Roofing finance: key facts
- This page is about finance for roofing businesses. If you're a homeowner looking to pay for a new roof, it isn't for you: we don't deal with consumer finance.
- Roofers commonly finance vans and tippers, ladder and scaffold hoists, mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs or cherry pickers), edge protection, and flat-roof and single-ply equipment. The cash to buy materials is usually a separate, shorter-term need.
- Lifting equipment for lifting people, such as a MEWP, needs a thorough examination at least every 6 months, and other lifting equipment such as a materials hoist at least every 12 months (or under an examination scheme), under LOLER regulation 9. That's a running cost of owning the kit.
- On a commercial construction contract, the Construction Act gives a right to stage or periodic payments unless the work is to last less than 45 days. Contracts with a homeowner for work on the home they live in are excluded, so domestic payment terms depend entirely on your own contract.
- If a homeowner signs your contract at their home, they normally have 14 days to cancel a service contract, and you mustn't start work in that period unless they've expressly asked you to in writing (on a durable medium).
- Since 1 March 2021, most roofing subcontract work for a VAT- and CIS-registered contractor falls under the VAT domestic reverse charge: the contractor accounts for the VAT, so you don't receive it. HMRC says this can turn a subcontractor into a net repayment business.
- Under CIS, registered subcontractors have 20% deducted from payments (30% if not registered) unless they hold gross payment status.
- Our enquiry service is for limited companies and LLPs. Any finance is subject to status and the lender's checks.
Is this finance for roofing companies or for people getting a new roof?
Roofing companies. Everything on this page is about how a roofing business funds its equipment, vehicles and cash flow. If you're a homeowner wanting to spread the cost of a new roof, that's consumer finance, which we don't cover or arrange introductions for.
"Roofing finance" gets searched for by two very different groups, so it's worth being clear. This guide is for roofing contractors: firms doing pitched, flat, single-ply, industrial cladding and repair work, who need to buy kit, run vans and bridge the gap between paying suppliers and getting paid.
Offering finance to your own homeowner customers is also outside this page. That falls under the FCA's consumer credit rules, which are a separate subject from funding your own business.
What do roofing companies actually use finance for?
Mostly four things: vehicles (vans, crew vans and tippers), access and lifting equipment (hoists, MEWPs, edge protection, towers), specialist flat-roof kit, and working capital for materials and wages. Each looks different to a lender, so they're often funded in different ways.
| What you're funding | Examples on a roofing firm | How lenders tend to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicles | Panel vans with roof racks and ladder clamps, crew cabs, tippers for strip-out waste, a pickup towing a hoist or trailer | The easiest part to fund: registered, valued in published guides, easy to resell. Hire purchase and leasing are both common. |
| Access and lifting | Ladder or scaffold hoists, roof-tile conveyors, van- or trailer-mounted cherry pickers, tracked or self-propelled MEWPs | Identifiable, with serial numbers and a second-hand market. MEWPs are popular asset-finance items; small hoists are often bundled with other kit. |
| Edge protection and your own scaffold | Barrier systems, roof-edge guardrails, aluminium towers, a modest stock of tube and fittings for your own jobs | Mixed. Branded systems from one supplier are easier; loose stock is harder (we explain why in our scaffolding finance guide). |
| Flat roof and single ply | Torch-on gas equipment, bitumen boilers, automatic hot-air welders for PVC and TPO membrane, liquid-applied spray rigs, roof dryers | Smaller items are often funded as a package with a supplier invoice; a high-value automatic welder can stand on its own. |
| Working capital | Tiles, slates, battens, membrane, lead, insulation and rooflights bought before the job pays; wages through wet weeks | Not asset finance. Usually trade credit, a revolving facility, a business loan or, for commercial work, invoice finance. |
The mistake to avoid is funding short-term needs with long-term borrowing. Materials for a job that pays in six weeks don't belong on a five-year agreement, and a van you'll run for years shouldn't be squeezed onto a short facility meant for cash flow. A broker who knows the trade will usually separate the two.
Should a roofing company buy access equipment or keep hiring it in?
It depends how often you'd use it. Owning a MEWP or hoist only pays off if it's on site most working weeks; otherwise hiring in, with the hire firm handling examinations and repairs, can be cheaper and keeps borrowing down. Lenders will happily fund identifiable access kit, but they'll also ask whether it fits your work.
Access is the biggest equipment decision most roofing firms make. Hiring a cherry picker or scaffold for every job keeps your balance sheet light but hands margin to the hire company and leaves you waiting on availability when the weather finally breaks. Owning gives you control, but the kit has to earn its keep.
Questions worth answering before you finance access kit
- How many days a year would it really work? Go back through last year's jobs and count. A van-mounted platform used on most repair and gutter jobs is a different proposition from a large MEWP needed for a few industrial re-roofs.
