How to price a roofing job in the UK (2026 guide)

1. Start with an accurate survey

Every good roofing price starts on the roof. Measure the roof area on slope (not the plan area), note the pitch, count hips, valleys, ridges and verges in linear metres, and photograph every detail: chimneys, abutments, rooflights, soil pipes and the condition of the timber. Anything you miss on the survey becomes an unpaid extra later.

2. Price the materials – including waste

List every material by quantity: membrane, battens, tiles or slates, fixings, ridge and hip systems, lead, vents, rainwater goods. Then add waste. Cutting at hips and valleys, breakages and laps all use material, and the more complex the roof, the higher the waste. Use your latest supplier prices – not last year’s – and remember delivery charges.

3. Price labour from real hours, not gut feel

Break the job into tasks and estimate hours for each: strip, felt and batten, tile, ridges, flashings, clean-up. Multiply by your real hourly cost of a roofer – wages plus employer’s National Insurance, pension, holiday, van and tools. The biggest pricing mistake in roofing is guessing labour. If you track how long tasks actually take on your jobs, your estimates get more accurate every month.

4. Add scaffold, plant, skips and access

Scaffold is often the biggest single cost after labour. Price the hire for the real duration of the job plus a weather allowance, and include any pavement licence. Add skips, waste disposal, plant hire and parking.

5. Add overheads

Your office, insurance, accountant, software, vehicles, marketing and your own time all need paying from jobs. Work out your yearly overheads and spread them across the work you expect to do – for example as a percentage of job cost or a cost per labour day.

6. Add profit – and know markup vs margin

This is where many roofers lose money without noticing. Markup and margin are not the same thing:

• Markup = profit ÷ cost. A job costing £8,000 with a 25% markup sells for £10,000.
• Margin = profit ÷ price. That same £10,000 job has a margin of only 20%.

If you want a 25% margin on a £8,000 cost, the price is £8,000 ÷ 0.75 = £10,667. (Example figures only.)

7. Get VAT right

If you are VAT registered, quote the price before VAT, the VAT and the total. Most domestic roofing work is standard-rated at 20%. Work for other VAT-registered construction businesses may fall under the domestic reverse charge – see our guide to CIS and VAT for roofers and check with your accountant.

8. Set payment terms that protect your cash

Agree a deposit and stage payments linked to the work – for example on acceptance, after strip and felt, and on completion. It keeps your cash flow positive while you pay for materials and wages.

Common pricing mistakes

• Guessing labour instead of using real task times.
• Forgetting waste, delivery or scaffold extensions for bad weather.
• Confusing markup with margin.
• Not pricing contingencies such as rotten timber.
• Never checking whether finished jobs actually made the expected profit.

The faster way

Pricing a roof properly by hand can take hours. Roofing quoting software like Profit Engine prices every line from your own rates, then produces the contract, materials order and crew schedule from the same input – and job costing feeds your real hours back into the next quote. Need a starting point today? Download our free roofing quote template.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good profit margin for a roofing company?

It depends on the type of work and your overheads, but many roofing businesses aim for a net margin in the region of 10–20% after all overheads. Know your own numbers rather than copying someone else’s.

What is the difference between markup and margin?

Markup is profit as a percentage of cost; margin is profit as a percentage of the selling price. A 25% markup gives only a 20% margin.

Should I charge for roofing quotes?

Most UK roofers quote for free on domestic work. For large or complex jobs, some charge a survey fee that is deducted from the final invoice if the job goes ahead.