Costs
What common UK home jobs usually cost
Typical 2026 ranges for roof repair, a new boiler, an EICR and more sit below, with a named source. Most businesses on this directory still publish a quote policy rather than a tariff. A figure here is a briefing, not a quote this site can honour.
Typical UK job costs in 2026
These bands are what published cost guides showed when this page was checked in September 2026. They are a sense-check before you phone, not a price this site can honour. London and the South East often sit 10–25% above a national band because of labour, parking and access. Ask whether VAT is on top.
| Job | Typical UK range | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Replace up to five roof tiles | £170–£500 | Checkatrade roof-tile guide, updated May 2024 |
| Full tiled roof replacement | around £10,000 | Same Checkatrade guide; larger or slate roofs run higher |
| Like-for-like combi boiler replacement | £1,800–£3,500 | Heatable quote sample, January–June 2026 (median about £2,300) |
| Boiler installation, UK average | about £2,400 | MyJobQuote 2026 boiler guide |
| EICR, typical three-bed house | £180–£280 | Published 2026 electrical cost guides; London often £200–£300 |
| Consumer unit replacement | £450–£900 | Published 2026 electrical cost guides; remedial work is extra |
| Emergency lockout | £60–£180 | Published 2026 locksmith guides; nights and weekends often higher |
| End-of-tenancy clean, two-bed | £150–£240 | Published 2026 cleaning guides; London often 10–25% higher |
Scaffolding, parking, skip hire and VAT are often outside a headline band. Open a city list when you want a number to call.
What the 507 listings actually publish
Four hundred and fifty-seven notes, 90% of the businesses, still say a written quote is needed. Twenty businesses advertise no call-out fee. Sixty-one are marked as emergency or 24-hour cover. Those are counts of wording on the cards, not a national price index and not a promise this site can honour.
How to read these figures
A business can sit in more than one trade (36 do) or more than one city (30 do), so a trade row is not an exclusive slice of the 507.
Pound amounts appear only where a business named them. Lines such as “competitive rates”, “sensible rates” or “quote on request” are a policy, not a tariff.
Ask whether a number is plus VAT. Four listings mention VAT in the note. The rest are silent, which is not the same as “VAT included”.
If a job needs Gas Safe, NICEIC or NAPIT, that mark appears only when it is on the profile. Eight plumbing businesses show Gas Safe. Four electrical businesses show NICEIC, NAPIT or ELECSA. The directory does not certify the work.
Published pound figures
Eight London listings name money in pounds. Four of those eight are a £1,000 workmanship guarantee on a roofing card, not a job price. The other four are the only public tariffs here. Open the profile if you want the phone number that sits next to the note.
| What the note describes | Published figure | VAT as written | City | Listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First hour, then following hours | £125 / then £95 | + VAT | London | Sky Electrical Ltd |
| Consumer unit | £650–£1,300 | Not stated on the band | London | Sky Electrical Ltd |
| Whole-house rewire | £5,000–£20,000 | Not stated on the band | London | Sky Electrical Ltd |
| EICR | £288–£500 | Excluding VAT | London | Sky Electrical Ltd |
| First 30 minutes, then each extra 30 minutes | £60 / then £30 | + VAT | London | Silver Saints |
| One-bed carpet clean | from £80 | Not stated | London | Elite Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Ltd |
| Two-bed house carpets | £100 | Not stated | London | Elite Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Ltd |
| Two-seat sofa clean | from £65 | Not stated | London | Elite Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Ltd |
| Carpet and upholstery minimum | £80 | Not stated | London | Elite Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Ltd |
| Published cleaning prices from | £30 | Not stated | London | Premium Clean Ltd |
| Roofing workmanship guarantee | £1,000 | Guarantee, not a job price | London | Four roofing cards: GTS Roofing & Maintenance, London Roofing Ltd, S E London Roofing, Vintage Roofing And Building Ltd |
A published band is still not a site visit.
What most cards say instead of a price
Three hundred and seventy-five businesses use the same line: “Free quotes. A figure still needs a written quote.” Another 64 say “Quote on request.” That is the typical cost signal in this directory: you can ask, and you should not treat the card as a bill.
