How much is a new roof on a three-bed semi?

The semi is the house most national cost guides use as their example, so there are useful numbers. Checkatrade's roof replacement guide, updated in October 2026, says to expect around £12,000 for a standard three-bed semi. Its wider figures give an average of around £8,000 for a UK roof, with most between £4,000 and £19,000.

The gap between that £12,000 and the £8,000 average is a reminder that a guide gives a rough band, not a price list.

The covering matters here, since concrete tile, clay tile and slate sit at different price levels, so a headline figure hides a lot. Check whether any figure you see includes VAT. The standard rate is 20 per cent, and Checkatrade's roof form table is headed as plus VAT.

Most semis finish their roof one of two ways. A gable end is a flat triangle of wall at the side. A hip end slopes back, so the roof has an extra sloping face at that side. A hipped roof has more edges, more cutting and more ridge and hip tiles to fix.

Checkatrade's table by roof form puts hip roofs at £9,250 to £18,000 and gable roofs at £7,000 to £16,250, with VAT on top. Its figures are for roofs in general, and a semi will not use the whole range, but the pattern is clear: the hip costs more because there is more roof to make good at the edges.

The hip tiles, which cap the sloping edges, carry a mechanical fixing on top of their mortar bed. BS 5534, revised in 2014, moved ridge and hip tiles away from relying on mortar by itself. Whether yours is hipped or gabled, the written quote describes the fixing method. Our answer on hip roof replacement cost goes into the detail.

A semi shares one roof structure with its neighbour, and the line between the two houses is the party wall. The two roofs meet at a ridge that runs across both, and the coverings are often the same age and type. When one owner re-roofs, the junction where the new covering meets the neighbour's is a detail that needs thought.

The roofer has to tie the new work to the old without leaving a gap. That can be a lead-dressed flashing, a stepped detail or a trimmed ridge, depending on the roofs. It costs a little extra care, not a large sum, and a missed detail here leaks into both houses.

Talk to your neighbour before the work starts. Scaffolding often needs to go up next to their house, access may be needed to a shared gutter, and the noise and dust reach through the wall. If a chimney breast sits on the party wall, removal needs Building Regulations approval and a party wall notice, so that is a separate decision from re-roofing. Our guide to replacing one side of a roof looks at a part-job.

On a semi, the scaffold is generally one run along the front and one along the back. In Checkatrade's scaffolding table (October 2026), a two-storey semi is about £875 a month, and its roof replacement guide sets the scaffold at £700 to £1,300. If poles stand on the pavement, the council's licence is separate, so ask who applies for it.

A chimney is the other big variable. Each stack needs its flashings renewed in lead, and a stack that leans or is crumbling needs mending before the new roof goes round it. MyJobQuote gives £350 to £460 for full chimney leadwork without scaffolding, and a stack shared with the neighbour needs to be agreed with them.

Dormers, a rear extension roof, rooflights and the state of the roof timbers all change the total. Rotten timber cannot be seen fully until the old covering is off, so the survey reports what the loft shows and the quote explains what is included if more is found.

A re-roof may need a building control application. The Planning Portal says approval is normally unnecessary while the work touches under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof area, and the new covering weighs less than 15 per cent more than the old. A full re-roof touches the whole roof, which is past the 50 per cent limit, and Arun District Council's building control page lists re-covering among the jobs that need approval. We tell you which applies and deal with any notification.

Insulation comes into it too. Under Approved Document L, renovating more than 50 per cent of a roof element brings an insulation upgrade, and we tell you what that means for your loft before the quote is agreed.

Our quote follows a photographed survey and gives one written total. Whoever quotes you, ask if scaffold, VAT and waste are in it. Our answer on new roof cost per m2 shows how a rate and a total relate, and the roof replacement and new roofs page explains the work.