Roofer invoice template UK (2026): CIS, VAT, and a worked example

The short answer

A UK roofer invoice should split labour, materials and third-party scaffold hire onto separate lines. Bill a homeowner normally, charging VAT only if you are registered; bill a contractor under CIS, deducting 20% on the labour if you are verified (30% if you are not). VAT registration becomes compulsory at £90,000 of taxable turnover.

What is a roofer invoice, and who are you billing?

A UK roofer invoice is not one PDF with "roofing works" on it. A Saturday valley leak after a storm, a measured strip-and-re-tile for a homeowner, and a week of plots on a contractor's site all use the same trade, and they are three different bills.

Get the customer type wrong and the rest follows. CIS does not sit on a private householder. Domestic reverse charge does not sit on a customer who is not VAT-registered. A day-rate site invoice that lumps the tiles, the felt and the labour into one line is how a contractor deducts 20% of the lot. A hire-only scaffold ticket treated as CIS labour is how you hand HMRC money they did not ask for. A storm job billed as "roofing as discussed" is how an insurer sits on the PDF until you send the elevation, the square metres and the claim number.

This is the 2026 roofer template: what has to be on the invoice, how tiles and labour split on a real roof, day rate versus measured square metres, CIS at 20% or 30% under a contractor, reverse charge when both of you are VAT-registered, scaffolding hire-only versus erection, storm-damage paperwork, and how a workmanship guarantee actually appears on a bill. It is general information, not tax, legal or Building Regulations advice. If the VAT rate, the CIS position on a scaffold ticket, or the notification route is messy, ask the person who files your return, or Building Control, before you send the PDF.

Which invoice do I send to a homeowner, insurer or contractor?

Most "roofer invoice template UK" pages treat every customer as a name, an address and a total. On the van they are not.

Typical job	Homeowner or landlord	Insurer / storm claim	Main contractor
CIS on this invoice	No. An ordinary householder is not a CIS contractor.	No if you bill the householder. Yes if a contractor pays you for the same work.	Yes if the work is a construction operation and they pay you as a subcontractor. Roofing is in.
VAT if you are registered	Charge the right rate. They cannot reclaim it.	Same as the person you are actually billing.	Often domestic reverse charge. They account for VAT, you do not collect it.
How they pay	Card, Apple Pay or a same-day transfer.	Householder first, then they reclaim, or the insurer if they told you to bill them.	BACS on their payment run, often 14 to 30 days.

A contractor working for a homeowner is still a contractor. HMRC is explicit: there is no reverse charge on the supply to a private customer, because that customer is not VAT-registered. That does not turn the contractor into an end user. If you are the subbie billing that contractor, reverse charge can still apply. The old shortcut "it's a house, so they're an end user" is wrong. See HMRC's reverse charge guide.

If you only ever bill homeowners, skip the CIS and reverse charge sections and still read tiles versus labour, measured rates, scaffolding, deposits and storm paperwork. If you only ever bill contractors, do not send them a domestic-looking invoice with 20% VAT tacked on.

What must be on a UK roofer invoice?

GOV.UK is narrower than most blogs. You must give an invoice by law when both you and the customer are VAT-registered. That invoice must say how much they pay and when. A receipt is something else: it acknowledges payment after the money has landed.

If you are not VAT-registered, HMRC still expects you to keep records of what you charged. A numbered invoice is how you do that. It is also how you get paid.

Invoice fields that must appear:

Field	What a roofer needs to show
Unique identification number	Your invoice sequence, in order and unbroken.
Your name (or company name) and address	Legal name as it appears on your registration, not just your van branding.
Customer's name and address	The legal payer. For an agent, the landlord, not "the tenants".
Clear description	Address, elevation, square metres or day count, tiles or felt system, guarantee if you issued one.
Supply date and invoice date	When the work was provided and when the bill was raised.
Amount being charged	Quantities, rates and line totals, with labour and materials separate.
VAT amount (if applicable)	Your VAT number, the rate, the net and the VAT in sterling. No invented "VAT: N/A".
Total amount owed	The figure the customer must pay, and a due date.

