Question answered
Do you pay VAT on roofing work?
The short answer
Yes. Roofing work carries the standard VAT rate of 20 per cent, whether it is a small repair, a new roof or a flat-roof replacement. The exception is roof insulation installed in a home, which has a zero rate until 31 March 2027 and 5 per cent after that. When insulation goes in with a re-roof, the rate turns on whether HMRC sees a single supply or several.
Yes, on nearly all of it. Repairs, re-roofs and flat roofs carry the standard rate, and the one real exception is fitted roof insulation, which has its own dates and its own test.
The standard rate on repairs, re-roofs and flat roofs
GOV.UK gives the standard rate of VAT as 20 per cent, and nearly every roofing job sits at that rate. A slipped-tile repair, relaid ridge tiles, new gutters, a flat roof and a complete re-cover are all treated alike, and the rate applies to labour and materials together when one contractor supplies both. When a quote arrives, read whether VAT is already inside the total or waiting to be added at the bottom.
The point bites when you set one figure beside another. Cost guides are not consistent: Checkatrade prints many of its repair prices exclusive of VAT, while others show a total. Add VAT and a job costs a fifth more than the guide figure. Our roofing costs guide sets out the typical ranges and names the source of each.
After the survey we put a single figure in writing. Ask any roofer to say plainly whether VAT and scaffolding sit inside theirs, because a clear answer now saves an argument later. Our home page shows how we work from survey to quote.
Roof insulation and the zero rate to March 2027
Roof and loft insulation gets different treatment. HMRC's VAT Notice 708/6, last updated on 31 January 2024, applies a zero rate to the installation of listed energy-saving materials between 1 May 2023 and 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 they move to the reduced rate of 5 per cent. Roof and loft insulation appear on that list. The relief applies to fitting in homes and in charitable buildings.
The word to notice is fitting. Insulation sold by a merchant with nobody installing it is standard-rated, so rolls collected for your own loft attract the full rate. The zero rate follows the installed work.
Under those dates, a job carried out after 31 March 2027 would normally take the 5 per cent rate, unless an earlier invoice or payment fixes the rate. Mention your timing when you ask for a quote, and check GOV.UK for any later change before you sign.
When insulation goes in with a re-roof
This is where the rules get fiddly. Businesses are told by HMRC to decide whether a job is a single supply at one rate or several supplies, each carrying its own rate. The notice gives a worked case: insulation put into the roof space while an extension is being built is one standard-rated supply.
On a roof renewal that includes insulation, then, the result depends on how the work is contracted and supplied, and not on the insulation by itself. A re-roof is standard-rated. Whether the insulation element can have a zero rate has to be settled job by job, and nobody can promise it beforehand. If you raise it with us, the quote will set out how the insulation has been treated.
Whether a re-roof must include new insulation in the first place is a separate matter from tax. The roof regulations guide covers when roof work triggers a thermal upgrade under the Building Regulations.
Scaffolding and other items inside the total
Scaffolding forms part of most re-roofs and many chimney jobs, and it normally sits inside the same total as the roofing. MyBuilder's scaffolding guide (updated 21 August 2026) gives £850 to £1,200 for the usual two-storey property, though whether that sum is inside a particular quote is for the quote itself to say.
If the scaffold takes up space on a public footway or carriageway, the firm erecting it must hold council permission first, and that fee is one more cost inside its price. Our scaffold licence page covers who applies and what West Sussex charges.
Ask each roofer whether the price covers VAT, scaffolding and waste removal. With those three answers in hand, two totals can then be compared on equal terms. Without them, one quote may look a fifth cheaper simply because it leaves VAT out, which is a trap worth avoiding.
When the invoice does not match the quote
The common trouble is a total that moves at the end. If the quote gave a figure and the invoice adds VAT on top, nobody told you what you would really pay. Ask your VAT question in writing before you accept, and keep the answer. If the invoice and the quote disagree afterwards, raise it in writing as well. How to complain about a roofer sets out the order of steps.
The size of the job sets the size of the tax, and the house sets the job. A hipped bungalow, a terrace with a long valley and a seafront flat with a broad flat roof are different amounts of roof, and VAT adds a fifth to each. Our guide to Worthing house roofs shows how house type shapes the work.
Planning is a different subject from tax. For homes within the National Park, the South Downs planning page covers it.
Two VAT questions on roof insulation
Is roof insulation bought from a builders' merchant zero-rated?
No. Notice 708/6 treats insulation supplied without installation as standard-rated. The zero rate applies to installing the specified energy-saving materials in residential accommodation and charitable buildings, so it follows the fitted work and not the product on a pallet.
What rate applies to fitted roof insulation from April 2027?
Under the notice, the specified materials revert to the reduced rate of 5 per cent from 1 April 2027, after the zero rate that runs from 1 May 2023 to 31 March 2027. Rates can change, so check GOV.UK on the day you sign a contract.
Tell us about your roof
Describe what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a visit.
- Photographs of what we find
- A written quote with one total price
- Or call 01903 299063
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.