It is the first question everyone wants answered and the one most roofing websites refuse to touch. So here it is, with real numbers: in the North East in 2026, most full replacement roofs cost between £6,000 and £16,000, and a typical three-bed semi in concrete tile lands between £7,000 and £11,000. This guide explains where in that range your house sits, what actually drives the price, and why two quotes for the same roof can be thousands apart.
The short answer, by house type
These are guide prices for a full strip and re-roof in 2026: old covering off, timbers inspected, new breathable membrane, treated battens, new tiles or slates, dry verge and dry ridge. They reflect what we see across Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland and County Durham. Your roof will have its own quirks, which is what the free survey is for.
| Property | Concrete tile | Natural slate |
|---|---|---|
| Two-bed terrace | £5,500 to £8,000 | £8,000 to £12,000 |
| Three-bed semi | £7,000 to £11,000 | £10,500 to £16,000 |
| Detached or large semi | £10,000 to £16,000 | £15,000 to £25,000 |
| Large detached, complex roof | £15,000+ | £22,000+ |
A word on where we sit in those ranges, because pretending otherwise would waste your time: Willow Roofing prices in the middle to upper part of them. If your only measure of a quote is the number at the bottom, we will rarely be the winner, and this article will explain exactly what that gap buys. If you want the cheapest possible roof, we are genuinely not the right fit, and we would rather you knew that in the first five hundred words than after a survey.
What actually drives the price of a new roof
1. Size and pitch
Roofs are priced by area, so a bigger footprint costs more. But pitch matters just as much: a steep roof is slower and harder to work on, needs more scaffold, and uses more material per metre of house. Two houses with the same floor plan can have very different roof areas.
2. The covering you choose
A large-format concrete tile is the most economical way to cover a roof. Smaller plain tiles cost more because there are far more of them to lay. Natural slate sits at the top: the material costs more, it takes real skill to lay well, and it is less forgiving of shortcuts. On the right house, usually an older terrace or a period property, slate is worth every penny and will outlast everyone reading this.
3. What is under the old covering
Nobody can price rotten timber they cannot see. A good quote makes clear how timber replacement is handled if it is found: at what rate, agreed with you before the work is done. A vague quote that never mentions timber is not cheaper, it has just moved that cost to an argument later.
4. Scaffold and access
Scaffold on a straightforward semi is fairly routine. A three-storey terrace on a bank, a conservatory in the way, or a shared back lane all add cost. Expect scaffold to account for roughly £800 to £2,000 of the total on most houses.
5. The detail work
Chimneys, valleys, leadwork, dry verge and ridge systems, ventilation, fascias and guttering while the scaffold is up. This is where roofs are really won and lost. Water does not get in through the middle of a tile, it gets in at the junctions, and the junctions are exactly where a cheap job saves its money.
Where the money actually goes
On a typical re-roof, the total breaks down roughly like this:
- Materials, around 40%. Tiles or slates, membrane, battens, lead, fixings, ridge and verge systems. This is where spec differences hide: there are membranes at £60 a roll and membranes at £160 a roll, and from the street they look identical.
- Labour, around 35 to 40%. A skilled slater is not paid the same as a labourer, and a team that has worked together for years is faster and tidier than one assembled that morning.
- Scaffold, around 10%. Erected, inspected and hired for the duration of the job.
- Waste, welfare and overheads, the rest. Skips and disposal of the old roof, insurance, vehicles, and the unglamorous costs of running a business properly. A roofer with no overheads is usually a roofer with no insurance.
Why quotes for the same roof can be £3,000 apart
Get three quotes for the same semi and you might see £7,200, £9,100 and £10,400. Most homeowners assume the top one is greedy. Usually the three companies are not pricing the same roof at all. The differences hide in the spec:
- Membrane and battens. Budget membrane and ungraded battens against a premium breathable membrane and graded, treated battens. Invisible on day one, decisive in year fifteen.
- Mortar against dry-fix. Mortar verges and ridges are cheaper on the day and fail on a schedule. Dry-fix systems cost more and are mechanically fixed for life.
- Leadwork. Reusing tired flashings against renewing them in the correct code of lead while the scaffold is up.
- What happens to the extras. One quote includes ventilation, timber rates and disposal. Another leaves them out and they reappear later as additions.
- Insurance and guarantee. Full insurance documents on request and a written guarantee, or a verbal promise from a mobile number.
None of this means the dearest quote is always right. It means a quote is only comparable when you know what is in it. Ask every roofer for the same list, membrane brand and grade, batten spec, verge and ridge system, lead code, timber rate, disposal, and the guesswork disappears.
When a cheap roof becomes an expensive one
Roughly a third of the repair calls we take are on roofs less than fifteen years old. The pattern is nearly always the same: the covering is fine, and the corners that were cut around it are not. Mortar ridges coming loose, cheap membrane gone brittle, flashings that were never renewed, ventilation that was never fitted. The homeowner paid £6,500 instead of £9,000, then spends £2,000 in repairs over a decade before facing the same re-roof again twenty years early.
The maths worth doing: a £9,000 roof that lasts fifty years costs £180 a year. A £6,500 roof that needs replacing in twenty-five costs £260 a year, before a penny of the repairs in between. The cheaper roof is the more expensive one, it just sends the bill later.
How to compare your quotes like-for-like
Whether or not one of the quotes is ours, put every quote through the same six questions:
- Is the membrane named, with its grade? Are the battens graded and treated?
- Are the verges and ridges mortar or a dry-fix system?
- Is leadwork being renewed or reused, and at what code?
- How is hidden timber priced if it is found?
- Are scaffold, skips and disposal included in the figure?
- Is there a written guarantee, and can they show insurance documents?
A company confident in its spec will answer all six in writing without flinching. Evasion on any of them tells you where the low price came from.
So what should you pay?
For a proper job on a typical North East three-bed semi in 2026: budget £7,000 to £11,000 in concrete tile, and £10,500 upwards for natural slate. If a quote comes in dramatically under that, do not celebrate yet. Go through the six questions above and find out what has been left out, because something has.
Our own quotes are itemised, fixed for the work described, and surveyed by the owner in person. All 63 of our MyBuilder reviews are public, every one of them positive, and you can read every word on our reviews page. If that sounds like the way you would want your roof handled, the survey costs nothing.
Replacement roof questions we get asked most
How long does a replacement roof take?
A typical three-bed semi takes four to seven working days on site, plus a day or two either side for scaffold. Bigger roofs, natural slate and complicated detail work take longer. Weather can add days: no honest roofer will promise you a fixed finish date in a North East winter.
How long should a new roof last?
Done properly, a concrete tile roof should give you fifty years or more, and natural slate can go well beyond that. The parts that decide it are the ones you never see: the membrane, the battens, the leadwork and the ventilation. That is why two roofs that look identical from the street can have thirty years of difference in them.
Do you charge for a survey or quote?
No. Surveys and quotes are free, and the person on your roof is the owner of the business, not a salesperson. You get a written, itemised quote and no chasing phone calls afterwards.
Will the price change once the work starts?
The quoted price is the price for the work described. The one honest exception is hidden timber: nobody can see rot under the old covering until it is stripped. If we find it, we photograph it, price the repair and agree it with you before touching it. It is never sprung on you as a surprise invoice.
How do payments work?
Bank transfer, staged on larger works: typically a 20% deposit to secure your dates and materials, with the balance in agreed stages as the work completes. You are never asked to pay the full cost before the work is done, and every stage is set out in writing on the quote so there are no surprises.