Roofer rates
How much does a roofer charge per hour or per day in the UK?
Published hourly and day rates exist, but a rate is not a price for your roof. Below: why, which figures exist, and how to compare a quote properly.
The short answer
MyJobQuote says roofers tend to charge £30 to £45 per hour in the UK in 2026, and its emergency page gives £280 to £360 as a typical day rate. A rate is not a job price, and most published figures describe jobs: a few broken tiles, a ridge tile, a whole roof. Which? Trusted Traders price swapping out between one and six broken tiles at £75 to £400, excluding VAT. A day rate also hides what a roof needs, which is why a survey comes before a total price.
4 min read · Part of Roofing in Folkestone
Why a day rate tells you so little
A day rate answers a question nobody is really asking. What you want to know is what your roof costs to put right, and the hours are only one of the things that decide it. Ask what the total would be with no hours mentioned at all.
- How big the roof area is, and how steep it is to work on.
- What the covering is, and whether it can be refixed or has to be replaced.
- Whether scaffold goes up, and whether the highway needs a licence for it.
- What the survey finds under the covering once it is lifted, such as timber that has to be cut out and renewed.
- Waste, and how the old materials leave the site.
Two roofers quoting an identical daily rate can arrive at very different totals for the same roof, because one is pricing days of attendance and the other a finished roof. We give one written total price, and we tell you what drives it, rather than offering a rate per hour that leaves you to guess the rest.
Job-level figures that have been published
Third-party cost guides do publish job prices. They are typical ranges from other sources, never our prices, and each carries its own date and basis. The table lists four that are easy to match against a quote.
| Job | Published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Replacing between one and six broken tiles | £75 to £400 | Which?, Nov 2025 |
| Fitting a new ridge tile | £80 to £300 | Which?, Nov 2025 |
| Clearing every gutter, front and back | £75 to £350 | Which?, Nov 2025 |
| A roof survey (average) | around £300 | MyJobQuote |
Which? gathered its prices from a survey of 11 of its Trusted Traders in November 2025. They include labour and materials but exclude VAT, and for London and the South East, Which? expects the upper end of its scale to be the likelier landing place. Both counties sit inside the South East, so the top of each Which? range is the likelier place to land. A figure that sits well below the bottom of a range deserves a question about what is left out.
Whole roofs, repairs by area and call-outs
For an average three-bedroom house, a complete roof replacement runs £7,000 to £21,000 on Which?'s survey, excluding VAT, in November 2025. MyJobQuote's figure is lower: its page says the average new roof costs around £5,250 in the UK. The two draw on different samples, so quote both and expect your own written price to follow the house in front of us, not a national average.
The Checkatrade repair table works per square metre: £90 to £120 per m² for concrete tiles, £110 to £160 for clay tiles and £150 to £220 for natural slate. They are worked on a maximum of 3 m², VAT is added on top, and access equipment is left out. Those rates stop at 3 m² and say nothing about a larger job, so never multiply one by the size of a roof.
Emergency work follows its own pattern. MyJobQuote says an emergency roofer call-out typically costs £150 to £300, while extensive storm damage repairs can cost £1,200 or more. Attendance is what a call-out buys; the repair is separate, and the larger figure is for extensive damage only.
Comparing quotes when you are given a rate
If a roofer does quote a day rate, turn it into a job price before you compare it with anything. Ask them to write down:
- The number of days and the number of people working.
- What the total covers, and what it leaves out.
- Whether scaffold and the highway licence are part of it.
- Whether VAT sits inside the figure or on top.
- How the price changes if the lifted covering shows worse damage than expected, and who agrees that change with you before the work goes ahead.
Which? states that its figures exclude VAT, while MyJobQuote gives no VAT basis for its own, so never add or subtract VAT on either by guesswork. A quote that says nothing either way cannot yet be set against them. Check that your quote spells out VAT and scaffold, in or out, before it goes beside another.
You can read more on what a written roofing quote should include and on scaffolding costs for roof work. The homepage covers the range of roofing we do in and around Folkestone.
More questions
Is it cheaper to pay a roofer by the day?
Nothing in the published cost guides backs that up. A day rate leaves the risk of a slow job with you, because the total grows with every extra day, whereas an agreed total fixes what you pay. Whichever route you take, ask what is covered, and whether scaffold and VAT are included before you compare.
Do roofers charge more in winter?
The cost guides used here publish no winter premium, so this page does not claim one. Weather can delay a job and lengthen scaffold hire, which may affect a total, and a quote should say how delays are handled. Which? treats the South East as a region where the upper end of its scale is likelier, which is about place, not season.
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