A commercial roofing laborer keeps material moving and debris leaving on low-slope reroofs. They work the hoist area, stage pallets of insulation and rolls of membrane where the crew needs them, run tear-off to the chute and dumpster, and keep tenants and cars clear of the work below.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Provides essential support on commercial roofing projects by ensuring job sites are properly prepared, materials are accurately moved, and sites are maintained clean and safe, contributing to the overall efficiency and success of each project.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Moves roofing materials and supplies to designated areas in an efficient and safe manner.
Prepares job sites by setting up tools, equipment, and safety barriers.
Performs comprehensive clean-up of the worksite at the end of each project phase.
Adheres to all company safety protocols, procedures, and standards.
Assists crew members in completing additional tasks as required to support project timelines.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Transport materials and tools as directed on a daily basis.
Set up and prepare job sites before roofing operations commence.
Conduct routine cleaning and maintenance tasks on and around the project site.
Collaborate daily with team members and supervisors to address project needs.
Follow specific instructions to ensure timely completion of daily assignments.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Job site preparation efficiency: Achieve a 95% on-time job site readiness rate.
Material handling accuracy: Maintain a 98% error-free relocation of materials.
Clean-up compliance: Ensure 100% adherence to post-project clean-up standards during safety inspections.
Safety record: Maintain a 0% incident rate on job sites.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
High school diploma or GED equivalent.
Minimum of 1 year of experience in construction, roofing, or general labor.
Basic math and measurement skills with an ability to follow detailed instructions.
Strong communication skills and ability to work well within a team.
Demonstrated commitment to safety and adherence to established protocols.
6. Preferred Experience
Previous experience with commercial roofing projects.
Background working in the construction or building services industry.
Familiarity with various roofing materials, tools, and techniques.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to lift up to 50 lbs.
Requires prolonged periods of standing, bending, and walking.
Frequent exposure to outdoor environments, including hot, cold, and variable weather conditions.
Capability to work on uneven or inclined surfaces safely and steadily.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work schedule of 40 hours per week.
Occasional overtime required during peak project periods.
Primarily outdoor work with exposure to varying weather conditions.
Occasional travel between multiple job sites as project demands require.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Hourly rate range: $18 - $22 per hour.
Eligibility for performance-based bonuses.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
401(k) plan with company match available.
Paid time off, including holidays and vacation days.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We foster an inclusive and innovative work environment where every team member is valued and empowered to achieve professional growth.
Our company is dedicated to ensuring excellence in customer service and quality workmanship.
We offer continuous training and development programs to support career advancement and skills improvement.
Our culture celebrates teamwork and recognizes the contributions of each employee through regular team-building events and accolades.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
On a commercial reroof, everything goes up by hoist or crane and comes down by chute. The laborer works at both ends, often beside an open office, school or store.
The hoist area has its own fall rules
OSHA requires guardrails or a personal fall arrest system for anyone in a hoist area with a fall of 6 feet or more. If a rail is opened to land a load and the laborer must lean out to guide it, they tie off. Where warning lines protect a low-slope roof, the path from the hoist to the work area runs between two of them. An unused path gets a rope or chain across it, or is offset so no one walks straight in. Source: 29 CFR 1926.501: Duty to have fall protection (Cornell LII).
Stage material back from the edge
During roofing work, OSHA says materials and equipment can't be stored within 6 feet of a roof edge unless there are guardrails there, and stacks near an edge must be stable on their own. Wind adds a commercial problem: a loose sheet of cover board or insulation can sail off a big flat roof. Laborers weight or strap every open bundle before they walk away. Source: 29 CFR 1926.502: Fall protection systems criteria and practices (Cornell LII).
Tear-off comes down by chute or hoist
Old built-up roofing, wet insulation and gravel are heavy. Crews lower them in a hoist or crane hopper, or send them down a chute into the dumpster. OSHA requires an enclosed chute for any drop of over 20 feet that lands outside the building's walls, so nothing gets tossed over a parapet. Barricade the dumpster and keep a laborer there so students, tenants and cars stay clear. Source: 29 CFR 1926.252: Disposal of waste materials (Cornell LII).
Crane days need a signal person
When a crane lifts pallets onto a roof, the operator often can't see where they land. OSHA's crane rule then requires a signal person, qualified before giving any signal, with proof kept on site. A supplier's knuckle-boom truck setting packaged roofing on the roof with forks falls outside that rule only if it has a working automatic overload device. Until a laborer is qualified to signal, they stay out from under the load. Source: 29 CFR 1926.1419: Crane signals, general requirements (Cornell LII).
Federal jobs pay for the task, not the title
On federal and federally funded projects under Davis-Bacon, workers are paid the wage determination's rate for the kind of work they actually do. A laborer who spends an afternoon laying membrane is owed the roofer rate for those hours. Splitting the rate is allowed only when payroll records show the time spent in each classification, so the foreman's time sheets need that detail. Source: 29 CFR 5.5: Davis-Bacon contract clauses (Cornell LII).
