A GAF certified roofer is a roofing company, not an individual, that has signed GAF’s residential certification agreement at one of three levels: GAF Certified, GAF Certified Plus or GAF Master Elite. All three tiers have the same entry bar (a state license where one is required, $1 million in liability insurance and workers’ compensation), and the tier decides which GAF warranty the company can register on your roof. Master Elite is the only tier that can register the Golden Pledge warranty, and only a Master Elite firm holding a current 3-Star President’s Club award can register the President’s Club warranty, with 40 years of non-prorated workmanship coverage.
By The Roofing Brief Team. Last reviewed: October 2026.
Tier rules here come from GAF’s 2026 program documents, and the tier counts, review medians and result ordering come from 1,919 GAF contractor-locator result pages The Roofing Brief archived between August 25 and October 18, 2026, the same registry that feeds our metro roofer rankings.
GAF certified roofers: key numbers at a glance
The six figures below answer the questions people search for first: how many tiers exist, what each must carry, what Master Elite must hit every year and how long the top warranties cover workmanship. Each row names the GAF document it comes from, dated so you can check whether GAF has revised it.
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Residential certification tiers | 3: GAF Certified, Certified Plus, Master Elite (President’s Club is a yearly award on top of Master Elite) | GAF Residential Program Guidelines, last updated 3/2/2026 |
| Entry requirements, all tiers | State license where required; $1 million liability insurance; workers’ compensation | GAF Residential Program Guidelines, Section I |
| Master Elite yearly minimums (since 1/1/2025) | 1,000 rewards squares, 500 Silver or Golden Pledge warranty squares, 10 learning credits | GAF Residential Program Guidelines, Section III |
| Share claim GAF lets contractors make | Certified: “Only 7% of roofers in North America are invited”; Master Elite: “Only 2%” | GAF Residential Program Guidelines, Section IV |
| Golden Pledge workmanship (Master Elite only) | Lifetime term; 25 years non-prorated on Timberline HDZ and HDZ RS, 30 years on Timberline UHDZ and AS II | GAF residential warranty comparison guide, viewed October 2026 |
| President’s Club warranty workmanship (3-Star winners only) | Lifetime term; 40 years non-prorated | GAF sell sheet RESWT219-0526; 2026 awards valid to January 31, 2027 |
What does GAF certified roofer mean?
“GAF certified” means a roofing business has a signed program agreement with GAF Materials LLC and appears on GAF’s contractor registry at one of three tiers. GAF’s guidelines list identical eligibility for all three: a license in the state of the principal place of business if that state requires one, $1 million in liability insurance and workers’ compensation. GAF adds that it “may also consider” years of roofing experience and customer reviews.
The certification sits with the company. A crew lead who completes GAF CARE classes or the tuition-free GAF Roofing Academy earns a training record, not a company certification, so the name on your contract must match the name on GAF’s registry. GAF also requires every certified firm to publish a disclosure that it is “not an employee or agent of GAF,” that GAF “does not control or otherwise supervise” it, and that it may receive loyalty rewards for offering GAF enhanced warranties.
| Tier or award | How a company gets it | Renewal test | Warranties it can register | Claim GAF allows in ads |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GAF Certified | Meets the license, $1M liability and workers’ comp baseline; GAF review | Stay in good standing under the agreement | System Plus | “Only 7% of roofers in North America are invited” |
| GAF Certified Plus | Same baseline, by GAF invitation | Stay in good standing | System Plus, Silver Pledge | “Only a select group of roofers in North America are invited” |
| GAF Master Elite | Same baseline, by GAF invitation | Yearly: 1,000 rewards squares, 500 Pledge warranty squares, 10 learning credits | System Plus, Silver Pledge, Golden Pledge | “Only 2% of roofers in North America are invited” |
| President’s Club (1, 2 or 3 Star) | Yearly award to Master Elite firms that meet GAF’s award criteria | Re-earned every year; valid February 1 to January 31 | 3-Star only: President’s Club Limited Warranty | “GAF’s highest distinction for Master Elite contractors” |
Source: GAF Residential Program Guidelines (last updated 3/2/2026); GAF “Choose a GAF Certified Roofing Contractor” page and President’s Club sell sheet RESWT219-0526, viewed October 2026.
