Roof Types · Metal
Metal Roofing in San Antonio
Metal panel systems built for durability — backed by a 20-year workmanship warranty on new installs.
Metal panel systems built for durability — backed by a 20-year workmanship warranty on new installs.
A metal roof is a system, not a single product. What ends up on your house is four separate decisions stacked together: the panel profile, the thickness of the metal (its gauge), the finish laid over it, and how the panels are fastened and sealed — both to each other and to everything that pokes through the roof. Change any one of those and you change the price, the look, and how the roof behaves fifteen years from now.
Holmes installs and repairs metal roofing across the San Antonio metro. A new metal install carries our 20-year workmanship warranty with free annual inspections for up to 10 years, and it sits on top of a Limited Lifetime material warranty from the manufacturer, which runs coverage out to 50 years on 24-gauge material.
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Seam separation, panel dents, and fastener wear — repaired individually rather than defaulting to a full replacement.
Roof Repair →Metal is durable, but large hail can still dent panels — a free inspection documents any impact.
Hail Damage Repair →Metal panel installation backed by a 20-year workmanship warranty, alongside the material warranty from the manufacturer.
Replacement Details →We do not publish a price per square, because a number written before anyone has seen your roof is a guess dressed up as a quote. What we can do is tell you plainly which parts of the job actually move the total, so nothing on the written estimate arrives as a surprise.
| What we look at | Why it changes the number |
|---|---|
| Size and pitch | Square footage sets the material order; pitch sets how slowly and how safely the crew can work on it. |
| Panel profile and gauge | Thicker metal and a more involved panel profile cost more up front and are more resistant to denting. This is the single biggest material decision on the job. |
| Tear-off, or install over what is there | Removing and disposing of an old roof is labour and dump fees. Whether that step is necessary depends on what is underneath, which is what the inspection is for. |
| Decking condition | Soft or rotted decking has to be replaced before anything goes over it. Nobody can price this honestly from the ground. |
| Penetrations and flashing | Pipe boots, vents, valleys, skylights and the chimney chase are where metal roofs actually leak. The flashing detail at each one is real work and it is where a cheap bid quietly cuts corners. |
| Trim, edge metal and gutters | Drip edge, ridge and rake trim finish the system. If your gutters come off to do the edge metal properly, that is a line worth seeing before it appears. |
Our roof replacement cost page walks through the same ground for a full replacement of any system. Financing is available through Synchrony, and approval is based on you rather than on which service you are buying — if you are approved, you are approved regardless of the work, whether that is a metal roof, siding or gutters.
Metal handles impact better than shingle, but it is not dent-proof, and this is where a metal roof calls for a different conversation than any other system on your house. A hailstone that would tear granules off an asphalt shingle may instead leave a dimple in a metal panel. So the question stops being “is it damaged?” and becomes two sharper ones.
A shallow dimple in the flat of a panel usually changes how the roof looks and nothing else. A dent that distorts a seam, unseats a fastener, breaks the finish, or sits where water is meant to run is a different problem — that one has a path to a leak. We photograph and write up both, and we tell you which is which instead of letting you guess.
On a hail call the panels are rarely the whole story. Gutters, edge metal, vents, skylights and soft-metal accessories bruise at smaller stone sizes than the roof panels do, and they are frequently the clearer evidence that a storm actually hit the house. We check the whole exterior on the way down, not just the field of the roof.
| Date | Reported size | Report location |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-05-03 | 4.50″ | Martinez |
| 2021-05-03 | 3.00″ | San Antonio |
| 2021-05-03 | 2.75″ | Brooks Afb |
Across 2020–2026 there are 95 hail reports logged within ten miles of the city centre, in six separate years, 38 of them at 1.5″ or larger and 16 at 2″ or larger. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database (hail reports, 2020–2026). Reports are point observations logged by spotters and trained observers, so they show where hail was recorded — not the full footprint of any storm, and not a substitute for looking at your own roof. NOAA also revises recent months, so the last stretch of any year tends to undercount. Storm or hail damage often qualifies for an insurance claim; our free inspection documents exactly what you have got. We are roofers, not public adjusters — we document, and the claim stays between you and your carrier.
The useful thing to understand about metal is that it almost never fails through the middle of a panel. It fails at the joints, at the fasteners, and at the places where something interrupts the roof — which is why a metal roof is usually repaired rather than torn off, and why a contractor who reaches for a full replacement first is worth a second opinion.
