Commercial Built-Up Roofing (BUR) in Texas, Installed as a Full Replacement System

Here's the decision most owners are actually facing when they land on this page: the flat roof has leaked more than once, a contractor has patched it more than once, and the patches keep coming back. Built-up roofing enters that conversation as a full-system commercial roof replacement, not a spot fix. When the plies underneath have lost their bond and the felts have gone brittle, one more patch just moves the leak.

The reason BUR replaces well is redundancy. A built-up roof is not one waterproofing layer, it is several: three or four plies of reinforcing felt, each set in its own layer of hot or cold-applied bitumen, stacked into a single membrane. If one ply is compromised, the plies below it are still holding water out. That is the opposite of a single patch sitting on top of a failed field, and it is why BUR has protected low-slope commercial decks for over a century.

Most commercial roofs we end up replacing had three or four contractors on them before us, each one selling another patch, none of them telling the owner the system was already gone. The honest conversation is harder to have. It's also the only one that actually solves the problem instead of postponing it.

Whether your roof is genuinely at that point is an assessment question, not a sales question. If the plies are sound and the failure is isolated, you may not owe a full BUR replacement at all. That candidacy call, restore or recover versus tear off and rebuild, is the whole decision, and it belongs in a written assessment before a proposal. Walk through it on tear-off vs. recover.

Before you approve a built-up roof, you should be able to read the three lines on the proposal that set its quality. Strip the jargon and BUR is a stack of purpose-built layers.

• The plies and felts are the strength. A BUR membrane is built from multiple layers (typically three or four plies) of reinforcing felt, either fiberglass or organic mat. The ply count is the number most worth asking about: a four-ply roof carries more redundancy and a longer service life than a two-ply, and it should be written into the scope, not left vague.
• The bitumen is the waterproofing. Between every felt layer sits a mopping of asphalt bitumen (hot-applied or a cold adhesive). That bitumen is what actually keeps water out; the felts hold it in place and give it tensile strength. Together the felt and bitumen become one continuous, monolithic membrane with no field seams to chase.
• The surfacing is the armor. The top of the roof gets a protective surface, either a gravel or aggregate ballast embedded in a flood coat of bitumen, or a mineral-surfaced cap sheet. That surface takes the UV, the hail, and the foot traffic so the membrane below it does not have to. It is also the layer that gives BUR its old nickname, the gravel roof.

One honest note most bids skip: the ply count and the surfacing type are where a cheap built-up bid quietly cuts corners. A two-ply roof surfaced thin will pass a walkthrough on day one and cost you a decade on the back end. You want a contractor who writes the ply count, the felt type, and the surfacing into the scope in plain numbers, so the roof you pay for is the roof you get.

BUR is not the right system for every low-slope roof, and the honest answer for your building comes from the assessment. But there are decks where it still earns its keep over newer options.

• High-heat, high-UV decks. A gravel-surfaced built-up roof shrugs off Texas sun in a way thin membranes work harder to match. The aggregate surface reflects and shields, and the thick multi-ply body has real mass behind it.
• Heavy rooftop traffic. If your roof carries constant service traffic, walkways to rooftop units, techs on the HVAC every month, a gravel or cap-sheet BUR surface takes that abuse better than a puncture-prone thin membrane. For traffic-heavy roofs, redundancy plus a tough surface is a genuine advantage.
• Owners who want proven longevity over the newest system. BUR has a century-long track record on commercial low-slope roofs. For an owner holding a building long-term who values a known quantity, that history is worth something.

Where BUR is the wrong call: on a deck that cannot carry the added weight of a multi-ply gravel assembly, on a roof where installation disruption from hot bitumen is a problem for tenants, or where a lighter single-ply or a restoration coating would honestly serve the building for less. If the existing roof is sound enough to recover rather than rebuild, that is a different and often cheaper path, covered on tear-off vs. recover. Built-up roofing is one system inside ARP's full commercial roof replacement lineup, and the assessment decides which one fits your roof.

BUR does not exist in a vacuum. The two systems it competes with most on a low-slope replacement are modified bitumen, its closest relative, and single-ply membrane. Here is the honest head-to-head.

• BUR vs. modified bitumen. Modified bitumen (mod-bit) is essentially BUR's evolution: it takes the same asphalt-and-reinforcement idea but adds polymer modifiers (APP or SBS) to the bitumen for more flexibility, and it installs in fewer, factory-made rolls rather than many field-mopped plies. BUR gives you more redundant plies and a proven gravel surface; mod-bit gives you faster installation, better cold-weather flexibility, and fewer layers to go wrong. The full trade-off, ply-by-ply and price-by-price, lives on built-up roofing vs. modified bitumen.
• BUR vs. single-ply. A single-ply membrane (like TPO) is one welded sheet, lighter and faster to install, with strong reflectivity. BUR answers with multi-ply redundancy and a surface built for heat and traffic, at more weight and a more involved install. Neither is universally better; the right answer depends on your deck, your traffic, and how long you are holding the building.

Updated July 2026, Texas market pricing. The overlap in per-square-foot pricing between BUR and mod-bit is real, which is exactly why the decision comes down to your building rather than the sticker: ply count, surfacing, rooftop traffic, and how much installation disruption your tenants can absorb.