Which GAF warranty each certification tier can register
The tier matters because it caps the warranty. A GAF Certified firm tops out at System Plus, which covers manufacturing defects plus tear-off and disposal for 50 years non-prorated but includes no workmanship coverage. Workmanship (GAF calls it misapplication) starts at Silver Pledge, which needs Certified Plus or Master Elite, and grows to 25 or 30 non-prorated years under Golden Pledge, which only Master Elite firms can register.
| Warranty | Minimum contractor tier | Shingle and accessory requirement | Non-prorated materials | Tear-off and disposal | Workmanship (misapplication) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shingle & Accessory | None | Any GAF Lifetime shingle | 10 years | Not covered | Not covered |
| GAF Roofing System | None | Timberline plus 3 qualifying GAF accessories | 10 years | Not covered | Not covered |
| System Plus | GAF Certified | Timberline plus 3 qualifying accessories | 50 years | Covered | Not covered |
| Silver Pledge | GAF Certified Plus | Any Timberline plus 4 qualifying accessories | 50 years | Covered | 10 years (Timberline NS, HDZ, HDZ RS); 15 years (AS II, UHDZ) |
| Golden Pledge | GAF Master Elite | Any Timberline except NS, plus 5 qualifying accessories | 50 years | Covered | Lifetime; 25 years non-prorated (HDZ, HDZ RS) or 30 years (AS II, UHDZ) |
| President’s Club | Current 3-Star President’s Club Master Elite | Timberline UHDZ or AS II, or a Designer line, plus 5 accessories | 50 years | Covered | Lifetime; 40 years non-prorated |
Source: GAF residential roof warranty comparison guide (gaf.com/en-us/resources/warranties/residential), viewed October 2026. Qualifying accessory categories are ridge cap, starter strip, leak barrier, roof deck protection and attic ventilation. Lifetime terms apply to individual owners of single-family detached homes; other owners get 40 years.
The President’s Club system is the most product-specific. GAF’s June 2026 sell sheet (RESWT219-0526) requires one product from each of five columns: roof deck protection such as Deck-Armor or Tiger Paw, a leak barrier such as StormGuard or WeatherWatch, a starter strip such as WeatherBlocker or QuickStart, a ridge cap such as TimberTex, TimberCrest or Seal-A-Ridge, and attic ventilation such as Cobra Rigid Vent 3 or Cobra IntakePro. Qualifying shingles are Timberline UHDZ, Timberline AS II, Camelot II, Woodland, Slateline and the Grand Sequoia family.
Two clauses in the Golden Pledge legal sample (RESWT161L, published June 30, 2026) matter at signing. Application errors “discovered or discoverable within the first two years” are the Master Elite contractor’s to repair, with GAF stepping in only if the contractor is “unable or unwilling.” And the warranty “will not take effect” until it is registered and the contractor “has been paid in full,” so a final-payment dispute can leave you without coverage. The full ladder, proration math and transfer rules are in our GAF shingles review.
GAF Master Elite vs Certified: what actually differs
On paper, Master Elite and GAF Certified firms meet the same license and insurance baseline. The differences are the Golden Pledge warranty and three yearly minimums that only Master Elite carries. Turned into roofs, those minimums show that Master Elite is mostly a volume and warranty-registration test: a company has to buy and register enough GAF product every year, not pass an extra installation exam.
| Master Elite yearly minimum | GAF’s rule | What it means in roofs (Roofing Brief arithmetic) | Deadline in the guidelines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rewards squares (shingles only) | 1,000 | 1,000 squares = 100,000 sq ft of shingles, about 33 roofs at 30 squares each | Proof of purchase to GAF Rewards by January 31 of the next year |
| Warranty squares (Silver and Golden Pledge) | 500 | About 17 Pledge-registered roofs at 30 squares; 0 System Plus roofs count | Registered by December 31 of the calendar year |
| Learning credits | 10 | GAF’s CARE calendar lists 1-hour webinars at 3 credits, so four webinars clear it | Earned virtually or in person |
Source: GAF Residential Program Guidelines, Section III (last updated 3/2/2026); GAF CARE training calendar. The 30-square roof is an illustrative size (3,000 sq ft of roof surface), not a GAF figure; one square is 100 sq ft.
