This guide compares clay and concrete tiles on published lifespans, minimum pitches, the weight rules and repair rates, so you can judge a quote that offers one or the other.
A tiled roof is replaced rarely, so the choice between clay and concrete tends to be made once and lived with for decades. The decision looks like a matter of taste, and partly it is. But several parts of it can be checked against published figures, and those parts are what this guide sets out.
Three questions do most of the work. How long is each covering reported to last? What is the lowest pitch it can be laid at? And does the new covering change the load on the roof structure? The first two have published answers from tile makers and building guides. The third has a rule: the Planning Portal puts the line for approval at a new covering that adds 15 per cent or more to the weight, and it suggests a word with a surveyor or engineer who knows the structure.
The comparison below uses typical UK figures from named sources. None of them is a promise for your roof, and none is a price from us. Where you are replacing a covering, our pitched roofing page explains how a full survey comes first, with the written price following it.
What actually decides between the two
Price and looks matter, but the better starting point is the roof itself, because the roof narrows the choice before taste comes into it. A slope that is shallow rules out some tiles. A roof structure that is already near its limit rules out a heavier covering. A listed house or a conservation area brings the council into the choice.
Work through these in order and the shortlist usually makes itself:
- Measure the pitch of each slope. Every tile has a published minimum, and anything below it is not a candidate.
- Check what the roof structure carries. A new covering heavier by 15 per cent or more brings in approval and a structural opinion.
- Look at the setting. A house in a street of matching roofs, or in a conservation area, may be expected to keep the look of the original covering.
- Compare the published lifespans for the options that remain.
- Ask for a written total price for each option that is still on the table.
Only after those steps does colour, texture and profile matter. A plain tile and a pantile, which has a curved S-shaped profile, look quite different on the same roof, and they behave differently too: each has its own minimum pitch, its own lap and its own fixing.
Be clear, too, about what the job is for. If the tiles are sound but the battens beneath them have failed, the answer may be to strip the slope, fit new battens and lay the same tiles back. Swapping the material is a bigger step than replacing like with like, because it drags the weight, the pitch and sometimes the council into the decision.
The survey is where these questions get answered. We measure each slope and look at the battens from the loft, and the written price follows.
How long each is reported to last
Published lifespans are the easiest numbers to compare, and the easiest to misread. They are typical ranges taken from guides and makers, not promises, and a guarantee period is a different thing from a lifespan.
| Covering | Published life | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Plain concrete tile | 40-50 years | HomeBuilding |
| Double Roman tile | 40-50 years | HomeBuilding |
| Clay tile | 60-80 years | HomeBuilding |
| Clay tile | 60-year minimum | BRE, per Marley |
Marley quotes BRE for a minimum life expectancy of 60 years, and that figure belongs to clay tiles alone. The 40 to 50 years in the table is HomeBuilding's figure for plain and Double Roman tiles in concrete. Marley is careful to say its own figure promises nothing about how long a roof will last, which is the right way to read all of these numbers.
A published life describes the tile. It does not describe the roof, which depends on the nails, the battens and the underlay too. Those parts can give out before the tiles do, so a tile can be sound on a roof that still needs stripping, and an old roof with sound tiles can often be re-battened and relaid. A fault in the fixings is therefore a different job from a fault in the covering, and the survey looks at both.
Our pages on how long clay roof tiles last and the equivalent for concrete go into the figures in more detail.
Pitch decides the shortlist
The lowest angle a tile can be used at is the part of the comparison that can surprise homeowners. It varies a great deal between products, so one clay tile and one concrete tile can differ by more than twenty degrees, while another pair sits much closer together. A reader who has been told that a given material needs a steep roof should treat that as a claim about one product, because the range inside each material is wide. Marley publishes the figures in its pitch table, and the table below gives a sample from it.
| Clay | Pitch | Concrete | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canterbury | 40° | Plain | 35° |
| Ashdowne | 35° | Anglia | 25° |
| Hawkins | 30° | Double Roman | 22.5° |
| Lincoln pantile | 15° | Mendip | 15° |
"Canterbury" in that table is the name of a clay tile, not the city, and the figure says nothing about roofs in the city. Marley's page lists many more tiles than these, and the exact product's data sheet governs.
