Short answer: As of October 2026, the five highest-scoring roofing contractors in the Merced, CA metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score are Econo Roofing Inc (71.4), Straight Edge Roofing Inc (69.7), Specialty Roofing of CA Inc (61.1), Celestial Roofing Inc (60.2), Leo’s Roofing (57.5). Every one holds a manufacturer certification that can be verified independently, every rating below has been corroborated against at least one source outside the certification registry, and no company paid to appear here.
The Roofing Brief scored 5 certified roofing contractors serving the Merced metro on a published, reproducible formula, then researched each of the top five individually to confirm its record. Merced County recorded exactly one hail event in ten years and zero severe thunderstorm wind events, which makes it one of the quietest markets in this programme and shifts the whole question. What governs a roof here is not storm damage but the energy code and the sun. Every ZIP code in the county is Title 24 Building Climate Zone 12, which appears in both the steep-slope and the low-slope reroofing lists, so a cool roof is required on a single-family reroof here on either slope. California also licenses this trade properly: all five contractors below were verified individually on the Contractors State License Board register, each holds the C-39 roofing classification, each carries a $25,000 bond, and none shows a workers’ compensation exemption, because C-39 is one of the few classifications that cannot file one.
The conditions a Merced roof has to be specified for
The storm record is almost empty and that is the finding, not a gap. Across 2016 to 2025 NOAA logged exactly one hail event in Merced County, 0.75 inches at Atwater on 26 May 2019 with no reported damage, and zero thunderstorm wind events and zero tornadoes county-wide, alongside eleven funnel cloud reports that never touched down. What the record does hold is winter and early-spring gradient wind: the Merced and Madera forecast zones carry 3 High Wind and 19 Strong Wind events, each with a thousand to ten thousand dollars of damage, in the 30 to 56 mph band. So a Merced roof is far more likely to be aged out by ultraviolet exposure and thermal cycling than destroyed by a single event, and that changes what you should be buying.
The licence here is a real credential and it is easy to check, so check it. The C-39 Roofing classification covers a contractor who installs products and repairs surfaces that seal, waterproof and weatherproof structures. The qualifying individual must document at least four full years of journeyman-level or higher experience in the classification within the ten years before application, and must pass two examinations, one on law and business and one on the trade. Every active licence carries a $25,000 contractor’s bond, which is visible on the record. And California requires workers’ compensation of C-39 licensees specifically, whether or not they employ anyone, which is why all five records below show active coverage and none shows an exemption. One widely repeated figure is wrong: the minor-work exemption is $1,000, not $500, raised by Assembly Bill 2622 on 1 January 2025, and it can never cover a reroof, because the Board states that if the minor work is subject to a permit requirement of any kind, a licence is required.
The cool roof requirement is the single most consequential technical fact in this county and it is not optional. Every ZIP in Merced County is Climate Zone 12, verified against the California Energy Commission’s own ZIP assignment file. Under the 2025 California Energy Code, effective 1 January 2026, section 150.2(b)1Ii applies steep-slope reroofing requirements in Zones 4 and 8 to 15, and section 150.2(b)1Iii(a) applies low-slope requirements in Zones 4 and 6 to 15. Zone 12 is in both. The steep-slope numbers are a minimum three-year aged solar reflectance of 0.20, a minimum thermal emittance of 0.75 and a minimum Solar Reflectance Index of 16; the low-slope numbers are 0.63, 0.75 and SRI 75. And section 10-113(a) is mandatory: every roofing product installed to take compliance credit or meet the prescriptive requirements must be rated and labelled, so photograph the label before the bundles are opened.
The permit process in unincorporated Merced County is straightforward and has one step worth planning around. The county exempts only repair or replacement of roof coverings not exceeding one hundred square feet, so any real reroof needs a permit. A like-for-like reroof can be issued over the counter the same day where no plans or outside review are needed. But a tear-off triggers a mid-job inspection: the county requires a call for a sheathing inspection before covering with any roofing materials, and a final when complete, with an overlay needing only the final. That sheathing inspection is the most valuable thing in this process, because it is the one moment somebody independent looks at the deck, and a contractor who schedules work to avoid it is avoiding the only real check.
