Roof restoration cost in Australia (2026 guide)

A full roof restoration on a typical Australian home costs about $5,000 to $9,500 for a tiled roof and about $3,500 to $10,000 for a metal or Colorbond roof, based on published capital city price guides. Where your roof lands depends on your city, the size and condition of the roof, and what the quote actually includes.

These are rounded budget figures in Australian dollars, not quotes. They come from roofers and publishers pricing jobs in their own city, so use them to set your expectations before the quotes arrive.

Roof restoration cost in Australia at a glance

Each national figure is the middle of the city ranges below, rounded to the nearest $500, rounding up when it lands exactly halfway. The metal figure rests on only four cities, so it's the rougher of the two.

On these numbers a metal roof can start cheaper than a tiled one, but its top end is no lower, so don't assume Colorbond is automatically the budget option. In the three guides that price terracotta alongside concrete tile, in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, terracotta tops out higher.

Roof restoration cost by city

Here's how the capital cities compare for a full restoration of a standard-sized home, as each price guide defines it.

Figures are approximate and rounded, drawn from published price guides. Each row is what its guides quote for a standard or medium-sized home, not the cheapest small roof or the dearest large one. National figures are the middle of these city ranges, rounded to the nearest $500 and rounded up when a figure lands exactly halfway. Hobart is shown but not counted, because its figures come from painters rather than roofers. Some guides state their prices include GST, so check whether each quote does. Sources are listed at the bottom of the page.

Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide each have two guides, so those rows span both guides' figures for a standard home. Every city's guides also quote smaller and larger roofs, above and below the row you see here.

Sydney's two guides aren't quite measuring the same thing, which is why its row is wide. One prices work in Western Sydney and says nothing about GST, and a medium single-storey tile roof of 120 to 180 m² sets the bottom of the row. The other states its prices include GST and scopes them to a 160 to 220 m² roof on a three-bedroom home, which sets the top. The gap is two different scopes as much as two different price levels. Its metal row is wide for a related reason: the bottom is a plain metal roof and the top is Colorbond, which those guides price higher.

Canberra pricing comes from a roofer that describes itself as a premium operator, so treat it as the top end of the market. It still counts toward the national figures, because it prices the same job as the other cities. Hobart is left out for a different reason: a painter's restoration isn't the same scope of work.

Adelaide's row rests on a single 2026 guide published by a licensed South Australian builder, because the other Adelaide guide prices Australia as a whole rather than the city. Its standard job, a 200 m² roof with two coats, runs about $4,500 to $7,000. A basic 150 m² roof starts nearer $2,500, and a large or steep one reaches about $9,000. That guide also says Colorbond panel roofs aren't membrane coated at all. No dated Adelaide price for coating a metal roof turned up, so that cell stays blank.

Brisbane's metal cell is blank for a different reason. The Brisbane guide that prices metal does it per square metre rather than as a whole job, so it can't fill a whole-job cell. Those rates are in the per-square-metre section below.

Hobart is the odd one out. Its only published restoration figures come from roof painting businesses rather than roofers, and neither gives a roof size, a roof type split or a per-square-metre rate. The figures are in the table for what they're worth, but Hobart isn't part of the national numbers.

Darwin has no figure at all. A search for Northern Territory pricing turned up no local roofer publishing restoration prices, just an undated painting contractor's number with no roof size or roof type attached, and per-square-metre rates that trace back to quote platform listings rather than a roofer's own price list.

One caution. Each city's figures come from the few businesses that publish prices there, so part of any gap between cities is really a gap between businesses. The table can't separate the two.

How roof size and storeys change the price

One Perth roofing guide calls roof area the biggest factor in its pricing, since more roof means more surface to clean, prime and coat.

The price climbs with size, but not in step with it. A Brisbane price list (GST included) puts a single-storey roof of 150 m² at about $5,000 to $7,000, and one of 300 m² at about $8,000 to $12,000. Twice the roof, less than twice the price. In the same list, double-storey prices start higher at every size.

A Sydney guide bands its tile prices the same way, by size and storeys: about $3,500 to $5,500 for a small single-storey tile roof up to 120 m², rising to about $9,000 to $13,000 for a large double-storey roof over 250 m².

Storeys don't always add cost, though. A Canberra roofer says double-storey homes there cost broadly the same as single-storey ones, because the smaller roof area offsets the harder access. If you're comparing your home with a price list, check both the roof size and the storeys it assumes.

