Invoicing for roofers UK (2026): when to bill, deposits, weather
Invoicing for roofers UK (2026): when to bill, deposits, weather
By InvoiceAdept Team2 March 2026Updated 29 August 202613 min read
This page is the process. The field-by-field PDF — labour versus tiles, hire-only scaffold, CIS 20/30 worked numbers — already lives at the roofer invoice template UK. Do not treat the two as the same job. If you need the lines to type, open the template. If you need to know when to raise the invoice, what to do when rain stops play, and how a deposit sits on VAT, stay here.
Roofing cashflow fails in the gaps between invoices, not on the PDF. A pallet of tiles ordered on a promise, a scaffold standing through a wet week, a guarantee that was never attached, a “stay MTD-compliant” button that never filed anything — those are process problems. The template will not fix them.
Rules from GOV.UK. Figures below are worked illustrations, not a price list. General information only, not tax, legal or Building Regulations advice.
InvoiceAdept is from Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663. Free: five invoices a month. Pro £7.99. Pro+ £12.99 (CIS). WhatsApp send on Pro. No InvoiceAdept platform fee on Stripe. We do not file CIS300, VAT returns or Making Tax Digital updates to HMRC. Software that stores invoices is not software that files your return.
In short
Bill the person who hired you. Invoice the deposit when the money lands, before you order tiles or book scaffold. Split labour, materials and third-party hire so CIS does not eat the pallet. Weather is only on the invoice if the quote said so. The guarantee is a separate PDF. VAT registration is £90,000, not £85,000. InvoiceAdept keeps the digital record; it does not send quarterly updates to HMRC.
Copy-paste fields and worked CIS tables: roofer invoice template UK. General trades walkthrough: how to invoice a UK client as a tradesperson. Sister templates if the next job is not a roof: builder, electrician, plumber.
Who you are billing decides the process
A leak for a homeowner, a storm claim, and a week of plots for a main contractor are three different payment paths. Get the customer type wrong and the rest of the week is chasing the wrong inbox.
Homeowner / landlord | Insurer / storm claim | Main contractor | |
|---|---|---|---|
When to invoice | Same day as the visit, or the day a stage finishes | Make-safe immediately; permanent work when the adjuster’s scope is agreed | Against the valuation week or PO, not when you feel the job is “done” |
What they need to pay | Address, elevation, what you did, a due date, a way to pay | Claim number, elevation, make-safe versus permanent, photos | PO, site and plot ref, labour/materials split, UTR if CIS applies |
How they pay | Card, Apple Pay, same-day transfer | Usually the householder first; the insurer if they told you to bill them | BACS on their run, often 14–30 days |
What you do not do | Put CIS or reverse charge on a private leak | Invent a second invoice number for the same job | Email a domestic-looking PDF with 20% VAT tacked on when reverse charge applies |
A contractor working for a homeowner is still a contractor. There is no reverse charge on the supply to a private customer. That does not turn the contractor into an end user for the roofer who bills them. See HMRC’s reverse charge supplier page.
Bill the legal name. Tenants at 14 Oak Lane are not the customer if the landlord hired you. An insurer is not the customer if the homeowner did. If the payer actually changes, credit the first invoice and reissue — do not leave two live numbers for the same elevation.
When to invoice: the roofer’s week
Raise the invoice on the day the trigger happens. Waiting until Sunday is how a deposit never lands and Tuesday’s scaffold never arrives.
Trigger | Invoice you raise | Why it cannot wait |
|---|---|---|
They pay a deposit, or you need money before you order | Numbered deposit invoice, percentage of the agreed package, named address | A WhatsApp “I’ll send it” is not a record. If you are VAT-registered, receipt is usually a tax point. |
Tiles or lead are ordered | Do not hide the merchant ticket inside next month’s lump. The deposit (or a materials invoice) should already cover it. | You are funding the yard otherwise. |
Scaffold is booked | Pass-through line on the next stage, or its own invoice if they pay you first | Hire clocks whether you are on the roof or not. |
A stage finishes (strip and felt; covering complete) | Stage invoice, named, labour and materials for that stage | Accounts and homeowners both match names, not vibes. |
Practical completion | Final account: agreed sum, extras, less paid stages, less retention if agreed | Retention is not a deposit. Invoice the hold-back when the release date arrives. |
A storm make-safe | Call-out plus extras the same day | A Saturday leak billed three weeks later is how an insurer sits on the PDF. |
InvoiceAdept Free is five invoices a month. A re-tile that needs deposit + stage + final + a retention release will burn the cap. That is the product doing what it says. Pro removes it. See pricing.
