Search for what a new roof costs and you will find a figure in the low thousands on one page and a figure two or three times higher on the next. Neither page is lying. They are describing different houses, different coverings and different things included in the price, and a reader who does not see that ends up either alarmed or falsely reassured. Both end up making a poor decision, one by putting off a necessary job and the other by trusting a number that was never meant to describe their house.
This guide gives two published figures, credits the guide and month for each, and explains why they differ. It then looks at scaffold, which is a large part of any re-roof, at the other things that move a price, and at how to read a written quote so that you are comparing like with like. Read every number here as a typical UK range from a national guide. None is a Taunton Prestige price, because a Taunton roof is priced only after someone has been up to look at it. The guide sits within our roof replacement work.
Two published figures for a new roof
MyJobQuote, in a guide last updated on 6 October 2026, gives a new roof average of "around £5,250" as a typical UK figure. HomeBuilding (Sep 2025) looks at a specific house: a three-bedroom semi-detached with a roof of 65m², covered in plain concrete tiles, and puts the total "between £10,000 and £15,000", including labour, scaffolding and insulation.
Put plainly, one guide says around £5,250 and the other says £10,000 to £15,000. A reader who sees only the first number will be shocked at a real quote, and a reader who sees only the second may think £5,250 is a trap.
What figure should you budget for a new roof?
No single number is correct, and a page that offers one is hiding the variables. The straight answer is a range with its conditions attached: how big the roof is and how many slopes it has, what covers it, what the price takes in, and when the guide was written. Prices move, and the two guides here are a year apart, with a harsh winter and a year of material costs in between.
Two more data points help frame the range. MyJobQuote gives a full re-tile of an 80m² roof at £3,000 to £8,000 (MyJobQuote, Oct 2026), and a new slate roof comes out at £7,800 on average in the same guide. Both sit between the two headline figures, which shows how much the covering alone changes the picture, and how a re-tile on an existing frame costs less than a roof that is rebuilt from the timbers up.
Why the two guides disagree
Four things explain the gap, and each doubles as a question you can put to any roofer.
- Scope. HomeBuilding's range includes labour, scaffolding and insulation for a whole new roof. An average built from many jobs of many kinds can include small or partial work, which pulls it down.
- Size. A 65m² roof is a particular size, and the average is not tied to one.
- Covering. Plain concrete tiles are one choice among many, and slate sits above them on price.
- Date. Costs rise, and a guide from September 2025 is not the same as one from October 2026.
Add to that the way each guide is framed. One gives a general average, and the other prices one named house. Neither framing is better, but they answer slightly different questions, and a reader who knows which question each answers will not be surprised by the difference.
Which figure should you use to plan?
Neither. Use them to see the shape of the thing: a new roof on a typical semi is a five-figure job once scaffold, labour and insulation are in, and smaller, simpler work comes in lower. Then get a survey of your own roof, because your roof is not the average.
Citizens Advice suggests setting 3 or more written quotes beside each other before you choose. That is sensible, with one caution: totals only compare when each quote covers the same roof, the same covering and the same work. Give every firm identical information, and read what each total takes in.
Scaffold, and why it matters so much
On a two-storey house a roof cannot be stripped and re-covered safely without scaffold, and the scaffold sits in the price. HomeBuilding gives scaffolding at "approximately £1,000" for a three-bedroom semi, with permits included. MyJobQuote gives £550 to £750 for one week of scaffold along the front. Both are national figures, and they describe different scopes, so they will not match, and neither is a Taunton scaffold price.
Does scaffold need a licence?
It can. Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 covers scaffolding that blocks the highway, and it is the highway authority that grants one. In Taunton that means Somerset Council, which restricts permits to accredited contractors and wants the application made by whoever you have appointed. Its page, updated in April 2026, lists £124.60 for each 28-day period, with at least 10 working days between application and erection. That sum is separate from the hire charge. Scaffold standing wholly on private land is a different matter, so whether a licence is needed is a question for the particular job.
If you are quoted by a firm that arranges its own scaffold, ask whether the price covers the hire and any licence. Our re-roof scaffolding page explains how it works on site, and who to ask.
Scaffold is also a safety item, not an optional extra. A roofer who suggests doing a full re-roof from ladders alone is cutting a corner you should not accept. Good scaffold also protects your windows, gutters and garden, and gives the roofers a safe edge to work from, which shows in the quality of the finish.
What moves the price
Behind any figure sit the same few drivers. Knowing them lets you read a quote and see where the money goes.
- The area of the roof and how many slopes it has. A simple gable roof is quicker than one with hips, valleys and dormers.
