Quick Answer: Single ply membrane roofing (TPO, EPDM, and PVC) typically runs $4 to $12 per square foot installed as of 2026, with membrane material alone at $1.50 to $5.50 per square foot. TPO and EPDM dominate the low slope commercial market, with PVC on the higher end for chemical and grease resistance. Treat the ranges below as a starting point and pull live quotes from your supplier for the bid date.
What You Are Actually Pricing
Single ply membrane is not one product. You are bidding one of three main chemistries, and each has its own thickness, attachment method, and labor profile. TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) is the most common low slope commercial membrane, white reflective, heat welded at the seams, and runs $1.50 to $3.50 per square foot material, $4 to $9 installed. EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) is a black rubber sheet, glued or mechanically fastened, popular on older and smaller commercial roofs, and runs $1.50 to $4.00 material, $5 to $10 installed. PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is the premium thermoplastic, heat welded like TPO but with better chemical and grease resistance, used on restaurants and rooftop kitchens, and runs $2.50 to $5.50 material, $7 to $12 installed. Ballasted EPDM (loose laid with river rock on top) is the cheapest install at $3 to $6 installed but adds dead load and is going out of favor.
The unit is the square (100 square feet of roof coverage), sold in rolls 10 or 12 feet wide and 100 feet long, or in prefabricated custom rolls for big jobs. Membrane is the field sheet; flashing, cover strips, termination bars, and accessories are separate lines. Insulation sits under the membrane and is its own line item, often the biggest material cost on a new roof. Your takeoff converts roof area to squares, adds the waste factor, then runs the insulation, flashing, and accessory lists separately.
What Drives the Price
Membrane thickness (mil). TPO and PVC are sold in 45, 60, and 80 mil thicknesses (a mil is one thousandth of an inch). 45 mil is the entry spec and the cheapest; 60 mil is the commercial standard and what most warranties require; 80 mil is premium, longer warranty, and runs 20 to 35 percent more per square than 60 mil. EPDM is sold in 45 and 60 mil for non reinforced and 60 and 90 mil for reinforced. Reinforced membrane (with a polyester scrim inside) costs more but resists tearing at fasteners and corners. Quoting 45 mil when the spec calls 60 mil is a 15 to 20 percent miss.
Attachment method. Three options, each with its own cost and labor profile. Fully adhered (membrane glued to the substrate with a water based or solvent bonding adhesive) is the smoothest finish and the most wind resistant, but the slowest and most labor expensive. Mechanically attached (membrane screwed down through the insulation into the deck at seam lines) is fast and cheaper, but you see the fastener pattern on the roof. Ballasted (loose laid with rock or paver hold down) is the cheapest install but adds dead load and limits it to structural decks. Installed cost moves 20 to 35 percent across these three.
Insulation type and thickness. Polyiso (polyisocyanurate) is the standard, sold in 1 to 4 inch thickness, and the R value and the cost scale with thickness. A 2 inch polyiso board runs roughly $1.50 to $2.50 per square foot, a 3 inch runs $2.25 to $3.50. High density cover board (high compressive polyiso, gypsum, or wood fiber) adds $0.50 to $1.50 per square foot and is required by most warranties for puncture resistance. Tapered insulation (for drainage) costs 30 to 50 percent more than flat and is a real line on re roof jobs.
Membrane manufacturer. Carlisle, Firestone (now Holcim Elevate), GAF, Johns Manville, Versico, and Sika Sarnafil are the major brands. Spec grade jobs name a manufacturer. Warranties tie to manufacturer approved installers and approved accessories, so the membrane brand is not interchangeable once the warranty is on the line.
Roof complexity and penetrations. A big open warehouse roof lays fast and cheap. A roof with curbs, skylights, drains, scuppers, and parapet walls burns labor on flashing and detailing, and the installed cost can double on a cut up roof. Perimeter flashing, edge metal, and counterflashing add 15 to 30 percent on top of the field membrane.
Region, freight, and volume. Membrane rolls are bulky and freight is a line item on distant jobs. Volume pricing is real: a 100 square job pays list or close to it, a 2,000 square commercial roof gets 15 to 25 percent off the small order sheet plus freight consolidation. Do not bid a big job off a small order quote.
Typical Price Ranges by Type
- TPO, 45 mil, mechanically attached: $1.50 to $2.50 material, $4 to $7 installed.
- TPO, 60 mil, mechanically attached: $2.00 to $3.00 material, $5 to $8 installed.
- TPO, 60 mil, fully adhered: $2.50 to $3.50 material, $7 to $10 installed.
- TPO, 80 mil, fully adhered: $3.00 to $4.50 material, $8 to $12 installed.