What a full restoration includes

Three words get used loosely, so pin them down first.

• Repair fixes a specific problem, such as cracked, slipped or storm-damaged tiles or a single leak.
• Restoration brings the whole existing roof back into shape: clean it, fix what's broken, secure the ridge caps and put a new protective coating over it.
• Replacement strips the old roof off and puts a new one on, for far more money, as the replacement prices further down show.

The price guides that itemise a full tile restoration, from Perth, Brisbane and Canberra, describe much the same job:

1. A high-pressure clean to strip moss, lichen and built-up grime. This step is where asbestos matters. Australia's asbestos safety agency says homes built or renovated before 1990 might contain asbestos, including in roof sheeting and ridge capping. If there's any chance your roof does, don't pressure clean it and get it checked first (more in the quote checklist below).
2. Broken tile replacement. The Perth guide includes a standard allowance of replacement tiles in its price, so ask how many your quote covers.
3. Rebedding and repointing the ridge caps. Ridge caps are the rounded tiles along the peaks and hips of the roof. Rebedding resets them on fresh bedding, and repointing seals over that bedding with a flexible compound. All three guides include repointing, and the Canberra roofer rebeds all the ridge caps as well. Read more about rebedding and repointing.
4. Valleys and flashings. Valleys are the channels where two roof slopes meet. Flashings are the metal strips that seal joins around walls, chimneys and vents. The Canberra roofer inspects and repairs both, and the Perth guide recoats flashings, flues and vents where they can be reached.
5. A coating system. A primer or sealer goes on first, then membrane coats, a flexible roof coating that forms a weatherproof layer. The Perth guide uses a three-layer system (primer, undercoat and topcoat), and the Canberra roofer uses a bonding primer plus two membrane coats.

Metal roofs have no ridge caps to rebed, so the job looks different. A Melbourne guide describes a Colorbond restoration as a pressure clean, rust treatment and spot repairs, refastening loose sheets and a two-coat repaint.

What individual jobs cost

If your roof only needs part of the work, two guides price the pieces differently: the Perth guide prices standalone visits, while the Melbourne guide breaks a full job into line items. Read each column on its own terms.

The Perth guide says standalone jobs don't scale down as far as most people expect. A one-off visit still carries the same crew, truck, booked-out day, insurance and travel, spread over a much smaller job. That's how ridge caps done on their own can land close to a third of the price of a full restoration. If your roof needs a coating anyway, the guide says the full job is usually better value.

Why per-square-metre prices don't line up

You'll see restoration priced per square metre, and it's tempting to multiply a rate by your roof size. Published and implied rates run from about $22.50 to $135 per m², which is far too wide to budget with.

The cleanest single comparison comes from one Brisbane guide, because it prices both roof types on the same page and dates them: about $30 to $70 per m² for a metal roof restoration and about $40 to $90 per m² for a tile one. Metal sits below tile there, which matches the city table, where metal starts below tile in every city that prices both.

Beyond that, the figures scatter.

• A Sydney guide puts a full tile restoration at about $35 to $65 per m² for the complete job.
• Working back from a second Brisbane guide's whole-job prices gives about $27 to $47 per m² for single-storey roofs. The top of that rate falls as the roof gets bigger, though the bottom of it turns back up on the largest roofs in the list.
• A Melbourne guide's tile restoration price for a 200 m² roof works out to about $22.50 to $47.50 per m².
• One Canberra roofer lists $40 to $135 per m² depending on material, on a page last dated 2024: about $75 to $120 for concrete tile, $85 to $135 for terracotta and $40 to $65 for metal.

That gap is too big to be rounding. The guides don't include the same work, they cover different markets, and none of them says whether its square metres mean the sloped roof surface or the floor area of the house. Some price lists don't even agree with themselves: one Sydney guide's per-square-metre band doesn't reconcile with the whole-job totals printed beside it, which is why its rates aren't used here.

Treat any per-square-metre rate as a rough sense check at most. Compare itemised whole-job quotes instead, and ask each roofer what roof area they priced.

What pushes a quote up or down

Pitch and access. Pitch is how steep the roof is. Two guides put a number on it and they don't agree: one Melbourne guide adds 20 to 35% to labour for roofs steeper than 30 degrees, while a Sydney guide says a steep pitch typically adds 15 to 25% to base labour. Neither states a method, so treat them as a direction rather than a number to hold a roofer to. An Adelaide roofer says that at around 30 degrees, safe access gets much harder and a handrail or scaffolding is usually needed.

