Roofing, Gutters & Siding in Union County, NJ
Union County is almost exactly a coin flip: 105,660 of its 212,385 housing units are single-family detached and 106,725 are not. That one number decides whether your re-roof is unpermitted ordinary maintenance or filed, inspected work — and it flips between towns, sometimes between streets. We take Union work surveyed, quoted and booked on a date. NJHIC #13VH13970900.
Union County does not have a single roofing story, and the split is not subtle. ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates, table B25024, put 105,660 of the county's 212,385 housing units in the “1, detached” bucket — 49.75%. The other 106,725, 50.25%, are something else. At least 70,669 of those, one in three units countywide, sit in building types the state's roofing exemption cannot reach under any reading, because they are single-family attached or three units and up.
That matters because the exemption turns on one word. N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.7(c)1x makes replacing an existing roof covering ordinary maintenance — no permit, no inspection — on a DETACHED one- or two-family dwelling, and nowhere else. So in Union County “do I need a permit” is genuinely open on roughly half the addresses we quote, and settling it is the first thing a survey does. Precision Windows & Roofing works Union out of Garfield, NJHIC #13VH13970900, insured, GAF certified, with a workmanship warranty that transfers when you sell. (201) 275-9185.
- how a full replacement runs — Tear-off, deck repair, underlayment, flashing and ventilation. Read it knowing it is written for a full replacement — on a third of Union County that is permitted, inspected work rather than the exempt case.
- flat & low-slope roofing — EPDM, TPO and modified bitumen, the drainage floor the code sets, and why a low-slope roof is a seams-and-drainage trade. The Elizabeth half of this county is full of them.
- roof flashing repair — Step, apron, kick-out, valley and drip edge — and the one place the 2021 IRC is looser than a bidder will tell you, which is worth knowing before you accuse anyone of a code violation.
- commercial & multi-unit roofing — Written for the building that cannot close: sequencing, who has authority to sign, and phasing. On a building of three units and up the governing text is the building subcode, not the sections we quote to house owners.
- free roof inspection — On the roof and into the attic, photographed and written up. On a Union County address the first thing it settles is which side of the permit line your building is on.
- roofing across North Jersey — The main roofing page — what we install and repair, how a job is sequenced, and the counties where emergency dispatch applies.
The same re-roof is exempt in one town and permitted work in the next
The county-level coin flip hides a six-fold swing inside it. In Berkeley Heights, 4,101 of 4,905 housing units are single-family detached — 83.61%. In Elizabeth, 6,783 of 48,976 are — 13.85% — and 26,607 units there, a clear majority at 54.33%, are in building types the exemption cannot reach at all. A further 15,491 Elizabeth units sit in the “2” bucket and qualify only if the building is itself detached.
Read that as one sentence: the identical job, on the identical roof, is unpermitted ordinary maintenance at one address and filed, inspected, permitted work twenty minutes east. One caution on the numbers — B25024 counts housing units rather than buildings, and its small-multifamily buckets are “2” and “3 or 4”, so nothing here can be reported as a count of houses or split out to three-families. It is enough to tell you which question to ask about your own building.
Nearly everything here is a re-roof over somebody else's decisions
Union County has essentially stopped adding housing: 2,226 units, 1.05%, were built 2020 or later, and 197,916 — 93.19% — predate 2010. Meanwhile 72,937 units, 34.34%, went up between 1940 and 1959, a higher share than any county we work. The forms our crews actually find on those roofs are the Cape, the ranch, the split-level and the bi-level, plus pre-war two-family stock in Elizabeth and Garwood.
Every one of those forms carries at least one roof plane that is not the main pitched field — a porch, a breezeway, a shed dormer, a garage tie-in, a low wing dying into a taller wall. Those junctions are where this stock leaks, they are usually under the siding where nobody looks, and they were last touched by whoever was on the roof before us. Asphalt shingles are not permitted below 2:12 at all, and from 2:12 to 4:12 the code calls for a double underlayment application, so a shallow plane is a different assembly and a legitimate reason one quote will not compare line-for-line against a cheaper one.
