Metal Roofing Installation in San Antonio and Austin, TX

Austin sits inside the most active hail belt in the country. Texas logged 902 major hail events in 2025, more than any other state. And the storms that hurt worst around here have come down from the north: baseball hail over Georgetown in May 2020, the April 2021 outbreak across Travis and Williamson counties, four-inch stones in Round Rock on September 24, 2023, then another round through Georgetown and east Round Rock in April 2025. The National Weather Service called that 2023 storm the most costly ever to hit the Austin region. We know streets in Round Rock and Georgetown where shingle roofs have been replaced twice since 2020. That gets old fast.

Metal changes the math. Hail that would bruise an asphalt shingle bounces off heavier-gauge steel, leaving a cosmetic dent at worst. Good panel finishes bounce back a big share of the summer sun too, so the attic stays cooler and the AC cycles less through the 100-degree stretches Austin now gets every August. Steel doesn't curl, crack or drop granules the way asphalt does after ten summers like that. But the real selling point is lifespan. In Central Texas heat an asphalt roof typically lasts 15 to 25 years, while metal panels are commonly rated for 40 to 70. Put it on once. You'll probably never replace it.

Then there's fire. West Austin neighborhoods such as Lakeway and Steiner Ranch sit in the wildland-urban interface, and a noncombustible metal roof assembly is one of the simplest ways to harden a Hill Country house against blowing embers.

So here's where we land. Staying in the house more than ten years? On nearly every Austin-area home with a decent pitch, metal's the better buy. Selling in three? Architectural shingles still make sense.

Every metal roof we quote comes down to two systems. Standing seam is wide, flat panels with raised vertical ribs that lock together, held to the deck by hidden clips. R-panel goes by a few names (screw-down, exposed-fastener, ag panel), and it's a ribbed sheet screwed straight through the face with gasketed screws. Both are steel. They just age differently over 30 Texas summers.

Fastener type

Standing seam uses concealed clips, so there aren't any screw holes in the weather surface. R-panel has hundreds of exposed screws with rubber washers, and once a washer ages out, that screw's a possible leak.

Hail performance

We install standing seam in 24-gauge steel, riding on clips that let the panels flex, and it takes Williamson County hail well. R-panel is often 26- or 29-gauge. Thinner, flatter between the ribs, and quicker to show a dent. The screw heads catch direct hits as well.

Maintenance

Keep the gutters clean on a standing seam roof and have the flashing checked every three to five years. That's about it. R-panel screws back out as the sheets expand and contract, so you'll want a fastener check and re-seal every eight to twelve years. Skip it and we'll probably meet on the metal roof repair page.

Look

Standing seam gives you the clean, architectural lines you see on Hill Country custom homes out by Dripping Springs and Lakeway. R-panel looks like a barn roof. Put it on a house and it still looks like a barn roof.

Cost band

R-panel is the lower band. On a simple gable it often comes in not far above a premium architectural shingle roof. Standing seam costs well above that: heavier panels, more involved clips and trim, slower labor. We don't publish prices, though. Real numbers go on a written estimate once we've measured.

Best for

Standing seam suits primary residences, custom builds, steep or complicated roofs, and anybody who'd like to install once and forget about it. R-panel suits barns, workshops, carports, low-slope porches and rentals, where cost per square foot makes the decision.

Still torn? Our standing seam metal roofing page has the full breakdown. Short answer from us: on the home you live in, standing seam's worth the difference, and on an outbuilding you don't need to spend it.

No question comes up more from people pricing a roof replacement. Five rows cover most of it.

• Lifespan. Architectural shingles give you 15 to 25 years in Central Texas sun. Metal gives you 40 to 70, depending on gauge and finish.
• Hail and wind. Class 4 impact-rated shingles stand up well to one-inch hail. Heavier-gauge standing seam takes the two-inch-plus stones that hit Round Rock in 2023 with cosmetic denting at most, and interlocked panels hold against wind uplift better than any shingle we put on.
• Weight. Metal's lighter than asphalt. That matters on older framing and pier and beam homes.
• Maintenance. Shingles shed granules and want a repair now and then. Standing seam needs almost nothing, while R-panel needs its fasteners checked.
• Upfront cost. Shingles are the lower band, by a wide margin. Metal costs more on day one and less per year of service over its life.

We'd still pick shingles in four cases: a tight budget, an HOA with strict look-alike rules, a historic district, or a sale inside three years. Sound like you? Our asphalt shingle roofing crews install Owens Corning and GAF lines in both metros.

We almost never see a metal roof blown off. That's not how they fail. What we do see is dented panels after hail, backed-out screws on ten-year-old R-panel, seam leaks where somebody cut a panel short at a valley, and rust working in from an unsealed cut edge or the wrong screw. Most of it can be fixed, and our metal roof repair crews handle it in both metros.

Hail is where the insurance questions start, so read your policy. More and more Texas homeowner policies carry a cosmetic damage exclusion for metal roofs. Under it, an adjuster can call a dented panel cosmetic and deny the claim, even when the hail cracked the paint finish and that panel's going to rust. That fight is exactly why we keep former insurance adjusters on staff. Bring us the denial letter. We'll document the damage, write the supplement and sit in on the inspection, the same way we handle hail damage roof repair on shingle roofs. All six steps are laid out on our insurance claims page.

Cory L. said it better than we could in his Google review. His insurer turned down the metal roof quote at first, and after our team stepped in, "their team had us approved and repaired in less than 13 days. Our roof color is a much better match to our brick."

Metal doesn't forgive much. Cut a panel half an inch short at a valley, or screw a ridge cap through the flat, and it'll leak, maybe for two years before you notice. So this is how we work.

1. Free estimate and measure. We walk the roof, photograph every slope and penetration, and check the decking from the attic. What you get is a written quote, not a satellite guess.
2. Profile, gauge and color. You choose standing seam or R-panel, panel width, steel gauge and paint finish, with samples in hand. Lighter colors reflect more heat. In Texas sun a PVDF finish outlasts basic polyester paint.
3. Permits and HOA. Where the city requires a permit, we pull it. If your HOA pushes back, Texas Property Code 202.011 is on your side (see the FAQ below).
4. Tear-off and decking. Off come the old shingles, and any soft or rotted decking gets replaced before anything new goes down.
5. High-temperature underlayment. Metal panels get hot, so we lay a synthetic underlayment rated for it, plus ice-and-water membrane at valleys, eaves and penetrations.
6. Panels, trim and flashing. Panels are run to length for your roof, which means no horizontal laps on standard slopes, and we form the ridge, eave, rake, valley and pipe flashings to match.
7. Walkthrough and cleanup. Magnets go over the yard, the debris gets hauled off, and we walk the finished roof with you.

Most residential metal installs take two to five days, depending on size and how complicated the roof is. The Austin line covers Travis, Williamson and Hays counties. Our San Antonio crews cover Bexar County and the Hill Country towns where metal's close to the default, places like Boerne, New Braunfels and Dripping Springs. Details are on our process page and the Austin service area page.