Commercial built-up roofing in Texas runs $7.50 to $10.00 per square foot installed, plies, bitumen, and surfacing together. A 10,000-square-foot roof typically lands near $98,500 to $131,500, with deck condition, drainage, prep, and roof access setting the final number.

Built-up roofing is a system decision, so it prices by area with a real sample total, not a "call for a quote."

The table below is a Texas baseline. Regional market conditions add roughly 3% to 10% depending on your area, and the final number for your building depends on the four things every commercial roof does.

Updated July 2026, Texas market pricing. That $7.50 to $10.00 per square foot covers the reinforcing plies, the bitumen, and the gravel or cap-sheet surfacing, plus the full ARP scope: a documented assessment with photos, a written scope before you sign, manufacturer-specified application, and a final walkthrough.

The number moves with the ply count and surfacing you specify, how much the deck and drainage need correcting before the membrane goes down, and how hard the roof is to reach and stage. As with any commercial system, your final price depends on the existing roof condition, the deck substrate, drainage requirements, and access complexity. Every ARP commercial estimate puts the full scope in writing before a contract is signed, so there are no surprise change orders sprung on day three.

For sample totals by building size across every commercial system, and what is in and out of each estimate, see the commercial roof replacement cost guide.

Get Your Written BUR Scope and Price →

You get three steps, not a mystery. Here is how a built-up roof replacement runs from your first call to your warranty paperwork.

1. Free assessment and written scope. We walk your roof, document the condition and any wet or failed areas with photos, and hand you a written scope: ply count, felt type, bitumen method, surfacing, and the flashing detail at every curb, drain, and parapet, before you sign anything.
2. Deck prep and supervised multi-ply install. The deck and drainage are corrected first, then the plies, bitumen, and surfacing are installed to manufacturer specification by the installation partners we deploy and supervise under an ARP project manager. You get photo documentation at each stage.
3. Final walkthrough and warranty registration. We inspect the finished roof with you, confirm every ply, flashing, and penetration, clean the site, and register your manufacturer warranty. You end with a documented roof and a paper trail you can hand up to ownership.

When you sign a commercial replacement contract, you are not hiring a logo on a truck. You are hiring a documented process, the right manufacturer backing, and a company that will still answer the phone when a question comes up years down the line.

• The right commercial certification. ARP Roofing is a GAF GoldElite Commercial Contractor, GAF's top commercial designation, which anchors our commercial replacement work and backs the GAF built-up and modified bitumen systems we install under one umbrella. We are also an Elevate Red Shield Licensed Contractor and a UNIFLEX Premier Elite Contractor for fluid-applied restoration, and we are registered with every municipality across our Texas service areas.
• A COO who reads roofs for a living. Randal Williams is a former commercial high-rise field engineer and Xactimate expert with 15+ years in roofing and construction. He has scoped and documented more than $7 million in insurance claim work across Texas, including single commercial claims above $2 million, supporting property managers and building owners through the claims process as the contractor of record. On a built-up replacement, that field-engineering eye is the difference between a roof spec'd for your building and one spec'd for the contractor's convenience.
• One point of contact. Your ARP project manager runs the schedule, coordinates the permit, and delivers photo documentation from assessment through warranty registration, alongside the father-and-son team of Randal and Preston Williams, who own ARP and sign the warranties.

This is part of ARP's full commercial roofing lineup, so the same documented process backs your built-up roof, your single-ply, and your coatings alike.

Built-up roofing is a long-term replacement decision, so here is the honest read on who we serve well and who we do not.

You're probably the right fit if you...

• Manage a low-slope building with a repeatedly patched roof and want the honest replace-versus-patch answer in writing
• Want the ply count, felt type, surfacing, and flashing schedule specified before anyone touches the roof
• Run a high-heat or heavy-traffic roof where multi-ply redundancy and a tough surface genuinely earn their keep
• Plan to hold the building long-term and value a proven system over the newest one
• Need photo documentation to hand up to ownership or a board

You're probably not the right fit if you...

• Need the lowest bid in the market above all else, a respected decision we cannot always match
• Need work to begin within 24 hours with no assessment or documentation
• Have a sound roof that would be better served by a recover or a restoration coating for less, which our assessment will tell you honestly
• Manage a deck that cannot carry the added weight of a multi-ply gravel assembly

If that is the kind of decision you want to make with real numbers in front of you, book a commercial roof assessment and we will put the scope and the pricing on paper.

• Plies and reinforcing felts: multiple layers of fiberglass or organic mat that give BUR its redundancy and tensile strength.
• Bitumen: hot-applied or cold-adhesive asphalt between plies; the waterproofing layer.
• Surfacing: gravel or aggregate ballast in a flood coat, or a mineral-surfaced cap sheet; the UV, hail, and traffic armor.
• Modified bitumen (APP / SBS): polymer-modified evolution of BUR, referenced in the comparison section.
• 25% rule: a local repair-percentage threshold some jurisdictions apply (not statewide in Texas), referenced in the FAQ.

Manufacturer Certifications:

• GAF GoldElite Commercial Contractor (umbrella cert covering GAF built-up, modified bitumen, EverGuard single-ply)
• Elevate Red Shield Licensed Contractor
• UNIFLEX Premier Elite Contractor

Industry Membership:

• BBB A+ Accredited
• CTRCA (Central Texas Roofing Contractors Association) Member