Short answer: As of September 2026, the five highest-scoring roofing contractors in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score are McGlinch & Sons Company (83.5), Majic Window Company (82.1), Kearns Brothers, Inc. (81.4), RoofAdvisor (80.9), Oak Roofing (78.5). Each is certified by a manufacturer whose register we checked by hand, each rating has been tested against a source outside that register, and nobody bought a place on this page.
The Roofing Brief scored 13 certified roofing contractors serving the Detroit metro on a published, reproducible formula, then researched each of the top five individually to confirm its record. Michigan sets one of the lowest licensing thresholds in the country. Any residential construction, alteration or repair costing more than $600 in combined labour and materials requires a licence from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, so there is effectively no unlicensed exemption for roofing work here. Roofing-only firms hold a Maintenance and Alteration Contractor licence with the roofing speciality, obtained after a 60-hour prelicensure course and a PSI exam. Detroit’s roofing problem is freeze-thaw cycling and ice damming rather than hail, which makes ventilation, insulation and ice-and-water barrier at the eaves the details that decide whether a roof lasts.
What a Detroit roof is up against
Michigan sets the lowest licensing threshold of any state in this programme. Any residential construction, alteration or repair worth more than $600 requires the contractor to hold a residential builder or a maintenance and alteration contractor licence from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Since $600 will not buy a roof, there is no practical unlicensed exemption for roofing here: a contractor without one of those licences cannot legally do your job. The licence number is searchable, and checking it takes a minute.
Inside the city, Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department requires a permit before a roof is recovered or replaced, and the permit has to be pulled by the licensed contractor rather than by you. Each suburb in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties runs its own permit counter with its own fees, so on a job near a municipal boundary confirm which authority is issuing. Ask for the permit number once it is issued: it is the simplest proof that the company you hired is the company doing the work.
Summer wind is the metro’s main roof hazard. Over the decade the counties logged 613 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports against 112 hail reports, peaking in July, with $30.8 million in reported property damage. On 24 August 2023 straight-line winds tore the roof off the South Lyon public works building and blew in its overhead doors, and eighteen tornadoes touched down over the period, including EF1s at Gibraltar in 2018 and White Lake in 2021. Hail is a secondary risk, though four stones of two inches or more fell in that time, the largest 2.25 inches at Columbiaville in May 2024.
Detroit’s older housing stock changes the job. A large share of the metro’s homes date from the first half of the twentieth century, and houses of that age often have plank decking rather than plywood sheathing, and shallow eaves with little or no soffit ventilation. Both matter: plank decking may need replacing or overlaying before shingles go down, and poor ventilation shortens shingle life and feeds ice dams in winter. Ask any contractor to quote deck condition and attic ventilation explicitly, rather than leaving them as change orders once the old roof is off.
The 5 best roofers in Detroit, MI
Scored 2026-09-12. The metro mean rating used as the Bayesian prior for Detroit is 4.785, across a pool of 13 certified contractors.
| Rank | Company | TRB Score | Certification | Rating (reviews) | Adjusted | In business since | Based in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McGlinch & Sons Company | 83.5 | President’s Club | 4.8 (435) | 4.798 | 1917 | Farmington Hills, MI |
| 2 | Majic Window Company | 82.1 | President’s Club | 4.7 (5,961) | 4.701 | not published | Wixom, MI |
| 3 | Kearns Brothers, Inc. | 81.4 | President’s Club | 4.7 (875) | 4.705 | 1988 | Livonia, MI |
| 4 | RoofAdvisor | 80.9 | President’s Club | 4.8 (158) | 4.796 | not published | Plymouth, MI |
| 5 | Oak Roofing | 78.5 | Master Elite | 5.0 (156) | 4.948 | 1996 | Warren, MI |
1. McGlinch & Sons Company — TRB Score 83.5
McGlinch & Sons Company is based in Farmington Hills, MI, in business since 1917, BBB accredited since 1 May 1986, A+ rating, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 31.9 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 10.5 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 6.1 | 10 |
| Total | 83.5 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Accredited since 1 May 1986 with an A+ rating, 108 years in business from a 1 January 1917 start. BBB
- Customers report the company standing behind its work ten years after installation. Reviews
What they actually do. Roofing, siding, windows, doors, skylights and gutters across greater Detroit.
Why it ranks here. Founded in 1917, this is the oldest business named in either batch of metros published so far, at 108 years, with BBB accreditation held continuously for 40 of them. Documented instances of honouring workmanship a decade after installation matter more than any rating, because the warranty is only worth what the company is still around to pay.
