Short answer: As of September 2026, the five highest-scoring roofing contractors in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score are On Tops Roofing (95.9), Feazel Roofing LLC, trading as Feazel (88.3), Barkley-Jensen Roofing and Restoration, LLC (71.6), Artisan Quality Roofing LLC (71.0), B&C Roofing and Repair, LLC (70.7). All of them carry a verifiable manufacturer certification, every rating here was cross-checked against an independent record, and no money changed hands for any placement.
The Roofing Brief scored 11 certified roofing contractors serving the Durham metro on a published, reproducible formula, then researched each of the top five individually to confirm its record. Durham and Raleigh sit 18 miles apart and the certification registry treats the Triangle as one market. We rank contractors against the metro whose centre they are actually nearest, so firms based in downtown Raleigh appear on the Raleigh page and Durham, Cary, Apex and Orange County firms appear here. Contractors genuinely sitting between the two cities appear on both, with the distance printed so you can judge. North Carolina licenses general contractors at $40,000 and up, and a Durham replacement usually sits below that, so there may be no state licence to check at all: manufacturer certification and the BBB record carry the weight.
The conditions a Durham roof has to be specified for
The Triangle’s severe weather is wind and trees rather than hail. NOAA holds 450 severe wind reports across Durham, Orange, Person and Chatham counties over the decade against 48 hail reports, only one of which reached 2.5 inches. On 24 February 2016 a survey found that beyond the tornado damage in Durham County, rear-flank downdraft winds blew down numerous trees, several falling onto homes and vehicles, with the worst of it along Rose of Sharon Road. July is the peak month.
Ten tornadoes are on record, the strongest an EF2 near Teer in Orange County on 19 April 2019. Because the damage mechanism here is usually a limb or a whole tree rather than hailstones, the honest pre-quote inspection covers what is growing over the roof, and the honest post-storm repair checks the decking under any impact rather than replacing visible shingles and moving on.
North Carolina’s licensing threshold creates a real gap in this market. A general contractor licence with the roofing classification is required at $40,000 and above, a threshold that rose from $30,000 on 1 October 2023, and most Durham replacements land below it. That means there may be no state licence to verify on your job at all, which is why manufacturer certification, insurance certificates and the BBB complaint record carry the weight on this page.
Permitting is handled jointly here, which simplifies one thing at least: Durham City and County run a combined inspections department, with Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Chatham County covering the rest of the metro. Work that touches decking or structure is permitted work, and a full tear-off normally is. Confirm who is pulling the permit, and if your contract approaches $40,000, ask to see the NCLBGC licence rather than assuming the threshold does not apply.
The 5 best roofers in Durham, NC
Scored 2026-09-21. The metro mean rating used as the Bayesian prior for Durham is 4.818, across a pool of 11 certified contractors.
| Rank | Company | TRB Score | Certification | Rating (reviews) | Adjusted | In business since | Based in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | On Tops Roofing | 95.9 | President’s Club | 5.0 (619) | 4.986 | not published | Cary, NC |
| 2 | Feazel Roofing LLC, trading as Feazel | 88.3 | President’s Club | 4.7 (609) | 4.709 | 1988 | Durham, NC |
| 3 | Barkley-Jensen Roofing and Restoration, LLC | 71.6 | Certified | 5.0 (393) | 4.979 | not published | Cary, NC |
| 4 | Artisan Quality Roofing LLC | 71.0 | Certified | 5.0 (427) | 4.981 | not published | Apex, NC |
| 5 | B&C Roofing and Repair, LLC | 70.7 | Master Elite | 4.8 (35) | 4.811 | not published | Rougemont, NC |
1. On Tops Roofing — TRB Score 95.9
On Tops Roofing is based in Cary, NC, BBB accredited, A+ rating, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 39.5 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 15.0 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 6.5 | 10 |
| Total | 95.9 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- A+ rated BBB accredited business. BBB
- 882 reviews recorded on an independent aggregator. Reviews
- Long review history on Angi spanning multiple pages. Angi
What they actually do. Roof repair and replacement across the Research Triangle.
Why it ranks here. A clean 5.0 across 619 registry reviews, corroborated by 882 reviews elsewhere, with President’s Club certification and an A+ accredited record. Sustaining a perfect rating across more than six hundred reviews is the strongest evidence combination in the Triangle.
Best fit for: Cary, Morrisville and southern Durham County homeowners.
What we would want clarified. Based in Cary, genuinely between Durham and Raleigh, so it also appears on the Raleigh page. Fourteen miles from the Durham metro centre. 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 (919) 639-4981, 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. Feazel Roofing LLC, trading as Feazel — TRB Score 88.3
Trades as Feazel Roofing LLC, trading as Feazel; listed on the GAF registry as Feazel Roofing LLC.
