How Much Does a Dry Ridge System Cost?

Two national figures cover the bulk of a dry ridge job. In Checkatrade's June 2026 repair table, dry ridge sits at £50 to £70 per metre and a dry hip at £70 to £100 per metre. Its separate dry verge guide, updated in September 2026, puts verge work at approximately £10 to £25 for each metre, fitting and materials both counted. These are typical UK ranges from a third party, not our prices, and the repair table is stated without VAT.

The gap between ridge and hip is easy to explain. A ridge is the single straight line running the length of the house's crest. A hip is the diagonal rib at an outside corner, where two faces of the roof come together, so the tiles are cut to follow the angle and the bottom end needs its own finishing piece. More cutting and more detail mean more time for every metre.

Dry ridge is a fixing method rather than a material. The ridge tiles are held by mechanical fixings instead of relying on a mortar bed, and a roll or seal runs beneath them. Our guide to what a dry ridge system is lists the parts in order, which helps when you are reading a quote.

Only the length of ridge and the number of hips change the sum, so here is a worked example rather than a promise. Suppose a house has an 8 metre ridge and no hips. At the national range of £50 to £70 per metre, that ridge comes to between £400 and £560. Now suppose a hipped roof with four hips of 5 metres each. At £70 to £100 per metre, the hips alone add £1,400 to £2,000. Those lengths are invented to show the method, and your own roof will measure differently.

The verge is worked out the same way. Checkatrade quotes around £875 for dry verge on a semi. A terrace has fewer free gable edges, while a detached house with two gables has more, so the verge total follows the shape of the house and not just its size.

Bear in mind that the guide ranges describe repair and refit work on an existing roof. A ridge laid as part of a re-roof is normally priced inside the whole job, since the roofer is already on site with the access in place. If you are weighing a new ridge against one more round of patching, our page on whether dry ridge is better than mortar sets out the trade-off.

Reaching the ridge can cost as much as fixing it. On a bungalow, a roofer can often work from ladders, with a roof ladder hooked over the top, and no scaffold is needed. With two floors the eaves sit too high for that, and safe work at the ridge, the hip ends and the gable edges usually means scaffold. Checkatrade's roof replacement guide, read in October 2026, puts the scaffold for a whole new roof at £700 to £1,300.

That one figure can match or beat the ridge work itself, so ask early whether scaffold is in the price. Ask too whether the same scaffold could serve other jobs on that elevation, such as a gutter, a fascia or a chimney repair. Poles standing over the footway or carriageway need a licence first, whereas a frame confined to your own drive or lawn does not. Arranging any licence with the scaffolder is part of our job.

Some jobs can be done without any scaffold at all, depending on the height and the gable. Our answer on fitting dry verge without scaffolding covers when ladders and a tower are enough and when they are not.

Ask for one written total, then ask whether it includes VAT and scaffolding. Because the Checkatrade repair table is shown without VAT, a price that looks low may still have tax to be added, and a price without scaffold may grow once the access is sorted. A single total that states what is and is not included is much easier to compare than a sum with gaps in it.

Before pricing, we look at the roof. The survey measures the ridge and every hip, notes how the old mortar is holding and whether any tiles are cracked, checks the battens along the top, and looks at how the ridge ends meet the verges. You see photos of your own ridge line, so you know what the number is based on. The figure then arrives as one total in writing.

To get things moving, send two or three photos that show the ridge, shot from your garden, and mention if you live in a bungalow or a house with two floors. With those we can list what the survey must measure, and whether access looks likely to be the bigger part of the price. The wider dry ridge and dry verge page shows how the work fits together.