Just how fast is "fast"

I was watching some videos on the web about roofing the other day and it seems that everyone is the "fastest" roofer on the planet. I am just curious to know what the greatest production on shingle roofing you have ever seen is?

This owuld have to be divided between Old time hand nailers, both pre and post self sealing shingles because we used to hand nail 6 nails per shingle. also, it would include air nailers with 3-1's and air nailers with laminated shingles. The reason for that is that there were 81 shingles to the square with 3-1's and only 62- 64 for the laminated shingles.

I would also assume that we would be talking about a nice walker without a bunch of cutting. that would skew the results.

Note: One guy nailing and two guys throwing shingles equals 1 square per man hour if they put down 3 squares in an hour. Give me your numbers in squares per man hour worked, or total squares installed for the day divded by the number of people on the roof.

That is a lot on a mansard for sure. When everything is running smoothly, it is like a finely oiled machine.

I would say that it has been added in for the helpers just by stating they were present.

All of us who have been in this business for our whole lives have seen how difficult it is to restrict ourselves to solo work on a steady basis. Two fast journeymen put on thirty squares together and they would normally state that they each got fifteen each for that day, all things being equal. If things were not equal, for instance one took the field and the other did all the cut work, we all pretty much know how to factor that day. If, on the other hand, one was a journeyman and the other a complete rookie, none of us would say the journeyman is only worthy of claiming half the work.

Teamwork counts. Record crew-days are totally noteworthy imo. When I was just breaking in I worked with a 50% journeyman the first go. It was a school and we were doing medium shakes on a mansard roof. We set up ladders, ladder-jacks, and a plank, did a section, and moved down the line. Hundreds of feet of this. One raw recruit broke open the bundles on the ground, kept a handful of shakes on the plank at all times, counted the production by saving the bands, and cleaned up after each move. The other raw recruit helped re-set the 1x4 straight-edge for each course, and set all the shakes on it properly. The half-journeyman nailed them off and kept watch over the operation. We routinely did 10 sq. or more per day. That was great production at a cheap price and none of us could really say how much we got, but it has still been worth remembering all these years.

All very good. Rreally, it is almost meaningless to talk about "speed" without adding in for the helpers. they "help" but they cut down on the squares/man hour too. Roofing is a lot of work.

lanny Said: ---I was once on a job that was commercial new construction wood shingles over asbestos base sheet. The base sheet was slippery silver asbestos. ---I was laying wood shingles on a 1x4 20 feet long for a straight edge as fast as I could go. This was a 4/12 straight side. I was running to lay these shingles by the arm full. My mentor was hand nailing faster than I was laying. We worked like dogs for 10 hours (1/2 hr lunch break) and put on a total of 10 sq. Many of the shingles were 12 inch wide. The wood was great the side was easy the weather was pristine. And........only 10 sq for 2 people. ---I have never done wood shingles since that day and have turned down jobs because of how much of a headache they are to install.

Lanny

Thats why we charge more around here that would have been around 2500-3000, 1 days work for 2 guys..i think its worth it..

My father who's roofed for about 40 years now has had a best shingling day of 40 squares with a guy laying out 3 tabs. His personal best per hour also with a guy laying out bundles is 8.33sqs.

My best per day solo papered in is 33 squares. Best per hour is a guy handing me 3 tabs 9.33 squares.

Best start to finish one day was on a 30sq new roof. Helper showed up at 10 to help unload materials at which time I had most of the roof dried in. He didn't lay one shingle and by the end of the day the roof was done.

Best day with a crew (5 installers 3 laborers) would be a 45sq 8/12-12/12 tear off. Also did a 50sq 4/12 tear off.

A few years ago scheduled a roof with a landlord. He called at 4pm and asked why we never showed up. I told him we were on our way. We got there at 4:30pm, 24sq 4/12 two sided tear off 10 guys 5 installers 5 laborers. By 8:30pm we were done. It took us about 2 hours to shingle the 24 squares.

Best 6 day week with one crew is 5 tear offs two of which were 50sq.

My mexican part time crew is big but they are not that fast and most jobs take 2-3 days. They do good work so length of job is not my priority. I see so many racing through big jobs in a day and cutting a lot of corners.

At this point in my life, I doubt if I could even open and spread the bundles that fast, let alone nail them down. :laugh: Each of us gets a few opportunities in life to reach out and touch the infinite. God bless those unafraid to do it.

Ya I was hurting when I was done. Both times I that was i finished the roofs. Not sure how much longer I could have kept that pace up though.

Good stuff! that is about 10 squares an hour and the duration was for about 3 and 4 hours. that is pushing the envelope for sure. Working by yourself, you were RUNNING! all the time.

Yes I to have seen quite a fiew of those "worlds fastest roofer" videos. Most all the ones I have seen are definatly scary...and not worthy of that kind of title. All high nailing putting nails in the slot or where the shingle but. And ya most are probably blowing halfway through as well. I hear stories of the hand nailers and how fast some of you guys were. Would love to have seen that in action. As for me my best was from quite a few years ago. I'm 35 now I might have been around 24 or so then. So both times the roofs were already felted starter layed etc. This is just flat out nailing them on. It was Elk 30yr shingles they were already on the roof but just stacked at the ridge. I was by myself so spread all my own shingles and yup I had the Senco PW. I love that gun. Staple are fine here and preform well. Anyway on one roof I put on 33 1/3sq in 3hr 15 min on a recover. Other roof was 40 2/3sq in 4hrs 5 min. Nails on the line and straight. It was a 4/12 roof. Wish I could have had some huge 100 plus square roofs I could have done back then. Not sure how long I could have keep going at that pace though. The comon theme to the guys on here definatly seems to be no waisted movement etc. I obviously agree with that. Well thats my two cents...

you are full of shit

Twice as much as what?

Really Tico?...so mexs are better then you guys?...hmmm

If y'all was Mexican you could do twice as much, says the storm chasers. :side:

If y'all was Mexican you could do twice as much, says the storm chasers. :side:

I think we're mostly refering to proficiency, as a form of quality service....

Where speed can equal sloppy, by comparison, so can the slow reflect/result in sloppy/inaccurate work, through ingnorance/thoughtlesness.

Our motto has been "Prompt, Quality Service"...It's been our experience, that most customers appreciate/consider that a significant/positive quality in a contractor.

(We're not talking of the dozen illegals that swarm on a house and complete it in one day...That, could very well reflect "sloppy", and typically is)