The legal baseline — unique number, names, addresses, description, dates, amount, VAT if it applies — is on GOV.UK. This page does not repeat the full field list. The template does.
Many UK tradespeople also find it helpful to review VAT invoice requirements UK 2026 at this stage.
Deposits before tiles, lead and scaffold
A pallet of interlocking tiles, a roll of lead, or a scaffold you are expected to book before Tuesday is not a vibe. Take money first, or accept that you are the lender.
Typical domestic re-tile, illustrative only:
Deposit 30–50%, payable before you order the covering or book the scaffold. Invoice it. Number it. Say what it is a percentage of.
Stage when strip, underlay and battens are signed off, if the job runs more than a few days.
Final for the balance, less deposit, plus extras they approved in writing — extra lead, a rotten fascia, a second elevation.
Write the percentages in the quote. A voice note is how a homeowner remembers “about a third” and you remember 50%.
Item | Treat it as | Do not treat it as |
|---|---|---|
Advance they pay so you can order tiles | Deposit / advance payment. Invoice on receipt. VAT tax point if you are registered. | A friendly float you mention in chat |
Refundable security on hired access you will give back | Not consideration for a supply | A kitchen-style deposit |
Retention held after completion | Money they keep against snagging. Show it withheld, invoice the release. | A second deposit |
If you are VAT-registered, a deposit you receive is usually a tax point for that amount on the day it lands. Do not wait until the ridge is on to “put all the VAT on the final”. Check GOV.UK’s VAT time-of-supply rules, or the person who files your return. InvoiceAdept will date the invoice you raise. It will not put the figure on a VAT return.
Sister pages: builder invoice template for stages and retention, and deposit invoice template UK if the next bill is only the advance.
Scaffolding and materials: how to bill them so you get paid
The template walks the HMRC split line by line. The process is simpler than it looks:
Tiles, underlay, battens, lead you paid for this address — materials. Keep the merchant ticket. On a CIS job the contractor can take evidenced materials out of the labour base. HMRC’s deduction steps.
Third-party scaffold hire for this address — its own line. Hire-only (no erection labour from the hire firm) sits outside CIS. Hire plus erection is in for the labour. Owned poles are not a made-up hire. Detail and the tables: roofer invoice template.
Mark-up — labour, not materials. Receipts that do not match an inflated materials line are how a contractor estimates against you.
Free-issue from the main contractor’s yard — not your materials. Do not list them.
Two process habits that cost a week:
One lump “re-tile front elevation £2,660”. A cautious contractor deducts 20% of the lot. You are light on the tiles and the scaffold until Self Assessment.
Paying the scaffold firm on Monday and invoicing the homeowner on Friday without a deposit. The hire clock does not care that they have not opened WhatsApp.
Pass the hire through at cost, or at the mark-up you quoted, but show it. Do not bury four days of tower in “roofing works”.
Weather delays: what belongs on the invoice
Weather is not a stage. Rain is not a variation unless the quote said standing time is chargeable.
What happened | On the invoice? | How to write it |
|---|---|---|
Measured-price roof, you lost a day to rain | Only if the quote allowed standing time or a weather day | “Day rate, weather standing, 2 hours then stood down, 27 Aug 2026” — if that was agreed. Otherwise it is your programme risk. |
Day-rate site, they agreed you stand down | Yes, the hours they agreed | Date, hours, “weather standing as agreed [chat/email date]” |
You went home and came back when it dried | No extra line | The original measured or day-rate lines still apply |
Storm made the job bigger (second elevation, extra lead) | Yes, as a variation they approved | Own lines, V01, not a silent bump inside the day rate |
“Bit extra because of the rain” is an argument. “Weather standing, 2 hours, 27 August 2026, as WhatsApp 27 Aug 2026” is an invoice. If they did not agree standing time, do not invent it after the fact.
