What the published guide says
MyJobQuote's emergency roofer guide, last updated in October 2026, gives a typical emergency call-out range of £150 to £300. The same guide puts extensive storm damage at £1,200 or more, and gives around £300 as the starting point for ordinary storm repairs. These are national figures, not a price for any one roof. Kent lies in the South East, where Which? expects prices at the upper end and HomeBuilding reports higher labour rates, so treat the numbers as the scale of the thing and nothing more.
The two figures measure different things. MyJobQuote says call-out costs may cover a roofer's attendance and inspection work. The storm repair is the cost of putting right whatever the weather did. Mixing the two up can make an emergency bill feel like a shock.
Notice the word "extensive" attached to the larger figure. A repair of £1,200 or more describes serious storm damage across a roof. It is not what a missing tile or a lifted flashing usually costs, and a small fault should not be priced as if it were that.
What to ask the fee covers
A call-out figure means different things to different firms, so ask before you agree. Put the questions plainly, on the phone or by message, and get the answers in writing if you can.
- Is the fee for the visit alone, or does it include a temporary repair?
- Are materials such as sheeting or battens included, or extra?
- Does the fee come off the price of the permanent repair if you go ahead?
- Is VAT included in the figure you are quoted?
- What happens if the roofer arrives and cannot make the roof safe?
Asking is not rude. A roofer with a clear answer gives it in a sentence. If a firm will not say what its fee covers before it turns up, you have learned something about how the rest of the job may go.
Put the same questions to us. The answers decide what you are paying for, and they are easy to skip when water is coming through the ceiling. A minute on the phone before anyone drives out saves an argument at the door afterwards.
Make-safe now, permanent repair after
An emergency visit has one job, which is to stop the water doing more harm. That can mean sheeting a slope, securing a loose tile or clearing a blocked outlet. It rarely means the leak is mended for good, because a lasting repair needs the cause found in daylight on a dry roof.
The permanent repair is therefore a second decision, taken once someone has studied the roof in good light. What you should receive for it is one written total covering the work, stating whether VAT is included and whether any scaffold or tower sits in that figure. If you are claiming on insurance, that total is what you set against your excess. Our pages on emergency roof repair cost and on what an emergency roofer does describe the figures and the visit in more depth.
Citizens Advice puts the number of written quotes worth gathering at 3 or more, from different traders. That is hard in the middle of a storm, which is a good reason to keep the first visit to a make-safe and take the permanent repair more slowly. The wider service is described under roof repairs and emergency work.
Agreeing the work, and changing your mind
When you ask a roofer to come out urgently, the usual 14-day right to cancel a contract signed at home does not apply to that visit. Regulation 28(1)(e) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations leaves it out for a visit the consumer has specifically asked for, to deal with urgent repairs or maintenance. Citizens Advice describes the same situation as inviting the business in for the job.
That is a sound reason to be clear about what you are agreeing before any work starts. Say what you want done tonight, and keep the larger repair as a separate decision. Our guide to cancelling an emergency roof repair goes through the rule in more detail.
If something goes wrong afterwards, section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies to any service, and it requires reasonable care and skill however small the call-out. The Citizens Advice consumer helpline, on 0808 223 1133, can talk through where you stand if a bill or a repair does not match what was agreed.
Keep every message and receipt from the visit, including the fee and what it was said to cover.
