How Much Do Roof Repairs Cost in the UK? 2026 Prices
Researched from published 2026 UK cost data. Figures are guidance to help you judge a quote, not a quotation.
The short answer. Most UK roof repairs in 2026 land between £150 and £1,000, and the published averages sit around £500 to £650. A few slipped slates from a ladder is at the bottom of that band. Lead, valleys and anything needing a scaffold is at the top. The single biggest reason two quotes for the same roof differ is how the roofer gets up there, not what they do when they arrive.
Roof Repair Costs at a Glance
| Repair | Typical 2026 range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Replace a few slipped or cracked slates or tiles | £150 – £400 | Ladder access. Rises to £400 – £700 with a tower |
| Roof leak, minor and accessible | £150 – £500 | Published average around £375 |
| Roof leak, hard to trace or timber affected | £800 – £1,500+ | Includes stripping back and drying out |
| Ridge tiles re-bedded or repointed | £200 – £550 | Per run; dry-ridge conversion costs more |
| Chimney flashing renewed in lead | £200 – £800 | Sources range widely; £300 – £600 is the common band |
| Lead valley relined | £300 – £900 | Roughly £80 – £150 per metre |
| Flat roof patch repair | £150 – £800 | Felt cheapest; GRP and EPDM patches dearer |
| Fascia and soffit repair | £250 – £750 | Per elevation |
| Gutter clear | £35 – £85 | Cheapest job on the house |
| Roof survey | £100 – £250 | Drone surveys £150 – £300 |
| Scaffold, two-storey house | £500 – £1,200 | Often the largest line on the quote |
Two things about that table. The averages published for 2026 disagree with each other: MyJobQuote and several roofer-published guides put the typical repair around £530, while Checkatrade's broader average, which includes bigger jobs, sits nearer £1,100. Both are right for what they measure. And the Exeter-specific figure that Checkatrade shows in its own search listing for roof repairs in the city runs from about £598 to £2,065, which is consistent with the national band once access on a Victorian terrace is included.
What Actually Drives the Price
Access. A slate that can be reached from a ladder is an hour's work. The same slate on a three-storey terrace with no side entry needs a tower or a scaffold, and on a two-storey house that scaffold alone runs £500 to £1,200 for the hire, delivery and erection. That is why a quote can be a third of another and both be honest. Ask every roofer what access they have priced.
What has failed. A slipped slate is the slate sliding because the nail that held it rusted through. That is a refix with a lead or copper tingle. A leak that has been running for two winters has wet the underlay, the battens and possibly the rafter ends, and the job becomes stripping back, drying out and replacing timber. From inside the house the two look identical. From the roof they are different jobs.
Material. Concrete tiles are cheap and still made. Natural slate on older houses is often no longer quarried in the same size or colour, and matching reclaimed slate takes time that appears in the quote. Lead is priced by weight and by the length of the run, and it has risen faster than most building materials over the last few years.
Location and labour rate. Roofer day rates in 2026 run from roughly £150 to £270 outside London, with the South West sitting in the middle of that band rather than at either end. A London quote for the same job is typically a third higher.
How long you left it. The one factor you control. Water tracks along timbers and appears a long way from where it got in. Caught in the first month, a leak is a slate job. Caught after a winter, it is a timber job.
Whether the roof is actually the problem. A fair share of the "roof leaks" that get quoted turn out to be a blocked hopper or a split gutter joint throwing water down the wall. Clearing a gutter is the cheapest line in the table. Rule it out first.
Worked Examples
Three slipped slates on a Victorian terrace, reachable from a ladder at the front. Slates refixed with tingles, a quick check of the neighbouring slates. Around £150 to £300, done in a morning.
The same three slates on the rear slope, reached only through the house. A tower has to come through the hallway or a scaffold goes up in the yard. The slates are still £150 of work, but the job is now £400 to £700, and it is worth having the ridge looked at while the access is there.
A damp patch beside the chimney breast upstairs. Nine times in ten this is the lead flashing at the stack, not the stack itself. Renewing the flashing runs £300 to £600 on most sources, more if the stack is mid-slope and needs a back gutter and soakers as well as step flashing. Add access.
A leak that has been showing on a bedroom ceiling for two winters. The roofer strips the slope back around the entry point, finds wet underlay and a soft batten, replaces both and refixes the slates. Published ranges for this kind of repair start around £800 and run past £1,500 once timber is involved.
Water pouring over the front of the gutter in every downpour. Not a roof repair at all. A gutter clear at £35 to £85, or a dropped bracket refixed, and the "leak" stops.
Repair or Replace
The repair table stops making sense at a certain point, and it is worth knowing where.
If slates are slipping in ones and twos across a slope every winter, every nail on that roof is the same age, and each repair is paying for access again. A full re-roof of a three-bed house runs from roughly £5,000 to £15,000 depending on size and material, which sounds like a great deal more than a £300 repair. It stops sounding that way after the fourth repair in three years. Our guide to what a new roof costs sets out the ranges by house type, and flat roof replacement cost covers garages and extensions, which are the other place where patching stops paying.
How to Compare Two Roof Repair Quotes
Get a written, itemised quote rather than a single figure, and check that each quote covers the same things:
- The access it assumes, and whether scaffold is included or extra.
- The materials by name, including whether slate is new, reclaimed or a substitute.
- What happens if timber is found rotten, and how that will be charged.
- Whether VAT is included.
- Whether waste removal is included.
- What guarantee is offered, for how long, and whether it is insurance-backed.
If one quote is far below the others, it is more often because it has assumed easier access than because the roofer is cheaper. Ask.
A survey is worth paying for when the leak cannot be seen from the ground. At £100 to £250, or £150 to £300 by drone, it costs a fraction of a repair, and it stops you paying for a guess. Many roofers credit the fee against the work if you go ahead with them.
Storm Damage and Insurance
Buildings insurance normally covers storm damage and sudden accidental damage, and normally does not cover wear, age or lack of maintenance. That distinction is the whole argument in most disputed claims.
If a storm has damaged your roof, note the date, photograph the damage from the ground, and ask the roofer for a written report that links what failed to the weather. Keep receipts for any emergency make-safe work, which is usually recoverable. And weigh a small claim against your excess and your premium before making it; a few slipped slates can cost less than the excess.
Getting a Quote
We keep prices on this page and off the rest of the site on purpose, because your roof will be quoted on its own access, its own materials and what the roofer finds. If you want that quote, tell us what the roof is doing on the roof repairs page and we will pass it to a roofing firm covering your part of Exeter or Devon. Free, no obligation, and before you accept any quote, our guide to how to choose a roofer is ten minutes well spent.
Figures researched from published UK sources in September 2026 and shown as typical ranges, not quotes. Prices vary by roof, access and location.
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