If you are a sole trader using a trading name, show your own name as well, and an address where legal documents can be delivered. If you trade as a limited company, show the registered company name as it appears on the certificate of incorporation, the company number and the registered office. InvoiceAdept is operated by Tech Me Today Ltd, Companies House 15917255, ICO ZB944663. Put the same standard on your own paperwork.

If you are VAT-registered you also need the VAT fields a full VAT invoice carries. Do not invent a VAT line on a non-VAT invoice. Leave VAT off unless HMRC has given you a number. The registration threshold is still £90,000 of taxable turnover in a rolling 12 months, or if you expect to go over it in the next 30 days. See register for VAT.

For a roofer, "clear description" is the line that actually gets you paid.

Weak	Usable
Roofing works	Strip and re-tile front elevation, 48 m² pitched roof, concrete interlocking tiles, new breathable underlay and treated battens, ridge, 3.2 m lead valley, 14 Oak Lane, 28 August 2026.
Leak repair	Emergency make-safe, slipped tiles and split valley on rear elevation, loft leak at hatch, 14 Oak Lane, 28 August 2026, includes first hour.
Flat roof	Recover garage flat roof, 18 m², 3-layer built-up felt, 14 Oak Lane, 28 August 2026.

A scheme membership number, such as NFRC, Competent Roofer or TrustMark, can sit in the header if you have one. Insurers and some contractors look for it. It is not a legal invoice field and it is not something InvoiceAdept issues. Do not print a scheme name you are not on.

How do I split labour and materials on a roof?

On a homeowner invoice the split is courtesy. They can see what the pallet of tiles cost. On a contractor invoice the split is the CIS calculation.

HMRC's contractor rules start with the gross invoice, then take off VAT, consumable stores, fuel used (not travelling), plant hired for that job, manufacturing or prefabricating materials, and materials you paid for directly. The contractor can ask for receipts. If you have none, they estimate. What is left is the CIS base. Then they apply 20%, 30% or 0%. See CIS 340 and the plant-hire manual.

For a roofer, materials means what you actually paid for this job: concrete or clay tiles, slates, ridge and hip fittings, breathable underlay, treated battens, counter-battens, lead or lead-alternative flashing, valley troughs, nails and clips, dry-ridge kits, GRP or EPDM for a flat roof, insulation you bought for this roof. A mark-up on that pallet is not a material for CIS. The extra sits in the labour base. Tiles the main contractor issued from their own yard are not your material either, because you did not pay for them.

Two habits that cost money on a roof:

One line, "re-tile front elevation £2,660". A cautious contractor deducts 20% of £2,660. You are light on the tiles and the scaffold until Self Assessment.

Stuffing the mark-up into "materials" so CIS looks smaller. If they ask for receipts and the merchant ticket is £980 against a £1,400 materials line, they will estimate, and that estimate is rarely in your favour.

Keep labour and materials on separate lines even when you are not on CIS. It is how a homeowner reads a bill after a leak, and it is how you reuse the same template when the next job is a contractor. Learn more on CIS invoices, see how other roofers use the platform, and browse the wider invoicing features.

Day rate, measured or call-out: how should a roofer price?

Roofers price three ways. The invoice should show which one this job was. Mixing them in one lump is how disputes start, especially after a storm that ran longer than the first hour, or a measured roof that grew once the felt came off.

Call-out. A first-visit fee, often including a set amount of time on site, then extra labour at an hourly rate. Typical domestic leak: call-out on the invoice, then "additional labour, 1.5 hours", then the three tiles and the valley clip you fitted. Do not hide the extra hour inside an inflated call-out after they approved it in WhatsApp. Put the extra as its own line.

Day rate. Common on contractor sites, on booked domestic days and when the weather decides the day. "Labour, 3 days, strip and re-tile front elevation, 14 Oak Lane, 26 to 28 August 2026." If you stood down for rain after two hours and they agreed a weather day, say so.

Measured. Per square metre of covering, per elevation, per plot. The invoice needs the area, the specification and the week. "Strip and re-tile, 48 m², concrete interlocking, front elevation, 14 Oak Lane" is what a homeowner can walk around and count.

Call-out does not belong on a CIS day-rate invoice as decoration. If the contractor is paying you a measured rate, the call-out is labour. If a homeowner asked for an evening visit after water came through the loft hatch, the call-out is the first line they expect to see. Measured and day rate can sit on the same job if that is how you quoted it. They cannot sit as one mystery total.