The 5 best roofers in Merced, CA
Scored 2026-10-02. The metro mean rating used as the Bayesian prior for Merced is 4.64, across a pool of 5 certified contractors.
| Rank | Company | TRB Score | Certification | Rating (reviews) | Adjusted | In business since | Based in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Econo Roofing Inc | 71.4 | Master Elite | 4.9 (60) | 4.782 | 1996 | Delhi, CA |
| 2 | Straight Edge Roofing Inc | 69.7 | Certified | 4.9 (305) | 4.863 | 2004 | Atwater, CA |
| 3 | Specialty Roofing of CA Inc | 61.1 | Certified | 4.9 (49) | 4.769 | 1983 | Atwater, CA |
| 4 | Celestial Roofing Inc | 60.2 | Certified | 5.0 (22) | 4.75 | not published | Merced, CA |
| 5 | Leo’s Roofing | 57.5 | Master Elite | 3.5 (12) | 4.419 | 2007 | Merced, CA |
1. Econo Roofing Inc — TRB Score 71.4
Econo Roofing Inc is based in Delhi, CA, in business since 1996, led by Mario Sanchez Espindola, President and CSLB qualifying individual, Not accredited; A+ rating, and holds Master Elite standing on the GAF certification registry.
Certifications held: Master Elite (GAF), California contractor licence 749551, C-39 Roofing, verified current and active on the CSLB register. Certification by more than one manufacturer is uncommon and requires meeting each programme’s separate standards for insurance, training and track record.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 24 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 31.3 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 10.8 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 5.4 | 10 |
| Total | 71.4 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Licence 749551, C-39 Roofing only, current and active, issued 18 May 1998, reissued 11 February 2025, expiring 28 February 2027. Corporation. Contractor’s bond of $25,000 with Merchants Bonding Company. Active workers’ compensation, no exemption. CSLB discloses no complaints, citations, civil judgments or disciplinary actions.. California Contractors State License Board
- Rated A+ though not accredited, at Delhi, with a business start date of 1 May 1996.. BBB business profile
What they actually do. Residential roofing, commercial roofing, roof repair, roof replacement, tile roofing, metal roofing, storm damage and insurance claims, roof inspections.
Why it ranks here. The top score in the metro and a single-classification C-39 roofing specialist, which is the narrowest and most on-trade licence profile of the five firms here: it does roofing and nothing else. Licensed since May 1998 with a BBB start date of May 1996 that matches the company’s own account, it is one of the two longest records in the market, and the CSLB register discloses no complaints, citations, civil judgments or disciplinary actions against it. It is also one of only two firms here documenting tile roofing.
Best fit for: Tile and metal work, and anyone who wants a licence that covers roofing and nothing else.
What we would want clarified. Its 60 reviews are a modest base, and we could not verify the review count or average at all because no review platform was reachable during this research. The licence was reissued to another entity on 11 February 2025, which means the business was restructured as a corporation while keeping the licence number, and the bond and the qualifying individual’s certification both date from that restructuring rather than from 1998, so the continuity is in the licence number rather than in every underlying record. It is not BBB accredited, though BBB rates it A+. Its Master Elite tier is claimed on its own site and we could not confirm it. Note also that it is based at Delhi, north of Merced. 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 (350) 206-0087, 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. Straight Edge Roofing Inc — TRB Score 69.7
Straight Edge Roofing Inc is based in Atwater, CA, in business since 2004, led by Brian Ray Dyck, President and CSLB qualifying individual, BBB accredited continuously since November 2005, A+ rating, and holds Certified standing on the GAF certification registry.