Best fit for: Homeowners who weight institutional durability and long-term warranty backing above all else.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (248) 987-6300, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
2. Majic Window Company — TRB Score 82.1
Majic Window Company is based in Wixom, MI, BBB accredited since 7 December 2007, A+ rating, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 28.0 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 15.0 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 4.0 | 10 |
| Total | 82.1 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Accredited since 7 December 2007 with an A+ rating, BBB file opened April 1997, 29 years in business. BBB
- Holds a Residential Builder Company licence plus three others on the Michigan board record, verified active as of February 2026. Michigan licence
What they actually do. Asphalt roofing and SBS modified roofing alongside windows, siding, insulation and flooring.
Why it ranks here. Holds a Residential Builder licence rather than the narrower Maintenance and Alteration classification, which permits a broader scope of structural work. SBS modified roofing capability covers the low-slope sections common on Detroit-area housing.
Best fit for: Whole-home exterior projects combining roof, windows and insulation.
What we would want clarified. This is principally a window company. Of its roughly 7,844 reviews, the overwhelming majority concern window installation rather than roofing, and HomeAdvisor ratings of 4.1 to 4.3 sit well below the 4.7 registry figure. If you want a roofing specialist rather than a full-service exterior remodeller, weigh the others here more heavily. We publish this because a ranking that only prints the flattering findings is an advertisement, not an assessment.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (248) 668-9090, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
3. Kearns Brothers, Inc. — TRB Score 81.4
Trades as Kearns Brothers, Inc.; listed on the GAF registry as Kearns Brothers LLC.
Kearns Brothers, Inc. is based in Livonia, MI, in business since 1988, BBB accredited since 24 July 1992, A+ rating, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 28.2 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 11.7 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 6.6 | 10 |
| Total | 81.4 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Accredited since 24 July 1992 with an A+ rating, 38 years in business from a 1 May 1988 start. BBB
- Described as Michigan’s longest-serving GAF Master Elite certified business. Certification tenure
What they actually do. Roofing, siding, windows, gutters, chimney, masonry and insulation across metro Detroit.
Why it ranks here. Michigan’s longest-serving GAF Master Elite contractor. Because Master Elite must be maintained rather than earned once, length of continuous certification is a stronger signal than holding it today. The insulation and chimney capability is directly relevant to ice damming, which is Detroit’s characteristic roof failure.
Best fit for: Ice dam problems, where roofing, insulation and ventilation must be corrected together.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (888) 355-6700, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
4. RoofAdvisor — TRB Score 80.9
RoofAdvisor is based in Plymouth, MI, BBB accredited since 29 July 2016, A+ rating, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 31.9 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 8.7 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 5.3 | 10 |
| Total | 80.9 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Accredited since 29 July 2016 with an A+ rating. BBB
- Residential Builder Company licence 2102212922, active when last checked. Michigan licence
- BuildZoom score 121, in the top 1% of Michigan licensed contractors. BuildZoom
- 4.8 across 133 verified Experience.com reviews and 4.6 across 242 Birdeye reviews. Cross-platform reviews
What they actually do. Roof inspection with NO-LEAK certification, roof cleaning, maintenance, repair and replacement.
Why it ranks here. The highest BuildZoom score in the Detroit top five at 121, placing it in the top 1% of Michigan contractors. The maintenance and inspection focus is unusual: most roofers only sell replacement, and a firm that also sells maintenance has a reason to tell you your roof does not need replacing yet.
Best fit for: Homeowners who want an honest second opinion on whether a roof actually needs replacing.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (734) 822-7663, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
5. Oak Roofing — TRB Score 78.5
Oak Roofing is based in Warren, MI, in business since 1996, Not accredited, A+ rating, and holds Master Elite standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 24 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 37.9 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 8.7 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 7.8 | 10 |
| Total | 78.5 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- A+ rated though not BBB accredited, 30 years in business from a 1996 start, with a BBB file open since 3 August 2000. BBB
- Listed on Porch with a project and review record. Porch
What they actually do. Residential and commercial roofing across Macomb and Oakland counties.
Why it ranks here. A clean 5.0 across 156 registry reviews from a company trading since 1996 with a BBB file open for 26 years and an A+ rating.
Best fit for: Warren, Sterling Heights and Macomb County homeowners.
