New Construction in Orlando, FL

New Construction in Orlando, FL

New construction roofing in Orlando means putting a roof on a home that’s being built from the ground up, and Central Florida’s climate makes this a different job than anywhere else. You’re not just picking shingles; you’re making a decision that has to hold up to hurricane season, 50-plus inches of annual rainfall, and relentless UV exposure that cooks lesser materials in seven to nine years. Tilehurst Roofing Orlando handles new construction roofing for homeowners and custom builders across the city, from College Park to Lake Nona to Dr. Phillips, and every job starts the same way: a written price in your hands before any work begins. Call (850) 303-7235 to talk through your project.

This page is part of our broader Roof Replacement & Installation in Orlando work. New construction is its own discipline with its own schedule, its own code requirements, and its own failure points. If you’re building a home, adding an addition, or finishing a detached structure like a garage or pool house, here’s what you need to know before the first truss goes up.

When You Need New Construction

Most people associate roofing with replacement, but new construction is a different animal entirely. Here are the situations where new construction roofing applies:

• You’re building a custom home. The roof goes on after framing and before interior finishes, and the schedule is tight. In neighborhoods like Baldwin Park and Winter Park’s tree-heavy lots, we time the roofing directly with your GC’s framing and MEP rough-in so no rain delay sits on your lumber.
• You’re adding a significant addition. A second-story addition or a large master suite extension means the new roof section has to tie into the existing one. That tie-in point, where new decking meets old decking, is where we see the most leaks on DIY or cut-rate jobs in Orlando.
• You’re building a detached structure. A workshop, detached garage, ADU, or pool cabana in areas like Conway or Belle Isle needs a roof designed for Central Florida humidity, not just whatever the shed kit came with.
• Your builder handed you a roofing allowance. Many Orlando builders give buyers a “roofing allowance” and then install the cheapest architectural shingle on the market. We work directly with the homeowner at this stage to spec what actually goes on the home, using materials from GAF, CertainTeed, or Owens Corning, and the written price stays written.
• You’re doing a full teardown and rebuild. A lot of Orlando’s 1950s and 60s ranch homes in neighborhoods like Audubon Park and Colonialtown are being torn down and rebuilt. The new roof needs to meet current Florida Building Code wind-load requirements, which are stricter now than when the original roof went up.

If any of these describe your project, the roof is not the place to trim the budget. Orlando’s summer afternoon thunderstorms are a daily roof test from June through September. Get the roof wrong on a new build and you’re looking at interior damage before you’ve even moved furniture in.

Our New Construction Process

Greg Holloway, owner at Tilehurst Roofing Orlando, runs new construction jobs with a process that works whether you’re a first-time custom home builder or an owner-builder managing your own project:

1. Plan review and material selection. We look at your plans, your truss layout, your roof pitch, and your HOA requirements if you’re in a deed-restricted community like Celebration or Lake Nona. Then we walk you through material options. You get a genuine choice: architectural shingles from GAF or CertainTeed, designer options from Owens Corning, or tile from Boral if you’re building in a style that calls for it.
2. Written price before anything starts. The Kingswell Way starts with this and we don’t negotiate it away. You’ll have the full new construction roofing price in writing, itemized, before any material hits the job site. No allowance games, no change orders that triple the number.
3. Scheduling with your builder. We coordinate directly with your GC or framing crew so the roof goes on the day the framing inspection clears. In Orlando, that window matters: a framed house can sit bare for weeks if the roofer no-shows, and afternoon storms will saturate the decking. We show up in the window we gave.
4. Installation: decking, underlayment, drip edge, flashing, shingles. We inspect and install the full system. Decking gets checked for proper nailing and spacing. A high quality synthetic underlayment goes down, not felt paper that tears. Drip edge gets installed at the eaves and rakes to direct water into the gutters, not behind them. Flashing gets hand-cut around every penetration: vents, pipes, skylights, and chimneys. Then the shingles go on with the manufacturer’s required fastener pattern. Every layer matters.
5. Ridge cap and ventilation. A new construction roof without proper ventilation fails early in Orlando’s heat. We install ridge cap shingles and confirm your intake and exhaust ventilation are balanced. An attic that hits 140 degrees in August cooks shingles from underneath and shortens their life by years.
6. Final walkthrough and the written guarantee. Before we leave, you get a written guarantee covering the work. Not a verbal promise. Not a “call us if something happens.” A document in your hand before the crew rolls off, backed by the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right, for a full year after the job.

New Construction Pricing in Orlando

New construction roofing in Orlando typically runs $4.50 to $9.50 per square foot installed, depending on the material, the roof’s complexity, and the pitch. A 2,000 square foot roof (which is different from the home’s living square footage) on a simple gable design with architectural shingles generally lands between $9,000 and $14,000. Higher-end choices like stone-coated steel or Boral tile can push into the $18 to $28 per square foot range.

