What does a website for a roofer actually cost?

Every week, somewhere in the UK, a roofer loads up Google, types "roofer websites", and stares at a quote for £1,500 that he doesn't fully understand. Is that fair? Is that too cheap to be any good? Is that just what websites cost? Nobody ever does the maths out loud. So let's.

Here's what a website for a roofer actually costs in 2026, what you get at each price point, and what's genuinely worth paying for. I've tried to be blunt where the industry is vague - because roofers don't have time for vague. You've got quotes to do.

What a roofer's website actually needs

Before we talk price, let's be clear what you're buying. A decent roofer's website is not complicated. It's not a web app. It's not a booking platform with 400 settings. It needs to do a handful of jobs really well:

• A homepage that says what you do and why you should be trusted - in plain English, above the fold
• Service pages for the work you actually want - pitched roofs, flat roofs, repairs, guttering, fascias and soffits
• A gallery of real jobs, because roofing is bought on proof not promises. Phone photos are fine if they're honest
• A coverage area page so Google knows where you work - we cover this a lot in what a website needs to rank in 2026
• A phone number that's impossible to miss, on every page, tap-to-call on mobile
• Mobile-friendliness as default - most of your enquiries come with a thumb, not a mouse
• Basic local SEO built in - sensible titles, one page per service, no keyword stuffing

That's it. That's the whole job. When you see wild variance in quotes, remember: none of the above is expensive to produce. It's a handful of pages and a few hours of focused design and copy. The variance comes from overhead, sales process, and what happens after launch - which is exactly what where agencies really make their money explains.

The £200-£400 option: the cheap builder

You'll find these everywhere - "complete website for just £299!" on Facebook ads that follow you around for a week. It's usually one of three things: a DIY page builder you fill in yourself and then abandon, a freelance student in their first year who disappears after the second revision, or an overseas template farm that spins up something that looks okay on a laptop and falls apart the second you open it on a phone.

We had a roofer from Stoke send us his £279 site earlier this year. On desktop it looked... passable. On his iPhone the menu covered the phone number, the contact form didn't send anywhere, and the "gallery" was stock photos of scaffolding from America. He'd been paying £9.99 a month for "hosting" on a server that went down twice while we were looking at it. No one answered his support emails. That's the pattern.

It will also have zero thought behind it - no structure for Google, no idea what makes a roofer convert. The headline will say "Welcome to our Website" instead of "Flat Roof Repairs in Stoke - Call Today". The gallery will be generic. The page titles will all be "Home". It technically exists, but it doesn't work. It's the cheapest option, and it behaves like it.

If that's all you can afford right now and you need something live tonight, it's better than nothing. But don't expect it to bring enquiries, and don't expect help when it breaks.

The £1,000-£2,500 option: the traditional agency

This is the middle of the market, and it's where most roofing companies get stung - not because the build is bad, but because everything around it is expensive.

The build itself is genuinely professional. Proper design, decent copy, mobile pages, all the services laid out nicely. You'll sit through a discovery call, maybe a mood board, and you'll get something you're proud to put on the van. So far, so good.

Then comes the part nobody mentions in the first meeting: the ongoing cost. Hosting at £15-£30 a month on their reseller account. A "care plan" at £40-£90 a month for updates and backups you could mostly automate. £75 an hour for every tiny change - and roofing sites need changes all the time. New estate you now cover. New number. Photos from that big re-roof in Wigan. That £1,800 quote becomes £2,600 in year one, and over three years you're well over £4,500 before you've changed a headline.

I spoke to a roofer in Oldham last month who was paying £59 a month hosting plus £85 a month "maintenance" for a site that hadn't been touched in 14 months. That's £144 a month for nothing. When he asked to leave, they told him the site wasn't portable because it was built in their proprietary system. That's not hosting. That's rent.

It's worth asking any agency quoting you £1,500: what do you charge in year two, and what does a simple edit cost? Their answer will tell you more than the portfolio. Compare it openly with our £29.99/month everything-included model and the maths usually does the talking. We wrote the full breakdown in why a £2k site and a £29.99/month site are the same site.

The subscription option: £29.99 a month

This is what we do, so read this with that in mind - but the structure is genuinely fairer for a roofing business that actually wants to stay current.

You pay nothing upfront. We design, build, host, maintain, patch, back up and look after small monthly edits - all in that one figure. Over a year that's about £360. Over three years, about £1,080. Same class of website you'd get from the middle-market agency, same speed, same mobile behaviour, but the site doesn't sit there going stale.

The important bit isn't the total. It's that the site stays current. When you finish that flat-roof job in Bolton and you want six photos added to the gallery, it's an included edit, not a £75 invoice you'll avoid. When your apprentice takes over the phone, the number changes that day. When you decide to push guttering repairs heavily this winter, we can spin up a proper page for it without a second quote. In why small businesses never update their website I go into why that matters - freshness is one of the few things Google consistently rewards for local trades.

And because it's month-to-month with no contract (see terms), you're not trapped. If you hate it, you leave. We have to earn the renewal every month by keeping the site sharp. That's the right incentive.

What you should actually pay for (non-negotiables)

Whatever route you pick - even if it's not with us - insist on these four. Don't compromise, don't let them be "phase two".

• Mobile-first. If the designer shows you desktop first and mobile second, walk away. Check it yourself on your actual phone. Can you tap the number without zooming? Can you see services without hunting through a hamburger menu that hides everything?
• Real images of your roofs. Stock photos of random scaffolding fool nobody. Customers are buying proof. Before/afters, even quick phone shots in daylight, outperform glossy fakes every time.
• Local SEO structure. "Roofer in Manchester" means nothing if you cover Wigan and Bolton but not the city centre. Your page titles, headings and copy need to reflect the places you actually cover. Our Manchester and Leeds pages are built like that for a reason. One page per location or service - not everything stuffed on the homepage.
• A clear answer for "what happens when I need a change?" In writing. How long does a text change take? Who does it? What does it cost? If the answer is vague, the bill will be vague. On our how it works page we lay it out: small monthly edits included, bigger work quoted before we touch it.

Don't forget the Google Business Profile bit

A website alone won't make you rank. Your Google Business Profile plus your website is what makes you findable. I say this to every roofer who asks: before you argue about backlinks or blog posts, get your GBP right - correct categories, services listed honestly, service area not stuffed with 40 towns you don't cover, and start asking for reviews the day the site goes live. We see more enquiries move from GBP work than from any design tweak. It ties directly into how many enquiries a trades website really brings in - early months are slow, then GBP plus fresh site plus reviews starts to stack.

The honest bottom line

For the average roofing company - one or two vans, solid reputation, good word-of-mouth, maybe a Facebook page that does bits of work - the difference between a £2,000 website and a £29.99/month website is not quality. It's how the industry prices you. The overpriced option isn't better built. It's better sold.

So when someone quotes you £2,000 for a roofer's website, ask them what they're charging for hosting in year two, what a page update costs, who answers the phone on a Saturday when your site goes down, and whether you can take your files cleanly if you leave. Their answers will tell you more than the headline number ever could.

If you want us to be that straight with you about your patch - whether you're covering Birmingham, London or a cluster of towns around Leeds - just tell us what you do and where you work. We'll tell you what we'd build, what we'd charge monthly, and what we'd do next month to keep it current. No £2,000 invoice to get started.