- Who will operate it, and are they trained? Lenders and insurers may ask, and you'll need it anyway.
- What does ownership cost beyond the payments? Insurance, servicing, transport, storage, and statutory examinations.
- Could you hire it out? Some firms plan to hire spare kit to other trades. Treat that as a bonus, not the basis of the deal: a lender will look at your roofing income first.
Examinations under LOLER
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), regulation 9, say lifting equipment exposed to conditions that cause deterioration must be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months if it lifts people (which covers MEWPs and cherry pickers) and at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment such as a materials hoist, unless an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person sets different intervals. Equipment you borrow or hire must come with evidence of its last thorough examination. When you hire in, that's the hire firm's job; when you own, it's yours. Budget for it, and keep the reports: a used MEWP with a clean examination history is easier to sell or refinance later.
Used access equipment
Ex-hire MEWPs and hoists are a common way to save money. Lenders will want the make, model, year, serial number and hours, proof the seller owns it outright, and ideally the examination reports. For a truck-mounted platform, the vehicle side is assessed like any other commercial vehicle, and if the gross weight is over 3.5 tonnes it may bring operator licensing into play (see our HGV finance guide). Our plant finance guide covers buying used machines at auction or privately.
How do roofers fund materials before the customer pays?
Usually with a mix of merchant trade credit, customer deposits or stage payments, and a working capital facility. On commercial contracts the Construction Act gives a right to stage payments for longer jobs; on homeowner jobs it doesn't apply, so your own contract terms decide when money comes in.
Roofing is materials-heavy. A full re-roof means ordering tiles or slates, battens, breathable membrane, ridge and valley materials, lead and insulation before the old roof comes off, and some items (reclaimed or matched slates, special tiles, rooflights, made-to-measure single-ply details) can't be returned. The money goes out at the start; it comes back in stages or at the end.
Commercial and subcontract work
Under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (the Construction Act), section 109, a party to a construction contract is entitled to payment by instalments, stage payments or other periodic payments, unless the work is specified or agreed to last less than 45 days. The parties can agree the amounts and intervals; if they don't, the statutory Scheme for Construction Contracts fills the gap. For a roofer that means long commercial jobs should pay as you go, but you're still funding materials and labour until your application is valued and paid, and short jobs may pay only at the end.
Homeowner work
Section 106 of the same Act says Part II doesn't apply to a construction contract with a residential occupier: work principally on a house or flat that one of the parties lives in or intends to live in. So there's no statutory right to stage payments on a homeowner's re-roof. Whether you get a deposit, a payment when materials are delivered, or nothing until completion is purely down to the terms you agree.
Deposits also come with a catch. If the homeowner signs the contract at their home (an "off-premises contract"), the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 normally give them 14 days to cancel a service contract, and you mustn't begin the work in that period unless they've made an express request on a durable medium, such as a signed form or email. If they cancel, the deposit is normally refundable, less a proportionate amount for any work done at their request. So a deposit taken on day one isn't safe cash until that period has passed. Get your own legal advice on your contract terms.
What lenders and brokers usually suggest
- Merchant trade accounts are often the first source of materials credit; a good payment record with your merchants also reads well to a lender.
- A revolving facility or short-term business loan can cover materials for several jobs at once, repaid as stage payments come in.
- Invoice finance can help on commercial work where you invoice a business customer; it's generally built around business-to-business invoices, so homeowner jobs usually sit outside it.
Why does a lender care whether your roofing work is domestic or commercial?
Because the two pay in completely different ways. Domestic work brings many small customers, deposits and quick payment but no statutory payment rights; commercial subcontracts bring bigger jobs, CIS deductions, the VAT reverse charge, applications for payment and often retentions. A lender wants to know your mix to understand your cash flow.
| Homeowner (domestic) work | Commercial and subcontract work | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get paid | Whatever your contract says: deposit, stage or on completion | Applications for payment and valuations; Construction Act right to stage payments on jobs of 45 days or more |
| Cancellation | Off-premises contracts normally carry a 14-day cancellation right | No consumer cancellation right; contract terms apply |
| CIS | Not the main issue for most homeowner jobs | Contractor deducts 20% (30% if unregistered) unless you have gross payment status |
| VAT (if you're VAT registered) | Normal VAT rules: you charge VAT and pay it over | Usually the domestic reverse charge: you don't receive the VAT |
| Retentions | Less common, but some customers hold back money until snagging is done | Often a percentage held back until completion and the end of the defects period |
| Customer risk | Many small customers, so one bad payer hurts less | Fewer, larger customers; a main contractor failing can hit hard |
Neither mix is "better". A lender just wants to see that you understand yours. A firm that's 90% domestic will be asked about lead flow and marketing; one that's 90% subcontract will be asked about its biggest contractors, their payment record and how much is held in retentions. If you're moving from one to the other (say, taking on your first big commercial package), tell the broker: it changes your cash flow even if turnover stays the same.