Is scaffolding hire subject to CIS or reverse charge?

This is the line roofers get wrong more than VAT. HMRC has written it down. Do not invent a split because a scaffold firm's PDF looks tidy.

What the scaffold contract actually is	CIS	Domestic reverse charge
Hire of the kit only. No labour from the hire firm.	Outside CIS. GOV.UK's own exception.	Outside reverse charge. Hire of goods only is not within CIS, so reverse charge does not apply to the hire charge.
Hire plus erection, alteration or dismantling by the scaffold firm.	In. The labour is a construction operation.	In, if the other reverse-charge tests are met and the supply is standard- or reduced-rated.
Separate lines on the scaffold firm's invoice: hire of kit, then labour to erect and strike.	Hire stays out. Labour is in.	Hire stays out. Labour follows reverse charge if the tests are met.

GOV.UK's CIS overview lists scaffolding hire (with no labour) as work that is not covered by the scheme. The contractor coverage page says the same. HMRC's internal manual CISR14260 puts plant hire in two buckets: hire of plant without an operator is outside CIS, hire of plant with an operator is in. CISR14240 lists erection of scaffolding as a construction operation and dismantling as a finishing operation.

VAT on the hire itself is a separate question from CIS. VAT Notice 708 is blunt: goods hired on their own are always standard-rated. Scaffolding hire is in that list. Do not zero-rate a hire line because the house is new. Only the erection and dismantling service can follow the building's rate, and only when Notice 708's conditions are actually met.

How does CIS work when I work under a contractor?

CIS covers most construction work to a building, including alterations and repairs. Strip, re-tile, recover a flat roof, replace lead, install a new covering on a contractor's plots, that is construction. You invoice the contractor the gross. They withhold tax from the labour and pay it to HMRC as an advance on your tax and National Insurance.

Set the correct rate:

• 20% if you are registered and they can verify you.
• 30% if you are not registered, they cannot verify you, or you gave the wrong business name.
• 0% if HMRC has granted gross payment status.

Give them the legal name and UTR you registered with. A trading name that does not match is how you get the 30% rate for a month.

Show on the PDF: UTR, labour, materials (including evidenced third-party plant hire), CIS rate, the deduction in pounds, and net payable. Plenty of trade apps, including InvoiceAdept on Pro+ and InvoiceFree on free, print the expected deduction so the contractor knows what to pay. That printout is not a CIS300. The contractor files the monthly return, and InvoiceAdept does not file CIS300 to HMRC.

CIS is on InvoiceAdept Pro+ at £12.99 a month, not on Free and not on Pro. InvoiceFree puts CIS on its free plan. That is a real difference, so do not pick Pro and expect the deduction lines to appear.

When does domestic reverse charge apply to a roofer?

If you supply specified building and construction services, both you and the customer are VAT-registered, the work is reported within CIS, the supply is standard- or reduced-rated, and the customer has not given a written end-user notice, you do not charge VAT. They account for it.

Constructing, altering, repairing or extending a building is on HMRC's list. Erection of scaffolding is on that list. Hire of goods only is not. VAT Notice 708 is where you check the rate, standard, reduced or zero, not a guess on the van. Many new-build housing labour supplies are zero-rated, and reverse charge does not apply to those.

On the invoice you still show everything a VAT invoice needs. You also use the words reverse charge, state the VAT they must account for (or at least the rate) and do not add it to the amount they pay. HMRC accepts, for example, "Reverse charge: VAT Act 1994 Section 55A applies" or "Reverse charge: customer to pay the VAT to HMRC".

Private householders are not VAT-registered, so reverse charge never applies to their invoice. Charge VAT if you are registered, at the right rate for the work. Most work to an existing occupied dwelling is standard-rated. A qualifying new dwelling can be zero-rated. A house empty for two years or more can be reduced-rated. Do not put reverse charge wording on a domestic leak bill.

What does MTD for Income Tax mean for a roofer's records?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is the newer obligation for self-employed sole traders and landlords on Self Assessment. HMRC's who and when guidance, updated 26 March 2026, starts with qualifying income over a threshold: from 6 April 2026 that is over £50,000 for the 2024 to 2025 tax year, then over £30,000 from 2027 and over £20,000 from 2028. Qualifying income is turnover before expenses, so use HMRC's MTD guidance and its checker rather than a blog.

