How much does lead roofing cost?

Published figures for lead are thinner than for tiles, and most of them cover flashing rather than whole roofs. Two sources give a workable picture. MyJobQuote, in a guide last updated on 22 September 2026, prices the lead around a chimney. Checkatrade, in a repair table last updated in June 2026, prices lead flashing repairs by the metre, with VAT left off the figures it shows.

Read the two full-replacement rows as a pair. The gap between £350 to £460 and £700 to £920 is access and nothing else: the same lead goes on, but one stack needs a scaffold round it and the other does not. A chimney on a bungalow reached with a roof ladder sits near the lower figure, and a stack at the ridge of a three-storey house sits near the upper one.

The per-metre figure for repairs helps with longer runs, such as the stepped flashing where a roof meets a gable wall. It does not stretch to a new valley, a box gutter or a flat roof, because those jobs also involve the boards underneath and the way the sheets are lapped, fixed and welted together at the joints.

Our answer on lead flashing repair cost goes into the per-metre figure in more detail, including what changes it from one run to the next.

Lead is sold by weight, and each thickness carries a code number. Code 3 is the thinnest in common supply and code 8 the thickest. Royston Lead's cast-lead brochure lists the weight of each code per square metre of sheet, and that is the starting point for a material bill.

The arithmetic is worth doing. Ten square metres of code 5 weighs about 254 kg, and the same area in code 7 weighs about 357 kg. A supplier charges for metal by weight, so stepping up a code adds to the material cost across every square metre you lay. It also adds load for the roof structure to carry, which is one reason a thick code is not simply the safer choice.

Royston's guidance matches code to position. Soakers, the small pieces of lead that interleave with tiles, sit at code 3 or 4. Flashings run from code 4 to code 6, pitched valleys start at code 4, and parapet, box and tapered valley gutters begin at code 5. So a large gutter lined in a heavy code costs more per metre than a short flashing in a light one, even before labour.

Area matters too, but it works unevenly. A small bay roof needs the same set-up, tools and site visits as a larger one, so the cost per square metre tends to fall as the area grows. The right code for your roof is chosen on survey, and our guide to lead sheet codes explains each one.

Labour is the second large piece. Checkatrade gives roofers at around £35 to £45 an hour or £280 to £360 a day. Lead is slower to fit than most coverings. Each piece is cut, dressed to the shape of the roof or wall and held with clips or wedges, then laps and drips are formed by hand. A simple apron flashing is quick, while a chimney with a back gutter, side flashings and soakers can take a skilled worker most of a day.

Scaffolding on a lead job

Access is the big variable. Checkatrade's scaffolding table, last updated in October 2026, gives around £875 per month for a 2-storey semi-detached house and around £660 per week for a chimney scaffold. A short job that ties up a scaffold for a week can therefore cost more in access than in metal.

Where the poles stand over a pavement or road, section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 makes a highway-authority licence a must, so ask your roofer who is applying for it. West Sussex County Council charges £266 for one month and asks for at least 10 working days' notice. Hampshire, across the county line, wants ten days of lead time and charges £211.90 for the first two weeks. If your house fronts a public road, that wait comes before any lead work starts, so a leak that cannot wait gets a temporary cover first.

Not every lead job needs a scaffold. Flashing at a low bungalow chimney or a porch roof can often be reached from ladders and a roof ladder, and a bay window roof may be done from a low tower. We decide at survey and show you the roof in photographs, so you see the reason for any access that goes into the price.

Lead is long-lived, and a fair comparison looks at cost over the years and not at the figure on the day. Less, updating its flat roof page in March 2026, gives a lead flat roof 50 to 100 years. MyJobQuote puts lead flashing at over 80 years. These are typical published ranges for lead that is well fitted and left alone, and they are not promises about any particular roof.

The same Less guide puts the other common flat coverings much lower: torch-on felt at 10 to 20 years, GRP at 25 to 40 years and EPDM at 30 to 50 years. EPDM here means a single-sheet rubber membrane, and GRP means fibreglass resin cured on site. Zinc is the nearest metal comparison, and its maker quotes a service life above 100 years for a roof in that metal.

On price, Checkatrade's replacement table, dated October 2026, shows a full flat roof at £2,800 to £7,500, shown plus VAT. That range covers the mainstream membranes and is not a figure for lead. A lead flat roof is specialist work, and a borrowed average would mislead more than help.

For flashings the sum is different. Lead is often chosen because it can be dressed tight into a brick joint and stays put, and a cheaper material that needs replacing in a few years can cost more in the long run, once a second round of access is counted. Our answer on how long a lead roof should last covers lifespan in more depth.

GOV.UK gives the standard rate of VAT as 20 per cent. Because Checkatrade leaves VAT off its repair figures, a £60 per metre flashing repair becomes £72 a metre once tax is added, and the chimney figures deserve the same caution unless their guide says otherwise. When you set two quotes side by side, the first question is whether each one includes VAT, since that alone can explain a gap of a fifth.

Scaffolding is the second question. A price that omits it can look low until the scaffold turns up as an extra, and on a chimney it can double the bill, as the chimney figures above show.

The third question is the lead itself. A written quote should say which code is going on and where, because a flashing in code 4 and a flashing in code 6 are different products at different weights. If a quote says only "lead flashing", you cannot tell what you are buying or how it will last.

What our written quote looks like

Once we have surveyed, the quote arrives as a document giving one figure, together with photographs of each place where lead will be renewed or repaired. We describe the work in plain terms, so you can hold any other quote up against the same scope. Where a small repair is enough to keep the water out, that is the job we price, and a full renewal is not pushed on you.

The smallest lead job is usually the quickest to price, so the first decision is how much needs doing. A lifted section of flashing, a gap where old mortar has fallen out or one cracked soaker is a repair, and the cost sits at the low end of the ranges above. A flashing that has split along several runs, or lead that has worked loose across the whole of a chimney, usually costs more to keep patching than to renew.

A patch has a place when the lead is sound overall and one detail has failed. It also has a place when full renewal would be wasted because the roof covering round it is due to be replaced soon. In that case the sensible plan is a repair now and new lead at the re-roof, so that the lead and the tiles around it are done once, with one lot of scaffolding.

Signs that renewal is the better value

Look for lead that cracks in several places, flashing that has been smeared with sealant more than once, staining on the ceiling below that returns after each repair, or an old stack where the mortar joints are loose. Sealant is a stop-gap rather than a fix, as our answer on pointing lead with mortar or sealant explains.

Whichever way the survey points, the verdict comes first and the price second. We tell you whether the lead can be repaired, patched to see it through or needs replacing, and why, using photographs of your own roof. Our wider lead roofing and leadwork page describes the jobs we take on, from small flashings to full lead coverings.