Condition and roof shape. The Perth guide says a neglected roof with heavy moss, cracked pointing and broken tiles takes longer to prepare, and a complex roof with several gables, hips and valleys has more ridge capping to point than a simple one.

Where you live. See the city table above, keeping in mind that it can't separate a city from the businesses pricing in it.

Weather. The Canberra roofer says coatings aren't applied in frost, heavy wind or rain. That affects when the work gets done. None of the guides behind this page backs a cheaper season with price data, so don't plan your budget around one.

Restoration, repair or replacement?

If the problem is local, like a few cracked tiles or one leak, a repair may be all the roof needs. The bigger call is restoration versus replacement.

Three of the guides behind this page price both jobs for a tiled home, in Perth, Melbourne and Canberra. Their replacement prices for standard and concrete tile run from about $18,000 to $54,000, well above the national tile restoration figure of about $5,000 to $9,500. Terracotta replacement runs higher, up to about $82,500 in the Canberra guide. If a quote lands in replacement territory, check which job you're actually being offered.

When does replacement make more sense? The guides only offer rules of thumb. One Melbourne guide suggests replacing rather than restoring when 20% or more of the tiles are cracked, the roof sags, it leaks in several places or it's 35 or more years old. One Canberra roofer puts the tipping point at more than 20 to 30% of tiles damaged. Use these as prompts for questions. A roofer who has inspected your roof is better placed to say whether it's sound enough to restore.

Why two quotes for the same roof differ

Get three quotes for one roof and they can land thousands apart. That usually isn't three prices for the same work. It's three different jobs wearing the same name.

A Victorian homeowner's 2020 forum post shows how far apart they can sit. Three quotes on one cement tile roof:

• $3,000 for repointing, one sealer coat and two paint coats, with a 7-year guarantee.
• $4,890 for rebedding and repointing, painting, trim work (fascia and scotia) and a gutter clean.
• $12,000 for a resin coating, with safety rails and a 25-year guarantee.

Those are one homeowner's 2020 prices, so don't read them as current. What still holds is the shape of the spread. The cheapest repointed and painted. The middle one rebedded the ridge caps as well and added trim and gutter work. The dearest brought a different coating system, safety rails and a guarantee more than three times as long as the cheapest. Same roof, three jobs.

Here's what tends to move a number that far.

Scope and inclusions. How much of the roof the price covers is usually the biggest variable. Every ridge cap repointed, or only the damaged sections. A stated allowance of replacement tiles, or none. Valleys relipped, or left alone. Flashings, flues and vents recoated, or skipped. One Perth guide spells out a standard allowance of replacement tiles in its price, and one Canberra roofer rebeds all the ridge caps rather than only repointing them. Two quotes can both be honest and still differ by thousands on scope alone.

Coats, primer and sealer. A coating system isn't one thing. The Perth guide prices a three-layer system of primer, undercoat and topcoat. The Canberra roofer uses a bonding primer plus two membrane coats. A Melbourne guide's line items assume a two-coat membrane. The same Perth guide says cheaper quotes often mean a single coat and no primer. Ask how many coats, and whether a primer or sealer goes on first.

The product and the system. Which coating goes on changes both the price and what's being promised. Dulux says its Acratex roofing membranes carry a 15-year warranty on product and system performance. Its warranty terms also say the period and the cover differ between products and systems, and depend on the product chosen, the number of coats, the roof surface and correct application. So a brand name on a quote isn't a specification. The product, the system and the number of coats are.

Whose warranty, and for how long. A manufacturer's warranty on the coating isn't the same as the roofer's own workmanship warranty, and a long number on one says nothing about the other. The Perth guide lists no warranty, or only the contractor's own, among the things a cheaper quote often signals. Ask which warranty certificate would apply to your job, who issues it, and what voids it.

Roofers also publish warnings about each other. They aren't neutral, since they have their own prices to defend, but the warnings are specific enough to check. One Perth guide says cheaper quotes often mean a single coat, no primer, no repointing, no warranty or only a contractor's warranty, or an unlicensed operator. One Brisbane roofer mentions street signs offering to paint a roof for around $1,800, and says a contractor paying for proper licensing and home warranty insurance can't compete with that. The same roofer is just as wary of large, sales-led companies whose quotes run far higher. A low number and a high number can both be worth questioning.