The warranty-square floor is the line a smaller shop most often misses. A company that sells 40 roofs a year but registers only System Plus warranties logs 0 qualifying warranty squares and cannot keep Master Elite, even if every roof is installed to GAF’s instructions. That is why a well-run firm can sit at Certified or Certified Plus, and why the badge says more about a company’s GAF volume than about the crew on your roof.
What percentage of roofers are GAF certified?
GAF does not publish a count of certified contractors. What it publishes is advertising language: its guidelines let contractors say “Only 7% of roofers in North America are invited to become GAF Certified” and “Only 2% of roofers in North America are invited to become GAF Master Elite.” Those are invitation shares with an unstated denominator, so they can’t be checked against a census directly.
A rough check is possible. The Census Bureau’s Statistics of U.S. Businesses counted 24,044 employer firms in NAICS 238160, Roofing Contractors, in 2022. GAF’s own locator pages that we archived in 2026 showed at least 1,708 distinct Master Elite company names, and those pages show only the first 10 results per search, so the true count is higher. The arithmetic below is ours; it does not prove GAF’s claim wrong, because GAF’s denominator may include sole proprietors without employees, Canadian firms or individual roofers.
| Measure | Value | Source or method |
|---|---|---|
| US employer roofing firms, 2022 | 24,044 | Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022, NAICS 238160 |
| 2% of 24,044 | About 481 firms | Roofing Brief arithmetic |
| 7% of 24,044 | About 1,683 firms | Roofing Brief arithmetic |
| Distinct Master Elite names (incl. President’s Club) on archived GAF locator pages | At least 1,708 | 1,919 first-page GAF locator results across 49 states, archived Aug 25 to Oct 18, 2026 |
| Those 1,708 as a share of 24,044 | About 7.1% | Roofing Brief arithmetic; a floor, because each page shows 10 of up to 236 results |
| Distinct names at any GAF tier on the same pages | At least 2,762 (about 11.5% of 24,044) | Same archive |
Treat the 2% and 7% figures as statements GAF authorizes contractors to make, not independent counts. Our archive covers searches for metro principal cities and nearby towns, not every US ZIP code.
What GAF’s contractor locator shows, and how it orders results
GAF’s residential locator returns firms within 25 miles of the searched city in its default view; the farthest listing on any of our 1,919 archived pages was 25.0 miles away. It shows 10 firms per page and puts the highest tier first. On 1,627 of the 1,630 archived pages that mixed tiers, the first page ran in strict order: President’s Club, then Master Elite, then Certified Plus, then Certified. In a large market, page one can be all President’s Club firms.
| City searched | GAF results (default 25-mile view) | Tiers among the first 10 listed | Archived |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY | 234 | 10 President’s Club | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 200 | 10 President’s Club | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Houston, TX | 155 | 10 President’s Club | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Dallas, TX | 151 | 10 President’s Club | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Denver, CO | 117 | 10 President’s Club | Sep 5, 2026 |
| Tampa, FL | 107 | 10 President’s Club | Sep 5, 2026 |
| Atlanta, GA | 103 | 10 President’s Club | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Chicago, IL | 96 | 5 President’s Club, 5 Master Elite | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Phoenix, AZ | 67 | 1 President’s Club, 9 Master Elite | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Miami, FL | 42 | 1 President’s Club, 7 Master Elite, 2 Certified Plus | Aug 25, 2026 |
| Wichita, KS | 12 | 2 President’s Club, 4 Master Elite, 4 Certified | Sep 4, 2026 |
Source: GAF residential contractor locator (gaf.com/en-us/roofing-contractors/residential), result pages archived by The Roofing Brief on the dates shown. Counts change as GAF adds and drops firms; re-run the search for current figures.
Two practical consequences follow. In Houston, 145 of 155 certified firms sit below page one, including every Certified and Certified Plus firm, so a homeowner who wants a Silver Pledge bid from a smaller shop has to page through or filter. And the list card shows a “President’s Club” award label without the star level, while only 3-Star winners can register the President’s Club warranty, so the card alone does not tell you which warranty that firm can offer.