The practical point for roofers: keep digital records as you go, because MTD wants a running digital record of income and expenses rather than a shoebox in December. That means a dated, numbered invoice for every job, a purchase receipt for the pallet of tiles, a scaffold hire ticket, and a note of the mileage you clocked between jobs. The approved mileage rate is 45p a mile for the first 10,000 miles in the tax year, then 25p a mile after, for a car or van on business.

InvoiceAdept keeps digital records and we do not send MTD quarterly updates to HMRC. The HMRC software finder is the list that matters for actually submitting the updates. See the software finder.

How do I invoice storm damage for an insurer?

Storm work is still a roofing invoice. It is not a special tax category. What changes is who needs to read it. Bill the person who hired you, usually the homeowner. Some insurers later ask you to reissue the same invoice to them, or to add a claim number. Do not invent a second invoice number for the same job. Credit the first and reissue if the payer actually changes.

Write the weather and the damage so a loss adjuster can match it to their scope: address and elevation, what failed (valley, ridge, hip, chimney flashing, felt, a run of tiles), make-safe versus permanent, square metres if you measured or day count if you did not, and photos referenced rather than dumped as the only record.

"Storm damage as discussed" is how a claim sits for six weeks. "Make-safe 28 August 2026, rear elevation valley, then permanent 3.2 m lead and 12 tiles 2 September 2026, claim CLM-2026-4418" is an invoice they can pay. The excess is the homeowner's. A loft leak billed to a landlord is still a householder invoice, so no CIS and no reverse charge.

How should I invoice a deposit and staged payments?

A pallet of tiles, a roll of lead or a scaffold you are expected to book before Tuesday is not a vibe. If you take money before the work, that payment is a tax point for VAT when you receive it. Invoice it, number it, and call it a deposit invoice for the named job, saying what it is 40% of.

Typical pattern on a domestic re-tile: a deposit invoice of 30 to 50% payable before you order tiles or book the scaffold, a stage invoice when strip, felt and battens are signed off if the job runs more than a few days, then a final invoice for the balance less deposit plus any extras they approved in the chat. Write the percentages in the quote, not in a voice note.

Retention is not a deposit. Retention is money they hold after completion against snagging. If you agree 5% for 30 days, the final invoice still shows the full value, the retention withheld and the date it becomes due.

Are guarantees and Building Control part of the invoice?

The invoice is the bill. The guarantee is a separate document. The Building Control notice is another. They are not the same PDF. Typical documents a roofer issues, described because they belong in the invoice description rather than because InvoiceAdept produces them: a workmanship guarantee for the labour, a manufacturer's warranty on the tiles, slates or felt system if that manufacturer issued one, and a Building Control or competent-person notification when the work is notifiable.

Re-roofing can be notifiable under the Building Regulations. England, Wales and Scotland do not use the same forms. InvoiceAdept does not notify Building Control and does not generate a completion certificate. If you are on a typical competent-person scheme, your membership number can sit on the invoice as a description. If you are not, do not print one. Do not charge an "NFRC fee" as a mystery line if what you mean is the scheme notification. Call the line what it is.

How should I send a roofer invoice?

If the job was sold in WhatsApp, the photo of the loft hatch, the "yes, go ahead" on the extra lead, email is where invoices go to die. Put the invoice in that thread, with the number, the due date and a pay link. That is still a real invoice. Native WhatsApp send is InvoiceAdept Pro; Free users download the PDF and attach it themselves.

A main contractor is the opposite. Email the PDF to accounts, put the PO in the reference and, if you want a paper trail on site, WhatsApp a copy to the manager as well. An insurer wants email, the claim number and the photos as attachments.

Bank details on every invoice, and a Stripe link if the customer is a human with a phone. InvoiceAdept does not add a platform fee on top of Stripe. Contractors pay BACS; homeowners will tap a card if the button is in front of them. Compare plans on pricing, and see the invoicing features before you decide.

What mistakes delay a roofer invoice?

