Why can two roofing quotations be very different?
The short answer
Usually because they are not quoting for the same work. One may include scaffolding, new underlay and replacement leadwork while the other assumes reuse and ladder access. One may have diagnosed a wider fault. Until the scopes are written down side by side, the difference in price tells you almost nothing.
What evidence should you look for?
Two quotations of similar length but with very different totals.
- What it can mean
- The scopes, materials or access assumptions differ.
- What else could explain it
- Genuinely different diagnoses of the same roof also produce very different figures.
Monitor
What could this mean?
Set the quotations out line by line. Differences almost always appear in access, materials and the extent of the area covered.
Related services
- Roof RepairsA roof repair fixes a localised fault — slipped slates, cracked tiles, failed flashing, a leaking valley or a split flat-roof seam — without replacing the whole roof. Most Cumbrian domestic repairs are completed in a single visit once the true cause of the leak has been identified.
- New Roofs and ReroofingReroofing means stripping the existing covering back to the rafters and rebuilding the roof with new membrane, battens, fixings and coverings. It is the right choice once slates or tiles are failing across whole slopes or the underlay has perished.
What should you do next?
Where one quotation is far lower, ask what it excludes rather than assuming it is better value.
Reviewed by Aaron, Owner, Elite Roofing Services Cumbria Ltd — last reviewed .
Related questions
More in Roofing Costs & Quotations
- How much does roof repair cost?
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- Why can a small roof repair cost more than expected?
- Does scaffolding make roof repairs more expensive?
- What affects the cost of a new roof?
- Should a roofing quotation explain the cause of the problem?
- Can a roof inspection make a quotation more accurate?