Should a roofer ask for a deposit up front?

A roofing firm carries costs before any work begins. Scaffold has to be booked and erected. Natural slate, clay tiles or stone slates may be ordered specially, and a supplier will not hold them without payment. Lead sheet is cut to the job. If the firm had to fund all of that from its own pocket for a stranger, small businesses would struggle to take on larger jobs at all.

So the test is simple: what is the money for? A sum matching slates or tiles bought for your house, or a scaffold hire already booked, is reasonable. Ask to see the order or the scaffold quotation if you are unsure. A firm that is open about its costs will not mind showing you.

Numbers help you judge it. Checkatrade gives scaffold at £700 to £1,300 in its 2026 guide and MyBuilder says about £1,125, so a deposit covering the scaffold of a full re-roof is a recognisable sum. A deposit that is far above the cost of the items it is meant to fund needs explaining.

Several requests should stop you. One is a demand for most or all of the price before work starts, because then you have lost your leverage and the firm has no reason to finish. Another is a cash-only payment, often with a discount attached, since cash leaves no trail. A third is pressure of any kind: a price that is only valid today, a claim that materials are on the van, or a firm that turns up uninvited and wants paying at once. Our page on doorstep roofers covers that last pattern.

Be careful as well with a vague request: money for "materials" with no list, no supplier and no date. A reputable firm can tell you what is being bought. If the answer is evasive, walk away.

Remember too that a small repair rarely needs a deposit. A morning's work on a few slipped slates, a ridge repair or a flashing patch can be paid on completion once you are satisfied, because there is almost nothing to order in advance.

On a larger job, the fairest arrangement is payment in stages tied to progress you can see. A deposit covers the ordered materials or scaffold. A second payment follows once the old slopes are bare and the new underlay and battens are down. The balance is paid when the work is finished, the scaffold is struck and the site is clear.

The figures are for you and the firm to agree, and they belong on the quote. Our guide to what a roofing quote should include lists payment stages as one of the things to look for. Keep the stages tied to events, not dates, so you are not paying for work that has not happened because the weather turned.

If the firm uses subcontractors, ask who is paid and when. Roofing subcontractors are common and often skilled, but the contract and the invoices should still make clear who is responsible to you.

Do not pay the final balance until you are happy with the work, you have walked round the finished roof and the guarantee is in your hand in writing.

Before paying a deposit, get the agreement in writing: the firm's full name and address, the work, the price, the deposit amount and its purpose, the stages and the start date. If the quote says nothing about a deposit, do not agree one on the phone.

Pay by a traceable route, such as a bank transfer or a card, and keep the receipt. Paying by card may give you some protection if something goes wrong, but check the terms of your card provider rather than assuming. Citizens Advice can explain your rights if a firm does not deliver.

Check who you are paying. The name on the account should match the name on the quote. Our page on how to check a roofer is genuine sets out the checks to run first, such as an address you can visit and insurance papers you can read. If anything is missing, delay the payment until it is sorted.

Finally, never hand over a deposit for work you have not had priced after a proper survey. A figure given over the phone, with no look at the roof, is a guess, and a deposit on a guess is a gamble.

Our order of events is simple. You can read typical costs before anyone visits. The survey follows, with pictures from your own slopes, and the written quote carries the payment terms beside the prices. If a job needs materials ordered specially, such as stone slate or natural slate, the quote explains the order and what it costs.

You can compare that with other quotes using the same checklist. The question of who should do the work is a separate one, and roofer or builder deals with it.

Wherever you get a quote, the principle holds. Money should follow work, the amounts should be written down and you should be able to see what each payment bought. Start at Supreme Roofing Stroud when you are ready to arrange a survey.