No-call-out language clusters on locksmiths (10 of 67). Emergency flags cluster on locksmiths (25 of 67) and plumbing (17 of 75). Painting cards here never use an emergency flag or a no-call-out note.
| Trade | Businesses | Free quote / survey / enquiry | Written quote still needed | No call-out fee | Emergency / 24-hour | Named £ figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roofing | 71 | 67 (94%) | 54 (76%) | 2 | 6 | 4 |
| Plumbing & heating | 75 | 62 (83%) | 66 (88%) | 4 | 17 | 0 |
| Electrical | 72 | 60 (83%) | 62 (86%) | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| Painting & decorating | 66 | 50 (76%) | 60 (91%) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Locksmith | 67 | 43 (64%) | 59 (88%) | 10 | 25 | 0 |
| Building & conversions | 74 | 60 (81%) | 71 (96%) | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Gardening | 70 | 54 (77%) | 66 (94%) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cleaning | 69 | 54 (78%) | 66 (96%) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
A firm in two trades appears on two rows.
How to read a quote in each trade
Where there is no pound band, the useful signal is what the businesses say they do and how they price the conversation. Use a city list when you want a number to call.
Roofing
Seventy-one roofers. Checkatrade’s May 2024 tile guide still cited in 2026 puts a few tiles at about £170–£500 and a full tiled replacement around £10,000. On this directory, 94% advertise a free quote. Nineteen mention flat-roof work and 30 mention guttering. Four London cards publish a £1,000 guarantee — that is a warranty line, not a new-roof price.
- Ask what the survey covers and whether access equipment is extra.
- A written quote should name the covering: slate, tile, felt, EPDM or GRP.
- Open roofing in five cities or the roof-area calculator.
Plumbing & heating
Seventy-five businesses, and none of them publish a pound tariff. Heatable’s 2026 quote sample puts a like-for-like combi around £1,800–£3,500. Twenty cards here mention boilers; three mention heat pumps. Seventeen are emergency-flagged. Eight show Gas Safe on the profile.
- Boiler and gas work should be done by someone whose profile shows Gas Safe.
- Ask whether a service, a repair or a replacement is being priced, and whether VAT is on top.
- Read the grant notes before you treat a headline boiler figure as the whole bill.
Electrical
Seventy-two electricians. The only public tariff is Sky Electrical Ltd in London: first hour £125 + VAT, then £95 + VAT; consumer units £650–£1,300; rewires £5,000–£20,000; EICR £288–£500 excluding VAT. Thirteen cards mention a rewire or an EICR; 11 mention a consumer unit.
- Ask what testing is left with you and whether the price is plus VAT.
- NICEIC, NAPIT or ELECSA appears only when it is on the profile (four electrical cards here).
- Compare a lump sum with the hourly-rate tool.
Painting & decorating
Sixty-six decorators. No emergency flags, no call-out notes, no pound figures. Fifty advertise a free quote; 60 still say a written quote is needed. Prep, access, coats and whether furniture is moved sit behind a day rate even when the card is silent.
- Ask how many coats, who moves furniture, and whether exterior work includes making good.
- A “free quote” here is an estimate after seeing the rooms, not a fixed room tariff.
Locksmith
Sixty-seven locksmiths; 40 mention lockouts. This is the trade most likely to advertise no call-out fee (10) and 24-hour cover (25). London is densest: 7 of 15 London locksmiths advertise no call-out fee, and 13 of 15 are emergency-flagged. None publish a pound call-out.
- Ask for the price before the van is sent, including night and weekend rates.
- “No call-out fee” is not “no labour charge”.
- Check hours on the locksmith lists. This site is not a dispatch line.
Building & conversions
Seventy-four builders. Ninety-six per cent say a written quote is still needed. Sixty-one mention extensions. The only timed rate is Silver Saints in London: £60 + VAT for the first 30 minutes, then £30 + VAT per 30 minutes, with no call-out fee. That is a small-job clock, not an extension budget.
- Drawings, building control, party wall and skip hire are usually outside a first figure.
- Use the renovation budget tool as a split of labour, materials and contingency.
Gardening
Seventy gardeners. No published hourly rate sits on the cards. Fifty-four advertise a free quote; 66 still want a written figure. Eighteen mention patios. Hard landscaping and planting are priced differently; the notes do not give you a single day rate to reuse.
