How to Pay for a New Roof: The 4 Best Options

Whether your home or business has recently gone through a hurricane or just gotten too old, you need a new roof. But roof replacements aren’t always in the budget. That’s why we’re here to cover how to pay for a new roof in Florida, and how to make sure you’re getting a great deal.

We’re PITCH Roofing, and as Florida roofing veterans, we know a thing or two about financing roof replacements. We’ve worked with customers across Central Florida to help them pay for necessary roof replacements promptly so their homes didn’t have to go unprotected. Today, we’re sharing what we know to help you get a new roof on terms that make sense for you and your wallet!

How to Pay for a New Roof in Florida

Technically, there are plenty of ways to pay for a new roof in the Sunshine State. But rather than taking out a high-interest, short-term loan, there are four viable strategies to pay for a new roof. These include:

• Paying cash
• Financing with your roofers
• Using your homeowners insurance
• Getting a home equity loan

Let’s take a look at each option individually so that you can find how to pay for a new roof in a way that works best for you!

1. Cash

If you’re lucky, you might have the funds to pay for your roof replacement up front. And in some ways, this is the best way to pay for a roof. You don’t have to worry about interest rates, there’s no payment plan, and you’ll likely end up paying the least overall since you don’t have a loan accruing interest over time.

But not everyone with the money to pay for a new roof should pay in cash. Some of the reasons that a homeowner may choose not to pay in cash include:

• Saving Emergency Funds: If your savings are roughly equal to the cost of your roof replacement, paying in cash may not be a good idea. If you have a real emergency, you’d have no funds left over to handle it. That’s why you should only pay cash if you will still have a comfortable emergency fund after paying for your roof replacement.
• Leveraging Financing: Sometimes you can get low- or zero-interest roof financing. This means you’ll pay the same amount of money over a more comfortable schedule without additional costs!
• Tax Advantages: Depending on how you finance your roof, you could end up saving on your taxes by not paying cash. This is especially common with home equity loans.

Any of these reasons could be motivation enough to not pay cash. While paying cash is sometimes the easiest and simplest option, it isn’t always. So when considering how to pay for a new roof, it’s important to think carefully and not just pay in cash because you technically can.

2. Roof Financing

Often, the easiest way to get financing is through your roofing company of choice. Most roofers offer these loans, and they’re usually easy to qualify for. But not all roofers offer the same deals on their roof financing.

At PITCH, we make roof financing one of the best ways to pay for a new roof. We do this by offering 0% interest on your new roof for one year. This means that if you can pay your loan off within 12 months, you won’t pay any extra interest! If you need a longer financing schedule, then you’ll still enjoy a year of no interest before it becomes a low-interest loan.

For homeowners who have not lived in their homes long enough to build up great sums of equity or especially high credit scores, this is the most accessible way to finance your roof. If you decide to finance your roof with your roofing company, just make sure to know the exact terms that you’re agreeing to. And if you don’t feel like you can trust roofers to give you a fair deal on financing, then you probably shouldn’t trust them to replace your roof, either!

3. Homeowners Insurance

In some cases, you may be able to use homeowners insurance to pay for a new roof. And Florida homeowners know that when considering how to pay for a new roof, insurance is the cheapest option. However, you can only use homeowners insurance to pay for a new roof in select circumstances.

So how do you know if you can use homeowners insurance to pay for your roof replacement? You should always check your policy or talk with your agent if you’re not sure whether or not your insurance will pay for your roof. But in general, your roof must have been damaged in a severe weather event to qualify for insurance coverage.

This means that insurers will generally pay for roof replacements due to issues like:

• High winds
• Water damage from a storm
• Hail damage

If you think that your roof qualifies for a payout of your homeowners insurance policy, check out our guide to getting insurance to pay for a roof replacement. This covers the process of how to make an insurance claim that will be accepted!

4. Home Equity Loan

If none of the above options feel right to you, you may be able to take out a home equity loan. Also known as a home equity line of credit (HELOC), the way these loans work is fairly simple. By using your home as collateral, you can receive an amount of money equal to your equity in your home. This option isn’t available to all homeowners, though.

For one thing, you have to have a substantial amount of equity built up in your home. So if you’ve only been living there a short time, this may not be available to you. You’ll also need to have a fairly high credit score. To qualify for these loans at all, you usually need a credit score of at least 620. However, a credit score of 700 or higher will get you the best rates.

If you qualify for a HELOC, this could be a great option. In terms of how to pay for a new roof, HELOCs offer some of the lowest interest rates on the market. On the other hand, your home is put up as collateral, so you have to be completely sure that you will be able to pay off the loan no matter what. That, coupled with the high requirements to qualify, is why a home equity loan is great for some but not right for everyone.

Find Out How Much You’ll Pay for a New Roof in Florida

When considering how to pay for a new roof, you clearly have plenty of options. But how much will you pay for a new roof? There are plenty of roof replacement cost guides that can give you a rough idea of how much you’ll pay. But to get a real, reliable figure, there’s no substitute for a roofing quote.

At PITCH, we proudly offer free, no-obligation roofing estimates. To get yours, just call us at 727-677-4824 or schedule your estimate online! If you want to skip the in-person roof inspection and conversation with one of our roofing specialists, you can even sign up for an online-only estimate that uses satellite images to measure your roof. Because as veteran Florida roofers, we strive to make roofing as convenient as possible!

Figuring out how to pay for a new roof is stressful. In addition to providing this financing information, we’re also available to answer any lingering questions you have. Reach out to PITCH today to get started on your roofing quote or to answer any remaining questions you have about paying for your roof replacement!