Emergency costs
How much does an emergency roof repair cost?
An urgent repair has two parts: getting someone to the roof, and fixing it. Below: the published ranges, what moves them, and how to read a quote.
The short answer
MyJobQuote says an emergency roofer's call-out typically costs £150 to £300, while extensive storm damage repairs can cost £1,200 or more. A smaller job, in which a handful of broken or missing tiles is put right, runs to £75 to £400 on Which? Trusted Traders' figures. Those are third-party UK ranges and not our prices. What we give you is a single written total, worked out after a survey of your own roof.
4 min read · Part of Roof repairs
Published figures for urgent repairs
Treat any published figure as a guide to scale. Your roof, your access and your damage will move it either way, and a survey is the only way to know where yours sits. These are the figures we can point to, each with its source.
| Job | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency call-out | £150 to £300 | MyJobQuote |
| Extensive storm damage | £1,200 or more | MyJobQuote |
| One to six tiles replaced | £75 to £400 | Which? |
| New ridge tile | £80 to £300 | Which? |
| Average roof repair | around £650 | MyJobQuote |
MyJobQuote's pages were updated in October 2026 and give no VAT basis. Which? Trusted Traders gathered its prices from eleven members in November 2025, and they exclude VAT. Its own caution for readers in London or the South East is that its figures probably lean high there, and both Kent and East Sussex sit in that region.
Read the table as a spread, not a menu. Two jobs with the same name can land at opposite ends of a range, depending on how high the work is and what the tiles are fixed to. MyJobQuote's £650 is an average across all kinds of repairs, so it describes no single job.
A call-out is not a finished repair
What a call-out buys is attendance: someone arrives, assesses the damage and makes the situation safe. A tarpaulin over an opened slope, or a few loose tiles re-laid, may hold the weather off for now. The lasting repair follows when the roof is dry enough for proper access, and that second job is scoped and agreed on its own terms.
That is why the £1,200 figure needs care. MyJobQuote attaches it to extensive storm damage repairs and to nothing smaller, so it is no guide to a single slipped tile or a lifted ridge.
One more point matters when you are in a hurry. If you sign up for work during a visit that you specifically asked for because of an urgent repair, the 14-day cancellation right is gone. Regulation 28(1)(e) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations excludes that kind of visit, and Citizens Advice describes it as inviting the business into your home for urgent repairs or maintenance. So settle what the call-out covers, and what any follow-up repair will include, before anyone climbs a ladder.
What pushes the bill up or down
Published figures do not know your house. These are the things that change the number on a real quote:
- How high and awkward the damage is, and whether a tower or scaffold is needed to reach it.
- Whether scaffold has to go up over the pavement, where a licence applies. Kent County Council charges £52 per week for 2026 to 2027, while East Sussex Highways lists £127 for 28 days on its fee table.
- The size of the damaged area, and what lies beneath it, such as battens, underlay and timbers.
- Whether the old tiles can be reused or a matching tile has to be tracked down.
- Weather on the day, which can turn one visit into two.
The Kent and East Sussex fees run over different periods, so they cannot be compared like for like. For us, the licence is arranged with our scaffolder. Before you accept a quote, check that it says whether scaffold is included and whether VAT is, because both change the sum you pay at the end. If a quote is silent on either, ask, and get the answer on paper.
Insurance and what to keep
When a storm caused the damage, ring your insurer before paying for anything beyond a stop-gap. The Financial Ombudsman Service will usually look at expert reports and photos, and says a storm can be nothing more than rain, hail or snowfall, so evidence matters.
- Take photographs of the damage in place, before anything is shifted or tidied.
- Pay for a stop-gap repair that prevents further harm, and keep the receipt.
- Keep a written note from the roofer of the findings and the work carried out.
If the insurer turns the claim down, you complain to the insurer first, which has up to 8 weeks to consider most complaints. The Financial Ombudsman Service's helpline is 0800 023 4567.
Our page on when to call an emergency roofer covers what counts as urgent, which helps you judge whether a call-out charge is worth paying tonight or can wait for daylight. The roof repairs page shows how a repair is approached once the roof is safe, and how long a roof repair takes explains the timing.
More questions
Is a call-out still charged if the roofer cannot fix the roof that day?
Attendance is normally charged, since the published range covers the visit and not a finished repair. Before anyone comes, ask what the figure covers, whether temporary sheeting is included, and how the lasting repair will be quoted afterwards. Have the replies written down before the visit goes ahead.
Can I get a fixed price for a repair over the phone?
Not a reliable one. Nobody can tell from a description whether the fault is one slipped tile or damage under the covering. Our reply to a survey is one total, in writing, prepared for your roof alone. Ask about scaffold and VAT at that point, so nothing is added later.
Tell us what's wrong with the roof.
You'll get one written total price.