What we would want clarified. Not BBB accredited despite the A+ rating and the long file. We publish this because a ranking that only prints the flattering findings is an advertisement, not an assessment.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (248) 547-7663, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
The 613 wind reports that shape a Detroit roof
Aggregate hail counts tell you very little about a specific roof. These are the individual events: every severe-weather report logged by the National Weather Service across the 6 counties of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI statistical area over ten years, with the dates, the stone sizes and the towns they landed on. Over that decade the metro logged 112 hail reports, 613 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports and 18 tornadoes. Reported property damage from hail, severe wind and tornado over that decade totalled $30.8 million; flood and winter-storm losses are counted separately and are not included.
The biggest hail to fall on Detroit in a decade
| Date | Stone size | Reported near | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 May 2024 | 2.25 in | Columbiaville | Lapeer |
| 4 September 2017 | 2.0 in | South Lyon | Oakland |
| 7 April 2020 | 2.0 in | North Branch | Lapeer |
| 7 April 2020 | 2.0 in | Lum | Lapeer |
| 7 April 2020 | 1.75 in | Imlay City | Lapeer |
| 8 July 2016 | 1.75 in | Riverview | Wayne |
The largest stone on record for this metro fell on 17 May 2024 near Columbiaville, measured at 2.25 inches. That is hen-egg sized. Two inches is the threshold at which insurers expect functional damage and full replacement claims.
Wind. The strongest thunderstorm gust logged in the metro was 78 knots, about 90 mph, near Parkers Corners on 24 August 2023. Asphalt shingles begin lifting at roughly 67 mph when they are correctly nailed, and considerably below that when they are not.
Tornadoes. 18 tornadoes touched down in these counties over the decade, the strongest rated EF1 near Gibraltar on 25 September 2018.
What the National Weather Service wrote about it
The NWS logs a written account of each severe-weather episode. This is its description of the 24 August 2023 event near Parkers Corners, reproduced verbatim:
Trees snapped and uprooted due to straight line winds from Wallace road to Cedar road, along and north of West Van Orgen Road.
That account is the design case for a roof here, and it comes from the agency that recorded it rather than by a contractor selling the repair.
When it happens. Severe weather reports cluster in July (247), August (166), June (136). The worst years on record were 2023 (121), 2021 (111), 2019 (102). If you are scheduling non-urgent work in Detroit, the months outside that window are when crews are least stretched and least likely to be triaging emergency callouts ahead of your job.
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, county-level detail files 2016 to 2025, filtered to the counties of this statistical area by The Roofing Brief. Damage figures are as reported to the NWS and undercount insured losses.
What to do with this. Detroit sees enough damaging hail that a Class 4 impact-rated shingle is worth pricing, though not automatically worth buying. Get both quotes and weigh the premium against any insurance discount.
What to verify before a Detroit contractor starts
Licensing is required in MI. Michigan requires a licence from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs for any residential construction, alteration or repair costing more than $600 in combined labour and materials. Roofing-only contractors fall under the Maintenance and Alteration Contractor classification with the roofing speciality.
Applicants must complete a 60-hour state-approved prelicensure course and pass the PSI Residential Builder or Maintenance and Alteration Contractor exam with the roofing speciality. A Residential Builder licence covers roofing as part of broader construction; a Maintenance and Alteration licence is limited to repairs and non-structural changes such as a roof replacement.
Check here: Michigan LARA licence verification. The $600 threshold is low enough that essentially every roofing job in Michigan requires a licensed contractor. There is no meaningful unlicensed exemption.
Four checks to run before you sign anything, in any state.
- Verify certification at the source. Use the GAF verification tool rather than trusting a badge image on a company website.
- Get the certificate of insurance from the insurer, not the contractor, and confirm general liability and workers compensation are both active on the day work starts.
- Confirm who pulls the permit. If a contractor asks you to pull it as the homeowner, that moves liability onto you. Decline.
- Get warranty terms in writing before any deposit, and check the manufacturer warranty being promised actually requires the certification tier the contractor holds.
How many certified roofers Detroit actually has
13 certified roofing contractors serve the principal cities of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI statistical area, of which 4 hold the top President’s Club tier. The pool carries 9,575 customer reviews between them at a mean rating of 4.785. The statistical area had a 2024 population of 4,400,578, a change of 0.19% against the 2020 census base, per the U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates.
How these Detroit rankings were produced
Every contractor in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI pool was scored out of 100 on four published components: certification tier, a Bayesian adjusted rating, review depth and distance from the metro centre. In this metro that meant scoring 13 certified contractors, of whom 4 hold President’s Club standing and 9 Master Elite, against a metro mean rating of 4.785. The top five were then researched individually against Better Business Bureau records, state licence registers and manufacturer directories. Anything unflattering that research surfaced appears above alongside the rest, and no company bought its position.
