How the price of a roofing or building job is worked out
What moves the cost of a roof, a wall or a drive, what goes into our written quote, and how to compare two quotes for the same job.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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No price list
Why is there no price list on this site?
Two roofs that look alike from the street can need very different work, and a figure given before anyone has looked at yours would be a guess. So every job is priced after a free site visit, in a written quote that lists each part of the work with its own price, and neither the visit nor the quote costs anything.
Cost guides online quote ranges per square metre or per job, and they are a fair way to get a feel for the scale of a project. What they cannot see is the scaffold your street needs, the state of the timbers under the tiles, or whether your house is in a conservation area. Those are the things that decide the number, and they only show up on a visit.
Thomas Hannen, who owns the company, comes out, looks at the job and writes the quote himself. If a repair will do, the quote says so. If the job is bigger than you were expecting, the quote says why, with photographs of what he found.
If water is coming in right now, ring 07435 839745 instead of reading on. A leak is made safe first and priced on its own, and the rest can wait for the visit.
What moves the price
What decides the price of a roofing or building job?
Access, the size and shape of the area, the materials, what turns up once the old work is opened, and any rules that apply to the house decide most of the price. The table sets out how each one works, so you can see which apply before the visit.
| What | Why it moves the price |
|---|---|
| Access and scaffolding | Most roof and chimney work needs a scaffold, and its cost depends on the height, the number of elevations and what is below. A scaffold on a pavement also needs a licence from the council as highway authority, and a terrace or a steep garden adds time. |
| Size, pitch and shape | Area sets the materials, but hips, valleys, dormers, chimneys and abutments set the labour. A plain gable roof is quicker to strip and cover than a hipped roof of the same area with two dormers. |
| Materials | Concrete tiles, clay tiles, natural slate and fibre cement slate sit at very different prices, and so do felt, GRP and EPDM on a flat roof. Matching an existing tile or brick can mean sourcing reclaimed stock. |
| What is found once it is opened | Rotten battens, a wet deck under a flat roof or a lintel behind cracked render cannot be seen until the covering comes off. These are shown on the quote as provisional items, with what would trigger each one. |
| Rules on the house | A conservation area or a listed building can mean like-for-like materials and a consent before work starts. Renewing more than half of a roof brings in Building Regulations, including insulation under Part L. |
| Old materials to go | Stripped tiles, felt, rubble and old render have to be taken away, and the volume varies a lot from job to job. It is priced as its own line so you can see it. |
Our trade pages go into the cost points for each kind of work: roofing, flat roofs, chimneys, fascias and guttering, brickwork, repointing, rendering, plastering, insulation, driveways and patios and exterior cleaning.
The written quote
What goes into our written quote?
Our written quote lists each part of the work with its own price, names the materials, marks anything provisional, and says what is not included. It is set out so that you, or whoever else has to agree the spend, can see what each part of the money is for.
- Each part of the job as its own line: the strip, the new covering, the leadwork, the gutters, and so on.
- Scaffolding and access priced separately, so you can see what getting up there costs.
- The materials by name and type: which tile or slate, which underlay, which mortar.
- Provisional items marked as provisional, with what would make each one necessary.
- Taking away the old materials as its own line.
- What is not included, in plain words, such as internal redecoration after a leak.
Our guide to what a roofing quote should include goes through each of these in more detail, and it is worth reading before you hold any quote, ours included, up against another.
Once work starts
What happens if more work turns up once the job is open?
Any extra work found once the job is open is photographed and priced, and it only goes ahead once you have agreed it. The quoted price covers the work listed on the quote, and the provisional items show in advance where extra work is most likely to come from.
A typical case is a re-roof where some of the rafter feet have rotted behind the gutter. Nobody can see that from the ground or the scaffold until the tiles and battens are off. When it happens you get a photograph of the timber, what we propose, and its price, and nothing is added to the bill without your say-so.
If you are a landlord or an agent and someone else signs off the spend, tell us who at the start, and the photographs and the price go to them. Our page for landlords and letting agents covers how this works on let houses and blocks of flats.
Comparing quotes
How do you compare two quotes for the same job?
Check that both quotes describe the same work before you compare the totals, because a lower figure often leaves out the scaffold, the provisional items or the removal of old materials. Put the two side by side and go through them line by line.
- Scope. Is it the same job? A repair to one slope and a full re-roof are different quotes, even for the same leak.
- Access. Is the scaffold included, and for how long? Is a pavement licence needed, and whose job is it to apply?
- Materials. Are both quoting the same tile, slate, membrane or render system, and new or reclaimed?
- Provisional items. What might be added once the job is open, and at what rate? A quote with no provisional items at all on an old roof is worth asking about.
- Old materials. Is taking them away included?
- Exclusions. What does each quote leave out?
- The company. Who are you contracting with? A limited company's number can be checked on Companies House; ours is 15471719.
If the two quotes still differ once they cover the same work, ask each firm to explain the difference. The explanation usually tells you more than the figure does.
Free quote
How do you get a written price for your job?
Send the address and a line about the job, or ring 07435 839745. Thomas Hannen looks at the fault, photographs it and puts an itemised written quote in front of you, and neither the visit nor the quote costs anything.
Questions
Questions about quotes and prices
Can you give me a rough price over the phone?
We can talk through what the job is likely to involve and which of the things on this page will drive the cost. A figure comes after the visit, because the scaffold, the materials and the state of what is underneath all have to be seen first. The visit is free.
Is the site visit really free?
Yes. The visit costs nothing and neither does the written quote, which lists each part of the work with its own price. You are under no obligation to go ahead.
Is scaffolding included in the quote?
Where a job needs a scaffold, it is on the quote as its own line, so you can see what access costs and compare it with other quotes. If the scaffold would stand on a pavement, the quote says so, because that needs a licence from the council.
Why do two quotes for the same roof differ so much?
Usually because they are not for the same work. One may include the scaffold and the other not, one may price a better underlay, or one may leave out the provisional items that the other has priced. Compare them line by line before you compare the totals.
Does replacing a roof need Building Regulations approval?
Renewing more than half of a roof's covering counts as renovation under Building Regulations, and the roof then has to be brought up to the insulation standard in Part L where that is practical. A small repair does not. The quote says which applies to your job.
Free quote
Get a written, itemised price for your job
Tell us the address and what you have noticed. Thomas comes out, looks at the job and puts the price in writing, line by line.