrieval, some registers could not be read, and self-employment makes roofer counts uncertain. Where data is missing we leave the gap visible and say what is missing. We do not impute a value and present it alongside measured ones without saying which is which.
Updates and corrections
Studies carry the date they were last reviewed. When we find an error we correct it and say what changed. A silently edited research page cannot be cited with confidence. The full corrections policy is in the editorial policy.
What this research is not
- Not a substitute for an inspection of your roof.
- Not insurance, legal or engineering advice.
- Not a prediction. A history of hail in a state is not a forecast for your roof.
- Not a contractor rating. None of it ranks or evaluates a named roofing company.
The studies · Data and sources · For journalists
If you came here to check a number
Checking a number against its method is the right instinct, and every study page carries the working.
If instead you have a roof to make a decision about, the arithmetic is more use than the method: the roof cost calculator multiplies the rate on your bid by your roof’s squares, and the repair vs replacement calculator shows the thresholds behind its answer.
When you want to speak to someone, Find a Roofer takes your project details.
Questions people ask
Is this research peer reviewed?
Why don’t you publish a national average roof price?
Who funds the research?
I think a figure is wrong. What happens?
Related
- All HyreRoof research Every study, grouped by topic.
- Data and sources What each study is built from.
- Editorial policy Sourcing, corrections and what we will not publish.