The full method, the weightings, what the GAF certification tiers actually mean, who is eligible to be ranked and what we do not claim are all set out on our roofer ranking methodology page. Last updated: September 2026. Scoring run: 2026-09-12. Corrections go to the editor and are actioned on verification.
The questions that come up most in Detroit
Who is the best roofer in Detroit, MI?
McGlinch & Sons Company of Farmington Hills, MI scores highest in the Detroit metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score, at 83.5 out of 100 as of September 2026. It holds President’s Club certification with a 4.8 rating across 435 reviews. Highest-scoring is not the same as best fit for your specific job, and the four companies behind it score within 5.0 points.
How many certified roofing contractors serve Detroit?
13 contractors on the GAF certification registry serve the principal cities of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI statistical area as of September 2026, of which 4 hold President’s Club status.
How much damaging hail does Detroit get?
The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI statistical area recorded 74 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 4 of 2 inches or larger between 2016 and 2025 in the NOAA Storm Events Database. The largest hailstone reported measured 2.25 inches.
Did any contractor pay to appear on this list?
No. The Roofing Brief takes no placement fees, no lead fees and no affiliate commission from any roofing contractor. Ranking comes entirely from the published formula applied to public registry data, followed by an individual research pass on the top five.
What was the worst hailstorm in Detroit in the last ten years?
The largest hailstone logged by the National Weather Service in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI statistical area between 2016 and 2025 measured 2.25 inches, reported near Columbiaville on 17 May 2024. That is hen-egg sized. Two inches is the threshold at which insurers expect functional damage and full replacement claims. Across the decade the metro recorded 112 hail reports. Reported property damage from hail, severe wind and tornado over that decade totalled $30.8 million; flood and winter-storm losses are counted separately and are not included.
When is the worst time of year for roof damage in Detroit?
Severe-weather reports in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI statistical area cluster in July, August, June, on the NOAA record for 2016 to 2025. Booking non-urgent roof work outside those months usually means shorter lead times, because local crews are not simultaneously triaging storm callouts.
Do roofers need a licence in MI?
Michigan requires a licence from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs for any residential construction, alteration or repair costing more than $600 in combined labour and materials. Roofing-only contractors fall under the Maintenance and Alteration Contractor classification with the roofing speciality. Applicants must complete a 60-hour state-approved prelicensure course and pass the PSI Residential Builder or Maintenance and Alteration Contractor exam with the roofing speciality. A Residential Builder licence covers roofing as part of broader construction; a Maintenance and Alteration licence is limited to repairs and non-structural changes such as a roof replacement.
What should I check before hiring a roofer in Detroit?
The $600 threshold is low enough that essentially every roofing job in Michigan requires a licensed contractor. There is no meaningful unlicensed exemption.
Is Detroit a hard market to find a good roofer in?
Michigan sets one of the lowest licensing thresholds in the country. Any residential construction, alteration or repair costing more than $600 in combined labour and materials requires a licence from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, so there is effectively no unlicensed exemption for roofing work here. Roofing-only firms hold a Maintenance and Alteration Contractor licence with the roofing speciality, obtained after a 60-hour prelicensure course and a PSI exam. Detroit’s roofing problem is freeze-thaw cycling and ice damming rather than hail, which makes ventilation, insulation and ice-and-water barrier at the eaves the details that decide whether a roof lasts.
Is wind or hail the bigger risk to a roof in Detroit?
Wind, by a wide margin. The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI statistical area logged 613 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports against 74 hail reports of an inch or more between 2016 and 2025. Wind damage shows up at the rake, ridge and edge rather than across the field of the roof, so the fastening schedule and edge detail matter more here than the impact rating of the shingle.
Roofer rankings for other metros
The Roofing Brief scores certified roofing contractors in the 400 largest U.S. metropolitan and micropolitan areas on the same formula.
- Best roofers in Ann Arbor, MI, about 33 miles from Detroit
- Best roofers in Flint, MI, about 53 miles from Detroit
- Best roofers in Toledo, OH, about 55 miles from Detroit
- Best roofers in Lansing, MI, another MI metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Kalamazoo, MI, another MI metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Seattle, WA, a metro of comparable size
- Best roofers in San Francisco, CA, a metro of comparable size
See the full index of all 400 metro roofer rankings, or read how to find and vet a roofing contractor anywhere in the country.
Cite this analysis
The Roofing Brief. “Best Roofers in Detroit, MI: The Roofing Brief Contractor Score.” Published September 2026. Inputs: GAF certification registry; NOAA Storm Events Database 2016-2025; U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 population estimates; Better Business Bureau and independent review-platform records for each ranked contractor.