Certifications held: Certified (GAF), California contractor licence 839371, C-39 Roofing and C-2 Insulation and Acoustical, verified current and active. Certification by more than one manufacturer is uncommon and requires meeting each programme’s separate standards for insurance, training and track record.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 12 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 34.5 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 15.0 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 8.2 | 10 |
| Total | 69.7 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Licence 839371, classifications C-39 Roofing and C-2 Insulation and Acoustical, current and active, issued 27 May 2004, reissued 13 January 2016, expiring 31 January 2028. Corporation. $25,000 contractor’s bond with Philadelphia Indemnity. Active workers’ compensation. CSLB discloses no complaints, citations, civil judgments or disciplinary actions.. California Contractors State License Board
- Accredited continuously since November 2005 with an A+ rating at Atwater, with a start date of 27 May 2004 matching the licence exactly.. BBB business profile
What they actually do. Roof installation, roof repair and maintenance, roof certification, metal roofing, spray polyurethane foam roofing, elastomeric coatings, blown-in insulation, residential and commercial.
Why it ranks here. The firm whose second licence classification is the point. It holds C-2 Insulation and Acoustical alongside C-39, and in a Zone 12 county where ceiling insulation is one of the Title 24 compliance alternatives to a reflective roof surface, this is the only contractor here licensed to perform both halves of that trade-off rather than having to recommend the half it can sell. Its licence record and its BBB record agree to the day on 27 May 2004, and its BBB accreditation has been continuous since November 2005. It also documents spray polyurethane foam and elastomeric coatings, the relevant systems on a low-slope section. Deepest review base in the metro at 305.
Best fit for: Energy-code compliance where the insulation route may be cheaper than a reflective surface, and low-slope foam or coating work.
What we would want clarified. Its licence was reissued to another entity in January 2016, which is a corporate restructuring rather than a transfer of the business. It holds base-tier manufacturer certification rather than an upper tier, which is why it ranks second despite the strongest consumer record. We could not verify the 4.9 across 305 reviews because no review platform was reachable. And its own website lists Energy Star, Conklin and SPFA affiliations and does not list GAF at all, so treat the manufacturer certification on this entry as unconfirmed in both directions. 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 (209) 646-3863, 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. Specialty Roofing of CA Inc — TRB Score 61.1
Specialty Roofing of CA Inc is based in Atwater, CA, in business since 1983, led by Gregory J Dyck, CEO and CSLB qualifying individual; BBB also lists Kevin Dyck as Secretary and Donovan Dyck as Foreman, BBB accredited, A+ rating, with a start date matching the licence to the day, and holds Certified standing on the GAF certification registry.
Certifications held: Certified (GAF), California contractor licence 445359, C-39 Roofing, verified current and active since September 1983, CSLB ASB asbestos certification, for bidding purposes only. Certification by more than one manufacturer is uncommon and requires meeting each programme’s separate standards for insurance, training and track record.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 12 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 30.7 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 10.3 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 8.2 | 10 |
| Total | 61.1 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Licence 445359, C-39 Roofing with an ASB asbestos certification marked for bidding purposes only, current and active, issued 1 September 1983, reissued 21 December 2011, expiring 31 December 2027. Corporation. $25,000 contractor’s bond with Philadelphia Indemnity. Active workers’ compensation. CSLB discloses no complaints, citations, civil judgments or disciplinary actions.. California Contractors State License Board
- Accredited with an A+ rating at Atwater, with a business start date matching the 1 September 1983 licence date.. BBB business profile
What they actually do. Residential roof installation and repair, commercial roofing, cool roofs, spray polyurethane foam roofing, single-ply TPO membrane, metal roof restoration, fabric reinforced coating systems, skylight installation, tear-offs and full replacements.
Why it ranks here. Licensed since 1 September 1983, which is the longest record in the metro by nearly fifteen years, with a BBB start date matching to the day. It is the only Merced contractor here carrying the CSLB asbestos certification, which matters specifically on pre-1980 roofs where an asbestos-containing built-up or mastic layer may sit under the current covering, and in a county whose housing includes a substantial 1970s cohort that is a real possibility. It advertises cool roofs explicitly, which is the Zone 12 requirement, and documents TPO, foam and fabric reinforced coatings for low-slope work.