• "Roofing works" with no address, no elevation and no square metres or day count.
• One lump sum on a CIS job, so 20% comes off the tiles and the scaffold.
• Treating owned scaffold as "materials" with no third-party hire ticket.
• Putting CIS or reverse charge on a hire-only scaffold ticket that has no erection labour.
• Charging VAT to a VAT-registered contractor when reverse charge applies, or putting reverse charge wording on a homeowner leak invoice.
• No UTR, or a trading name that does not match CIS registration, then wondering why they deducted 30%.
• Printing NFRC or Competent Roofer when you are not on the scheme, or treating the invoice as the guarantee.
• Hiding extra leadwork or a second elevation inside an inflated day rate after they approved the extra in WhatsApp.
• Assuming the invoicing app files CIS300 or MTD. InvoiceAdept does not.

FAQs

What should a UK roofer invoice include?

Your legal name and address, the customer's name and address, a unique invoice number, the invoice date, the supply date if different, a description that identifies the work (address, elevation, square metres or days, tiles or felt system, guarantee if you issued one), quantities and rates, a due date and a way to pay. Split labour, materials and third-party scaffold hire. Add VAT only if you are registered and reverse charge does not apply. Add your UTR and CIS lines only when you are invoicing a contractor under the scheme.

Do roofers need a CIS invoice?

Only when a contractor is paying you for construction operations. Strip, re-tile, recover, leadwork and new coverings are in. A homeowner leak, a private re-tile you sold yourself, a landlord loft stain, those are standard invoices with no CIS. Hire-only scaffolding with no erection labour is outside CIS. If you skip CIS registration and still work under a contractor on in-scope work, they deduct 30% instead of 20%.

How do CIS deductions work on a roofer's labour, tiles and scaffold?

CIS is on labour only. The tiles, underlay, battens and lead you paid for come off the gross before the rate is applied, if the contractor is satisfied you paid for them, and receipts help. Third-party scaffold hire for this job can sit with materials. Scaffold you own cannot. A mark-up is not a material. Tiles the contractor issued from their yard are not your material.

Is scaffolding hire subject to CIS and domestic reverse charge?

Usually not, if it is hire-only and there is no erection, alteration or dismantling labour from the hire firm. GOV.UK lists scaffolding hire with no labour as outside CIS. HMRC's reverse charge guide says hire of goods only is outside CIS and therefore outside reverse charge. The moment the same contract includes erection or dismantling, that labour is a construction operation. A combined hire-and-erect charge on a standard-rated job is usually reverse-charged in full if the other tests are met.

Do I charge VAT on a domestic roofer invoice?

If you are VAT-registered and the customer is a private householder, yes, at the rate VAT Notice 708 gives for that work. Most work to an existing occupied dwelling is standard-rated. New-build qualifying dwellings can be zero-rated. Empty homes and some conversions can be reduced-rated. If you are not registered, do not charge VAT.

What does MTD for Income Tax mean for a roofer?

If your qualifying income is over £50,000, you are in scope from 6 April 2026, with thresholds of £30,000 from 2027 and £20,000 from 2028. It means keeping digital records as you go rather than a shoebox in December, so date and number every invoice, keep the tile and scaffold receipts, and record business mileage at 45p a mile (25p after 10,000 miles). A plain invoicing app records the data but does not file the quarterly update.

Is the roofer invoice the same as the roofing guarantee?

No. Invoice the work. Attach the workmanship guarantee as a separate PDF, with the period and the reference on the invoice line. The manufacturer's tile warranty is theirs. The invoice gets you paid, and the guarantee is what the buyer's solicitor or the next owner wants.

Does InvoiceAdept file CIS or Making Tax Digital to HMRC?

No. It raises the invoice, stores the record and, on Pro+, prints CIS. It does not file CIS300 and it does not submit MTD quarterly updates. Use HMRC's software finder if you need a filing product.

The bottom line

The invoice is the job, described properly. Split labour, materials and third-party scaffold hire, bill the right customer, get the CIS or reverse charge line right only when it applies, and invoice the day the roof is finished. InvoiceAdept prints the lines you type and does not invent a certificate, a scheme number or a filing you did not ask for. Start free in 30 seconds.

This guide is general information for UK roofers. It is not tax, legal, accounting or Building Regulations advice. Check the linked GOV.UK pages before you rely on a rate or a form of words.