Roofer Day Rates UK: Labour, Gang Rates and Scope

2026 rates. A single roofer in the UK typically charges £180 – £310 per day, with London at the top of that range and beyond. A two-person roofing gang — the unit most re-roofs are priced around — runs £400 – £600 per day nationally, and £650 – £800 in the capital.

Those are labour-only figures for established, insured tradespeople. Specialists — slate, leadwork, heritage or single-ply flat roofing — sit at or above the top of each range. Surveys benchmarked against Checkatrade and trade data put the national typical single-roofer rate around £250 – £310 per day.

Regional day rates

• London: £245 – £370 per roofer, and £400 – £650+ is common for a gang
• South East: £215 – £325 per roofer
• South West & East of England: £190 – £290
• Midlands: £180 – £280
• North of England, Scotland & Wales: £130 – £255
• Northern Ireland: £150 – £230

Our calculator applies these regional factors to labour and scaffold lines automatically — select your region to see how the same roof prices differently. Materials barely move because national merchants price similarly everywhere.

What a gang day actually buys

On a straightforward pitched roof, a two-person gang strips, felts, battens and re-covers roughly 13 – 18 m² per day with interlocking tiles. Plain clay tiles slow that to around 9 m² a day and natural slate to about 8 m², because each piece is fixed individually. Flat roofing moves faster — 25 – 30 m² of EPDM or felt per day once the deck is ready.

So a 65 m² semi in concrete tiles takes about five gang days — £2,400 – £2,500 of labour at Midlands rates before scaffold, materials or extras. The same roof in slate needs eight to nine days, which is why slate totals jump so much even before the pricier material.

What the day rate does not include

• Scaffolding — always a separate line; see our scaffolding cost guide
• Skip hire and disposal of the stripped covering
• Materials — tiles, membrane, battens, fixings and leadwork
• Structural carpentry on rotten rafters, joists or wall plates
• Fascias, soffits, guttering and chimney work unless specified

Day rate or fixed quote?

For a full re-roof, insist on a fixed itemised quote, not a day rate. Day rates suit small repairs where the scope is genuinely unknown, but on a re-roof they transfer all the weather and hidden-damage risk to you. The sensible middle ground: a fixed quote for the visible scope plus an agreed day rate for timber extras discovered during stripping — that way surprises are priced fairly rather than argued over.

Check the numbers before you sign

Divide any fixed quote's labour line by your local gang rate and check the implied timescale is plausible. A semi re-roof 'one-day cheap' quote is a red flag, as is a quote that omits scaffold. Cross-check the whole job with our roof replacement cost guide and the calculator, and favour contractors in the NFRC Competent Person Scheme who can self-certify building regs compliance.