Here’s a breakdown of what to expect for materials on a typical 2,000 square foot roof in the Orlando market:

• 3-tab shingles: $4.50 to $6.50 per square foot installed. The cheapest option, and honestly, not something we recommend for a new build in Orlando. The wind rating and longevity aren’t competitive with architectural shingles.
• Architectural shingles: $6.00 to $8.50 per square foot installed. This is the sweet spot for most Orlando new construction. GAF Timberline, CertainTeed Landmark, and Owens Corning Duration all fall in this range and carry 30-year to lifetime warranties.
• Designer or impact-resistant shingles: $8.50 to $12.00 per square foot installed. Worth considering if you’re building in a higher-exposure area or just want a thicker, more dimensional look.
• Boral concrete or clay tile: $15.00 to $28.00 per square foot installed. For Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean, or custom luxury builds in neighborhoods like Windermere or Bay Hill, this is the authentic look. It requires engineered trusses, so the cost is not just the tile itself.

What moves the price: roof pitch (anything steeper than 7/12 costs more in labor and safety equipment), the number of valleys and penetrations (more flashing, more cutting, more time), the decking condition if you’re tying into an existing structure, and whether your job requires upgraded underlayment for a fortified home designation. We give you the full price in writing before you commit, and that price doesn’t change unless you change the scope. Call (850) 303-7235 for a free new construction estimate; we’ll come out, walk the plans or the site, and put the numbers in front of you.

Why New Construction Roofing Is Different in Orlando

If you’ve built a home up north, or if you’re working with an out-of-state builder, there are Central Florida specifics that don’t show up on a generic roofing bid. The most obvious is wind. The Florida Building Code requires new roofs in Orlando to meet High Velocity Hurricane Zone standards in certain areas and 140 to 150 mph wind ratings depending on the specific location. That affects everything from the underlayment spec to the fastener pattern to the type of shingle that’s code compliant.

Then there’s the heat and humidity. A roof in Orlando takes a beating that a roof in Ohio or Georgia doesn’t. UV index regularly hits 10+ in the summer. Afternoon thunderstorms dump an inch of rain in 45 minutes. Attic ventilation isn’t optional; it’s the difference between a shingle that lasts 25 years and one that’s curling at year 9.

We also see a specific pattern in new construction here that homeowners should know about: production builders in the Orlando metro, particularly in the faster-growing corridors like Horizon West, Clermont, and St. Cloud, sometimes cut corners on roofing because the buyer never sees it before closing. We regularly get called to inspect brand new homes where the drip edge is missing, the underlayment is the cheapest felt available, and the shingles were nailed high instead of in the nail zone. By the time the homeowner finds out, the builder’s one year warranty has expired and the roof is leaking.

That’s why we work with homeowners during the build, not just afterwards. You can spec the roof yourself. You can require the written price. You can choose materials from GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning, IKO, Atlas, Tamko, or Boral, and you don’t have to accept whatever the builder’s allowance covers. You’re paying for the home. The roof should be what you want on it.

Materials We Install on New Construction

You have real options. Here are four of the seven manufacturers we work with, and the specific lines we recommend for Orlando new construction:

• GAF Timberline HDZ: The most common architectural shingle in the Orlando market. 25-year wind warranty, layer-lock technology, and a wide color range. A solid default choice for most new builds.
• CertainTeed Landmark: Strong dimensional profile and one of the best algae-resistance warranties in the business. Orlando’s humidity creates algae streaks on roofs faster than almost anywhere in the country, so this matters more than you’d think.
• Owens Corning Duration: Has a patented surenail strip that makes installation faster and more consistent, and carries a 130 mph wind rating standard. Good middle ground between price and performance.
• Boral tile: The heavyweight option for custom builds. Concrete and clay tile from Boral is tested for Florida wind conditions and carries a 50-year-plus life span. Requires proper truss engineering, so we coordinate early with your builder.

The other three brands we carry, IKO, Atlas, and Tamko, round out the lineup when a specific color, profile, or price point is needed. The point is this: you’re not locked into one house brand because that’s what happens to be in the truck. You pick what fits the home and the budget, and the written price reflects your choice.