Then there's the business behind the price, which the quote sheet itself barely mentions. The rules that follow are obligations on the roofer, not hoops for you to jump through. They're worth knowing because they tell you what to ask for.

Experience and track record. Ask how long the business has been restoring roofs, how many roofs like yours it has done, whether the crew coming to your place is employed or subcontracted, and whether there's recent work nearby you could take a look at.

The licence for the work. The NSW Government says you need a contractor licence to do any residential building or trade work, including roof plumbing, valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials including GST. Which licence class fits depends on your roof. It defines roof plumbing as work on guttering, downpipes, roof flashing and roof coverings, but excludes coverings made of non-metallic tiles, slate, concrete and timber, so on a tile roof it covers the metalwork rather than the tiles. Western Australia's building regulator says most other building work valued at $20,000 or more and requiring a building permit must be carried out by a registered builder. Those are licensing and registration thresholds, not a guide to what a roof costs. What they give you is something concrete to ask for: the licence or registration number on the quote, which you can check on your own state or territory's register.

Insurance, and who it's for. In some states a layer of insurance has to sit behind residential building work above a dollar threshold, and it's the builder who takes it out for the customer rather than the other way round. Queensland's building and construction regulator says most residential building work in Queensland valued at more than $3,300, including materials, labour and GST, must have cover under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme, and it lists restoring or repairing roofs among the work that scheme covers. Consumer Affairs Victoria says a builder must take out domestic building insurance for the client if the work is worth more than $16,000. Western Australia's building regulator says home indemnity insurance is required for all building work that requires a building permit and is valued at more than $20,000. Ask whether a job your size needs that cover where you live, and ask to see the certificate.

What goes in writing, and what you pay up front. The NSW Government says a written contract is required where the contract price is over $5,000 including GST, and that under NSW home building law the maximum deposit you can be asked to pay is 10 percent. Consumer Affairs Victoria says you must have a major domestic building contract, in writing, for work worth more than $10,000. Western Australia's building regulator puts the maximum deposit at 6.5 per cent of the contract price before work starts, for contracts between $7,500 and $500,000. A quote with nothing in writing behind it and a large sum wanted up front is worth a conversation before any money moves.

Those figures cover New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, and each comes from that regulator's own page, most recently reviewed between 2024 and 2026 (the dates are in the sources below). The rules and the dollar thresholds differ by state and territory, and they change. Check your own state or territory's regulator and licence register before you sign anything. None of this makes a cheap quote unlawful or an expensive one compliant. It just means a price only tells you something once you know the job, the cover and the licence behind it.

The practical move is to ask every roofer the same questions in the same order: how many coats and which product, what's included in repairs and repointing, which warranty and from whom, which licence, and whether the price includes GST. Line those answers up first. Only then do the numbers mean anything sitting next to each other.

How to read a roof restoration quote

Hold each quote against this list. A missing line doesn't make a quote bad on its own, but it's a question to ask before you compare prices.

• An asbestos check before any cleaning. Australia's asbestos safety agency says it is illegal in every state to use high-pressure water spray or compressed air on asbestos materials, and that asbestos cement roofs are in the poorest condition of the asbestos materials still around, becoming brittle and releasing fibres more easily. If your roof might contain asbestos, don't pressure clean it and don't disturb it. Get it checked by an asbestos professional, who can have a sample tested.
• A repairs allowance. How many broken tiles are included, and what happens if the roofer finds more?
• Rebedding and repointing. All the ridge caps or only damaged sections, and with a flexible pointing compound?
• The coating system by name. Which primer or sealer, how many membrane coats and which product.
• The warranty in writing. Ask for the certificate that would apply to your job, not a number in a sales pitch, and check whether it's the manufacturer's cover on the coating or the roofer's own workmanship warranty.
• The right licence for your state. A restoration can touch more than one licence class. In NSW, tile bedding and pointing sits under roof tiling work, guttering and flashing sit under roof plumbing, and putting protective coatings on a roof appears under both. Rules and thresholds differ by state and territory, as above, so ask which licence covers the work in your quote and check it against your own register.

Get a real number for your roof

Published ranges only get you so close. The number that counts is a quote for your actual roof, checked against the list above.

Aussie Roofers' free quiz takes about a minute. Answer a few quick questions about your roof and you'll be matched with a vetted local roofer who services your area, checked for licensing, insurance and a track record of doing the job properly. That roofer quotes and does the work, not Aussie Roofers. It's free, and there's no obligation to go ahead.