Slate Roof Cost & Prices 2023

A slate roof is an excellent choice for a new roof due to its durability, visual aesthetics and low effort to maintain it over its lifespan.

Real slate can add bundles of character to your property. But as with all materials of high-quality, slate can be on the pricier side. It’s worth balancing that against its long lifespan, which means you can expect it to pay for itself in due course.

This article will cover the sorts of costs you can expect to pay for a flat roof as well as other factors which may affect the price of flat roofs.

Cost Per m²

We worked with a professional quantity surveyor to price up a slate roof.

Item	Labour Cost per m²	Material Cost per m²	Total Cost per m²
Battens (nails included)	£5	£4	£8
Counter Battens (nails included)	£5	£4	£8
Breather membrane	£3	£3	£6
Slates	£32	£58	£90
Total	£45	£69	£110

Slate material costs can range from £44 – £79 per m², meaning that the total average can range from £93 – £128 per m² in total.

Factors That Affect the Cost

• Size of roof – these works are specialist and rates can sometimes be higher on smaller domestic projects. Generally, slate isn’t used for larger buildings as these will tend to have flat roof type structures.
• Pitch of roof – sometimes a particularly steep roof could add the cost due to supports being required for the roofers working to lay the slates.
• Specifications of slate – generally imported slate will be cheaper compared to local slate such as Welsh slate. Brazil and Chinese slate are common cheaper varieties.
• Structure of the roof covering – whether plywood sheathing needs to be used or if existing membrane and battens can be re-used etc.
• Roof access – is the roof accessible and safe with ladders or is scaffolding required? This can add to cost.
• Extra flashings – flashings are generally used around chimneys or at junctions with walls. For example, if you build a single storey side extension to a house you will run a flashing along where it joins into the wall. Expect to pay an extra £38 per metre on roof areas where flashing is required.
• Extra hip tiles – hip tiles are going to be used if the roof is designed as a hip roof. Expect to pay an £45 per metre where hip tiles are used.
• Extra plywood – plywood is often used where load strengthening is required, e.g. areas of the north of the UK that get snow in winter or lots of rain, wind etc. This will be roughly an extra £26/m².
• Location – Areas in the south of England and London will be higher than in other parts of the country. The prices quoted in the table above apply for the South East or Outer London area. The adjustments below can be used to calculate costs in your area.

Region	% Adjustment
South East (Southampton, Oxford, Kent, Outer London)	0
Inner London	+4%
South West (Bristol, Exeter)	-4%
West Midlands (Birmingham)	-10%
East Midlands (Northampton, Nottingham, Leicester)	-10%
East Anglia (Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich)	-5%
North West (Liverpool, Manchester)	-12%
Yorkshire and Humberside (Leeds, Sheffield)	-11%
North East (Newcastle, Sunderland)	-10%
Scotland (Edinburgh, Glasgow)	-6%
Wales (Cardiff, Swansea)	-9%
Northern Ireland (Belfast)	-12%