Do higher GAF tiers have better customer reviews?
Not by star rating. GAF’s locator shows each firm’s Google rating and review count. Across 2,363 distinct firms in our 338 metro scoring pools (each within 40 miles of a metro center with at least 5 reviews), the median rating was 4.9 stars at every tier. What rises with tier is review volume: the median President’s Club firm had 279 Google reviews, against 43 for a GAF Certified firm, which fits a tier system built on purchase and warranty volume.
| GAF tier | Firms in pools | Median Google rating | Mean rating | Share rated 4.8 or higher | Median review count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| President’s Club | 556 | 4.9 | 4.81 | 75% | 279 |
| Master Elite (no award) | 937 | 4.9 | 4.79 | 72% | 127 |
| Certified Plus | 334 | 4.9 | 4.81 | 75% | 83.5 |
| Certified | 536 | 4.9 | 4.74 | 65% | 43 |
Source: Roofing Brief analysis of GAF locator listings archived Aug 25 to Oct 18, 2026 for 338 metro areas (ratings and counts as displayed by GAF from Google reviews). Pools were built from first-page results, which GAF orders by tier, so higher tiers are over-represented in large metros.
The practical reading: a 4.9-star Certified firm and a 4.9-star President’s Club firm look identical on stars, but 43 reviews and 279 reviews are different amounts of evidence. Read the 1-star and 3-star reviews on both, and weigh the warranty each can register (System Plus with no workmanship coverage for a Certified firm, up to 40 years non-prorated for a 3-Star President’s Club firm) before letting the badge decide.
How to verify a GAF certified roofer before you sign
Verification takes about 10 minutes and uses three GAF tools plus your state license board. The goal is to match four things: the legal company name on the contract, its current GAF tier, the warranty named in the bid, and the award year if President’s Club is claimed. A mismatch on any one can mean the warranty you were sold cannot be registered.
- Search the exact company name. Use GAF’s Verify My Contractor page (gaf.com/en-us/roofing-contractors/verify). The legal entity on your contract must match the registry listing, because GAF certifies companies, not individual salespeople or crews.
- Read the tier on the profile. Open “Certifications and Awards.” GAF Certified can register System Plus only; Certified Plus adds Silver Pledge; Master Elite adds Golden Pledge.
- Match the tier to the warranty in the bid. The bid should name “Golden Pledge,” “Silver Pledge” or “System Plus,” list the Timberline line, and list each GAF accessory. Golden Pledge needs 5 qualifying accessories and excludes Timberline NS.
- Confirm 3-Star status for a President’s Club warranty. Call GAF Contractor Services at 877-423-7663 (option 2, then option 1) or email ccp@gaf.com. 2026 awards run February 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027.
- Check the license and insurance yourself. GAF’s baseline is $1 million in liability insurance, workers’ compensation and a license “if required” by the state of the principal place of business, so look up the license on your state board and ask the insurer for a certificate naming your address.
- Track registration after the job. The Golden Pledge sample says the contractor must register within 45 days of installation; if no warranty arrives within 60 days, call GAF at 1-888-532-5767, option 5.
Steps 5 and 6, the license check and the 45 days a contractor has to register a Golden Pledge warranty, are the ones GAF certification does not do for you. Our brand-neutral 15-point roofing contractor checklist covers deposits, permits and contract terms for any brand.
What GAF certification does not guarantee
GAF certification is a manufacturer program with published entry rules, not a license, an inspection of your job or a quality promise. GAF’s mandatory disclosure (Section IV of the Residential Program Guidelines) says certified contractors are “not employees or agents of GAF” and that GAF “does not control or otherwise supervise these independent businesses.” The table maps the common assumptions to what GAF’s documents actually say.
| Common assumption | What the GAF documents say | Where it is stated |
|---|---|---|
| GAF inspects every certified roof | No routine job inspection is described in the 2026 Golden Pledge sample; check your warranty text for any inspection term | Golden Pledge legal sample RESWT161L (June 2026) |
| Any certified roofer includes workmanship coverage | System Plus (the only warranty a GAF Certified firm can register) covers no workmanship | GAF residential warranty comparison guide |
| Master Elite means a tested installer on site | Renewal is 1,000 rewards squares, 500 Pledge squares and 10 learning credits; no installer exam is listed | Residential Program Guidelines, Section III |
| The warranty starts on completion | Golden Pledge “will not take effect” until registered and the contractor “has been paid in full” | Golden Pledge legal sample |
| Poor ventilation is an install error GAF covers | “Failure to install adequate ventilation is NOT an application error” | Golden Pledge legal sample |
| A President’s Club badge always means the 40-year warranty | Only current 3-Star winners can offer it; the award expires each January 31 | President’s Club sell sheet RESWT219-0526 |
Do GAF certified roofers cost more?