Best fit for: Older roofs with a suspected asbestos layer underneath, low-slope membranes and coatings, and cool roof compliance.
What we would want clarified. Read the asbestos certification precisely: the register marks it for bidding purposes only, which is not the same as authority to perform abatement, so establish who would actually do removal work if it is found. Its 49 reviews are a thin base and we could not verify the figure because no review platform was reachable. Its own website lists Owens Corning, CertainTeed, IKO, Johns Manville and TAMKO and does not list GAF, so the manufacturer certification on this entry is unconfirmed. Its licence was reissued to the current corporate entity in December 2011. 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 (350) 503-6597, 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. Celestial Roofing Inc — TRB Score 60.2
Celestial Roofing Inc is based in Merced, CA, led by Anthony De Jesus Torres-Perez, CSLB qualifying individual; the company names Anthony, Alexander and Jesus as the family running it, BBB no BBB profile found, and holds Certified standing on the GAF certification registry.
Certifications held: Certified (GAF), California contractor licence 1112784, C-39 Roofing, verified current and active. Certification by more than one manufacturer is uncommon and requires meeting each programme’s separate standards for insurance, training and track record.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 12 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 30.0 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 8.2 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 10.0 | 10 |
| Total | 60.2 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Licence 1112784, C-39 Roofing, current and active, issued 15 November 2023, expiring 30 November 2027. Corporation. $25,000 contractor’s bond with Nationwide Mutual. Workers’ compensation held directly with the State Compensation Insurance Fund. CSLB discloses no complaints, citations, civil judgments or disciplinary actions.. California Contractors State License Board
What they actually do. Roof replacement, roof repair, new roof installation, commercial roofing, patio reroofing, roof ventilation, skylights, gutters, roof tarping, siding replacement.
Why it ranks here. The only firm on this page actually based in the city of Merced, family-run with three named family members, and the only one carrying workers’ compensation directly with the State Compensation Insurance Fund rather than through an employee service group, which is a small marker of a business carrying its own obligations. It is also the only firm here documenting roof ventilation and patio reroofing as distinct services, and in a county whose roofs age out from heat rather than storm, ventilation is the thing most worth asking about. It carries a 5.0 rating.
Best fit for: Ventilation work, patio and porch roofs, and anyone who wants a contractor inside the city.
What we would want clarified. One discrepancy you should raise with it directly. Its own website claims 20 plus years of excellence in Merced County, but the corporation’s CSLB licence dates only to 15 November 2023 and no earlier licence under this name appears in the CSLB business-name index. That is not evidence of wrongdoing, since individual tradespeople accumulate experience long before incorporating, but the entity you would be contracting with is two years old and that is what a warranty depends on. We recorded no founding year rather than guessing. Its 22 reviews are the second thinnest here and we could not verify the figure. There is no BBB profile. It holds base-tier manufacturer certification, self-reported. 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 (209) 500-3266, 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. Leo’s Roofing — TRB Score 57.5
Leo’s Roofing is based in Merced, CA, in business since 2007, led by Jose Leonor Ramirez, CSLB qualifying individual, BBB no BBB profile found, and holds Master Elite standing on the GAF certification registry.
Certifications held: Master Elite (GAF), California contractor licence 899992, C-39 Roofing, verified current and active since July 2007. Certification by more than one manufacturer is uncommon and requires meeting each programme’s separate standards for insurance, training and track record.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 24 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 16.8 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 6.7 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 10.0 | 10 |
| Total | 57.5 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Licence 899992, legal name LEO RAMIREZ ROOFING INC, previously LEO’S ROOFING, C-39 Roofing, current and active, issued 12 July 2007, reissued 26 July 2018, expiring 31 July 2028. Corporation. $25,000 contractor’s bond. Active workers’ compensation. CSLB discloses no complaints, no citations, no construction-related civil judgments and no disciplinary actions.. California Contractors State License Board
What they actually do. Roofing, under CSLB classification C-39.
