Flat Roof Replacement

pope

Having a flat roof replacement total cost is £1200. The roofer is asking for a £450 deposit does this seem to be to much?

Thanks

Exodi

I think you'll get a lot of answers.

I don't personally think it is, many tradies ask for a down payment to cover materials. In a lot of work I've had done in the past this has been up to half the cost of the total job, so 37.5% tracks, but certainly I'm not suggesting my personal experience s any sort of benchmark.

Of course others will feel it shouldn't be up to the customer to provide cashflow for materials. I think the problem is some trade companies can be massive whereas many others can just be a man in a van.

born_again

£1200 sounds just like a re covering. So may end up being a lot more £££ if the base board has got wet & needs replacing.

£450 sounds like a fair deal for materials.

TBH, with no idea on size & what they are doing. it could vary from dirt cheap to well over priced.

srioss85

how big is your roof? I recently got mine done for £800 and didn’t have to put any kind of deposit down. My roof was only 2x2 m though

pope

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82035496#Comment_82035496

Total area approx 15 square metres.

The roofer is on MyBuilder

costwiseuk

£450 on £1,200 is a 37.5% deposit, which is higher than the usual 10 to 25% for a small job, but for flat roofing specifically it's probably not a red flag: the materials (EPDM or felt, boards, trims) for a garage-sized roof can genuinely run £300 to £450, and small firms often ask for the materials money upfront rather than fund it themselves. The total itself sounds about right by the way, £1,200 works out around £80 per m² for a typical garage roof, and the going rate is roughly £60 to £130 per m² fitted.

What I'd actually do: ask them to itemise it. If the £450 is "materials on order", that's normal, pay it when the materials arrive or are ordered, not weeks before. Pay by credit card if they take one (Section 75 then covers you on the whole contract if it goes wrong), or debit card at a push. Never the lot in cash. And agree in writing that the balance is due on completion, after you've seen the finished roof and got the guarantee paperwork. A decent roofer won't blink at any of that; the ones who insist on big cash upfront with nothing in writing are the ones to walk away from.