How Much Does a New Roof Cost in Indiana in 2026

A contract over $150 to improve an Indiana home of one to four units can be cancelled up to midnight on the third business day following whichever comes later: signing, or the day you receive your insurer’s written final coverage decision (IC 24-5-11-10.6). For price, the sourced benchmark is national: $31,871 per the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com). Indiana roofers averaged $28.75 an hour in May 2025 (BLS).

A U.S. benchmark and Hoosier roofer wages

Zonda’s 2025 edition covers 28 projects and 119 markets nationwide, and its national averages put “Roofing Replacement | Asphalt Shingles” at $31,871 and “Roofing Replacement | Metal” at $51,865. The report has an East North Central region page, but we could not verify a copy of it or which markets it covers, so the national numbers are what this page uses. The report pages we hold do not say how large the priced roof is or what shingle it uses. So $31,871 prices the report’s defined asphalt-shingle roof replacement project; it is neither local nor exact.

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

BLS wage data (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Roofers) show 2,980 Indiana roofers on payrolls, earning a $28.75 hourly mean ($59,810 annually) and a $27.88 median. The U.S. mean was $27.95 and the median $26.65. Self-employed roofers are outside the survey. Wages feed into a bid, but they are not the bid.

No state roofing license; permits and licenses come from local government

The state’s Business Owner’s Guide on IN.gov says it directly: “The only construction contractors licensed by the State of Indiana are plumbers,” and “contractor licensing (for contractors other than plumbers) is also a local option.” Indiana’s contract statute ties the local layer to your contract. Under IC 24-5-11-9, if any license or permit is needed, the contract “must be conditioned upon the appropriate party obtaining the necessary licenses or permits before any work” starts. Ask your city or county building department what applies at your address.

What Indiana’s Home Improvement Contracts Act requires

IC 24-5-11 covers improvements to residential real property in Indiana with one to four units, used at least in part as the consumer’s dwelling. It reaches any contract, oral or written, whose price exceeds $150 (sections 1, 4 and 7.5). A roof replacement is expressly an “exterior improvement” (section 2.5). The supplier must hand you a completed contract before you sign. Section 10(a) requires it to show:

• your name and the property address;
• the supplier’s name, address and email, plus a named contact with phone and email;
• the date submitted and any deadline for accepting;
• a reasonably detailed description, or a promise that specifications follow for your separate written approval;
• approximate start and completion dates, and contingencies that could change completion;
• the contract price;
• whether any subcontractor, vendor or other third party will furnish labor or materials;
• signature lines with printed names.

The supplier must sign before you can be asked for a down payment (section 11). You get a fully executed copy right after signing (12). Changes bind you only if you sign them in writing (10(d)). The price must reflect the full amount less any discounts (10(g)). A violation is a deceptive act that the attorney general or you can pursue under IC 24-5-0.5 (section 14).

The cancel window runs from the later date

For contracts signed after June 30, 2017, section 10.6(c) lets you cancel before midnight on the third business day after the later of two dates. One is the day both sides sign. The other, if applicable, is the day you get written notice of the insurer’s “final determination” on coverage. Notice goes in writing to the address or email in the contract. Mail counts on deposit, email on the day sent. The supplier then has ten days to return your payment or deposit and any note (10.6(d)). There is one exception. If the supplier did emergency or temporary work that you acknowledged in writing, before it was done, as needed to prevent damage, it is paid the reasonable value of that work (10.6(e)).

When insurance is paying for the roof

• Deductibles: section 10.5(a) forbids advertising, offering or promising to pay or rebate any part of a deductible to win the job. That includes discounts against the price and any gift, prize, bonus, coupon, credit or referral fee, even one paid for “the display of a sign or advertisement on real property.”
• Claims handling: the supplier may not act as a public adjuster (10.5(d)). When a subcontractor or other third party supplies labor or materials, neither the supplier nor that party may “initiate or pursue a claim” with your insurer (10(e)), and the contract must say so (10(c)(8)).
• Out-of-state crews: for an insurance-paid job, the supplier must reside, be domiciled or be authorized to do business in Indiana, keep a fixed physical location in Indiana, or have appointed an Indiana resident agent. The one exemption is a supplier you already had a prior business relationship with (10(c)(7)).
• Price format: you may agree to a price stated as what you owe after insurance proceeds (10(c)(4)).

Building code: the 2020 Indiana Residential Code

675 IAC 14-4.4 incorporates the 2018 International Residential Code, first printing, and names the result the 2020 Indiana Residential Code. The Department of Homeland Security’s rules table lists it as effective December 26, 2019 and lists no later residential edition. Indiana’s roofing amendments are small: they strike “approved” from R905.2.6 and R905.2.8, “printed” from R905.2.8.4, and the last sentence of R902.4 (rooftop photovoltaic panels). No section of R908, the reroofing section, is amended.

Questions from Indiana owners

Will the state tell me whether my roofer is licensed?

No. The state licenses plumbers only. Any roofer license is local.

A roofer offered me cash to put his sign in my yard. Allowed?

Not if the payment is meant to get you to sign. Section 10.5(a)(2) lists compensation paid “for any reason, including the display of a sign” among the banned forms of deductible rebate.

The adjuster hasn’t decided yet. Do I lose my right to cancel meanwhile?

No. The later date controls, so the window closes at midnight of the third business day after the insurer’s written final determination reaches you.

See also: roof replacement costs across the U.S., what a roof inspection covers, Indiana closing costs, and the Illinois and Michigan roof pages.