GAF publishes no contractor price list, and a roofer’s certification does not change the price of a bundle of Timberline HDZ. Two line items do scale with tier. Higher warranties need more GAF accessories (3 for System Plus, 4 for Silver Pledge, 5 for Golden Pledge), and GAF charges contractors a registration fee per warranty, which GAF does not list on its homeowner pages.
| Warranty | Reported registration fee from July 1, 2026 | Fee on a 30-square roof | Share of a $15,000 to $24,000 roof |
|---|---|---|---|
| System Plus | $4 per square (was $80 flat up to 100 squares) | $120 | 0.5% to 0.8% |
| Silver Pledge | $7 per square (was $6) | $210 | 0.9% to 1.4% |
| Golden Pledge | $10 per square (was $8) | $300 | 1.3% to 2.0% |
Fees as reported by EXOVATIONS, a GAF Master Elite contractor in Atlanta, in its 2026 blog post on GAF’s July 2026 warranty changes; not confirmed on a GAF consumer page. Roof price range is The Roofing Brief baseline of $5 to $8 per sq ft installed for architectural asphalt (2026 Roofing Cost Report) applied to 3,000 sq ft. Roofing Brief arithmetic.
On those reported figures, the Golden Pledge fee is $300 on a 30-square roof, under 2% of a typical architectural-shingle job. Ask any bidder to show the warranty fee and the accessory list as separate lines, then compare like for like. Full regional price ranges are in our 2026 roofing cost report.
GAF vs Owens Corning vs CertainTeed contractor programs
All three big US shingle makers tie their longest workmanship coverage to a top contractor tier. The names differ: GAF Master Elite, Owens Corning Platinum Preferred and CertainTeed ShingleMaster PREMIER. Owens Corning lists a passed installation workmanship inspection and satisfactory business credit as minimum member requirements, which GAF’s guidelines do not list. CertainTeed publishes the workmanship years for each warranty level.
| Item | GAF | Owens Corning | CertainTeed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contractor tiers | Certified, Certified Plus, Master Elite (+ President’s Club award) | Network member, Preferred, Platinum Preferred | ShingleMaster, ShingleMaster PRO, ShingleMaster PREMIER | Maker program pages, October 2026 |
| Top-tier warranty | Golden Pledge; President’s Club for 3-Star winners | Platinum Protection Roofing System Limited Warranty | SureStart PLUS 5-STAR | Maker warranty pages |
| Workmanship coverage at top tier | Lifetime; 25 or 30 years non-prorated (40 for President’s Club) | Lifetime workmanship for the original purchaser under Platinum Protection | 30 years (5-STAR); 15 years (4-STAR) | GAF comparison guide; OC contractor expectations checklist; CertainTeed “Why credentialing matters” page |
| Published minimums | License if required, $1M liability, workers’ comp; Master Elite volume minimums | $1M general liability, licenses, satisfactory business credit, passed installation workmanship inspection | Master Craftsman Roofing Contractor test required for every ShingleMaster level | GAF guidelines 3/2/2026; OC Roofing Contractor Network page; CertainTeed Master Craftsman page |
| Share claim | “Only 2%” invited to Master Elite | None stated on the network page we read | None stated on the credential page we read | Same pages |
Program terms change; confirm with each manufacturer. CertainTeed SureStart PLUS requires an Integrity Roof System installed by a credentialed contractor.
For brand-level product differences rather than contractor programs, see our comparison of Owens Corning vs GAF vs CertainTeed.