A wet week is also why the deposit exists. Scaffold standing through rain is still hire. If you funded it, you feel it. If they deposited first, the clock is theirs to care about.
Guarantees, insurers, and what the invoice is not
The invoice gets you paid. The workmanship guarantee is a separate document. The manufacturer’s tile warranty is theirs. A Building Control or competent-person notification is another PDF again.
Process, not poetry:
Invoice the work. Attach the guarantee. Put the period and the reference in the description.
Do not write “NFRC certified” as a substitute for a number you do not have. InvoiceAdept does not issue NFRC membership, Competent Roofer notifications, or Building Control completions.
Storm work: bill the person who hired you, usually the homeowner. Put the claim number, the elevation, make-safe versus permanent, and the dates. If the insurer later pays, keep the same invoice number or credit-and-reissue.
The excess is the homeowner’s. If they want the excess on one invoice and the balance on another, that is two invoices against the same quote, not a reason to hide the excess inside “sundries”.
Re-roofing can be notifiable. England, Wales and Scotland do not use the same forms. Check GOV.UK or the local authority. Do not stamp “Building Regulations approved” as decoration.
If you are sorting this alongside other compliance work, read Conservatory invoice template UK.
CIS when a contractor is paying you
CIS applies because a contractor is paying you for construction operations, not because you are a roofer. A homeowner re-tile you sold yourself: no CIS line. Hire-only scaffold with no erection labour: outside the scheme. Strip, re-tile, recover, leadwork, new coverings on plots: in.
Rates: 20% verified, 30% unverified or wrong name, 0% gross payment status. Use the legal name and UTR you registered with.
You invoice gross. They withhold from labour. Show the split so they can. The template has the worked 20% and 30% tables on the same front elevation — use those numbers rather than inventing a second set here.
CIS lines sit on InvoiceAdept Pro+ (£12.99). InvoiceFree puts CIS on free. The printout is not a CIS300. The contractor files the monthly return. InvoiceAdept does not. Software grid: best CIS invoice software UK 2026.
If you skip registration and still work under a contractor, they deduct 30% instead of 20%. That is a process choice you make before the first Monday on site, not a line you add afterwards to look professional.
VAT at £90,000, and reverse charge as a process
The VAT registration threshold is £90,000 of taxable turnover in a rolling 12 months — register for VAT if you have gone over, or will. Older pages, including some of ours, still said £85,000. That figure is stale. Do not copy it.
If you are not registered, do not charge VAT. If you are, and the customer is a private householder, charge the rate VAT Notice 708 gives for that work. Most work to an existing occupied dwelling is standard-rated. New qualifying dwellings can be zero-rated. Some empty-home renovations and conversions can be reduced-rated — check the Notice, do not guess from a felt forum.
Domestic reverse charge is a contractor-invoice process: both VAT-registered, work reported within CIS, standard- or reduced-rated, no written end-user notice. Then you show the VAT and you do not add it to what they pay. Never on a private leak. Walkthrough: domestic reverse charge invoice UK.
A deposit you take on a VAT-registered job is usually a tax point when received. Track turnover toward £90,000 from the invoices you actually raise, including deposits, not from a year-end guess. InvoiceAdept stores those invoices as digital records. It does not file the VAT return.
Making Tax Digital: records, not filing
If your qualifying income is over £50,000 for 2024–25, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies from 6 April 2026. The line drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. GOV.UK on when you need MTD.
What a roofer actually needs from invoicing software:
a dated digital record of every invoice and payment
labour, materials and hire visible so CIS and VAT can be checked later
an export your accountant, or HMRC-recognised filing software, can use
What InvoiceAdept does not do — and what no honest “stay MTD-compliant” button should claim:
send quarterly Income Tax updates to HMRC
submit your Self Assessment return
file your VAT return
file the contractor’s CIS300
Records are not filing. Pair the invoices with software that does file (for example QuickBooks, FreeAgent, or your accountant’s package), or with bridging software. Detail: InvoiceAdept and MTD for UK trades. If you are comparing a full accounts suite: InvoiceAdept vs QuickBooks UK.
An older version of this page used “stay MTD-compliant” as a CTA. That wording overstated what an invoicing app does. The correction is this section.
Related: see How to invoice for the first time UK for practical next steps.