Common New Construction Mistakes We Fix

We get called to inspect a lot of new roofs in Orlando, and we see the same mistakes over and over. If you’re in the middle of a build right now, here’s what to watch for:

• No drip edge. Drip edge is a metal strip at the roof’s edge that directs water into the gutter. It’s code required in Florida. It’s also the single most commonly skipped item on production builds because it saves maybe $400 on a whole roof. Without it, water wicks back under the shingles and rots the fascia board.
• Improperly flashed penetrations. Every pipe, vent, and exhaust on a roof is a potential leak point. The flashing has to be cut and fitted correctly, not covered in roofing cement and called done. We hand-flash every penetration on every new construction job.
• Skipped or improper underlayment. The underlayment is the waterproof layer under the shingles. Synthetic underlayment costs more than felt but holds up far better. On a new Orlando roof, this is not negotiable; we install synthetic on every job.
• High nailing. Shingles have a marked nail zone, and nails that go above it fail in wind. It’s the most common reason brand new roofs lose shingles in the first storm season.
• Inadequate ventilation. A new roof without balanced intake and exhaust ventilation traps heat in the attic and cooks the shingles from below. In Orlando, that cuts the shingle life in half.

If any of that sounds like what’s happening on your build, call (850) 303-7235. We’ll come inspect it and tell you honestly what you’re looking at. No pressure, no upsell.

Code and Permit Requirements in Orlando

New construction roofing in Orlando is done under the same building permit as the rest of the home, and the roofing work has to pass the same inspections. The City of Orlando and Orange County both require a roofing permit for new construction, and the roof must meet the current edition of the Florida Building Code. That includes the wind load requirements specific to Orlando’s location in the central part of the state: most of the Orlando metro is in the 140 to 150 mph wind speed zone, which means the fastener pattern, underlayment, and shingle rating all have to match.

We’re state-licensed and insured, and we handle the paperwork and inspections as part of the job. Your builder doesn’t have to chase the roofer’s permit. We’re on the job when we said we’d be there, and the paperwork is done before we start.

How New Construction Compares to Roof Replacement

If you’re deciding between new construction roofing and a full Roof Replacement & Installation, the distinction is simple: new construction means the roof is going on a structure that has never had a roof. Everything starts fresh: the decking, the underlayment, the flashing, the ventilation. Replacement means we’re removing an existing roof down to the decking and rebuilding from there.

New construction is usually cleaner because there’s no tear-off, no disposal, no surprises hidden under the old shingles. But it also demands tighter coordination with your builder and a roofer who shows up when framing clears. Orlando’s building seasons are disrupted by daily afternoon rain from June onward, and a roofer who pushes you back two weeks on a new build costs you lumber that’s been sitting in the weather. We don’t do that. We answer the phone when you call, show up in the window we gave, and keep the schedule we committed to.

New Construction for Orlando Area Builders and Investors

If you’re a builder or investor doing spec homes or rental properties in Orlando, we work with you differently than we do with a homeowner. You need a roofing partner who can handle volume without cutting corners, who keeps the written price on every house, and who doesn’t leave you with warranty callbacks that eat your margin.

We’ve worked on new construction in communities across the Orlando metro: Poinciana, Winter Garden, Lake Nona, Apopka, Oviedo. The written guarantee follows every single house, which means you never get the 3 a.m. phone call from a tenant about a leak with no roofer to call. Every repair we do inside the guarantee period is free under the 365-Day Done Right Promise. That’s the Kingswell Way: say the price before the work, show up in the window we gave, leave the place cleaner than we found it, put the guarantee in writing, and come back if it fails.

FAQs – New Construction

How much does new construction roofing cost in Orlando?

New construction roofing in Orlando typically costs $4.50 to $9.50 per square foot for asphalt shingles, with a 2,000 square foot roof on a simple gable design landing between $9,000 and $14,000 total. Boral tile and other premium materials run $15 to $28 per square foot. The exact price depends on the roof pitch, complexity, and material choice. Call (850) 303-7235 for a free written estimate for your specific project.

What’s the best roofing material for new construction in Orlando?

Architectural shingles from GAF, CertainTeed, or Owens Corning are the best value for most Orlando new construction, balancing wind resistance, longevity, and cost. Boral tile is the best choice for luxury custom homes where the architectural style calls for it and the trusses are engineered accordingly. We walk through all the manufacturer options, including IKO, Atlas, and Tamko, before you commit.

How long does new construction roofing take in Orlando?

A typical new construction roof on a standard home takes one to three days once the framing inspection clears, depending on the roof’s size and complexity. The bigger variable in Orlando is scheduling; we coordinate with your builder so the roof goes on as soon as the framing is approved, and we don’t leave a framed house exposed to afternoon storms any longer than necessary.

Do I need a separate roofing permit for new construction in Orlando?

Roofing is included in the building permit for new construction, but the work still has to pass inspections and meet Florida Building Code wind load requirements. We’re state-licensed and insured, and we handle the paperwork and coordinate with the building department as part of the job. If you need a roof on a new home or addition in Orlando, call (850) 303-7235 and we’ll tell you exactly what applies to your project.

Written by Greg Holloway, Owner at Tilehurst Roofing Orlando, serving Orlando.