Roofer day rates
How much does a roofer charge per day or per hour?
The short answer
A roofer typically charges around £35 to £45 per hour or £280 to £360 per day in the UK, according to Checkatrade's 2026 cost guide, and those figures exclude VAT. They describe the cost of a roofer's time, not the cost of a job. A roof is better judged by one written total for the whole job, fixed after a survey.
What a roofer's time costs in 2026, what a day rate leaves out, and how to judge a price you have been given.
The typical rates and where they come from
Checkatrade's roof repair cost guide, updated in October 2026, puts roofers at around £35 to £45 per hour or £280 to £360 per day. Its slate guide gives the same £280 to £360 per day for slate roofers. The guide states that its costs are exclusive of VAT, which is added on top at the standard rate of 20 per cent.
Treat those numbers as a national yardstick. A roofer working in West Sussex may sit above or below them, and the figure moves with the type of work, the height of the building and how much skill the task needs. Lead dressing round a chimney asks more of a person than clearing a gutter, and prices tend to reflect that.
It is also worth asking whether a quoted rate is for one person or for a team, because a day rate for a single roofer and a day rate for a crew are very different amounts. A rate on its own tells you very little until you know who is on site and for how long.
Why a day rate is a poor way to price your roof
Paying a roofer by the day sounds fair, but it shifts every unknown onto you. If the job runs into wet weather, if a rotten batten turns up under the tiles, or if the first fix does not hold, the days pile up and so does the bill.
A single total price in a written quote puts the risk where it belongs. Our surveyor goes over the roof, photographs what is wrong, works out the least work that cures it, and the quote then gives one figure for the job. That is the sort of arrangement to look for from any roofer you ask.
Day rates do have a place. Some small, open-ended tasks, such as checking a roof after a gale, are sensibly charged by time. Even then, agree in writing how many hours are expected and when the roofer must stop to ask you before carrying on. Without that, a short visit can quietly become a long one, and a bill built from hours is hard to argue with afterwards.
What a day rate leaves out
A day rate covers a person's time. Everything else on a roof job sits outside it, and on many roofs those things add up to more than the wages. A low day rate can sit alongside a high final bill for exactly that reason.
- Scaffolding. Checkatrade's scaffolding table, updated October 2026, lists around £875 a month for a semi with two floors. A scaffold that blocks the pavement also needs a licence, which is issued by the county council.
- Materials. Tiles, slates, battens, underlay, lead and fixings are bought separately from anyone's wages.
- Waste. Old coverings have to be taken away and disposed of properly.
- VAT. Ask whether the figure in front of you has it in.
So a person quoted at £300 a day is not a job priced at £300. Ask what the final figure covers before you set it beside another number.
What moves the number up or down
Several things change what a roofer charges for a day, and several change how many days a job needs.
Access is the first. A low bungalow in Aldwick can be reached from a short ladder. A tall Victorian terrace in central Bognor, with a steep slope and a shared boundary, needs a scaffold and slower, more careful work. The covering matters too. Natural slate and clay are laid slowly and cost more to repair per square metre than concrete tiles. Checkatrade gives roughly £90 to £120 per square metre for concrete tile repairs and £150 to £220 for natural slate, again excluding VAT.
The condition of what lies underneath is the unknown that no quote can fully remove before the roof is opened. This is why a survey with photographs matters. It lets the roofer say plainly whether the roof needs a patch, a repair or a replacement, and lets you see the evidence for yourself.
How to judge a price you have been given
When a quote arrives, look at what it promises to do, not only the figure. A sound written quote names the roof it covers, describes the work in plain terms, shows whether scaffold and VAT are inside the price, and ends in one total.
If a roofer quotes only a day rate, ask how many days the job needs and what happens if it overruns. If a total sounds far lower than the others you have seen, ask what has been left out. If it sounds far higher, ask what the survey found that justifies it. A good roofer will answer without hesitation.
For a wider view of typical figures, our guide to roof work costs in the UK sets out ranges with their sources, and our answer on how many roofing quotes to get covers how to weigh them. To start, request a written quote after a survey. The JJ Roofing Bognor Regis home page lists the roofing work we do.
Related questions
Roofer rate questions
Is a roofer's hourly rate the same as the price of a small repair?
No. An hourly rate is the cost of a person's time. A small repair also carries the cost of access, materials, travel and disposal of old covering, so the price of the repair is usually more than the hours alone. Ask for one total price for the repair, written down.
Do day rates change for emergency work?
They can. A roofer called out urgently to make a leak safe may charge more than for planned work, and the rate should be agreed before work begins. Ask what the make-safe covers and whether a longer-term repair will be quoted separately afterwards.