Some more numbers on our roof

A quick recap: Back in May we had to have our roof replace. Fortunatly it was all covered by insurance so all we had to pay was the deductable and upgrades (replaced the turbines with power vents and redid gutters).

The old roof used an organic material that was in style back in the 80's because it was environmentally friendly but was very expensive. I bring that up because the insurance paid to put the roof back to its original state so they paid up to what it would cost to replace the organic material. Instead of opting for the organics we went with an impact resistant material (which I think is a very wise decision living in an area where hail is common). The cost ended up about the same so we did not have to pay extra there. But I wondered if the cost would have been worth it.

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: because we used impact resistant materials we got a 30% discount on our home owners insurance - which worked out to about $404 a year (the flip side is that right after our claim was filled our insurance went up $189 a year ). So best case we are saving $404 a year, worst case we are saving $215 a year. Now normal roofing material cost about $85 a square, impact resistant materials cost $164 a square. It took 45 squares to redo our roof so the cost difference worked out to be $3555. I am only concerned with difference because that is what I would have had to pay if the roof used plain materials originally.

Now to figure out if it was worth it or not we need to figure out ROI (return on investment). The basis of ROI is that if you invest money on something that will generate revenue how long will it take to get your money back (and thus start showing a true profit). As you can tell there was alot of numbers above to work with.
Best case I am saving $404 a year. Worst case I am saving $215. So considering the difference ($3555) my ROI would by 8.8 years best case and 16.53 years worst case. After that the savings are money in the bank.

One thing the numbers don't show is longevity. That is since I used a impact resistant material then if there is a hail storm it will be less likely that the roof will be damaged thus needing another costly repair (hence the good discount).

But either way the numbers definitly show that if we had to pay for it ourselves, and we had the money, it would be better to buy the more durable materials.