How Much Does a New Roof Cost in Hawaii in 2026

This page has no sourced island-level roof price, so the anchor is national: the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com) puts its asphalt-shingle roof replacement at $31,871. Hawaii’s roofers averaged $29.53 an hour in May 2025 (BLS) against $27.95 nationally, and the contractor owes 4% general excise tax plus a 0.5% county surcharge on its income from the job.

A mainland average and Hawaii’s roofer wages

The $31,871 is the report’s 2025 U.S. job cost for its defined asphalt-shingle roof replacement project, 68% of which is recouped at resale. Its metal-roof project averages $51,865 nationally and recoups 50%. The report’s Pacific region figures were not captured for this page, and the captured pages omit roof size and shingle grade.

Of the 1,110 roofers on Hawaii payrolls in May 2025 (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the mean was $29.53 an hour ($61,430 a year) and the median $28.64; the U.S. figures were $27.95 and $26.65. Self-employed roofers are not counted, and wages are only one input to a bid.

General excise tax rides on the contract

Hawaii has no sales tax. Instead HRS § 237-13(3) taxes “the business of contracting” at 4% of gross income. According to the Department of Taxation, Honolulu, Kauai, Hawaii County and Maui each add a 0.5% county surcharge, running through December 31, 2030 (Maui’s began January 1, 2024). The department says “The tax is on the business and not on the customer”: a contractor may pass it on visibly but is not required to, and the maximum pass-on rate in all four counties is 4.7120%.

Who may install the roof: HRS chapter 444 and the C-42 class

HRS § 444-9 bars anyone within the chapter from acting as a general or specialty contractor without a license obtained under the chapter and the board’s rules, unless an exemption in § 444-2 applies. Roofing is specialty class C-42, defined in Exhibit A to HAR chapter 16-77: “To install roofing to an acceptable surface and provide a weather tight covering,” across metal, shingles, tile, built-up, modified bitumen, single ply, fluid systems and spray urethane foam. A “B” general building license brings along only two roofing subclasses automatically, C-42a (aluminum and other metal shingles) and C-42b (wood shingles and shakes), not the full C-42.

Check a license through the Contractors License Board. Hiring a licensee also opens the contractors recovery fund: § 444-26 lets an owner or lessee of a private residence harmed by a licensee’s violation of the chapter or its rules recover up to $12,500 per contract by court order, but not when the license was suspended, revoked, forfeited, terminated or inactive at signing.

What the contractor must explain and put in writing

Before or at signing, HRS § 444-25.5 requires a licensed contractor to explain verbally everyone’s lien rights and your option to demand bonding, what the bond would protect, and its approximate expense. The written contract must be signed by both sides before work starts and carry notice of the contractor’s right to resolve alleged construction defects before any litigation (§ 672E-11). HAR § 16-77-80 lists what it must show:

1. the contractor’s name, address, license number and classifications;
2. the exact dollar amount due;
3. the start date and number of days to complete;
4. scope of work and materials;
5. the approximate share subcontracted, with each subcontractor’s name and license number;
6. a capital-letter warning about the risk of paying a sales representative, next to the owner’s signature line;
7. the lien rights of everyone working under the contract;
8. warranty terms;
9. both signatures.

A violation of § 444-25.5 is an unfair or deceptive practice under chapter 480. The rule’s list does not reach service-type work that needs no county permit.

Three business days to cancel, if the roofer solicited you

Hawaii’s door-to-door law, HRS chapter 481C, requires a notice that the buyer may cancel before midnight of the third business day, and business days exclude Saturday, Sunday and state or federal holidays. If the seller lacks the chapter 444 license the work requires, that period extends to thirty calendar days (§ 481C-2.5). It covers work on real property sold through solicitation in person, by mail or by telephone. It does not cover four kinds of deal: one negotiated during the buyer’s visit to the seller’s permanent retail location; a bona fide emergency the buyer called about, with a handwritten, signed, dated waiver; one handled entirely by mail or phone with no other contact before the work; and repair of the buyer’s personal property at the buyer’s request, apart from extra goods or services sold during that visit.

Who made the first contact does not settle it by itself. In the case reported at 110 Haw. 248 (Aluminum Shake Roofing, Inc. v. Hirayasu, 2006), the Hawaii Supreme Court said a buyer’s first contact does not automatically take a sale outside chapter 481C, but it upheld a trial ruling that a roofing contractor had not “solicited” homeowners who approached it at a home show, asked for a home visit, called again, visited its warehouse and met its president at home several times before work began, so chapter 481C did not govern that roof.

Wind rules in the Hawaii State Residential Code

The State Building Code Council adopted the 2018 International Residential Code with Hawaii amendments on November 17, 2020. The amended R301.2.1 says how design loads for roof coverings are found, states that “Asphalt shingles shall be designed for wind speeds in accordance with Section R905.2.4,” requires a continuous load path for uplift “from the roof assembly to the foundation,” and replaces the national wind maps with island-by-island ones. Each county adopts the state codes into its own ordinance under HRS § 107-28, and § 107-26 keeps county permitting and inspection procedures out of the council’s hands. No permit fees are printed here.

After the new roof: Act 256 of 2026

Starting January 1, 2027, Act 256 (S.B. 2964, signed July 14, 2026) requires homeowners insurance producers to tell policyholders at least once every two years, on paper, that they may report improvements and their cost. The insurer must then re-estimate replacement cost and, if the dwelling limit falls short, offer extra coverage at a stated premium, held open for thirty days and renewed annually.

Frequently asked questions

Can my general contractor do the roof?

Only partly. A “B” license carries C-42a and C-42b automatically; other roofing needs a contractor holding C-42 or the matching subclass.

Who pays the general excise tax?

The contractor owes it. Passing it on is allowed, up to 4.7120% in each of the four counties.

I met the roofer at a trade show. Can I still cancel?

Possibly. Meeting at a show and inviting the roofer home does not by itself remove the right; in the 110 Haw. 248 case the court looked at the whole course of dealing, and homeowners who also called again, visited the roofer’s warehouse and met it at home several times fell outside chapter 481C.

More reading: roof replacement costs nationwide, Hawaii hurricane risk and getting a Hawaii home ready for hurricane season.

© 2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.