What the table shows is that neither material has a single minimum. A shallow porch roof, a rear extension or a low-angled dormer can rule out one tile and allow another. If a quote proposes a tile for a slope, ask for the tile's name and its minimum pitch alongside the measured pitch of that slope.
Our page on the minimum pitch for roof tiles shows how to measure a slope and read the data sheet.
Weight, the structure and the approval rule
A tiled roof is carried on rafters, purlins and walls sized for the covering that was there when the house was built. Change the covering and you change the load. The Planning Portal sets the trigger at a new covering whose weight is 15 per cent or more above the old. Approved Document A, the structure volume of the Building Regulations, words the line differently: a significant change in roof loading means an increase of more than 15%.
Both are quoted here because they differ by a hair, and the safe course is to treat 15 per cent as the point at which the council and a structural check come in. The Planning Portal suggests that an engineer or surveyor looks at the structure before any work begins. Neither document says which covering is the heavier. That comes from the tile data sheets, which give a weight for each product, and from a surveyor looking at the actual timbers.
Where the new covering stays within the old weight, building control is a separate question. Under the Planning Portal, less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof need to be affected for the job to pass without an application. Re-covering the whole of a roof goes beyond that, so the building control team that serves your address is asked which route applies.
Dover District Council counts re-covering a roof, even a like-for-like job, as work needing approval. Only Dover district addresses are covered by that wording, so a house elsewhere in Kent follows its own council's route.
Repair rates and the price a comparison shows
For small repairs, one published guide separates the two materials. Checkatrade's repair-cost guide, with a table last updated in June 2026, gives per-square-metre rates, ex VAT, based on up to a maximum of 3 m²:
- Concrete tiles: £90 to £120 per m².
- Clay tiles: £110 to £160 per m².
Those rates cover a small patch of repair only and are never scaled up to a whole roof. Read them as a sign that clay repairs run higher per square metre in that guide, and not as a price for your job.
For a handful of tiles, Which? Trusted Traders gives £75 to £400, ex VAT, to replace between one and six that are broken or gone (Nov 2025). MyJobQuote puts the average at around £215 (06/10/26). A match for an old tile can cost more than a standard one, which is part of why a few new tiles on an old roof can be an awkward job.
For a whole roof, HomeBuilding gives £10,000 to £15,000 for a 65 m² three-bedroom semi in plain concrete tiles (30 September 2025). Which? prices a complete new roof for an average three-bedroom house at £7,000 to £21,000, ex VAT (Nov 2025). The gap between the two is wide because the covering, the form of the roof and the way it is reached all move the figure. Both guides say South East jobs cost more, and Kent falls in that region.
Any quote should reach you as one written total, issued after the survey. Look for the tile named in it, VAT included and scaffold access covered.
Matching an existing roof, and listed or conservation settings
On a terrace or a street of similar houses, the covering is part of how the row looks. A clay roof next to a concrete one stands out, and a repair that changes the tile can look patchy for years while the new tiles weather. That is a reason to match where you can, and a reason to have the sound old tiles refixed rather than replaced.
Where the house is listed, matching carries more weight, because a change of tile can bring consent into play. A listed building needs listed building consent for any changes that affect its character, which Canterbury City Council states in those terms and which comes from section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Listed buildings keep their permitted development rights under Class B and Class C, but consent is needed on top. A different tile on a listed roof is the kind of change that can affect character, so the council is asked before any tiles are ordered.
In a conservation area, a council can withdraw some permitted development rights through an Article 4 direction. Swale Borough Council's direction for Faversham, for example, applies to roof coverings on the street-facing parts of houses. For any other address, the question of a direction goes to the relevant council during the survey.
Our page on switching concrete tiles to clay covers a change of covering step by step. For a house outside those settings, Class C of the permitted development rules normally covers re-roofing, and the approval rules above still apply.