Why it ranks here. Nineteen years of continuous licensure, the second longest tenure in this metro, with a clean public record: CSLB discloses no complaints, no citations, no construction-related civil judgments and no disciplinary actions against licence 899992, and the bond and workers’ compensation are both current. It is a single-classification roofing specialist based in the city of Merced.
Best fit for: A comparison quote from a long-licensed city firm, read alongside the caveat below.
What we would want clarified. Its 3.5 rating across 12 reviews is much the weakest combination on this page and the reason it ranks fifth, and we have to be straight with you about what we could and could not establish. We set out to read the reviews behind that 3.5 and could not: no review platform was reachable during this research, so the substance of the complaints is unknown to us and we will not characterise it. What we can report is the official record, and it is clean across nineteen years. A low average over twelve reviews is also statistically fragile in a way a low average over two hundred is not. The honest position is that this firm has the longest clean regulatory record and the worst consumer rating in the metro at the same time, and you should read the reviews yourself before deciding which matters more. Separately: there is no BBB profile, no company website, and its Master Elite tier is self-reported and unconfirmed. 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 (350) 220-5506, 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.
0 severe weather reports in a decade, and why that matters in Merced
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 1 county of the Merced, CA statistical area over ten years, with the dates, the stone sizes and the towns they landed on. Over that decade the metro logged 1 hail report, 0 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports and 0 tornadoes. The database’s property-damage fields are left blank for most of these reports, so it carries no usable loss total for this metro and we do not quote one.
The largest hail on record in a decade
| Date | Stone size | Reported near | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 May 2019 | 0.75 in | Atwater | Merced |
The largest stone on record for this metro fell on 26 May 2019 near Atwater, measured at 0.75 inches. That is below the size at which hail normally damages a shingle roof.
When it happens. Severe weather reports cluster in May (1). The worst years on record were 2019 (1). If you are scheduling non-urgent work in Merced, 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. Hail is not the governing risk in Merced. Weight your decision toward wind rating, ventilation and flashing detail rather than paying extra for impact-rated shingles.
A cool roof is the law here, and there is a way out of it almost nobody mentions
Because Merced County is entirely Climate Zone 12, a single-family reroof must meet the prescriptive cool roof numbers on either slope. The steep-slope requirement is a minimum three-year aged solar reflectance of 0.20, a minimum thermal emittance of 0.75 and a minimum Solar Reflectance Index of 16. Those figures are modest and most mainstream architectural shingle lines have products that meet them, so this is usually a specification question rather than a cost shock. But it is a requirement, and a quote that does not name a rated product is a quote that has not addressed it.
The part worth knowing is that Zone 12 is one of only a handful of zones where the prescriptive steep-slope requirement can be satisfied another way entirely. Exception 1(c) to the steep-slope requirement is available where there are no ducts in the attic. If your house has no attic ductwork, the cool roof surface requirement can be met outright without buying a reflective product, which is the kind of detail that is worth raising before you pay extra for one. Ask whether your system has attic ducts, and if it does not, ask the contractor to confirm in writing which exception they are complying under.
The second route is the insulation trade-off, and it explains why one contractor’s second licence classification matters on this page. Title 24 permits compliance alternatives involving ceiling insulation, so the choice is sometimes between a reflective roof surface and additional R-value above the ceiling. One of the five firms below holds C-2 Insulation and Acoustical alongside C-39, which means it is licensed to perform both halves of that trade-off rather than having to recommend the half it can sell. That is a genuine distinction and the reason to read that entry closely if the energy compliance path is where your money is going.
The third thing to raise is the one the quiet storm record points at. With one hail event in a decade and no convective wind at all, the enemy of a Merced roof is ultraviolet exposure and the daily expansion and contraction of the covering. There is no primary source we could find that quantifies how much service life that costs, and we are not going to invent one. What is checkable on site is the fastening: California Residential Code R905.2.5 requires fasteners for asphalt shingles to be galvanised steel, stainless steel, aluminium or copper roofing nails, and specifies minimum head and shank dimensions and penetration. In a market with no storm to blame, a roof that fails early usually failed at the nail line, and the nail line is visible on the day the shingles go down.
