Where the national cost guides agree and disagree on repairs, storm damage and replacement, what pushes a Kent quote higher, and how to read a written price so that nothing is left out of it.
Search for what a roof repair costs and you will meet figures that cannot all be right. One guide says a few hundred pounds, another says four figures, a third gives a rate per square metre. None of them is misleading you. They describe different jobs: replacing a pair of tiles is not the same as renewing a valley, and a repair to a bungalow garage is not a repair to a three-storey Cliftonville villa.
This piece sets out the published typical UK ranges, names the guide and the date for each, and explains what moves a price. Two cautions apply throughout. What follows comes from third-party national guides, not from Castle's own pricing. And no roofer can quote a sound figure without looking at the roof, which is why a price comes after a survey and arrives as one written total.
Which? Trusted Traders and HomeBuilding both say that prices in the South East sit higher than the national picture, and Kent falls inside that region. Read each number below as somewhere to begin a discussion, never as a quote. Our roof repairs and emergency page shows how a job is handled from the first call.
Small repairs: tiles, ridges and the average job
The smallest roof repairs cost the least, and the guides give figures for several of them. The Which? numbers come from a survey of Trusted Traders gathered in November 2025, and they cover labour and materials with VAT left off. The MyJobQuote numbers come from pages updated in October 2026, and they do not say whether VAT is in them, so do not assume either way.
| Job | Which? ex VAT | MyJobQuote |
|---|---|---|
| One to six tiles | £75 to £400 | around £215 |
| New ridge tile | £80 to £300 | £225 to £550 |
MyJobQuote also gives an average roof repair of around £650 in 2026. That is a single blended figure across all repairs, so a minor job sits well below it and a complicated one well above. The tile figures are lower because they cover only a handful of units. A blended average is a useful sanity check, but it is the wrong tool for deciding what your own roof needs.
MyJobQuote's figure for a dry verge system is between £500 and £2,000. A dry verge is a fixed edge piece that takes the place of the mortar once used to seal tile ends at a gable wall, so the range is wide because the final sum depends on how many metres of verge are involved and how hard they are to reach.
Our answer on the cost of a slipped tile repair breaks down how that sort of job is priced in practice.
Small-area rates per square metre
Rates per square metre are easy to misuse. Checkatrade, in a repair guide updated in June 2026, gives £90 to £120 per m² for concrete tiles and the other figures below, all exclusive of VAT.
| Covering | Rate |
|---|---|
| Concrete tiles | £90 to £120 per m² |
| Clay tiles | £110 to £160 per m² |
| Natural slate | £150 to £220 per m² |
| EPDM rubber repairs | £120 to £170 per m² |
| Ridge tile repairs | £50 to £70 per metre |
The key condition is easy to miss. The page states that these rates apply to a repair area of up to 3m². They describe small, local repairs, and tell you nothing about the cost of doing an entire slope or the full roof. Multiplying a per-square-metre rate by the area of a roof gives a number that no one would charge, because the economics of a small patch are completely different from those of a full renewal.
Use the table for what it is: a way to see that slate costs more to repair than concrete tile across the same small patch. If a quote for a small repair is far outside these rates, ask what it includes and why, and ask for the survey photographs that support it.
EPDM is a rubber single-ply membrane laid on flat roofs, and its repairs are priced in the same table for that reason.
Leadwork, flat roofs and gutters
Some repairs fall between the small jobs above and a re-roof, and the guides give separate figures for them.
- Chimney leadwork: MyJobQuote gives between £350 and £920 in a page updated in September 2026. This is the lead flashing that seals a chimney stack to the roof.
- A lead valley: MyJobQuote puts it at around £540. A valley is the gutter-like fold where two slopes run into one another.
- A felt flat roof on a single garage of 6m by 3m: Which? gives £1,400 to £3,500 ex VAT. When the job uses PVC or EPDM and new boards, its range is £1,950 to £4,000 ex VAT.
- Gutter clearance, front and back: Which? gives £75 to £350 ex VAT.
