Metal · St. Petersburg, FL
1 / 8
St. Petersburg, FL
Tile to standing seam metal conversion after Hurricane Milton
The finished conversion: 1.5 inch snaplock standing seam in .040 aluminum.
Tampa · Hillsborough County · roof replacement
Roof replacement in Tampa
What Florida law requires of every Tampa reroof, how the 25 percent rule and the 2007-code carve-out decide scope, what actually moves the price, and how the job runs from documented inspection to closeout.
The short answer
A Tampa roof replacement is permitted work with statewide minimums attached: Florida law requires the reroof of a site-built single-family home to include a secondary water barrier and strengthened roof-deck attachment, every product must carry a current approval, and the permit record proves which code edition the roof was built under, which is exactly what the 25 percent rule turns on next time. The honest process starts with a documented inspection, not a quote from the driveway.
The floor the law sets
What every Tampa reroof must include
Three requirements travel with every replacement here. A permit, because Florida law makes unpermitted work unlawful and the permit is the property's lasting proof. The hurricane mitigation items, a secondary water barrier and stronger deck attachment, written into Fla. Stat. 553.844 for site-built single-family homes. And approved products: covering, underlayment, and fasteners each carrying a current Florida product approval, checkable by anyone at floridabuilding.org. Hillsborough addresses take their design wind speed from the state's ASCE 7 contour maps parcel by parcel, and the permit drawings carry that number.
In Tampa's local historic districts, Hyde Park, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, and Ybor City, one more step applies: a Certificate of Appropriateness before work begins, staff-approvable for like-for-like replacements, board review when the material changes. A contractor working these streets should raise it before you have to.
Scope is a code question first
The 25 percent rule, and why your roof's age matters twice
When storm repair crosses 25 percent of a roof section in a year, the code can pull the whole section to current standards, unless the roof was built, repaired, or replaced under the 2007 Florida Building Code or later, in which case the 2022 carve-out limits the requirement to the portion being worked. Tampa's housing splits on exactly this line: the city's median housing unit dates to 1985, but the stock runs from bungalow-era streets to post-2000 subdivisions, so whether a given roof predates the 2007 code is a permit-history question, not a guess. The building official makes the call; the permit record is the evidence you bring.
Factors, not folklore
What actually decides a Tampa replacement price
No honest number exists before the roof is measured and opened; these are the levers every real quote is built from.
- Size and pitch. Area drives material and labor; steepness drives safety setup, staging, and pace.
- The system chosen. Shingle, metal, and tile occupy different cost tiers with different service lives; the systems library carries the published ranges.
- What the tear-off reveals. Deck repairs are the honest wildcard: rotted or delaminated decking must be replaced before anything goes over it, and no one can see it until the old covering is off.
- Code items. The secondary water barrier, deck re-nailing, and drip edge the law requires are part of every compliant quote; a bid that omits them is not cheaper, it is incomplete.
- Access and disposal. Tight district lots, established trees to protect, overhead lines, and dump distance all show up in real Tampa quotes.
- Permit and inspections. Permit fees and the inspection schedule are part of the job, never an extra to bolt on later.
Compare bids on equal scope, never the headline number: same deck assumptions, same underlayment, same edge metal, same permits and warranty terms.
How the job runs
Documented inspection to closeout file
The sequence runs in a Tampa-specific order: if the property sits in an ARC or Barrio Latino district, the Certificate of Appropriateness comes before the permit application, not alongside it. From there it is the sequence the rest of this site documents: a documented inspection with photographs tied to findings, a written scope built from it, the permit, the install with its required inspections, and a closeout file that holds the permit record, warranties, and completion photos. Duration is set by roof size, system, what the deck reveals, weather, and the inspection schedule, which is why we put schedules in writing per job instead of advertising one. The choosing guide and visualizer carry the system decision; the measurement tool gives you an independent read on your own roof's size before anyone quotes it.
From the job files
A bay-area replacement, from its job file
FAQ
Tampa roof replacement questions
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Tampa?
Yes. Florida law makes unpermitted construction work unlawful, and a full roof replacement is permitted work everywhere in the state; the contractor normally pulls it. The permit record is also the proof of which code edition the roof was built under, which matters later. The Florida roof rules page carries the statute-cited version, including the 2026 exemption for small repairs under $7,500 that does not reach full replacements.
Can the new roof go over the old one instead?
Sometimes. The code allows a roof recover only in specific conditions and prohibits it over water-soaked decks, wood shake, slate, clay, cement, or asbestos-cement tile, or a roof that already carries two coverings. The building official decides on inspection. The materials questions page walks the conditions and how recovering counts toward the 25 percent rule.
Will insurance pay for my Tampa roof replacement?
Whether any loss is covered is the insurer's decision under the policy, and no contractor can promise a claim outcome; be wary of anyone who does. What a contractor can honestly provide is a documented inspection of the roof's condition. The Florida roof insurance questions page explains coverage mechanics like actual cash value versus replacement cost, statute-cited.
How do I check that K. Simon is actually licensed for this?
Look us up on the DBPR licensee search at myfloridalicense.com; our license numbers are published on the company page, and the Florida roof rules page explains exactly what to check, including that the license qualifies the business entity on your contract.
Tampa
Start with what the roof actually needs.
A K. Simon Construction inspection documents the roof's condition in writing before anyone talks scope: photographs tied to findings, options explained against the code that governs them. The Tampa Bay regional office is on W Kennedy Blvd; the lookup on our licenses is invited.