How does the VAT reverse charge affect a roofing company's cash flow?
On most subcontract roofing for a VAT- and CIS-registered contractor, you invoice without VAT and the contractor accounts for it. You still pay VAT on the materials you buy, so you can end up reclaiming VAT from HMRC rather than paying it, and the VAT you used to hold for a few weeks no longer arrives.
HMRC's guidance says the VAT domestic reverse charge applies to most building and construction services supplied between VAT-registered businesses and reported under CIS, from 1 March 2021. Constructing, altering, repairing and dismantling buildings and structures are all on HMRC's list, so most roofing subcontracts are caught. It doesn't apply where the customer is a private homeowner, or where a business customer tells you in writing that it's an end user (or an intermediary supplier), in which case normal VAT rules apply.
Why it matters more for roofers than for some trades
- You're a big materials buyer. On a supply-and-fix roofing package you pay VAT to your merchants but, under the reverse charge, receive no VAT from the contractor. HMRC's technical guide says the reverse charge may mean your business makes net repayment claims, and that you can apply to move to monthly VAT returns to get repayments sooner.
- You can't split materials out to avoid it. HMRC says a single supply-and-fix order under CIS is reverse charged on its full value even if you invoice supply and fix separately, and labour and materials shouldn't be separated to avoid it.
- Mixed firms swing. If you do both homeowner and subcontract work, some months you'll owe VAT (domestic jobs) and others you'll be due a repayment (subcontract jobs). Forecast it rather than being surprised by it.
Lenders reading your bank statements will see these swings, so a short note from you or your accountant explaining them helps. If a VAT bill from a strong domestic quarter is the problem, our VAT loans guide covers the options, including HMRC Time to Pay. Check your own position with your accountant.
How do lenders read a roofing company's uneven months?
They look at your trading over a longer period, not one bad month. Rain, wind and short winter days stop roofing work, and storms can create sudden surges of repair work. If you can show the same pattern repeating year after year, lenders can see it's seasonal rather than a business in trouble.
Few trades are as weather-exposed as roofing. Rain stops strip-outs, high winds ground MEWPs and make handling sheets dangerous, frost and damp delay some flat-roof systems, and daylight in December limits the working day. Then a storm hits and the phone doesn't stop, with emergency repairs that need materials and labour immediately.
From a lender's side, that produces bank statements with big gaps and spikes. What helps them read it properly:
- Show more than one winter. Two years of monthly turnover side by side shows a pattern; three months of statements from January shows a problem.
- Explain any spikes. A month boosted by storm repairs shouldn't be used as your normal income, and a good broker won't present it that way.
- Size payments for the quiet months. An agreement that's comfortable in July but tight in February is the wrong size. Some lenders offer seasonal or stepped payment profiles, depending on the lender and your circumstances.
- Keep your order book visible. Booked re-roofs for spring, maintenance contracts with landlords or facilities firms, and repeat commercial customers all show money coming once the weather turns.
Insurance and storm-damage work
Storm and leak repairs paid through a building insurance claim bring their own timing. The work may need a loss adjuster's approval before you start, the insurer's payment may be made to the policyholder or via a repair network on that network's terms, and the homeowner may owe you an excess. If insurance work is a big part of your income, tell the broker how and when it's paid, because it doesn't behave like either ordinary domestic or subcontract work.
Why do retentions bite harder on roofing jobs?
Roofs are one of the parts of a building where defects show up later, often in the first heavy rain or winter after completion, so contractors are cautious about releasing retention money on them. Track every retention, its release date and what has to happen to trigger it, and don't count it as cash until it's paid.
On commercial packages a contractor may hold back part of each payment as a retention, with some released at completion and the rest at the end of the defects period. For roofing, a few things make that money slower and less certain:
- Leaks appear late. A roof can pass inspection in a dry summer and show a problem in the first storm, so the defects period effectively runs until the roof has seen bad weather.
- You're often an early finisher. A roofer may finish months before the building is handed over, but the retention release can be tied to the main contract's completion, not yours.
- Manufacturer guarantees and sign-offs. Single-ply and other systems can need inspections or paperwork before a guarantee is issued, and a contractor may hold money until it's received.
Keep a simple retentions register (job, amount, release trigger, expected date) and chase each one when it falls due. Lenders tend to discount retentions heavily or ignore them when working out what you can borrow, because they aren't yet payable and can be disputed, so a business carrying a lot of retentions usually needs to plan its working capital without them.
Should a roofing company finance a tipper rather than pay for skips?