How GAF tier feeds The Roofing Brief contractor score
Our metro rankings start from GAF’s registry because it is the only roofing certification list that can be searched city by city at scale. Tier is worth 35 of 100 points: President’s Club 35, Master Elite 24, Certified or Certified Plus 12. The other 65 points come from a Bayesian-adjusted Google rating (40), review depth (15) and distance from the metro center (10), as set out in our roofer ranking methodology.
| Score component | Firm A: President’s Club, 4.9 stars, 300 reviews, 10 mi | Firm B: Certified, 5.0 stars, 40 reviews, 10 mi |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier (max 35) | 35.0 | 12.0 |
| Adjusted rating (max 40), metro mean 4.8 | (50 x 4.8 + 300 x 4.9) / 350 = 4.886; scores 35.4 | (50 x 4.8 + 40 x 5.0) / 90 = 4.889; scores 35.6 |
| Review depth (max 15), largest pool count 1,000 | 15 x log10(301) / log10(1,001) = 12.4 | 15 x log10(41) / log10(1,001) = 8.1 |
| Proximity (max 10) | 10 x (40 minus 10) / 40 = 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Total | 90.3 | 63.1 |
Worked example with illustrative firms, using the published formula. Firm B’s perfect 5.0 is pulled to 4.889 because 40 reviews are thin evidence; the 23-point tier gap accounts for about 85% of the 27.2-point difference.
Tier gets heavy weight because it carries a verifiable consequence for the homeowner: which warranty can be registered. The top five in each metro are then checked by hand against Better Business Bureau records and state license registers, and a firm can be set aside on that evidence. Every metro list is linked from our best roofers by metro hub, for example Wichita, KS, where GAF’s default search returned 12 certified firms in our September 4, 2026 archive.
How a roofing company becomes GAF certified
A company applies through the form on GAF’s “Become a GAF Certified Roofer” page or through a GAF territory manager, then signs the program agreement. GAF’s pitch to contractors lists the business benefits: 1.5% or more in GAF Rewards points on qualifying residential purchases, at least 40% off GAF WeatherHub subscriptions, and the right to register enhanced warranties.
- Hold the state license where the principal place of business requires one.
- Carry $1 million in liability insurance and workers’ compensation, with details set in the agreement.
- Apply and pass GAF’s review, which may weigh years of roofing experience and customer reviews.
- Follow the advertising rules: name the current tier, use the matching badge and hashtag (#GAFCertified, #GAFCertifiedPlus or #GAFMasterElite) and publish GAF’s disclosure.
- Hit the Master Elite minimums every calendar year to be considered for renewal at that tier.
Training for individual workers runs through GAF CARE and the Roofing Academy; class lengths, credits and costs are covered in our GAF Roofing Academy guide.
Which GAF tier should you look for?
Pick the tier from the warranty you want, not from the badge. If you want GAF to back the installation itself, you need at least Certified Plus; for 25 to 30 non-prorated workmanship years you need Master Elite; for 40 years you need a current 3-Star President’s Club firm and a Timberline UHDZ, AS II or Designer shingle.
| Your situation | Minimum GAF tier | Warranty to ask for by name |
|---|---|---|
| Repair or small section, no system warranty needed | Any licensed roofer; GAF tier not required | Shingle & Accessory (comes with the product) |
| Full replacement, materials and tear-off coverage only | GAF Certified | System Plus (Timberline + 3 accessories) |
| Want GAF-backed workmanship at the lowest tier | GAF Certified Plus | Silver Pledge (10 or 15 years workmanship) |
| Timberline HDZ and the longest standard workmanship term | GAF Master Elite | Golden Pledge (25 years non-prorated) |
| Timberline UHDZ or AS II | GAF Master Elite | Golden Pledge (30 years non-prorated) |
| Timberline UHDZ, AS II or Designer and the maximum term | Current 3-Star President’s Club | President’s Club (40 years non-prorated) |
| Planning to sell within 20 years | Master Elite | Golden Pledge; transfer once, buyer notifies GAF within 1 year |
Source: GAF residential warranty comparison guide and Golden Pledge legal sample, October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What does GAF certified roofer mean?