Finally, use the sheathing inspection. On a tear-off the county requires a call for a sheathing inspection before anything covers the deck. Be there for it. It is free, it is mandatory, and it is the only occasion on which an independent person with authority looks at what your new roof is being fastened to.
What actually governs a Merced reroof
| Item | Requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hail events, Merced County, 2016 to 2025 | One, 0.75 inches at Atwater, 26 May 2019, no damage | NOAA NCEI Storm Events |
| Thunderstorm wind and tornado events | Zero county-wide | NOAA NCEI Storm Events |
| Gradient wind record, Merced and Madera zones | 3 High Wind and 19 Strong Wind events, 30 to 56 mph band | NOAA NCEI Storm Events |
| Licence classification | C-39 Roofing; four years of documented journeyman experience plus two examinations | CSLB |
| Contractor’s bond | $25,000 on every active licence | CSLB |
| Workers’ compensation | Required of C-39 licensees whether or not they employ anyone | CSLB |
| Minor-work exemption | $1,000 since 1 January 2025, and never applicable where a permit is required | CSLB bulletin 24-07; AB 2622 |
| Title 24 climate zone | Zone 12, every ZIP in the county | California Energy Commission |
| Cool roof, steep slope | Required: aged solar reflectance 0.20, thermal emittance 0.75, SRI 16 | 2025 Energy Code 150.2(b)1Ii |
| Cool roof, low slope | Required: 0.63, 0.75, SRI 75 | 2025 Energy Code 150.2(b)1Iii(a) |
| Steep-slope exception available in Zone 12 | Exception 1(c), no ducts in the attic | 2025 Energy Code |
| Product labelling | Mandatory rating and labelling of every roofing product used for compliance | Title 24 section 10-113(a) |
| Permit exemption | Only roof covering repair or replacement not exceeding 100 square feet | Merced County permit guide |
| Tear-off inspection | Sheathing inspection required before covering, plus a final | Merced County |
| Median year built | 1988 | ACS 2024 one-year, B25035 |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database; California Contractors State License Board licence detail records and bulletin 24-07; California Energy Commission ZIP-code climate zone assignments; 2025 California Energy Code sections 150.2(b)1 and 10-113(a); California Residential Code R905.2.5; Merced County permit guide; US Census Bureau ACS table B25035.
How to tell a Merced roofer’s claims from their record
Licensing is required in CA. California requires a Contractors State License Board licence for any job where labour and materials combined reach $1,000 or more, a threshold raised from $500 by Assembly Bill 2622 on 1 January 2025. The exemption never covers a reroof, because the Board treats any work that needs a permit as requiring a licence whatever its value. Roofing is the C-39 classification; a B General Building licence can also cover it.
A C-39 qualifier must document at least four years of journey-level experience and pass both a trade examination and a law and business examination. Every active licence carries a $25,000 contractor’s bond, and C-39 roofing licensees must carry workers’ compensation whether or not they have employees: roofing is one of the few classifications that cannot file the no-employee exemption.
Check here: CSLB Check a License. The CSLB record also shows complaint and disciplinary history, including citations and accusations. Treat any status other than Active as disqualifying.
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.
Who else is certified in Merced
5 certified roofing contractors serve the principal cities of the Merced, CA statistical area, of which 0 hold the top President’s Club tier. The pool carries 448 customer reviews between them at a mean rating of 4.64. The statistical area had a 2024 population of 296,774, a change of 5.07% against the 2020 census base, per the U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates.
How these Merced rankings were produced
Every contractor in the Merced, CA 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 5 certified contractors, of whom 0 hold President’s Club standing and 2 Master Elite, against a metro mean rating of 4.64. The top five were then researched individually against Better Business Bureau records, state licence registers and manufacturer directories. Where that research turned up something awkward it is on the page, and no placement was paid for.
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: October 2026. Scoring run: 2026-10-02. Corrections go to the editor and are actioned on verification.
