Orlando roofing by neighborhood and house age

One city, three kinds of roof job

A 1930s bungalow in College Park, a 1980s ranch in Rio Pinar and a 2015 two-story in Avalon Park all carry an Orlando address. They need three different tear-off plans, and they may not even share a permit office. This page sorts the city by neighborhood, by the decade a house went up and by who issues the permit. For our full service list, see the Orlando roofing company overview.

We have worked from Scallion Court, near Union Park, since 2004, and most Orlando addresses are about 15 minutes away. The crew that tears off your roof is ours, so the same people come back if something needs a second look.

• College Park, Audubon Park and the streets around downtown. Older bungalows, board decking, low-slope back rooms and years of patch jobs.
• Union Park, Rio Pinar, Conway and Waterford Lakes. Ranch houses and early subdivisions from the 1970s through the 1990s, most on their second or third roof.
• Avalon Park, Baldwin Park and the southeast. Homes from 2000 on, often under HOA review, many reaching their first re-roof.

Orlando's housing stock in four numbers

The 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey puts 148,754 housing units inside Orlando city limits, with a median build year of 1992. The median hides a split.

The 2000s were the busiest single decade. Orlando is also a renter city. Owners occupy 51,828 of 131,179 occupied units, about 40 percent. For the houses and townhomes that owners live in, the build year sets the shape of the roof job.

Here is how we read those numbers. Shingles on an Orlando house tend to hold up for 15 to 22 years. A house from 1975 is likely on its third or fourth roof, sitting on decking about 50 years old. A house from 2005 may still have its first shingles, now about 21 years old and at the far end of that range. With the 2000s as the city's largest building decade, a wave of first re-roofs is due now. Our guide on how long a roof lasts in Florida covers what shortens the clock.

Matching the job to the decade

Built before 1980. College Park, Audubon Park and the older streets east of downtown often have board decking, a low-slope addition and decades of patches. A leak is often flashing where the addition meets the main roof, and a roof repair in the $350 to $1,500 range can solve it. When the shingles are worn out and the decking is soft in several places, a new roof is the better spend. Decking repair is its own line in the written estimate, so you see it before work starts.

Built 1980 to 1999. Rio Pinar and Union Park houses are mostly on their second shingle roof, over plywood or OSB, so the tear-off holds fewer surprises. Past 15 years, with granule loss or more than one leak a year, plan a roof replacement.

Built since 2000. About 40 percent of the city's housing falls here. Houses from the 2000s are wearing out their first roof. Many sit under an HOA, where a new color or profile needs architectural review, and we prepare that package. Houses from the 2010s more often need one fix, such as a cracked pipe boot, a few storm-lifted tabs or a loose flashing.

A typical Orlando house costs $12,000 to $22,000 in architectural shingles. Standing seam panels bring it to $26,000 to $48,000, while concrete tile falls between $28,000 and $50,000. A major repair costs $1,500 to $5,000. The roof replacement cost guide breaks those down, and the repair versus replacement guide helps you weigh the two.

Who issues the permit, city hall or Orange County?

An Orlando mailing address does not mean city hall issues the permit. Large parts of East Orlando lie outside the city, where Orange County is the permit office. We check the parcel first, since the two offices run separate systems.

Inside city limits. The City of Orlando processes the permit application, then takes plans online for digital review. Inspections can be booked, moved or cancelled online, by text or by phone.

Unincorporated Orange County. The county takes roof permit applications on Fast Track. The application asks whether the work is a repair or a re-roof, plus its value, the roof square footage, the number of stories and the material. Once it is approved and the fees are paid, the county emails the permit.

Both offices print the same $5,000 line for the Notice of Commencement, taken from Florida Statutes section 713.135. Since a full shingle replacement starts around $12,000, nearly every Orlando re-roof needs one. We record it before the first inspection. Our guide to roof permits in Orlando and Orange County covers the rest.

Charley and Ian at Orlando International

Orlando sits well inland, yet the National Weather Service office in Melbourne has logged hurricane-force gusts at Orlando International Airport.

Charley crossed Orange County after dark on August 13, 2004, the year Assure-U opened. Radar images placed the storm over Orlando International at 8:52 pm and over Orlando at 9:09 pm. The airport sensor caught a 91-knot gust, about 105 mph, and a two-minute sustained wind of 67 knots, about 77 mph. Orlando Executive Airport recorded a 74-knot gust, about 85 mph. Both Orlando airport sensors failed at the height of the storm, so the true peak is unknown. The county count listed 250,000 residences without power, and damage to porches, pool screens and roof tiles. Most damage to houses and cars came from fallen trees.

Ian in September 2022 hit Orlando harder with water than with wind. The airport's peak gust was 64 knots, about 74 mph, and it measured 13.20 inches of rain. A gauge 3 miles south-southwest of University Park, in east Orange County, measured 17.24 inches. The NWS report logs Lake Enola overflowing onto Robinson Street and flooding over Lake Underhill Road from the Little Econlockhatchee River. It puts county property damage at nearly $161 million, mostly from flooding.

Inland roofs fail in that order. Wind lifts shingle edges and breaks the seal strips, and then the rain finds each gap. Creased tabs and lifted ridge caps are hard to see from the driveway and often leak weeks later. The Ian report also records a man who fell from a ladder clearing debris off his roof, so call before you climb. We tarp active leaks first and photograph every slope for your insurer. Our storm damage service and after-the-storm checklist cover the next steps.

Renewal letters on older Orlando roofs

Carriers check roof age closely at renewal, and Orlando has thousands of roofs near the end of a cycle. If your carrier wants a condition report, our free roof inspection gives you a dated photo report for your agent.

If a storm damages part of an older roof, read our guide to Florida's 25 percent roof rule before agreeing to a patch. It explains when code limits on repairs turn a partial job into a full replacement.

A free wind mitigation inspection, arranged by us, follows each replacement. The wind mitigation guide explains what the form records and how insurers use it to set wind premiums. The My Safe Florida Home guide covers the state program for hardening inspections and grants, and how to see whether it is taking applications.