The Best Metal Roofing, by Cost and How Long It Lasts
Six types, ordered by installed cost. Standing seam is the one we fit most and the one worth the money on a house. The rest have jobs they are genuinely better at.
The table
Six metal roofs, cheapest first
Installed cost per square foot, and the lifespan each type realistically delivers in the Carolinas.
Type
Installed cost
Lifespan
Corrugated and exposed-fastener panels
$4 to $8 per sq ft
25 to 40 years
Metal shingles and tiles
$7 to $12 per sq ft
40 to 60 years
Stone-coated steel
$8 to $14 per sq ft
40 to 50 years
Standing seam
$10 to $18 per sq ft
40 to 70 years
Aluminum
$12 to $20 per sq ft
50 years plus
Copper and zinc
$25 to $40 per sq ft
70 to 100 years
Cost ranges cross-checked against Bill Ragan Roofing's 2026 metal roof pricing. Steel products are up $1.50 to $3.00 a square foot on pre-2024 pricing, which is tariffs rather than anybody's margin.
In detail
What each type is for
The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive here is roughly tenfold, and almost none of it is about how long the metal lasts. It is about how the fasteners are handled.
1. Corrugated and exposed-fastener panels, cheapest metal roof you can buy
$4 to $8 per sq ft installed. Lasts 25 to 40 years.
Ribbed steel panels screwed straight through the face into the deck or purlins. It is the fastest metal roof to install and by far the cheapest, which is why it covers most barns, workshops and outbuildings in the Carolinas.
The catch. Every screw is a hole with a rubber washer in it, and those washers are the lifespan. Expect to re-torque or replace fasteners somewhere around year fifteen, and do not put this on a house you care about the look of.
2. Metal shingles and tiles, best if you want metal that does not look like metal
$7 to $12 per sq ft installed. Lasts 40 to 60 years.
Pressed panels that imitate slate, shake or tile, fastened in courses with hidden clips. You get the lifespan and the weight saving of metal with a profile that suits a traditional house, and in a neighborhood with an HOA that is often the deciding factor.
The catch. More pieces means more laps and more labor, so it costs close to standing seam without the long clean runs that make standing seam shed water so well.
3. Stone-coated steel, best impact resistance
$8 to $14 per sq ft installed. Lasts 40 to 50 years.
Steel panels with a stone granule surface bonded on, which gives you a textured finish, quieter rain, and the best hail performance in this list. It is the product that most often carries a Class 4 impact rating.
The catch. The granule layer is a coating, and a coating can be scraped. It also costs most of what standing seam costs, so the choice usually comes down to appearance rather than money.
4. Standing seam, best roof in this list, and the one we fit most
$10 to $18 per sq ft installed. Lasts 40 to 70 years.
Vertical panels joined by raised seams, with every fastener hidden under the seam and the panels free to expand and contract. No exposed penetrations is the whole point: there is nothing on the surface for water to find. It is also the longest lasting thing you can reasonably put on a house here.
The catch. The most expensive steel option, and it is unforgiving of a bad installer. Panels are often formed on site, and a roof that cannot move properly oil-cans and eventually splits at the clips.
5. Aluminum, best near salt water
$12 to $20 per sq ft installed. Lasts 50 years plus.
Usually formed as standing seam. Aluminum does not rust at all, which on the coast is the only property that matters, and it weighs about a third less than steel so it suits a marginal roof structure.
The catch. Softer than steel, so it dents more easily in hail, and it moves more with temperature, which makes the clip and seam detailing less forgiving. Inland in the Triangle you are paying a premium for corrosion resistance you do not need.
6. Copper and zinc, best lifespan, at a price
$25 to $40 per sq ft installed. Lasts 70 to 100 years.
Architectural metals that weather to a patina and outlast the building. On a bay roof, a porch, a turret or a dormer it is a genuinely beautiful detail and the cost is contained because the area is small.
The catch. Three to four times the price of standing seam steel, and copper staining runs onto whatever sits below it. Almost nobody roofs a whole house in it, and the few who do are not reading a cost comparison first.
Weighing up a metal roof?
We quote metal and asphalt side by side on your actual roof, so you can see the real gap rather than a national average.
The detail that decides it
Exposed fasteners against hidden ones
Every type above is a steel or aluminum panel that will outlast the house. What separates a 25 year metal roof from a 70 year one is not the metal, it is whether there are screws through the face of it.
A screw-down panel relies on a rubber washer under every fastener head. Those washers are the roof's actual lifespan, and in Carolina heat cycles they harden and shrink. Around year fifteen you are re-torquing or replacing hundreds of them.
Standing seam hides every fastener under the seam, where nothing touches weather. The panels also float, so they expand and contract without working at a fixed screw. That is the whole reason it costs double and the whole reason it lasts three times as long.
If the budget only reaches a screw-down panel on a house you plan to keep, a good architectural shingle roof is usually the better buy. Our metal against shingles comparison runs the numbers on the same house.
Questions
Metal roofing questions
What is the best type of metal roofing?
Standing seam, for a house. Every fastener is hidden under the seam, so there is nothing exposed on the surface for water to work at, and it runs 40 to 70 years. Corrugated panels are cheaper and fine on a workshop, but their exposed screws are the weak point.
How much does a metal roof cost?
Between $4 and $8 a square foot installed for corrugated panels and $10 to $18 for standing seam. Copper and zinc run $25 to $40. Our metal roof cost guide breaks it down by roof size for Raleigh specifically.
Is standing seam worth the extra money?
On a roof you intend to keep, usually yes. The gap between a screw-down panel and standing seam is roughly double on day one, but the screw-down roof needs its fasteners seen to around year fifteen and standing seam does not.
Does a metal roof make the house hotter?
No. A light coated metal roof reflects more solar heat than asphalt, and the attic underneath it usually runs cooler. What matters more than the material is whether the attic is ventilated, which our ventilation calculator sizes.
Is a metal roof loud in the rain?
Not on a house. The noise people remember comes from panels over open purlins with nothing underneath. Over a solid deck with underlayment and an insulated attic, a metal roof is close to indistinguishable from shingles.
Can metal roofing go over shingles?
It can, and we do not recommend it. Leaving the old roof on means nobody looks at the deck, and the deck is where the surprises live. It also traps the old layer's heat and moisture under the new one.
Will a metal roof rust in North Carolina?
Coated steel will not, inland, for decades. Within a few miles of salt water, aluminum is the sensible choice because it does not rust at all. The Triangle is far enough inland that steel is the right answer.
Keep reading
Related guides and calculators
Metal is one of several answers. These compare it against the others.
Footprint and pitch to squares and bundles, waste included.
Free on-site inspection
Get a metal and asphalt quote side by side
We get on the roof, photograph what is actually there, and hand you a written report with a price. No charge, and no obligation to book the work with us. If the roof has years left in it, that is what the report will say.
