The Short Answer
A small repair reached from a ladder is a small bill. Anything that needs scaffold costs more, and the scaffold is often the biggest single line on it. A full strip and re roof of a typical house is a different order of job, priced by the roof area, the covering and what the timbers turn out to need. Everything between those two is decided by six things.
Scaffold or Ladder
A slipped tile on a bungalow can be a ladder job. Anything two storeys up, or anything taking more than a few minutes, needs scaffold for safety. On a small repair the scaffold can cost more than the roofing. That is why grouping repairs into one visit is worth doing, and why we will tell you if there is anything else worth fixing while the scaffold is up.
How Much Comes Off
Replacing a few tiles is a morning. Re bedding a ridge is a day. Stripping a slope back to the rafters, re felting, re battening and re covering is a week or more with a skip on the drive. The words "roof repair" cover all of them.
The Covering
Concrete interlocking tiles are the cheapest to buy and the quickest to lay. Clay plain tiles are smaller, so more of them, and take longer. Natural slate costs more again and takes skill to cut and fix. Reclaimed materials to match an old roof cost more than new because someone has to find them.
The Details That Take Time
Valleys, chimneys, dormers, hips and abutments are where a roof takes time. A plain rectangular roof with two slopes is quick. A roof with four chimneys, two valleys and a dormer is not, and most of the extra is lead, which is slow, careful work.
What Is Underneath
Rotten battens, perished felt, a rafter end that has gone. None of that shows from the ground and some of it does not show until the tiles are off. We photograph anything we find and price it before we carry on, never after, so there is no surprise at the end.
Whether It Can Wait
Making a roof safe at ten at night in the rain is a different job from a booked repair on a Tuesday, and it is priced as one. We will always tell you if it can safely wait until morning, and most things can.
What the Quote Looks Like
One written price, itemised: scaffold, materials, labour, disposal, lead, anything we already know about underneath. No obligation, no deposit to get it, and it stands. If we find something once the roof is open, you get a photograph and a price for that before we touch it.