Roofing Costs: Building Costs Up 4.3%, Prices Up 3.2%

Three things from the last fortnight that bear on what you pay for roof work and how safely it gets done. New cost figures suggest builders are swallowing part of their rising costs for now, a law firm has found asbestos roof sheets being given away on Facebook Marketplace, and a building firm has been fined £120,000 after a carpenter died in a fall at a house.

Builders’ costs are rising faster than their prices

The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) published its latest forecast on 8 October. Its General Building Cost Index, which tracks what materials and labour cost contractors, rose 1.6% between the second and third quarters of 2026 and 4.3% over the year. Its Tender Price Index, which tracks the prices contractors win work at, rose 0.7% in the quarter and 3.2% over the year. BCIS chief economist Dr David Crosthwaite said contractors are “absorbing or mitigating some cost increases to remain competitive” because work is scarce: new work output is forecast to fall 3.7% in 2026 before growing 2.2% in 2027.

That gap is good news for anyone getting a roof quoted this autumn, but it is unlikely to last. BCIS expects tender prices to rise 3.0% in the year to the fourth quarter of 2026 and just over 14% in the five years to 2031, and it flags higher energy and oil prices as a risk, which matters for oil-based products such as felts and membranes. If a quote is fair today, ask how long it is valid for and whether materials are fixed at that price. Our new roof cost guide gives typical prices, and how to read a roofing quote shows what should be itemised. The figures are reported by Roofing Today.

Asbestos roof sheets are being given away on Facebook Marketplace

On 25 September Ryan O’Hara, an industrial disease solicitor at Slater and Gordon, warned that asbestos cement roof sheets are being offered free or cheaply on social media. One listing he found offered free “Big 6 Roofing Sheets” that the seller described as “low grade asbestos”; another offered roof sheets without saying what they were made of. Selling, giving away or supplying asbestos materials is a criminal offence under UK REACH unless the item has an HSE exemption. His view is that people list them to avoid paying for hazardous waste disposal.

If you are tempted by free corrugated sheets for a shed, garage or lean-to, do not take any you cannot prove are asbestos-free, especially old grey cement sheets. The same applies in reverse: if you are clearing an old garage roof, it has to go through a licensed disposal route, not a Marketplace post. Our asbestos garage roof removal guide explains how to get sheets tested and removed and what it costs. HSE figures put mesothelioma deaths in the UK at 2,146 in the latest year. The warning is at Roofing Today.

A builder is fined £120,000 after a fatal fall at a house

W G Carter Limited of Appleton, Oxfordshire, was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £5,247 in costs at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on 24 September, after pleading guilty to breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Carpenter Richard “Felix” Roper, 59, fell from the first floor to a concrete floor below while replacing rotten joists at Manor Barn House, a home in Nether Westcote, Gloucestershire, on 30 August 2022, and died the next day. The Health and Safety Executive found that the work had not been properly planned or supervised, and that workers could reach areas where floorboards and supports had been taken out.

This was refurbishment inside a private home, not a building site, and that is the point for homeowners. Roofs, lofts and stripped floors are all work at height, and the contractor you hire is responsible for planning it safely. Before work starts, ask how they will stop anyone falling: scaffolding with edge protection on a roof, and working from below or behind barriers inside. A firm that cannot answer is one to avoid. Our guides to roof scaffolding costs and questions to ask a roofer cover what to check. The case is reported by Roofing Today.

Also this week

Gascoyne Estates has applied for listed building consent for urgent roof repairs at Hatfield House, the Grade I listed Jacobean mansion in Hertfordshire. The plan swaps the failing mid-20th century copper roof for Code 7 to 8 lead sheet with traditional rolled joints, and replaces slipped or broken slates like for like. The public consultation with Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council runs to 21 October. Our explainer on lead code numbers sets out what the codes mean. Details are at Roofing Today.