- Ask whether the figure is maintenance, clearance or a designed hard-landscape job.
- Waste removal and access for materials often sit outside a first visit price.
Cleaning
Sixty-nine cleaners; 52 mention end-of-tenancy. Two London cards publish money: Elite Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Ltd (one-bed carpet from £80, two-bed house carpets £100, two-seat sofa from £65, £80 minimum) and Premium Clean Ltd (from £30; carpets and end-of-tenancy priced by room).
- Ask whether carpets, ovens and interiors are in the same figure.
- A “from £30” line is a starting point for a small clean, not an end-of-tenancy package.
How to test a phone quote against these notes
-
Read the card before you dial
If it says free quote, no call-out fee or a £1,000 guarantee, write that down. Ask the person who answers to confirm the same wording. A card is advertising, not a contract.
-
Separate visit, labour, parts and VAT
Only four notes mention VAT. If the caller does not say plus or including VAT, ask. For lockouts and leaks, ask whether night rates replace the weekday figure.
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Use a calculator only as a range
Roof area, heating power, heat-pump savings, renovation budget and hourly-rate comparison all run in the browser on the tools page. They do not upload a floorplan and they do not create a job ticket.
-
Open the matching city list
Take the range to a city-and-trade list and use the public phone number. This site does not email or text the business for you.
Tools that sit beside a quote
The five calculators stay on your device. Use them to walk into a call with a range, then open the list for that city and trade.
Roof area calculator
Lengths and pitches into an area range for a roofing call.
Heating power calculator
A rough kW check you can read beside a boiler quote.
Heat pump savings
A simple comparison to keep next to the grant notes.
Renovation budget
Labour, materials and contingency bands for larger building work.
Hourly rate comparison
Day rates against a lump sum, useful where a listing only publishes time.
Grants and rules
Schemes such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, with sources and dates.
Open a city list when you want a number to call
Stay on this page if you only need a band or a policy note. Open a trade first if you already know the job.
Roofing
Roofs, flashing and flat-roof repairs.
Plumbing & heating
Boilers, leaks and bathrooms.
Electrical
Faults, consumer units and rewires.
Painting & decorating
Interior and exterior finishing.
Locksmith
Lockouts, lock changes and security.
Building & conversions
Extensions, lofts and refurbishment.
Gardening
Gardens, paving and external upkeep.
Cleaning
End-of-tenancy and property maintenance.
Questions homeowners ask about these figures
How much does a roof repair cost in the UK?
Checkatrade’s roof-tile guide (updated May 2024, still cited in 2026) puts replacing up to five tiles at about £170–£500, and a full tiled replacement around £10,000. Scaffolding and VAT often sit outside those bands. A figure here is not a quote from this site.
How much does a new boiler cost in the UK?
Heatable’s January–June 2026 quote sample put a standard combi replacement around £1,800–£3,500, with a median near £2,300. MyJobQuote’s 2026 guide cites an average install near £2,400. Ask whether VAT, a power flush and controls sit inside the figure.
Are the figures on this page a quote from this site?
No. They are a briefing in pounds, not a quote from this site, and this site does not send your job to a tradesperson.
Why do so few listings show a pound figure?
Of 507 businesses, 457 notes say a written quote is still needed and only eight publish a pound figure. Most cards describe a quote policy, such as a free survey or no call-out fee, rather than a tariff.
Why are the published pound figures only in London?
Every listing that named a pound amount is a London business. That is what those cards publish, not proof that other cities are cheaper or more expensive.
How should I read a no-call-out-fee note?
Twenty businesses advertise no call-out fee, ten of them locksmiths. The note usually means the visit fee is not billed separately. Labour, parts, night rates and VAT can still be extra. Ask for the price before a van is sent.
Does a free quote include materials and VAT?
Not by default. Three hundred and ninety-nine businesses advertise a free quote, survey or enquiry. That is an offer to price the job, not a promise that materials, skip hire, parking or VAT sit inside the first figure you hear.
Where do I go if I want a number to call?
Open a city-and-trade list and use the phone number on a profile. The contact-details page shows the same public numbers. This site does not email or text anyone on your behalf.