Residential roofers quote per square installed. The only thing between an address and a real quote is sizing the roof: how many squares of shingle, how much ridge cap, how many valleys for ice-and-water, what pitch class the install falls into. Done manually, that's a drone flight or a ladder climb plus 20–30 minutes of measurement, or an EagleView pull at $20–$40 per home — which adds up fast when prospecting at volume. Done with Roof Launch: about 30 seconds, free.
How instant roof measurement works
When the Render Agent generates an AI render of a roof with a new shingle, it simultaneously pulls roof geometry from a stack of Google data sources:
- Google Solar API provides per-facet rooftop geometry — every plane, ridge, edge, and hip with precise dimensions. Originally built for sizing solar arrays, the same geometry feeds shingle quantity perfectly.
- Satellite imagery resolves dormers, complex valleys, and detached structures (garages, sheds) that might also need shingle.
- Google Roads API identifies which side of the home faces the street, which surfaces front-facing renders that match what the homeowner sees from the curb.
The output is six numbers attached to every render: squares, pitch class, total ridge linear feet, total valley linear feet, hip linear feet, and number of roof facets. These feed directly into the customer portal's pricing tier — the homeowner sees their material-tier prices the moment they scan the postcard.
Why this changes the unit economics
Without instant measurement, the contractor workflow looks like this: render the address → drive to property → fly drone or pull EagleView → manually calculate squares + ridge — send quote → wait. Each step adds friction and drops conversion, and the cost-to-quote a cold lead is high enough that mailing 200 addresses isn't economic.
With instant measurement, the workflow collapses: render the street → press send. Homeowners get postcards showing their rendered roof + material-tier prices, scan, see their personalized customer portal, and pay a refundable inspection deposit. Zero contractor time on tire-kickers; homeowners self-qualify.
The math compounds. Roof Launch contractors average $32 in install revenue for every $1 spent on mailed roof quotes, partly because the cost-to-quote a single lead is so low that mailing 200 homes at $1 each is rational. Without instant measurement, $20 EagleView fees per quote + driver time would make $1 mailings unworkable.
Accuracy and when to verify on-site
For typical pitched residential roofs, Roof Launch's auto-measurement is within 5–8% of EagleView and within 3–7% of a hand-measured number — accurate enough to quote and collect an inspection deposit. The contractor should still verify on-site before ordering material:
- Walk the roof for deck condition (any soft spots).
- Confirm exact valley + ridge lengths against EagleView at the moment of material order.
- Catch any hidden valleys or accent gables that satellite didn't resolve.
The auto-measurement collapses cold-address-to-deposit-paid; the site visit collapses deposit-paid to permitted install.
How auto-pricing uses the measurement
In Roof Launch, the contractor sets per-square pricing for each material tier in their account — typically 3-tab, architectural, designer/luxury, and synthetic-underlayment upgrades. From that point on, every rendered roof auto-generates three tier prices:
- Standard architectural = squares × architectural rate + ridge/valley pricing
- Designer shingle = squares × designer rate + ridge/valley pricing
- Premium / synthetic underlay = squares × premium rate + accessory upgrades
All three tier prices appear on the homeowner's customer portal, anchored to the rendered photo of their roof with each material option. The homeowner picks the tier they're comfortable with and pays an inspection deposit on the spot.
See the roofing pricing guide for typical per-square ranges by region and material tier.
What this replaces
- Drone flights for measurement. A 30-minute on-site task that doesn't scale to mailed-quote volumes.
- EagleView at $20-$40 per home. Reasonable for jobs you've already won; expensive for prospecting at scale.
- Homeowner-reported roof size. Almost always off by 30%+ in either direction. Roof Launch surfaces a real square count before the contractor is even contacted.
- Eyeballed Google Earth tracing. Fast but inconsistent across estimators. Solar API geometry is the same for every render, every contractor, every region.
Size any roof in 30 seconds. Free.
Free account, free rendering, automatic squares + pitch + ridges on every render. $1 per mailed roof quote when you're ready to send.
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