Des Moines · Polk County · Beaverdale to Ankeny
Des Moines roofers for repair, replacement, hail and ice dams
A stain on the ceiling after a week of freeze-thaw, shingles across the yard after a June thunderstorm, or a 1940s roof in Beaverdale that has quietly run out of years. We tell you which one you have, what it costs, and put it in writing before anyone gets on a ladder.
How a job goes
- You call or text
Describe what you've seen — a stain, shingles in the yard, icicles the size of your arm — and roughly when the roof was last done. Ground photos help. - We inspect from the roof and the attic
Every estimate comes from walking the roof and looking under the deck, not a drone photo from the driveway. You get pictures of what we found. - You get a written price
One page, itemized: what's being fixed, what it's made of, what it costs. Good for 30 days. No sign-tonight pricing. - We do the work
Repairs are usually one visit. A full replacement on an average Des Moines home is one to two days, with a magnet over the lawn for nails afterward. - We stand behind it
Workmanship is warranted in writing. If a repair we made leaks, we come back. That is the whole point of doing it properly the first time.
Roofing services across the Des Moines metro
Repair when a repair will hold, replacement when it won't. We show you the photos and explain which one you need.
Roof Repair
Leaks at flashing, boots and valleys, wind-lifted shingles, soft decking — found from the attic, fixed with a written price. Most jobs $300–$1,500.
Roof Repair →Roof Replacement
Full tear-off, decking check, synthetic underlayment, ice-and-water at the eaves, wind-rated architectural shingles. One to two days, $9,000–$20,000 on most homes.
Roof Replacement →Storm Damage & Claims
Hail, derecho and wind damage documented from the roof, tarped if needed, and written up in a scope your adjuster can follow. No deductible games.
Storm Damage & Claims →Ice Dam Repair
Steam removal of the dam, repair of the damage underneath, and the attic air-sealing and ventilation work that stops it coming back next January.
Ice Dam Repair →Roof Inspection
A walked inspection with photos and a written report — for buying a house, filing a claim, or finding out how many winters the roof has left.
Roof Inspection →Towns we cover
Des Moines, Polk County and the suburbs. Area codes 515.
- West Des Moines
- Ankeny
- Urbandale
- Johnston
- Waukee
- Clive
- Altoona
- Grimes
- Norwalk
- Pleasant Hill
What roofs go through in Des Moines
Central Iowa gives a roof no easy season. Summer brings the severe-weather belt: hail from March through August, straight-line wind out of thunderstorm complexes, and every few years something like the August 2020 derecho, which crossed the metro with hurricane-force gusts and put more roofs on insurance claims in one afternoon than most cities see in a decade. Winter brings about 35 inches of snow and weeks of freeze-thaw, which is how ice dams build at the eaves and push meltwater back under the shingles.
Then there's the housing. The city itself is mostly 1910s–1950s: brick bungalows in Beaverdale, foursquares around Drake and Highland Park, ranches on the east side and along Merle Hay. Those roofs have steep pitches, old chimneys, small attics with almost no ventilation, and sometimes two layers of shingles already up there. The suburbs are the opposite problem: Ankeny, Waukee, Grimes and Johnston have added tens of thousands of builder-grade roofs since 2000, on open ground with nothing to slow the wind, and the first generation of those shingles is aging out right now.
The result is a market where storm damage roof repair in Des Moines is as common as ordinary wear, insurance adjusters are part of most replacement conversations, and a lot of homeowners have been talked into a roof they didn't need by someone with an out-of-state plate. We'd rather you understood what you're looking at.
What we do
Roof repair — leaks at chimney flashing, pipe boots, valleys and skylights, wind-lifted shingles, soft decking. Most repairs are $300–$1,500 and done in a visit. See roof repair.
Roof replacement — full tear-off, decking check, synthetic underlayment, ice-and-water membrane along the eaves to code, and architectural shingles nailed for Iowa wind. Typical Des Moines homes run $9,000–$20,000. See roof replacement.
