What is the average cost of refelting a roof in the UK?

Refelting quotes vary wildly, and the reason is almost never the felt.

Whether you need roof repairs or roof repairs in Godalming, we cover the whole area across Surrey and the Wey Valley, with a 25-year written workmanship guarantee on every job and a real person on the phone day, night or weekend.

Call 07428 300474 and Scott will arrange a free survey and a fixed written price for your flat roof.

What is the average cost of refelting a roof in the UK?

The average cost of refelting a roof in the UK depends far more on the deck underneath, the size of the area and the number of edges and upstands than on the felt itself. Most quotes sit in a broad range, and the honest answer is that a proper price only comes after somebody has lifted a corner and looked.

What actually drives the figure on a refelting quote

Felt is one of the cheaper flat roof coverings to buy and one of the more variable ones to install. The materials are a modest slice of any quote. The rest is labour, access, waste disposal and whatever is found once the old layers come off.

The things that move the number are simple enough to list. Area in square metres. How many layers of old felt and bitumen have to be stripped and skipped. Whether the deck is sound chipboard, plywood, timber boarding or concrete. How many upstands, abutments, kerbs and outlets there are, because every edge is a hand-worked detail and details take time. Whether there is a parapet or a wall to dress into. Whether the fall is adequate or has to be corrected with firrings before anything is laid.

Small roofs cost more per square metre than large ones, every time. A three metre by two metre porch has almost as much perimeter detail as a garage twice its size, and the setting up, stripping and clearing away happen regardless. That is why a per square metre rate quoted over the phone is close to useless on anything under about twenty square metres.

Whether you need roof repairs or roof repairs in Guildford, we cover the whole area, and the same principle applies wherever the roof is: the survey sets the price, not a rate card.

Where the hidden cost usually sits

The surprise on a refelt is rarely the covering. It is the deck. Old felt roofs leak quietly for years, and by the time water shows on a ceiling the chipboard has often gone soft in patches or the joist ends near the wall have started to rot. Replacing a deck adds materials, labour and skip space. A quote written without lifting the old covering cannot possibly account for it, which is why an inspection matters more than a phone estimate.

Ventilation is the other one. A cold flat roof needs a route for moisture to escape or the new covering will trap it, and BS 5250 covers how that is dealt with. Skipping it is cheaper on the day and expensive within a few years. So is laying new felt over a roof with no meaningful fall, where water will pond and sit against every joint.

Insulation can change the figure too. Bringing a flat roof up as a warm roof, with insulation above the deck, costs more than a like for like recover, but it is often the sensible route when the covering is coming off anyway. Under Approved Document L, replacing a large enough share of the covering can bring an upgrade requirement with it, and that is better priced in at the start than raised halfway through.

Whether you need roof repairs or roof repairs in Woking, we cover the whole area, and we will say plainly when a patch repair is the better spend.

Why a cheaper refelt often costs more in the end

A single layer of felt loose laid over a tired deck can be done quickly and cheaply. It will also fail quickly. Built up and torch on systems earn their keep in the preparation: sound deck, correct falls, primer where it belongs, upstands taken high enough, outlets dressed properly, and laps rolled out rather than skimmed over.

Cut price work tends to show up in the same places. Upstands too short, so wind driven rain gets behind them. Old outlets reused when they should have been replaced. Chippings tipped over blistered felt to hide the problem. Blowtorch work rushed at the corners. None of that is visible from the ground on the day the scaffold comes down, and all of it is visible two winters later.

Getting a refelting price you can rely on

A price worth having is fixed, written down and based on somebody having been on the roof. Ours are, with a drone view where the pitch or the access makes that the sensible way to see it. If a repair will genuinely do the job for another few years, we say so rather than quoting for a full recover.

Every job carries a 25-year written workmanship guarantee, handed over before the team leaves, and that applies to repairs as well as full coverings. Scott has spent more than 36 years on Surrey roofs and answers the phone himself, so the person quoting is the person accountable for the work. The quote is free, there is no obligation, and the figure in writing is the figure you pay.