How much should a roofer charge per hour?

A damp patch on the ceiling or a few tiles on the lawn, and the first worry is the bill. Here we set out plainly what decides what a roofer charges in Surrey and the Wey Valley.

Our founder has spent more than 36 years on Surrey roofs, and every job, repairs included, carries a 25-year written workmanship guarantee. As a roofer covering the whole area, we can also help if you need a roofer in Godalming.

Call Wey Valley Roofing for a free survey and a fixed written price anywhere in Surrey and the Wey Valley, and know the full figure before any work starts.

How much should a roofer charge per hour?

What a roofer should charge per hour is the wrong number to chase, because most roof work is priced by the job, and the fair figure depends on access, scaffolding, the roof's condition, the materials and how many roofers it needs. The common and fairer case is a fixed written price after someone has looked at your roof.

The mistakes people make with an hourly figure

The commonest mistake is treating the hourly rate as the price. It is one input. A roofer on a lower rate who takes twice as long, or who leaves scaffolding, skip hire and materials out of the conversation, ends up costing more. Those are the hidden fees people find on the final bill, and they come from the pricing model, not from bad luck.

The second is mixing up a roofer's wage with what a roofing contractor bills. The billed hourly labour rate has to carry the van, fuel, tools, insurance, waste disposal, time spent surveying and ordering, and the cost of standing behind the work for years afterwards. A crew rate is different again: two or three roofers on a roof are billed as a team, and some jobs cannot safely be done by one person.

The third is assuming hourly billing is the safe option. On a small, clearly defined roof repair it can be fine. Where nobody can see what is under the tiles until they come off, open-ended time and materials leaves you carrying all the risk. A fixed price set after a proper look puts that risk back with the person who has seen the roof.

And the last is assuming a leak means a new roof. Often it does not.

Signs that show what sort of job you have

What you can see from the ground and the loft tells you a lot about whether you face a short repair, a larger one or a roof replacement, and so how the work is likely to be priced.

• A single slipped or cracked tile, or one damp patch in one spot: usually a small, contained repair.
• Damp around the chimney or where the roof meets a wall: often flashing or leadwork, priced on what is found there.
• Slipped tiles across a whole slope or rusted nails: a sign the fixings are tired, which points toward a re-roof conversation.
• Daylight in the loft, perished felt or soft, sagging areas: the structure needs looking at before any figure means anything.
• Water coming in after a storm: an emergency, where making it safe comes first and the full repair is priced after.
• A flat roof with blisters, splits or standing water: the system and its age decide whether it is patched or renewed.

What you can check yourself and what needs a roofer

You can safely do the looking. From the ground, with binoculars if you have them, check the ridge, the slopes, the chimney and the gutters. In the loft, on a dry day and again after rain, use a torch to look for damp, staining and daylight. Photographs help whoever comes out, and they help you hold a quote to what was actually seen.

Leave the roof itself alone. Walking on tiles cracks them, ladders against gutters break gutters, and a fall from a roof is serious. Do not pressure wash a roof either: it strips the surface and drives water where it should not go. Chimney work, leadwork, flat roofs and anything involving an asbestos-cement garage roof need someone who does this for a living. On asbestos cement, the right first step is an assessment and advice on the compliant route.

Getting a price you can hold someone to

The useful next step is a survey, not a rate. We come out free, inspect the roof properly, with a drone view where it helps, and give you an honest fixed price in writing, with no obligation and no charge for the quote. If a smaller repair will do, we say so rather than selling you a new roof.

A written price should say what is being done, what comes off, what goes back on, how waste is handled and whether scaffolding is included. That detailed cost breakdown is what stops surprises. If you want a roofer near you who will come and look before naming a figure, our own roofers work across Surrey and the Wey Valley.

If water is coming in now, ring whatever the hour. A real person answers day, night and weekend, and emergencies go to the front of the queue.

How long the work takes and what it disrupts

A slipped tile or a short run of flashing is often a short visit, with little disruption beyond a ladder or a small tower. Chimney work and larger repairs usually need scaffolding, which goes up before work starts and stays until it is finished.

A full re-roof is a bigger undertaking. Expect scaffolding round the house, a skip on the drive, noise while the old covering comes off and some dust in the loft. Weather decides a lot: tiles do not go down in heavy rain or high wind, and the roof should be kept covered overnight rather than rushed. This is another reason hourly billing suits roofing badly, because a wet week should not land on your bill. At the end the site is left tidy and our 25-year written guarantee is handed over before the team leaves.

The things that set the price on your roof

These are what decide the figure for your home. Knowing them is more use than any national average, because an average describes nobody's roof.

• Access: height, how close scaffolding can get, conservatories and tight boundaries all change labour costs.
• Size, pitch and roof complexity: valleys, hips, dormers and chimneys take far longer per square metre than a plain slope.
• What is already there: the covering, battens and membrane, and what has to come off first.
• The structure underneath: rotten battens or tired timbers have to be found and dealt with, not covered over.
• Roofing materials: clay, slate, concrete tile, EPDM, GRP, felt or zinc, each with its own cost and fixing method.
• The details: leadwork, ventilation to BS 5250, fixing to BS 5534 for wind uplift, and guttering sized to the roof.
• Timing: emergency repairs at short notice generally cost more than planned work.

Regulations can come into it too. As GOV.UK guidance on building regulations approval sets out, some roof work needs approval, and renewing more than half of a roof's area brings in the insulation upgrade under Approved Document L where it is feasible. We build that into a re-roof price from the start, so it is never sprung on you later.