How to send it, and how InvoiceAdept fits
Domestic leak or re-tile sold in WhatsApp: put the invoice in that thread. Native send is Pro; Free users attach the PDF. WhatsApp invoicing UK. Contractors: email accounts with the PO. Insurers: email, claim number, photos as attachments — not a Saturday chat bubble as the only copy.
Bank details on every invoice. No InvoiceAdept platform fee on Stripe. InvoiceFree adds 1% on its payment links plus Stripe. Vs InvoiceFree.
InvoiceAdept Free | InvoiceAdept Pro | InvoiceAdept Pro+ | |
|---|---|---|---|
Price (checked 29 Aug 2026) | £0 | £7.99 / month | £12.99 / month |
Invoices | 5 per month | Unlimited | Unlimited |
CIS lines | No | No | Yes |
WhatsApp send | Share a PDF yourself | Yes | Yes |
Files CIS300, VAT returns or MTD to HMRC | No | No | No |
A re-tile with deposit, stage and final is three invoices before extras. Free will run out. That is expected. Pricing.
Process mistakes that delay a roofer getting paid
Waiting until Sunday to invoice a roof you finished on Tuesday, then losing the next weather window because the deposit never landed.
Taking tile money in chat and never raising a numbered deposit invoice — and missing the VAT tax point if you are registered.
One lump on a CIS job, so 20% comes off the tiles and the scaffold.
Treating owned scaffold as “materials” with no third-party ticket.
Putting CIS or reverse charge on a hire-only ticket, or on a homeowner leak.
Billing the tenants, or the insurer, when the homeowner hired you.
Treating the invoice as the guarantee, or printing NFRC when you are not on the scheme.
Inventing standing time after a wet day the quote never allowed.
Using the old £85,000 VAT threshold. It is £90,000.
Assuming the invoicing app files CIS300, the VAT return, or MTD quarterly updates. InvoiceAdept does not. InvoiceFree does not.
Worth pairing this with our guide to How to invoice subcontractors UK CIS.
Frequently asked questions
When should a roofer invoice?
On the trigger, not at the weekend. Deposit when taken. Stage when that stage finishes. Final at practical completion. Make-safe the same day. Contractor work against the valuation week or PO. The document itself is the roofer invoice template.
Do I invoice before I order tiles or scaffold?
Yes, if you need their money to fund the order. Raise a numbered deposit invoice and state the percentage of the agreed package. A promise in chat is not a record.
How should roofers bill scaffolding?
Third-party hire for this address as its own line. Hire-only with no erection labour is outside CIS. Hire plus erection is in for the labour. Owned kit is not a notional hire. Worked split: the template.
Can I invoice for rain?
Only if the quote or a written variation allowed standing time. Weather is not a stage. “Bit extra because of the rain” will bounce.
Do roofers charge CIS on a homeowner re-tile?
No. CIS applies when a contractor pays you for construction operations. GOV.UK CIS.
What is the VAT threshold for a roofer in 2026?
£90,000 of taxable turnover in a rolling 12 months, not £85,000. Register for VAT if you have gone over, or will. Most work to an existing dwelling is standard-rated if you are registered — VAT Notice 708.
Does InvoiceAdept file my VAT return or keep me MTD-compliant?
No. It keeps digital invoice records you can export. It does not send quarterly MTD updates, VAT returns, Self Assessment or CIS300 to HMRC. “Stay MTD-compliant” was the wrong CTA. Use MTD for UK trades.
Is the invoice the same as the roofing guarantee?
No. Invoice the work. Attach the workmanship guarantee as a separate PDF. InvoiceAdept does not issue NFRC membership or manufacturer warranties.
Where is the actual roofer invoice template?
Roofer invoice template UK — fields, CIS 20/30 tables, scaffold hire-only versus erection, and a worked front elevation. This page is when and how you use that document.
About this guide
InvoiceAdept is invoicing software for UK trades (Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663). CIS on Pro+. We do not file CIS300, VAT returns or MTD updates. We do not issue NFRC, Competent Roofer or Building Control documents.
Invoice generator · Pricing · Roofer invoice template.
Last reviewed: 29 August 2026. Check the GOV.UK pages linked above before you rely on a rate. General information for UK roofers, not tax, legal or Building Regulations advice.
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