Feazel Roofing LLC, trading as Feazel is based in Durham, NC, in business since 1988, BBB accredited, A+ rating, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 28.4 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 15.0 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 10.0 | 10 |
| Total | 88.3 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- A+ rated BBB accredited business. BBB
- 874 reviews recorded on an independent aggregator. Reviews
- Operating since 1988 across multiple states, using in-house crews rather than subcontracted labour. Company
What they actually do. Roofing and exterior services, residential and commercial.
Why it ranks here. 609 registry reviews corroborated by 874 elsewhere, and the only ranked contractor based in Durham itself. In-house crews rather than subcontracted labour is the distinguishing feature: subcontracting is where installation quality most often diverges from the certification the company holds.
Best fit for: Durham city homeowners, and anyone who wants to know who is actually on the roof.
What we would want clarified. At 4.7 this is a lower rating than the four contractors below it, and this is a larger multi-market operator rather than a local family firm. 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 (984) 377-7663, 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.
3. Barkley-Jensen Roofing and Restoration, LLC — TRB Score 71.6
Barkley-Jensen Roofing and Restoration, LLC is based in Cary, NC, BBB accredited since 23 June 2022, and holds Certified standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 12 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 39.2 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 13.9 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 6.5 | 10 |
| Total | 71.6 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
What they actually do. Roofing and restoration across the Triangle.
Why it ranks here. A clean 5.0 across 393 registry reviews. That is the second-deepest flawless record in this metro and it belongs to a contractor holding only base certification, which is why the score sits well below the top two despite the rating.
Best fit for: Cary and western Wake County homeowners.
What we would want clarified. Base GAF certification, accreditation only since 2022, and no BBB letter rating was displayed on the profile we retrieved. 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 (919) 750-0911, 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. Artisan Quality Roofing LLC — TRB Score 71.0
Artisan Quality Roofing LLC is based in Apex, NC, BBB accredited, A+ rating, and holds Certified standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 12 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 39.2 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 14.1 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 5.6 | 10 |
| Total | 71.0 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- A+ rated BBB accredited business. BBB
- Listed on Houzz with a project portfolio. Houzz
- Listed on Angi with a review history. Angi
What they actually do. Roofing across Apex, Cary, Durham and Raleigh.
Why it ranks here. A clean 5.0 across 427 registry reviews with an A+ accredited record, the deepest flawless rating in this top five.
Best fit for: Apex and south-western Triangle homeowners.
What we would want clarified. Base certification, and 18 miles from the Durham metro centre, the furthest in this top five. 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 (919) 656-6319, 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. B&C Roofing and Repair, LLC — TRB Score 70.7
B&C Roofing and Repair, LLC is based in Rougemont, NC, BBB accredited, A+ rating, and holds Master Elite standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 24 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 32.4 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 8.4 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 5.9 | 10 |
| Total | 70.7 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- A+ rated BBB accredited business. BBB
What they actually do. Roofing and repair across northern Durham, Person and Orange counties.
Why it ranks here. Master Elite certification with an A+ accredited record, and the only ranked contractor covering the rural northern half of the metro toward Roxboro, which the Cary and Apex firms reach reluctantly.
Best fit for: Rougemont, Bahama and northern Durham County homeowners.
What we would want clarified. Thirty-five registry reviews is the thinnest base in this top five by a wide margin. 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 (919) 475-8841, 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 450 wind reports that shape a Durham 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 4 counties of the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC statistical area over ten years, with the dates, the stone sizes and the towns they landed on. Over that decade the metro logged 48 hail reports, 450 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports and 10 tornadoes. Reported property damage from hail, severe wind and tornado over that decade totalled $5.4 million; flood and winter-storm losses are counted separately and are not included.
The biggest hail to fall on Durham in a decade
| Date | Stone size | Reported near | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 June 2016 | 2.5 in | Hyco Jct | Person |
| 10 May 2018 | 1.75 in | Bahama | Durham |
| 14 March 2016 | 1.75 in | North Durham | Durham |
| 28 April 2016 | 1.75 in | Teer | Orange |
| 28 September 2016 | 1.75 in | Roxboro | Person |
| 28 September 2016 | 1.75 in | Paynes Tavern | Person |
The largest stone on record for this metro fell on 23 June 2016 near Hyco Jct, measured at 2.5 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 70 knots, about 81 mph, near Huckleberry Spg on 24 February 2016. Asphalt shingles begin lifting at roughly 67 mph when they are correctly nailed, and considerably below that when they are not.
Tornadoes. 10 tornadoes touched down in these counties over the decade, the strongest rated EF2 near Teer on 19 April 2019.
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 February 2016 event near Huckleberry Spg, reproduced verbatim:
In addition to the tornado damage in Durham county, numerous trees were blown down by rear-flank downdraft winds. Downed trees fell onto and damage homes and vehicles, with the damage most extensive along Rose of Sharon Road.
That is the kind of damage a roof in this metro has to be specified against, described by the agency that recorded it rather than by a contractor selling the repair.