Where two panels meet, they are either mechanically locked or lapped and sealed. Metal expands and contracts with temperature every single day, and over years that movement can work a seam open. Water gets in at the gap long before anything looks wrong from the driveway.
On exposed-fastener systems the screws carry a rubber washer that seals the hole. The same thermal movement can slowly walk a screw out or flatten and crack the washer. Each one is a small hole straight through the roof. Re-fastening and replacing gaskets is routine maintenance, not a replacement trigger — if it is caught.
Large hail and falling limbs dent panels. We separate cosmetic dimpling from any dent that distorts a seam, unseats a fastener or holds standing water, because only one of those has a route to the inside of your house.
The coating on a metal panel is the corrosion protection. A scratch deep enough to reach bare metal — from a dragged ladder, a falling branch, or a previous repair done carelessly — is where surface rust begins. Caught early it is a spot repair; left alone it spreads.
Pipe boots, vents, valleys, skylights and the chimney chase are the most common source of an actual leak on one of these roofs. This is roofing-side chimney work as far as we are concerned — flashing, crown and cap, chimney-chase siding — and it is on our chimney repair page in more detail.
Metal bids are harder to compare than shingle bids, because two quotes can describe genuinely different roofs using the same three words. These are the questions that make two estimates comparable — ask us the same ones.
Thickness and profile are the two specifications that most change what the roof costs and how it handles impact. They belong in writing on the estimate, not in a conversation.
Underlayment is not an optional line. Ask what is being used and whether the existing decking is being inspected or simply covered over.
The answer “we sub that out” is not automatically wrong, but it should not be a surprise discovered on day two. Flashing is where metal roofs leak.
There are two of them and they cover different things. The manufacturer’s material warranty covers the metal and its finish. The workmanship warranty covers the installation — ours runs 20 years on a metal install, with free annual inspections for up to 10 years. Get both in writing. Our warranty page publishes ours.
On metal, more often than on any other system, the honest answer is a repair. If somebody walks your roof and immediately quotes a full tear-off, it is worth a second look. Ours is free.
Three things bring most people to metal. Impact and wind resistance, because the panel is a continuous piece of metal rather than hundreds of individually sealed tabs. Service life, which is long enough that we back the installation for 20 years rather than 15. And a reflective surface that sheds solar heat instead of absorbing it, which can ease cooling load through a South Texas summer.
The tradeoffs are real and we will name them: a higher cost up front, a look that is not for every house, and a repair discipline that not every roofer is set up for. Whether that trade is worth it depends mostly on how long you plan to stay in the home. That is a conversation, not a sales pitch, and it is the one we would rather have before you decide.
Usually, yes. Metal is panelised, so individual panels, seams, fasteners and flashings can be addressed on their own. A full replacement is the answer when damage is widespread across the field of the roof or the system itself has reached the end of its life — not as an opening bid.
Seam separation, screws that look like they are standing proud of the panel, cracked rubber washers, panel dents, and any scratch deep enough to show bare metal. From the ground, watch for staining or streaking below a seam or a penetration. All of it is on the checklist of a free inspection.
Different signature entirely. Wind damage on asphalt shingle is typically a crease at the seal line that lies flat and is nearly invisible from the ground. On metal the failures are mechanical — a seam, a fastener, a dent, a flashing. Both need somebody on the roof to find honestly.
It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what you value in durability and appearance. There is no universally right answer, and anyone who gives you one without seeing your roof is selling. We will walk you through the honest tradeoffs for your specific home.
Sometimes it is appropriate and sometimes it is not — it depends on what is under there and on the condition of the decking. That is exactly the sort of thing the free inspection settles, and we would rather give you the real answer than the convenient one.
A 20-year Holmes workmanship warranty with free annual inspections for up to 10 years, plus a Limited Lifetime material warranty from the manufacturer, which runs coverage out to 50 years on 24-gauge material. Both arrive in writing.
The same 20+ years of Joshua Holmes’s roofing experience behind our shingle and tile work, backed by the longest workmanship warranty we offer. We are registered with the City of San Antonio as HIC-24-00928, and we carry General Liability and Workers’ Compensation coverage.
This work goes out across Bexar County and the towns ringing it. The pages below carry the specifics for each one.