- EPDM, 45 mil, mechanically attached (black): $1.50 to $2.50 material, $5 to $8 installed.
- EPDM, 60 mil, fully adhered (black): $2.00 to $3.50 material, $6 to $10 installed.
- EPDM, 90 mil, reinforced, ballasted: $3.00 to $4.00 material, $4 to $7 installed (ballast is cheap labor).
- PVC, 60 mil, fully adhered (Kevlar or polyester reinforced): $3.50 to $5.50 material, $8 to $12 installed.
- Polyiso insulation, 2 inch: $1.50 to $2.50 per square foot.
- High density cover board: $0.50 to $1.50 per square foot.
- Edge metal, flashing, drains, accessories: $1.00 to $3.00 per square foot bundled.
Tear off of an existing roof runs $1 to $3 per square foot on top of these numbers, depending on the number of existing layers and whether the old insulation stays or goes. Wet insulation removal and disposal adds another $1 to $2 per square foot.
How to Calculate the Quantity You Need
Start with the roof square footage from your takeoff. Low slope roofs usually do not need a pitch factor (a 1/4:12 pitch multiplies flat area by about 1.001, negligible). Convert to squares by dividing by 100. Add a waste factor of 10 percent on simple open roofs and 12 to 15 percent on cut up roofs with a lot of penetrations and perimeter. The waste factor covers cuts, seams, and flashing takeoffs. Round up to the next full roll or custom roll size.
Run the insulation line by area and thickness: square footage times the polyiso thickness from the spec, then add the cover board if specified. Tapered insulation plans come from the manufacturer with the slope built in; price the tapered kit, not flat board.
Run the flashing and accessory list separately: perimeter edge metal in lineal feet, counterflashing at parapets, pipe boots and penetration flashing per piece, drains and scuppers per piece, termination bars per lineal foot, and walk pads per square. Adhesive, fasteners, and seam plates go per the manufacturer install pattern, which changes with warranty level and wind zone.
How to Buy Smarter
- Get three supplier quotes on every bid. Membrane pricing swings 15 to 25 percent between distributors on the same thickness and chemistry, often because of a regional stock or volume deal.
- Quote the chemistry, mil thickness, attachment method, and manufacturer by name. A "60 mil TPO" quote is not comparable across suppliers unless the attachment method and the brand match. Mechanically attached and fully adhered are not the same number.
- Order the membrane, insulation, and accessories from the same supplier as a package. You get better package pricing than buying the membrane from one source and the insulation from another, and one delivery is cheaper than three.
- Lock quotes for 30 to 60 days on longer bids. Membrane and insulation move with petroleum and chemical index pricing, and a quote from last quarter is not your cost today.
- Match the warranty to the spec. A 20 year NDL (no dollar limit) warranty from a manufacturer requires approved insulation, cover board, and installer. Quoting the warranty without the approved stack is a number that will not hold.
- Confirm the deck type. Steel, concrete, and wood decks take different fasteners and adhesives, and the install method and cost change with the deck.
Where Estimators Get It Wrong
The biggest miss is quoting 45 mil membrane when the spec or the warranty requires 60 mil. The unit price gap is 15 to 25 percent and the warranty will not issue at 45 mil. Read the spec sheet, not the marketing brochure, and price the mil the spec calls out.
The second miss is ignoring insulation and cover board. On a re roof, the membrane is a quarter of the material cost and the insulation and cover board are half. If your bid only has the membrane line, you are underpriced by 40 to 60 percent of material.
The third miss is the attachment method. Fully adhered runs 20 to 35 percent more labor than mechanically attached, and the bonding adhesive and the labor both move. Match the install method to the spec and the wind zone before you commit the labor number.
The fourth is the tear off and the wet insulation. On a re roof, you do not know what is under the old membrane until you open it. Budget for wet insulation removal and disposal as a contingency line, not an afterthought, because it adds $1 to $3 per square foot in a hurry.
The fifth is the flashing and detail work. A cut up commercial roof with curbs, drains, and parapets burns labor on flashing. A field square number with no flashing line underprices the job by 15 to 30 percent. Run the flashing list, do not bury it.
Putting It Together
For a bid, you want a membrane line priced per square (chemistry, mil, and attachment named), an insulation line priced per square by thickness, a cover board line, an edge metal and flashing line priced per lineal foot and per piece, a tear off line if it is a re roof, a freight line, and a labor line. Roll them into an installed price per square foot for the owner, but keep them broken out in your backup so you can defend each number. Price the chemistry, mil, attachment, and manufacturer by name, lock the quote for the bid window, and add a waste factor that matches the roof complexity. Do that and your single ply membrane bid will hold up when the quotes come back from the field.