Is EPDM cheaper than felt?

The most direct comparison available comes from Checkatrade's roof repair cost guide (updated October 2026, table last updated June 2026). These are typical UK rates for repair work per square metre, and every figure excludes VAT, which has to be added on top.

By that guide, EPDM costs a little more than felt, and GRP a little more again. The ranges overlap, so a particular roof can land either side of the line. These are national averages from a third-party guide, not our prices, and the real figure depends on the roof we are standing on, how we reach it and what is found when the old covering is lifted. Rotten boards or wet insulation under a tired covering are the usual surprises, and they are why a price given before the survey deserves caution.

A repair rate per square metre does not scale up neatly into the price of a new roof. Checkatrade's replacement table gives a typical flat roof as £2,800 to £7,500 plus VAT, and it does not divide that by covering. For a garage roof, that guide's re-felt figure is around £1,000 to £2,000, averaging £1,500, which shows how far a small, simple roof sits below the bigger totals. Remember that a garage and a kitchen extension are different animals: one has no ceiling to protect and the other has a heated room beneath it.

That means a complete EPDM roof cannot be priced as a set amount above a complete felt one from anything published. Size, access, the state of the deck, insulation and the need for scaffold all push the total about far more than the choice of covering does. For that reason the price we give waits until the roof has been looked at, then arrives as a single figure on paper rather than a guess built from a table. If a roofer quotes you over the phone for a roof they have not seen, treat the number as a hope.

A lower price today is not the whole story if the roof needs doing again sooner. Less rates torch-on felt for 10 to 20 years, and observes that the same covering can fail inside 10 years or reach 20, depending on the workmanship. GreenSpec expects 20 to 30 years from EPDM, and Less goes as far as 30 to 50. All of these are published ranges, not guarantees.

If those figures hold, an EPDM roof might be replaced once in the span where a felt roof is replaced twice, and that would narrow the gap in cost or turn it round. It all rests on how well each is fitted and looked after, which is why nobody should promise it. Our answer on how long an EPDM roof lasts goes through the published ranges and the things that shorten them.

The same handful of factors drive the cost whichever covering you choose. Access is one. A roof you can reach by ladder is cheaper to work on than one needing scaffold, and poles over the footway need a licence from the highway authority. The deck is another: if the boards are rotten they come up and are replaced before anything goes on top of them.

Insulation and edges change the sum too. Re-covering a flat roof can bring in the thermal rules of the Building Regulations, which our answer on insulating a flat roof when you replace it explains. Trims, outlets, upstands and rooflights each add work. When two quotes land on your doormat, check both totals for VAT and scaffold before you read anything into the gap between them. A quote that leaves either out is not directly comparable with one that includes them, however attractive the lower figure looks on the page.

The right covering depends on shape, size, use and detail. EPDM arrives in large sheets, so it suits simple outlines with few joins. Felt is built up in layers and copes well with awkward corners, steps and penetrations. Neither wins everywhere, and a poor fit with either will cost more than the gap between them on paper.

At survey we photograph the roof and tell you which covering we would fit and why, or whether a repair would do the job. The full comparison is in our guide to EPDM, GRP and felt, and the flat roofing hub shows how we work. Whichever covering suits, the edges and trims are where a roof earns its keep, so ask how those will be finished before you ask about the sheet. A neat drip edge and a well-formed upstand cost little extra and keep water out for years.