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£9k for new roof - too good to be true?

21 replies

Luna222 · 12/07/2023 08:44

I live in a 4 bed detached house which desperately needs a new roof. we've had 3 quotes, 2 which are about 22-25k and one for 9k. the 9k guy also said he can do it much faster than the others who said it would take 2/3 weeks to complete.

Is the 9k too good to be true? I had a look at estimates online for a new roof and 20-25k seems to be what is suggested, so how is it possible to do it for 9? All three companies have good reviews, so I'm tempted to go for the cheapest option but will it be a disaster?

OP posts:
tanstaafl · 12/07/2023 08:51

Does the £9k guy know you’ve had quotes for £20k+ ?

GOODCAT · 12/07/2023 08:54

We paid £6k during the pandemic for a 3 bed detached from someone recommended and they did a good job

Crabacus · 12/07/2023 08:54

We're in the process of getting quotes for a new roof too - big old detached house. Ours have ranged between £40-£50k, I was expecting £20-25k!
with such a huge difference in price, I think the £9k one is definitely too good to be true. There's some reason why it's less than half the price

iatealltheminieggs · 12/07/2023 08:57

We paid about £11k for ours (3 bed semi bur larger than average roof) It took about 2 weeks including scaffolding. This was 3 years ago though.

honeyandfizz · 12/07/2023 09:00

My NDN paid that in January this year and also had much higher quotes. The cheaper co had a good reputation, good reviews so she went with them and it was all fine.

Ohmylovejune · 12/07/2023 09:00

Does he include materials? It does seem very different!

BungalowBuyer · 12/07/2023 09:40

Is there £9k guy a fully registered and insured company? Will you have come back off there's an issue?

Ariela · 12/07/2023 10:09

As well as checking he's insured, what guarantee does he offer? Also ask if there are any houses he's done you can go and admire the work, talk to the householder.

C4tastrophe · 12/07/2023 10:37

What’s in the contract? A lot of roofers have and do their own scaffolding.
Is it stripping the tiles, new felt and batons, then reusing the old tiles? Are there any gulleys? Will he use lead?
While he’s up there, you should get a quote to replace all the facias and soffits with plastic ( for low maintenance).

I would definitely not rule out 9k guy!

Badbadbunny · 12/07/2023 10:47

Personally I think £20k plus is rip off pricing, not doubt because they know roofers are in high demand.

Pre covid, my mother had a detached bungalow re-roofed, yes, not as much scaffolding, but it had a big footprint so probably as much materials as a typical detached house. They charged £7k including the (lesser) scaffolding, portaloo in the drive, etc - everything removed and replaced including batons, felt, etc.

I think tradesmen are just using rip-off pricing whilst they know they can get away with it.

Being cheap doesn't always mean being poor quality, shoddy or a con man.

When we had our back porch replaced, we got quotes ranging from £2.5k to £10k, and chose a supposedly reputable firm who charged somewhere in the middle. (The cheap guy was someone we'd used previously for some guttering replacements and seemed ok although he wasn't officially a PVC fitter). It was a nightmare, the "owner" never came near, and just sent a few random subbies who broke some floor tiles in the porch, put in the wrong width of window ledge, put up guttering that leaked, and the guy himself fouled up as we said "like for like" but the bottom of the door was glazed instead of white, the hinges were bright silver instead of white, etc. We weren't impressed at all.

A couple of years later we had the front porch replaced and used the cheap £2.5k guy (he came in cheapest again!). He did a brilliant job. Worked on his own, real attention to detail, did exactly what we said we wanted, no breakages, etc and we were really happy!

So, cost isn't really any indicator of quality.

Dbank · 12/07/2023 10:57

It would be helpful to know:-
What material is the roof being replaced with?
Are they a limited company, with a history of trading?
Are you paying cash?
Does the quote include VAT?
Have you seen and verified his insurance?
What area of the UK?

Diymesss · 12/07/2023 11:05

I've had two quotes recently for a new roof, one for 6.5k and one for 10k. The 10k one is NFRC registered. My roof is fairly small and I'm outside London.

OpalescentFly · 12/07/2023 11:08

We paid 5.5k for a new roof and fascias on a 3 bed before the pandemic. I know things have gone up so 9k seems the right sort of ballpark. 20-25k seems like crazy money to me unless there's some sort of specialist tiling involved.

tanstaafl · 12/07/2023 11:10

Pp mentioned scaffolding , wonder if the £9k is for his labour only.
you then also have to cover materials and scaffolding hire separately.

what’s wrong with your roof OP?

TheNoonBell · 12/07/2023 12:47

Paid 12.5k at the end of last year for remove/replace the tiles, felt, boards and facias on 100m2 or so. Took 2 weeks but it was snowing so should have taken about 8 days.

That included skips and scaffolding.

Luna222 · 12/07/2023 16:58

tanstaafl · 12/07/2023 11:10

Pp mentioned scaffolding , wonder if the £9k is for his labour only.
you then also have to cover materials and scaffolding hire separately.

what’s wrong with your roof OP?

It's very old now and has a lot of cracks, and the facia and soffits etc are rotten. We have a leak and there is a lot of evidence of previous leaks (haven't lived here very long).

OP posts:
Luna222 · 12/07/2023 16:58

Thank you for your replies everyone, it's given me a lot to think about and ask. I told one of the 20k+ guys about the 9k quote and he told me he wouldn't even be able to buy materials for that. All of the quotes have included the same service although I'm not sure about the quality of the materials. I think I'll get a couple more quotes just to compare and ask more about what materials are used.

OP posts:
C4tastrophe · 12/07/2023 17:13

If 20k guy is spending more than 10k on materials, how is 9k guy going to do it?
The contracts must be different.

Miekle · 12/07/2023 17:23

My parents recently had a roof redone. Roofs here are done with decent plywood first, then membrane, then slates. They bought their materials and it was more like £4-5k for that. Obviously depends how big your roof is and what materials are required. But it would be easy to look up cost online and get a ballpark for what you think the materials will be. That should give you an idea of who is telling you porkies!

Spanielsarepainless · 12/07/2023 17:27

Check the specification and whether he's added in the VAT.

PimpMyFridge · 12/07/2023 17:29

Hmm.
Maybe one of those where once he's in the job there are loads of unexpected costs or delays which then push the price up.
That is very very low, so what corners is he cutting?

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