When it happens. Severe weather reports cluster in July (117), June (98), May (93). The worst years on record were 2022 (78), 2025 (63), 2023 (61). If you are scheduling non-urgent work in Durham, 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 Durham. Weight your decision toward wind rating, ventilation and flashing detail rather than paying extra for impact-rated shingles.
How to check a Durham roofer in ten minutes
Licensing is required in NC. North Carolina has no state roofing licence as such. A general contractor licence from the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, carrying the Building, Residential or S (Roofing) classification, is required for any roofing project costing $40,000 or more.
The $40,000 threshold rose from $30,000 effective 1 October 2023. Contracting without a licence at or above that value is a Class 2 misdemeanour under NCGS 87-13. Exams are administered by PSI.
Check here: NCLBGC licensee search. Below $40,000 no state licence is needed, and most single-family reroofs cost less than that, so many local roofers lawfully hold none. If your job is at or above $40,000, check the licence on the Board’s search; below it, check insurance certificates with the insurer, and note that North Carolina has no statute banning deductible rebates or giving a cancellation right on insurance-funded roof contracts.
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 Durham
11 certified roofing contractors serve the principal cities of the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC statistical area, of which 2 hold the top President’s Club tier. The pool carries 2,695 customer reviews between them at a mean rating of 4.818. The statistical area had a 2024 population of 620,522, a change of 5.37% against the 2020 census base, per the U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates.
How these Durham rankings were produced
Every contractor in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC 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 11 certified contractors, of whom 2 hold President’s Club standing and 2 Master Elite, against a metro mean rating of 4.818. The top five were then researched individually against Better Business Bureau records, state licence registers and manufacturer directories. Good and bad findings are published together, and no contractor paid for a place here.
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: 2026-09-21. Corrections go to the editor and are actioned on verification.
What Durham homeowners want to know
Who is the best roofer in Durham, NC?
On Tops Roofing of Cary, NC scores highest in the Durham metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score, at 95.9 out of 100 as of September 2026. It holds President’s Club certification with a 5.0 rating across 619 reviews. Highest-scoring is not the same as best fit for your specific job, and the four companies behind it score within 25.2 points.
How many certified roofing contractors serve Durham?
11 contractors on the GAF certification registry serve the principal cities of the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC statistical area as of September 2026, of which 2 hold President’s Club status.
How much damaging hail does Durham get?
The Durham-Chapel Hill, NC statistical area recorded 37 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 1 of 2 inches or larger between 2016 and 2025 in the NOAA Storm Events Database. The largest hailstone reported measured 2.5 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 Durham in the last ten years?
The largest hailstone logged by the National Weather Service in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC statistical area between 2016 and 2025 measured 2.5 inches, reported near Hyco Jct on 23 June 2016. 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 48 hail reports. Reported property damage from hail, severe wind and tornado over that decade totalled $5.4 million; flood and winter-storm losses are counted separately and are not included.
When is the worst time of year for roof damage in Durham?
Severe-weather reports in the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC statistical area cluster in July, June, May, on the NOAA record for 2016 to 2025. Scheduling discretionary work away from that window tends to get you a better crew and a faster start, because nobody is juggling emergency callouts.
Do roofers need a licence in NC?
North Carolina has no state roofing licence as such. A general contractor licence from the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, carrying the Building, Residential or S (Roofing) classification, is required for any roofing project costing $40,000 or more. The $40,000 threshold rose from $30,000 effective 1 October 2023. Contracting without a licence at or above that value is a Class 2 misdemeanour under NCGS 87-13. Exams are administered by PSI.
What should I check before hiring a roofer in Durham?
Below $40,000 no state licence is needed, and most single-family reroofs cost less than that, so many local roofers lawfully hold none. If your job is at or above $40,000, check the licence on the Board’s search; below it, check insurance certificates with the insurer, and note that North Carolina has no statute banning deductible rebates or giving a cancellation right on insurance-funded roof contracts.
Is Durham a hard market to find a good roofer in?
Durham and Raleigh sit 18 miles apart and the certification registry treats the Triangle as one market. We rank contractors against the metro whose centre they are actually nearest, so firms based in downtown Raleigh appear on the Raleigh page and Durham, Cary, Apex and Orange County firms appear here. Contractors genuinely sitting between the two cities appear on both, with the distance printed so you can judge. North Carolina licenses general contractors at $40,000 and up, and a Durham replacement usually sits below that, so there may be no state licence to check at all: manufacturer certification and the BBB record carry the weight.
Is wind or hail the bigger risk to a roof in Durham?
Wind, by a wide margin. The Durham-Chapel Hill, NC statistical area logged 450 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports against 37 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 Raleigh, NC, about 18 miles from Durham
- Best roofers in Greensboro, NC, about 52 miles from Durham
- Best roofers in Fayetteville, NC, another NC metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Winston-Salem, NC, another NC metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Harrisburg, PA, a metro of comparable size
- Best roofers in Jackson, MS, 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 Durham, NC: 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.