How much does a new roof cost in 2026?

The cost of a new roof comes down to its own dimensions, its pitch, what it's covered in, and how hard it is to get a scaffold around it. Two houses that look the same from the street can come out several thousand pounds apart once a roofer has actually been up a ladder. The ranges below are real prices, not a national average pulled from a survey, and they come from jobs Swift Roofing has quoted and carried out across Wisbech, King's Lynn, Peterborough and Norwich.

Swift Roofing isn't VAT registered, so those figures are what you pay, there's no VAT to add on top.

What actually moves the price

Ask a roofer why one re-roof is £6,000 and another is £13,000 and the answer is almost always one of these.

Size and roof shape

A simple rectangular roof with two plain slopes strips and covers faster than a roof with hips, valleys, dormers or multiple changes of direction. More cuts and more junctions mean more labour and more materials wasted as offcuts.

Pitch

A steep pitch takes longer to work on safely, needs more scaffold boards and edge protection, and slows down every stage from stripping to felting to tiling. A low, gentle roof on a bungalow is quicker and cheaper per square metre than a steep Victorian roof of the same footprint.

Access

Scaffolding a detached house with a driveway and open access is straightforward. Scaffolding a terrace with a shared alley, an awkward rear garden, or overhead power lines nearby takes longer to put up, sometimes needs a road closure or scaffold licence, and adds cost before a single tile is touched.

Material

Concrete tile is the cheapest like-for-like covering. Natural slate and clay pantile cost more to buy and take longer to lay because each piece is handled and fixed individually rather than nailed down in sheets. If you're re-roofing in slate, our slate and tiled roofing page covers what that involves.

What's underneath

Once the old covering is off, a roofer can see the timbers for the first time. Rotten battens, a sagging ridge, or rafters that have moved over decades all need fixing before the new covering goes on, and none of that is visible from the ground. This is the single biggest reason a firm price can't be given without an inspection.

Chimneys, roofline and extras

A chimney that needs repointing or new lead flashing while the scaffold is up adds a defined cost, but it's far cheaper to do it then than to scaffold again in five years. The same goes for fascias and soffits if they're rotten (see our fascia and soffit cost guide), and for skip hire and tip fees for the old covering, which on some materials, especially old asbestos-containing sheets, carries specific disposal costs.

What a proper quote includes

Swift Roofing's free roof inspection, worth £199, includes photographs of the roof so you can see exactly what we saw, and a written fixed price with no surprises added on part way through. If the job turns out to need more than expected once the old covering is stripped, that gets agreed with you before any extra work starts, not billed afterwards.

Repair or replace?

Not every problem roof needs a full re-roof. If the covering is sound and the issue is a handful of slipped or missing tiles, a leak from one point rather than general wear, or a sagging patch rather than a sagging whole roof, a roof repair is usually the right call and the right price. Our roof repair cost guide covers those prices separately. A full roof replacement makes sense once the covering itself is at the end of its life, the timbers underneath are failing in more than one place, or repairs are becoming a recurring cost.

Material lifespans, so you know what you're buying

Every re-roof Swift Roofing carries out comes with a 10 year written workmanship guarantee, and GRP and EPDM flat roofing carries up to a 25 year material guarantee on top. We're covered by £1,000,000 public liability insurance, and we work across Wisbech, King's Lynn, Peterborough and Norwich and the surrounding areas of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, west Suffolk and south Lincolnshire.

How long a re-roof takes

A straightforward re-roof on a terrace or small semi usually takes one to two weeks from scaffold going up to scaffold coming down, weather permitting. A larger roof, or one with hips, valleys or chimney work included, takes longer. Rain doesn't stop a re-roof outright, since the covering is stripped and replaced in manageable sections rather than left fully open overnight, but a stretch of persistent bad weather can add days to the schedule.

What to expect while the work is on

Expect noise from stripping the old covering off, a skip or waste removal arrangement on site for the duration, and scaffolding up around the house for the full length of the job, not just the days someone is actually working on the roof. Access to part of the garden or driveway is usually restricted while the scaffold stands. We'll talk you through the schedule before work starts, including roughly when deliveries arrive and how long the scaffold stays up, so nothing about the process comes as a surprise once the job is underway.

Timing the work

A dry, settled spell makes for an easier, more efficient re-roof, so most people who aren't dealing with an emergency plan the work for spring through autumn. If a roof is failing badly enough that waiting isn't realistic, urgent re-roofing goes ahead regardless of the time of year, and our emergency roofing service exists for exactly that situation. Either way, the price and the guarantee stay the same whatever the season the work is carried out in.

Before you agree a price

• Get the quote in writing, with the price fixed, not "from" or estimated
• Ask what happens if the timbers need extra work once the old covering is off
• Check the guarantee is written down, not just spoken
• Ask to see proof of public liability insurance
• Get more than one quote if you're not sure, and read our guide on how to spot a dodgy roofer first