Roofing News: Scam Warnings and 3.2% Pay Rise, Aug 2026

This fortnight’s roofing news is mostly about protecting yourself and your money before you hire. Trading standards teams have renewed their doorstep-scam warnings after a rogue roofer was jailed, the industry pay rates that sit inside most roofing quotes have gone up again, and safety bodies are flagging the risk of booking roof work in the height of a heatwave. Here is what each one means before you commission a roof.

Doorstep roofing scams: fresh warning after a rogue roofer is jailed

Warwickshire trading standards issued a renewed warning on 4 August about doorstep roofing scams, which spike in good weather when rogue traders knock unannounced and claim they have spotted loose or missing tiles. The team’s blunt line is that these callers “typically charge at least double (and sometimes more) the cost a genuine roofer will charge, for work that is basically not required.” It follows a Lancashire case reported in late July in which a rogue roofer was jailed after pressuring a recently bereaved widow in her 80s into £2,500 of unnecessary work and having her driven to withdraw £2,000 in cash. The practical defence is the same one we always give: never buy roof work from an unsolicited doorstep caller, get more than one written quote, and pay as the work progresses rather than up front. If someone says your roof needs urgent work, a paid-for independent roof inspection or survey confirms whether the problem is real, and our roof repair cost guide shows what a fair price looks like. The warning is at Stratford Herald and the court case at Roofing Today.

Builders’ pay rates rise 3.2%, and it feeds into your quote

The main construction pay agreement, the CIJC, has lifted national minimum rates by 3.2 per cent from 20 July, taking the skilled craft rate to £16.40 an hour, and the separate BATJIC deal that covers many smaller building and roofing firms applies the same 3.2 per cent rise from 10 August. This matters to a homeowner because labour is roughly half the cost of a re-roof, so when the wage floor moves the quotes follow. It is not a reason to rush a job, but it does explain why 2026 prices are firmer than last year and why a suspiciously cheap quote is worth questioning. Our new roof cost guide and roof cost per square metre give you current benchmarks to check a quote against. The pay deal is covered at Roofing Today and NBS.

Heat safety: why booking roof work in a heatwave is a fair question to ask

New analysis from tradesman insurer Protectivity, published on 6 August, names 12 August as the single most dangerous working day of the summer for outdoor trades, using the 27C threshold at which the TUC advises strenuous outdoor work should stop. St Albans topped its list with 47 dangerous days a year, and the report notes there is still no legal maximum working temperature in the UK. For a homeowner this is a reason to be flexible rather than alarmed: a roofer working through extreme afternoon heat is more likely to cut a job short or make mistakes, so a good contractor may sensibly start early or reschedule. If your work is weather-sensitive, our guide to how long a new roof takes explains what a realistic timeline looks like. The research is reported at Roofing Today.