Just how fast is "fast"

I ran a marathon in 3:58:34 once.

I can knock someone out in a few seconds.

as for nailing shingles.......well........ um.........ahh................ Hmmmm,.......think we'll get a bunch of snow this winter?

What we are doing here is comparing apples and tomatoes. They are both red, but they are both different. 40 squares on and off with 5 guys in 8 hours is is 40 man hours or 1 square per man hour. Since it was a tear off, you were probably spending half of your time tearing and half shingleing so that would be 2 squares per man hour. Vary good, mind you, but a;ll of us have done that at one time or another. tom said that they used to get 12 to 16 squares per man per day and I am assuming that was for 8 hours. The 64 squares they put on in a day with 4 guys works out to 2 squares per man per hour.

The more people you have on the roof, the less your man hour production is going to be. The longer the time frame you figure, the less your production is going to be. The same thing applies for the pitch, the roof height, the temprature, the amount of cutting, the type of shingles, (3-1's or Laminated) The kind of shingle, GAF's are packaged so that you have to flip every shingle end for end and CT's can just be dropped on the roof and just turned over. That is a lot less work if they are not stuck together. Copperman did 28 squares on a mansard by himself. Unbelievable!

What have you done or actually seen done on a roof in ideal conditions, and how does that compare to "normal" production. When I was a kid, we used to try and average 1 square per man hour worked at the end of the week. Many times we would do 2 squares per man hour or "boy" hour as it were in a day, but 1 square was the goal at the end of the week. What is the best you have averaged and what was the crew size.

OK, here we go. I started shingle'n in 86, when hand bangers, were hand bangers. yes i consider myself as old school. Todays roofers can't hand nail worth shit. Nailers are attached to their hips...that kills me. That beig said, I remember in the day when we ripped 40 sq, prep and shingled , three hand bangers, two labourers. today that's a walk in the park, with nailers. there is no substitue for hand nailing, sorry guys....it is what it is...quality over quantity

There is no doubt that you can do more with a gun, but a gun doesn't do anything for the set up or flashing etc. Hmm. Those were the days. Thats the truth. The real test is when you get to a dormer or chimney and how much that slows you down or not. As an older roofer thats were I blow the young guys out of the water. I go on auto pilot and don't have to think about anything I'm doing were the younger guys have to

The "heyday" for shingling had to be in the late 50's thru the 70's. Mostly ranch style roofs, 1 story and not cut up. Working with my dad and a small crew of two other guys, we always did one house in the morning and another in the afternoon. Nt brothers worked woith us too so there were about 3 men and 5 kids on the roof, all nailing shingles and going like mad. You would never get away with that today.

On a hip roof, we would use the AJC hatchets with a 4" guage and lay them in "Thirds" and have at it. 2 or 3 hours on a 27 square roof and then on to the next one. People don't know how much time they spend setting up the compressor and hoses and such any more. It really isn't any faster in the long run, but it takes time to learn to hand nail. Ask the roofing god or anyone that grew up hand nailing how much more we do today. Not much!

There is no doubt that you can do more with a gun, but a gun doesn't do anything for the set up or flashing etc. Hmm. Those were the days.

Like I tell my guys, you ain't fast if you ain't nailing on the....wait what is that thing called...oh the NAIL LINE!

Me and eight guys tore off 55sq 1 layer 4/12 and reinstalled in eight hours. 5-6 sheets of plywood 3-tab off and on. Naturally we used I&W, felt, drip.

Don't be too hard on us young bucks TomB. Some of us still throw em down, I'm just dependent on that compressor!

64 sqs....Thats loading mtrls by hand off the truck, underlayment, drip & shingling....at two separate jobsites....It's more of an example of the long-lost work ethic/"can-do" attitudes of yester-years......

Yeah, we had a lift/dump truck years ago as well. Used it primarilly for BUR though...Suppliers have typically loaded roofs for us, so to hand-load ourselves was once in a blue moon.

As late as the early 90's, the typical shinger put on 16 sqs/day...In fact, on prev wage jobs, (union), 16 sqs was expected...Today, it's hard to find a shingler that can put on 8!

Tom, 64 squares or 128? 64 squares with 4 guys is 16 squares per man or averaging 2 squares an hour per man. 128 would be really cranking!!! I know that in the morning you can really go, but the last 5 or 10 squares really take a long time at the end of the day.

Back in the day we used to have a lift truck to get he shingles to roof height anyway. In the early 70's we went to a conveyor truck that would put them right on the peak. Now they mostly use forklifts. No matter how you shingle, you still have to drive to the job and set it up and deliver everything. That takes a surprizing amount of the total time.

Myself and co-workers/employees typically shingled minn. 12-16 sqs/day each...every day. However,I can recall two occaisions that stand out;

1) 33 sqs. 3-TAB, 4-nails/shingles(staples, actually), from bare wood, (includes felt & drip), in 8 hrs. Myself with a helper. 4/12 pitch, no valleys, one dutch hip.

2) 64 sqs 3-tab, (including felt & drip & hand-loading).Had an old dump truck, we hand loaded 64 dqs. in the back of it; Backed up to a house; Hand-loaded the materials; Roofed it; Then drove across town and did it again on a duplex.

Two shinglers & two helpers...It was a long day...10-12 hrs, I imagine.

2.8 squares per hour on a mansard carrying shingles by yourself is awesome. That is probably why you are not "young" anymore. That pace would kill a young man.

My brother in law and myself once did a 12 square 4/12 pitch house with a small dormer over the front door. Globe premier shake shingles, so they were 81 shingles to the square with air staplers. From the time we got to the job with our pickup trucks and threw the shingles up on the roof to the time we jumped back into them and left was 59 minutes. the guy was just leaving for lunch when we got there and we left before he got back! Just the two of us!

2.8 squares per hour on a mansard carrying shingles by yourself is awesome. That is probably why you are not "young" anymore. That pace would kill a young man.

My brother in law and myself once did a 12 square 4/12 pitch house with a small dormer over the front door. Globe premier shake shingles, so they were 81 shingles to the square with air staplers. From the time we got to the job with our pickup trucks and threw the shingles up on the roof to the time we jumped back into them and left was 59 minutes. the guy was just leaving for lunch when we got there and we left before he got back! Just the two of us!

My best day was 28 square on a mansard barn, gun nailed lams. And I carried every bundle. 10 hours. New construction. Boy to be young again. Best slate day 8 square on a 10 pitch. Did have a laborer sending slate up a power ladder. Best copper standing seam day 3 square porch start to finish 3 1/2 hours