- The covering. Slate costs more than concrete tile, and clay tile sits somewhere between depending on the profile.
- Whatever lies beneath the old covering, which only shows once it is lifted, and which no guide can predict. Sound battens and rafters leave the work as planned, and rotten ones add to it.
- Leadwork around chimneys, walls and valleys, and whether it is reused or renewed.
- Access: how easily scaffold goes up, how close the road is, how waste leaves the site.
- Insulation and ventilation, which are covered in our guide to upgrading loft insulation when you re-roof.
What does a pitched roof come to once everything is in?
For a pitched roof the answer is again a range. The guides above run from the low thousands for a re-tile up to fifteen thousand pounds for a complete new roof on a semi with three bedrooms, depending on the covering and on what the figure includes. A higher or lower number in any particular quote usually traces back to one item in the list above.
VAT deserves a line of its own. GOV.UK gives the standard rate as 20%, which is the rate for work like this on a home that already exists, so ask whether each quote already contains it. A total that omits VAT can still have 20% to be added to it.
Pricing a roof in Taunton
There is no Taunton-specific published figure for a new roof, and it would be wrong to pretend the national ones are one. What can be said is how the local picture feeds into the price. Taunton has a mix of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, interwar and later estates, newer developments and older cottages and farm buildings in the surrounding villages, and the roofs on them differ in size, covering and complexity. A town centre terrace, a Monkton Heathfield new-build and a village cottage near the Quantocks would each lead to a different quote, even with identical national guides in the drawer.
A slate roof on a Victorian terrace with a lead valley and a chimney or two is a different job from a concrete tile roof on a plain semi. Access matters too: a terrace on a narrow street is harder to scaffold than a detached house with a drive, and a village on the Levels or in the hills can add travel and carrying. A listed house, or one standing in a conservation area, has its price shaped from the start by the consent route and by the material that has to be used. Conservation areas in Taunton explains where those apply.
What is the fair way to get a Taunton price?
Have the roof looked at properly, in daylight, with someone who goes up. We go up, check the covering, flashings, chimneys and the loft, and keep pictures of your own roof. A single total in writing follows, so you see the evidence and the number reflects your roof, not an average.
A guide figure tells you the scale of the job. Only a survey of your own roof tells you the price, because only a survey sees the slopes, the timbers and the access.
Reading a quote so you can compare
Once you have two or three quotes, set them side by side and ask the same questions of each. This is the practical part, and it is where most disputes are avoided.
- Does each total cover the same roof, the same covering and the same underlay and battens, and is the pitch and slope count the same in each?
- Is scaffold included, and is any highway licence covered, or does that come on top?
- Is VAT in the total or on top?
- What happens if the timbers are worse than expected once the covering is off, and how will you be told?
- Are waste removal and the clean-up included?
- What is in writing, and when does the work start and finish?
- Who is on site each day, and who do you call if something changes?
Is the lowest quote the best one?
Not on its own. A low total may leave out scaffold or insulation, assume the timbers are sound, or use a thinner underlay. A higher one may include all of these, plus a better product or more time spent on the details, and only the written scope shows which. The way to find out is to put the six questions above to each firm and keep the written replies.
A quote from us is a single total, set beside pictures of your roof, so the paper in your hand is easy to follow. For the stages that follow, see our re-roofing process, and for what to expect from a tradesperson in general, read how to spot a dodgy roofer.
Our price is written once the survey is done, so the survey is where to start.
New roof cost queries
What should you expect to pay for a new roof in the UK?
MyJobQuote gives an average of around £5,250 (Oct 2026), while HomeBuilding (Sep 2025) puts a 65m² roof on a semi with three bedrooms, in plain concrete tile, at £10,000 to £15,000, with labour, scaffolding and insulation in. The gap comes from scope, size, covering and date, so treat both as typical UK ranges, never as a quote.
What does it cost to install a new pitched roof in the UK?
A full re-tile of an 80m² roof is £3,000 to £8,000 and slate on a new roof averages around £7,800 (MyJobQuote, Oct 2026), as typical UK figures. Your own figure turns on the roof area, covering, access, scaffold and what the timbers look like once the old covering is off.
Does scaffold add much to a re-roof?
It adds a real amount. HomeBuilding allows approximately £1,000 for scaffold on a semi with three bedrooms, permits included, while MyJobQuote puts one week of scaffold along the front at £550 to £750. Where a highway licence applies, Somerset Council lists £124.60 per 28-day period (April 2026), which is a separate charge.
More on this subject: Roof replacement and new roofs in Taunton