Storm damage and insurance claims — hail, derecho and wind damage documented from the roof, tarped if needed, and written up in a scope your adjuster can follow. See storm damage repair.
Ice dam repair — steam removal of the dam, repair of what it damaged, and the attic air-sealing and ventilation work that stops it coming back. See ice dam repair.
Roof inspections — a walked inspection with photos and a written report, for a house you're buying, a claim you're filing, or a roof you're not sure about. See roof inspection.
Where we work
All of Des Moines — Beaverdale, Drake, Highland Park, the east side, South of Grand, Merle Hay, Easter Lake — and the whole Polk County metro: West Des Moines, Ankeny, Urbandale, Johnston, Waukee, Clive, Altoona, Grimes, Norwalk and Pleasant Hill. If your number starts with 515, we cover you. Steel roofing on acreages out toward Norwalk, Cumming and Bondurant is regular work too. The pricing page has real numbers before you call.
Repair or replace, honestly
The most useful thing a roofer can tell you is that you don't need a roof yet. On a 1950s ranch in Urbandale with one leaking pipe boot, the answer is a $300 repair, not a $14,000 replacement. On a 2004 Ankeny two-story with bruised shingles across three slopes after a hail storm, the answer is a claim and a replacement. We look, we photograph, we say which. Our guide on repair versus replacement walks through the same decision.
After the storm, before you sign
Every hail season, the day after a storm crosses the metro, the door-knocking starts in Ankeny, Waukee and Grimes. Some of those crews are fine. Many are registered nowhere, insured nowhere, and gone by October. Iowa doesn't license roofers, but it does require contractors to register with the state and carry workers' compensation, and it bars any roofer from offering to cover your insurance deductible. If someone on your porch is offering a free roof, that is the law they're planning to break with your name on the claim.
Take the photos, call your insurer, and get a written scope from a roofing company with a 515 number and an address you can drive to. If you typed roofer near me Des Moines into your phone after a storm and landed here, the storm damage page explains how the claim works, and the about page explains what Iowa actually requires of us.
Questions we get asked
How much does roof repair cost in Des Moines?
Most roof repair in Des Moines runs $300 to $1,500. A pipe boot or a handful of wind-lifted shingles sits at the low end; rebuilding chimney flashing on a Beaverdale brick chimney or replacing rotted decking under a valley is toward the top. If more than a third of the roof needs work, we'll show you replacement numbers side by side.
What does a roof replacement cost in Des Moines?
Architectural shingles installed run $450 to $750 per square (100 sq ft) in the metro, so a typical 1,800 sq ft home with a 22–28 square roof is $10,000 to $20,000. Steep pitches, a second layer to tear off, and decking repairs add to that. Steel is roughly two to three times the price.
Do you handle hail and derecho insurance claims?
Yes. We photograph and chalk the damage on the roof, write a scope your adjuster can read line by line, and meet the adjuster on site if you want us there. We do not pay or rebate your deductible — Iowa law bars roofing contractors from doing that, and a roofer offering it is planning to inflate the invoice.
Are you licensed in Iowa?
Iowa doesn't license roofers. It requires contractors to register with the Iowa Division of Labor and to show proof of workers' compensation and unemployment insurance coverage. We're registered and insured, and we'll send the certificates before a crew arrives. You can look any contractor up on the state's registration search in a minute.
Can you fix a leak this week?
Usually, yes. Active leaks are scheduled ahead of everything else. If water is coming in right now, we'll tarp it first and do the permanent repair once the roof is dry. Emergency roof repair in Des Moines after a storm is triaged by how much water is getting in, not by who called first.
Do you remove ice dams?
Yes, with low-pressure steam, which cuts through the ice without tearing the shingles underneath. Then we look at why it formed — almost always warm air leaking into the attic — and price the air-sealing and ventilation work that stops it. See the ice dam repair page.
Need roof work in Des Moines?
Call for a free estimate. Mon–Sat 7am–7pm.