How much commercial roofing laborers make
The closest BLS group for commercial roofing laborers is Helpers--Roofers. Helpers--Roofers who work for roofing contractors earned a median of $21.37 an hour ($44,440 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $44,160 median for Helpers--Roofers in all industries. About 5,680 of the 6,030 Helpers--Roofers in that survey work for roofing contractors.
Hourly with a performance bonus, per the template, plus overtime pay on long weeks. On federal jobs the rate can change with the task, so time sheets must show what work the laborer did and for how long.
Roofing contractors
$44,440$44,440 median Middle half $37,140–$48,900 10th–90th $29,870–$64,000
All industries
$44,160$44,160 median Middle half $37,030–$48,970 10th–90th $30,140–$62,400
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Roofing contractors
$29,870
$37,140
$44,440
$48,900
$64,000
All industries
$30,140
$37,030
$44,160
$48,970
$62,400
BLS reports residential and commercial roofing contractors together. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
On time for starts before the building opens
Keeps tenants, students and cars out of the drop zone without being rude
Lands loads at the hoist and carries board and rolls to the crew
Follows the foreman's staging plan instead of piling material anywhere
Calls out a hazard, like a loose stack in the wind, instead of walking past it
Teach these on the job
Hoist signals, landing loads and closing the rail after each lift
Setting and moving warning line stanchions
Chute setup, dumpster covers and barricades
Telling polyiso from cover board, and termination bar from edge metal
Strapping and weighting material against wind
Crane signaling, once qualified
Laborers use tear-off spades and power tear-off machines, carts and dollies for board and rolls, the material hoist, debris chutes and barricades, plus a hard hat, eye protection and a fall harness. In the ad, say whether you train laborers on the hoist and how crews get to each building.
Commercial roofing laborer interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Securing materials in wind
The wind picks up, and a stack of insulation boards on the roof isn't weighted down. The crew is on the other side. What do you do?
A strong answer: Weights or secures the stack right away, or stops moving boards, and tells the foreman. Knows wind can blow boards off the roof.
Behavioral · Following detailed instructions
On a commercial roof, a foreman may tell you exactly where to stack boards or how to bag debris. Tell me about a time a supervisor or coach gave you step-by-step instructions. How did you get it right?
A strong answer: Listened, repeated it back or asked questions, and checked the result.
Set the template's numbers against your own jobs after a few months. A school reroof with a tight summer window and a warehouse with an open lot are not the same day of work.
Job site preparation efficiency
Mornings the hoist area, barricades, chute and warning lines were ready before the roofers needed them, out of all job mornings. The foreman notes each late start and why.
Material handling accuracy
Loads landed and staged where the foreman's plan said, with nothing damaged, wet or blown off the roof. Count each re-handle or damaged sheet against the day's lifts.
Clean-up compliance
Results of the end-of-day walk: drains clear, scraps picked up, open bundles weighted, sidewalks and lots swept. Score it on the same checklist each day.
Safety record
Injuries, close calls and safety corrections on the laborer's shifts, from the incident log and daily notes. Keep close calls the laborer reported on a separate line from ones they caused.
Career path
Roofing laborerRuns the hoist area, staging and tear-off on commercial reroofs.
Apprentice rooferStarts learning seams and fasteners under a lead roofer.
Journeyman rooferInstalls single-ply and modified bitumen roofs on their own.
Lead rooferRuns one roof's crew and flashes its hardest details.
What does a commercial roofing laborer do all day?
Ground first, roof later. Before the crew arrives they set barricades, check the chute and dumpster, and ready the hoist. Morning loads of board and membrane get landed and carried to where the welders will need them. During tear-off they cart old roofing to the chute or hopper. The last hour goes to sweeping the roof and lot, pulling scraps out of drains and weighting open bundles.
How much does a commercial roofing laborer make?
Helpers--Roofers who work for roofing contractors earned a median of $21.37 an hour ($44,440 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $37,140 and $48,900 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
How do laborers handle adhesive cans and solvent rags?
Carefully, because they burn. OSHA says solvent waste, oily rags and flammable liquids must sit in closed, fire-resistant containers until someone hauls them away. On a roof, that means a lidded metal can near the adhesive work, and empty adhesive pails stacked away from any torch or kettle.
Should a laborer work on the roof or on the ground?
Both, on most commercial jobs. Someone has to stay below while the hoist runs and debris comes down, and someone has to receive loads up top. Rotate people so each laborer learns both ends. Anyone going up needs the company's fall training first, including how the warning lines and the hoist area work.
Can a commercial roofer hire high schoolers for summer tear-off?
Not for most of the work. The Labor Department's rules for workers under 18 bar most roofing jobs, even ground work and removing the old roof. The only carve-out is for apprentices and student-learners who are at least 16 and enrolled in approved programs. A school reroof in July can look like good work for teens, so check your state's rules too before you post.
What makes a good commercial roofing laborer?
Someone who thinks one step ahead of the crew. They notice the welders will need more membrane by ten, the dumpster is close to full, or the wind is picking up. Have them sketch how they'd set up the ground around an occupied building, and listen for barricades, a clear path for tenants and a covered dumpster.