What Merced homeowners want to know
Who is the best roofer in Merced, CA?
Econo Roofing Inc of Delhi, CA scores highest in the Merced metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score, at 71.4 out of 100 as of October 2026. It holds Master Elite certification with a 4.9 rating across 60 reviews. Highest-scoring is not the same as best fit for your specific job, and the four companies behind it score within 13.9 points.
How many certified roofing contractors serve Merced?
5 contractors on the GAF certification registry serve the principal cities of the Merced, CA statistical area as of October 2026, of which 0 hold President’s Club status.
How much damaging hail does Merced get?
The Merced, CA statistical area recorded 0 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 0 of 2 inches or larger between 2016 and 2025 in the NOAA Storm Events Database. The largest hailstone reported measured 0.75 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 Merced in the last ten years?
The largest hailstone logged by the National Weather Service in the Merced, CA statistical area between 2016 and 2025 measured 0.75 inches, reported near Atwater on 26 May 2019. That is below the size at which hail normally damages a shingle roof. Across the decade the metro recorded 1 hail reports. The database’s property-damage fields are left blank for most of these reports, so it carries no usable loss total for this metro and we do not quote one.
When is the worst time of year for roof damage in Merced?
Severe-weather reports in the Merced, CA statistical area cluster in May, on the NOAA record for 2016 to 2025. Outside those months local crews are not triaging storm damage, so lead times are shorter and scheduling is easier.
Do roofers need a licence in CA?
California requires a Contractors State License Board licence for any job where labour and materials combined reach $1,000 or more, a threshold raised from $500 by Assembly Bill 2622 on 1 January 2025. The exemption never covers a reroof, because the Board treats any work that needs a permit as requiring a licence whatever its value. Roofing is the C-39 classification; a B General Building licence can also cover it. A C-39 qualifier must document at least four years of journey-level experience and pass both a trade examination and a law and business examination. Every active licence carries a $25,000 contractor’s bond, and C-39 roofing licensees must carry workers’ compensation whether or not they have employees: roofing is one of the few classifications that cannot file the no-employee exemption.
What should I check before hiring a roofer in Merced?
The CSLB record also shows complaint and disciplinary history, including citations and accusations. Treat any status other than Active as disqualifying.
A cool roof is the law here, and there is a way out of it almost nobody mentions?
Because Merced County is entirely Climate Zone 12, a single-family reroof must meet the prescriptive cool roof numbers on either slope. The steep-slope requirement is a minimum three-year aged solar reflectance of 0.20, a minimum thermal emittance of 0.75 and a minimum Solar Reflectance Index of 16. Those figures are modest and most mainstream architectural shingle lines have products that meet them, so this is usually a specification question rather than a cost shock. But it is a requirement, and a quote that does not name a rated product is a quote that has not addressed it.
Is Merced a hard market to find a good roofer in?
Merced County recorded exactly one hail event in ten years and zero severe thunderstorm wind events, which makes it one of the quietest markets in this programme and shifts the whole question. What governs a roof here is not storm damage but the energy code and the sun. Every ZIP code in the county is Title 24 Building Climate Zone 12, which appears in both the steep-slope and the low-slope reroofing lists, so a cool roof is required on a single-family reroof here on either slope. California also licenses this trade properly: all five contractors below were verified individually on the Contractors State License Board register, each holds the C-39 roofing classification, each carries a $25,000 bond, and none shows a workers’ compensation exemption, because C-39 is one of the few classifications that cannot file one.
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 Modesto, CA, about 37 miles from Merced
- Best roofers in Fresno, CA, about 52 miles from Merced
- Best roofers in Stockton, CA, about 65 miles from Merced
- Best roofers in San Jose, CA, about 73 miles from Merced
- Best roofers in Salinas, CA, another CA metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Santa Cruz, CA, another CA metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Olympia, WA, a metro of comparable size
- Best roofers in Longview, TX, 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 Merced, CA: The Roofing Brief Contractor Score.” Published October 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.