A GAF certified roofer is a roofing company that has signed GAF’s residential certification agreement as GAF Certified, Certified Plus or Master Elite. All three tiers need a state license where required, $1 million in liability insurance and workers’ compensation, per GAF’s Residential Program Guidelines (updated 3/2/2026). The tier decides which GAF enhanced warranty the company can register: System Plus, Silver Pledge or Golden Pledge.
What percentage of roofers are GAF certified?
GAF lets contractors say that only 7% of roofers in North America are invited to become GAF Certified and only 2% are invited to become Master Elite. GAF does not publish the denominator. For scale, the Census Bureau counted 24,044 US employer roofing firms in 2022, and GAF’s own locator listings that we archived in 2026 showed at least 1,708 distinct Master Elite company names, about 7.1% of that count.
Is it hard to get GAF certified?
Entry is a paperwork bar: a state license where required, $1 million liability cover, workers’ compensation and GAF’s review of experience and customer reviews. Master Elite is the hard tier. Since January 1, 2025 it requires 1,000 rewards squares of GAF shingles, 500 Silver or Golden Pledge warranty squares and 10 learning credits every year, and GAF says meeting them does not guarantee renewal.
Is GAF a good roofing company?
GAF is a shingle manufacturer, not a roofing contractor. GAF Materials LLC is a Standard Industries company founded in 1886 that calls itself North America’s largest roofing manufacturer. Its Timberline shingles carry UL 790 Class A fire and ASTM D3161 Class F wind listings. Your result depends on the installer, because workmanship coverage exists only under Silver Pledge, Golden Pledge and President’s Club warranties.
What is the difference between GAF Master Elite and GAF Certified?
GAF Certified contractors can register only the System Plus warranty, which covers materials and tear-off for 50 years non-prorated but no workmanship. Master Elite contractors can also register Golden Pledge, with Lifetime misapplication coverage that is non-prorated for 25 years on Timberline HDZ or 30 years on Timberline UHDZ and AS II. Master Elite also carries yearly volume, warranty and training minimums that Certified does not.
How do I check if a roofer is GAF certified?
Search the company name on GAF’s Verify My Contractor page at gaf.com/en-us/roofing-contractors/verify, then open its profile and read the Certifications and Awards list. To confirm a contractor can offer the President’s Club warranty, which needs a current 3-Star award, call GAF Contractor Services at 877-423-7663 (option 2, then option 1) or email ccp@gaf.com. Check the state license separately.
Do GAF certified roofers cost more?
GAF does not set contractor prices. The cost difference comes from the warranty system: Golden Pledge needs any Timberline shingle except NS plus at least 5 qualifying GAF accessories, against 3 for System Plus. One Atlanta Master Elite contractor reports GAF registration fees from July 1, 2026 of $4, $7 and $10 per square for System Plus, Silver Pledge and Golden Pledge, which is $120 to $300 on a 30-square roof.
Does GAF certification transfer if I hire a different company?
No. GAF certifies roofing companies, not individual installers, so a foreman who worked for a Master Elite firm cannot register Golden Pledge under a new, uncertified company. The warranty is tied to the registering contractor’s tier when it registers. GAF’s Golden Pledge sample makes the Master Elite firm fix application errors found in the first two years, and GAF arranges repairs if that firm is unable or unwilling.
Sources
- GAF, 2026 Residential Program Guidelines, last updated 3/2/2026 (gaf.com document library).
- GAF, Roof Warranty Comparison Guide for GAF Shingles, gaf.com/en-us/resources/warranties/residential, viewed October 2026.
- GAF, Golden Pledge Limited Warranty legal sample RESWT161L, published June 30, 2026.
- GAF, President’s Club Limited Warranty sell sheet RESWT219-0526.
- GAF, “Choose a GAF Certified Roofing Contractor” and “Become a GAF Certified Roofer” pages, viewed October 2026.
- GAF residential contractor locator, 1,919 result pages archived by The Roofing Brief, August 25 to October 18, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022, NAICS 238160.
- Owens Corning, Roofing Contractor Network page and contractor expectations checklist, viewed October 2026.
- CertainTeed, “Why credentialing matters” (SureStart PLUS table) and Roofing Education Credential pages, viewed October 2026.
- EXOVATIONS, “Understanding your GAF roof warranty options before the July 2026 changes” (contractor blog, 2026).