- Gutter replacement: MyJobQuote gives around £1,000 to £1,600.
The flat-roof numbers are for covering a garage roof, which is closer to replacement than repair, and they show how quickly a flat-roof job moves into four figures. Lead also turns on its code, which is its thickness: Code 3 suits soakers alone, while the job's specification chooses the code for each other detail.
Scaffold is priced on its own terms: access equipment gets its price once someone has seen the roof, and whatever you are quoted should state plainly whether it is in the total. Our page on emergency roof repair cost covers the urgent end, when a roof has to be made safe before it can be repaired properly.
Storm damage and emergency call-outs
Storm repairs run from small to large. MyJobQuote, in a page updated on 22 October 2026, says emergency roofer call-out costs typically range from £150 to £300, and that storm repairs start at around £300. It adds that extensive storm damage can cost £1,200 or more. The word extensive matters: the £1,200 figure is not what a few lost tiles cost.
A call-out and a make-safe are the first stage. A make-safe covers an opening or secures a loose section so that no more water gets in, and the lasting repair is a separate stage. The two can be handled as stages on the day, but the aim is one written total price, handed over only after the survey, once the scope has been settled and agreed.
If your home is insured, tell the insurer before the permanent work starts. Whether a claim covers storm damage depends on your policy's own wording, and the Financial Ombudsman Service names wear and tear and gradual damage as common exclusions. Keep photographs and receipts, and see our answer on the roofer call-out charge for how a visit fee works.
Do not pay a deposit to a stranger who calls at the door after a storm. Ask for a written scope and a total price, and take a day to think if the job is more than an emergency make-safe to keep the weather out.
Why one quote differs from the next
Two roofs with the same fault can get very different quotes. The main reasons sit in the house and the site, not in the roofer's mood.
- Access. A roof you can reach with a ladder costs less to work on than one that needs a scaffold tower, and a high terrace or a narrow alley adds time.
- Extent. One slipped slate and a slope of failed fixings can look alike from the pavement, and they are not the same job.
- Covering. Natural slate and clay tile cost more to repair and to match than concrete tile, as the per-square-metre table shows.
- Matching. Old slates and handmade tiles are not always available, and finding a close match takes time.
- Hidden damage. A wet batten or a rotten rafter under the repair has to be dealt with before the covering goes back.
- Weather. Work stops in rain and wind, and a job that runs over more days costs more.
Then there is VAT. The standard rate is 20%, according to GOV.UK, so a figure quoted ex VAT, such as the Which? ranges, has that added on top. The domestic reverse charge for building work does not land on a homeowner's invoice. When you compare two quotes, make sure each one states if VAT and scaffold sit inside the figure. HomeBuilding says labour costs more in London and the wider South East, and Which? expects prices there at the upper end. Kent belongs to that area.
Shared roofs add another variable. A repair to a terraced roof may need agreement with neighbours.
Repair or replace, and how to read a quote
When a repair bill climbs, the question becomes whether the money is better spent on a new covering. Published replacement figures differ a great deal. Which? gives £7,000 to £21,000 ex VAT for a full new roof on a standard three-bedroom house. HomeBuilding gives £10,000 to £15,000 for plain concrete tiles on a three-bedroom semi with a 65 m² roof, and says Welsh slate might reach £18,000. MyJobQuote gives around £5,250. With a gap that wide, the only sound figure is one written after a survey of your own roof.
Mending is the better call when the damage stays in a single spot and the remaining covering is in good order. Replacement becomes the honest answer when faults are spread across a slope, fixings are failing everywhere or the covering has simply run out of road. A roofer should show you photographs and explain the reasoning, and you are entitled to a second view.
When the price arrives, read it as a single total in writing. It should say what the work covers, whether VAT and scaffolding come within the total, and what happens if something unexpected comes to light with the roof open. Citizens Advice suggests asking at least 3 traders to quote in writing for planned work. For a repair you are comparing, that gives you a fair spread to judge against.
Castle gives its written price after the survey, never ahead of it, and the figure stands as a single total for the job described.