Roof leaking right now? We answer 24/7.
Twenty-one construction offices, and one town with a real historic gate
Union County is 21 municipalities across 102.77 square miles. The classification at N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.7 is statewide and binds every enforcing agency, but whether a specific building qualifies is a local determination — so on a borderline building we confirm with that town's office before the tear-off rather than after it.
One town has a review that genuinely gates the work. Westfield designates exactly one local historic district, the Kimball Avenue District — fifteen properties, listed by address — plus an enumerated landmark list, and a Certificate of Appropriateness is required before work begins on any of them. If your address is one of those, the meeting calendar goes into the quote. Cranford's preservation body describes itself as advisory, documenting and educating rather than issuing certificates; we could not read the township code chapter it points to, so we confirm at the address rather than promise you there is nothing to clear.
What affects the cost
| Which side of the permit line the building is on | On a detached one- or two-family the covering replacement is exempt; on attached, three-family and up it is filed and inspected work with a different scope and a different calendar. |
|---|---|
| Number of separate roof planes | Porches, breezeways, shed dormers and garage tie-ins each bring their own flashing assembly. The count of junctions drives the number more than the square footage does on this stock. |
| Slope of the shallowest plane | Below 2:12 asphalt shingles are not permitted and the correct assembly is a membrane; 2:12 to 4:12 requires double underlayment. Either one is a different scope from the main field. |
| Layer count, plane by plane | A recover is barred where two or more coverings are already on — and on a house that grew in pieces the porch, the dormer and the main field were often last done in different decades. |
| Flat and low-slope membrane work | On the Elizabeth end of the county the roof is frequently a membrane with parapets, internal drains and ponding to correct, which is a seams-and-drainage trade rather than a shingle one. |
| Historic review where it applies | On the fifteen Kimball Avenue District addresses and Westfield's landmark list, a Certificate of Appropriateness comes before the work and the review calendar is part of the schedule. |
We don't bundle a mystery number — you get a firm, free on-site quote, approved before any work starts.
Common questions
Do you actually cover Union County?
We do, as scheduled work: surveyed, quoted, and booked on a date out of the Garfield shop. The emergency dispatch advertised elsewhere on this site is scoped to four counties that do not include this one, and we would rather say that plainly than take a 2 a.m. call we cannot answer well. For a written scope and a start date, ring (201) 275-9185.
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Union County?
It depends on the building, and in this county that is a real answer rather than a hedge. A detached one- or two-family house having its covering replaced is exempt. Half of Union's housing units are not detached single-family, and at least a third are in types the exemption cannot reach however you read it — so on a large share of the addresses we quote the roof is filed, inspected work with a different calendar. The other way to lose the exemption is scope: go past the covering into decking or framing and it becomes permitted work whatever the building is.
My house is in Westfield. Do I need historic approval?
Only if your address is on the list. Westfield designates one local historic district — Kimball Avenue, fifteen properties named by address — plus an enumerated landmark list, and a Certificate of Appropriateness is required before work begins on those. Everywhere else in Westfield, and in the other twenty municipalities, nothing historic gates a roof job. We check the address rather than assume either way, and where a review applies we build its calendar into the quote instead of discovering it late.
Is ice-and-water shield required at my eaves here?
No — the eave ice barrier is triggered only where the average daily January temperature is 25°F or less, and in this state that is Sussex County alone. The more useful Union County answer is about slope, not ice: on a porch, breezeway or garage tie-in running under 2:12, self-adhered membrane is not an upgrade, it is the correct material, because asphalt shingles are not permitted there at all. We run membrane at eaves too, as our own specification rather than the code's.
Explore
Get your free roofing quote
Free, no-obligation on-site assessment across North Jersey — and we answer the phone 24/7.