Some do. Strip-out waste (old tiles, slates, felt and timber) is a constant cost, and a tipper can replace a lot of skip hire. But if your business transports waste it must register as a waste carrier, and a heavier tipper can need an operator's licence, so add those to the sums before you finance one.
Every re-roof produces a load of waste, and skips need space, permits if they sit on the road, and collection on someone else's timetable. A tipper van or truck lets a crew strip and clear the same day. Before financing one:
- Waste carrier registration. GOV.UK says you must register if your business transports waste. In England that's with the Environment Agency, and registration is usually free if you only carry waste you produce yourself; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own processes.
- Weight. A goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes used for your business usually needs an operator's licence, with money available as financial standing. Our financial standing calculator shows the figure.
- Disposal costs don't disappear. You still pay to tip the waste; you're mainly saving skip hire and gaining control of timing.
Tippers are straightforward for lenders to fund, so the question is less "can I get finance" and more "does the saving cover the payments plus the running costs".
What will a broker ask a roofing company for?
Your accounts and recent bank statements, as with any business, plus roofing-specific detail: your split of domestic, commercial and insurance work, CIS and VAT status, your biggest customers, retentions owed, and for equipment, quotes and examination records.
- Your company: Companies House number, how long you've traded, and director details for the lender's checks.
- Your figures: recent accounts and management figures, business bank statements, and ideally two years of monthly turnover to show your seasonal pattern.
- Your work mix: roughly what share is homeowner, commercial subcontract and insurance work, your main contractors and how quickly they pay, and retentions currently held.
- Tax position: CIS status (gross or net), whether you're VAT registered and whether you're usually in a repayment position under the reverse charge.
- What you're buying: supplier quotes or invoices; for used MEWPs and hoists the serial numbers, hours and examination reports; for vans the registration and mileage.
Having it ready won't decide the outcome (every lender makes its own decision, subject to status and its own checks), but it saves time and shows you know your numbers.
Related guides
Roofing finance: frequently asked questions
What is roofing finance?
Roofing finance is business finance for roofing companies: funding vans, access equipment such as hoists and MEWPs, flat-roof and single-ply kit, and the working capital to buy materials before customers pay. It isn't consumer finance for homeowners paying for a new roof.
I'm a homeowner. Can you help me pay for a new roof?
No. This site is about finance for businesses, and our enquiry service is for limited companies and LLPs. Consumer finance for home improvements is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority; you can check any firm offering it on the FCA's Financial Services Register.
Can a roofing company finance a cherry picker or MEWP?
Often, yes. MEWPs are identifiable, have serial numbers and a second-hand market, which lenders like. Expect questions about how much the platform will be used, and remember that equipment for lifting people needs a thorough examination at least every 6 months under LOLER. Finance is subject to status and the lender's checks.
Is it better to buy or hire access equipment for roofing?
It depends on use. If a hoist or platform would be on site most working weeks, owning can make sense; if it's needed for a few jobs a year, hiring in usually keeps costs and borrowing down, and the hire firm handles examinations and repairs.
Can I get finance to buy roofing materials?
Materials aren't usually funded with asset finance, because they're used up on the job. Roofers more often use merchant trade accounts, a revolving facility or short-term business loan, or invoice finance on commercial work.
Do homeowners have to make stage payments on a re-roof?
There's no statutory right to stage payments on a contract with a homeowner for work on the home they live in: the Construction Act excludes those contracts. Payments depend on the terms you agree, so set out deposits and stages clearly in your contract.
Can a homeowner cancel after paying a deposit?
If the contract was made at their home, the Consumer Contracts Regulations normally give them 14 days to cancel a service contract. If they asked you in writing to start sooner and then cancel, they normally pay a proportionate amount for the work done. Take legal advice on your own terms.
Does the VAT reverse charge apply to roofing?
For most subcontract roofing work supplied to a VAT- and CIS-registered contractor, yes, unless the customer tells you in writing that it's an end user or intermediary supplier. It doesn't apply to work for private homeowners. Check your position with your accountant.
How do lenders view winter dips in a roofing business?
Most look at your trading over a longer period. Showing two or more years of monthly turnover, so the winter dip and spring recovery repeat, helps a lender see a seasonal pattern rather than a decline.
Do you lend the money?
No. We are an independent guide and introducer, not a lender or a broker. With your consent we pass your enquiry to one specialist commercial finance broker from our partners. Any finance is subject to status and the lender's checks, and we may be paid for the introduction.
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources on 12 November 2026:
- legislation.gov.uk: LOLER 1998, regulation 9
- legislation.gov.uk: Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 106
- legislation.gov.uk: Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 109
- legislation.gov.uk: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 36
- GOV.UK: When you must use the VAT domestic reverse charge for building and construction services
- GOV.UK: VAT domestic reverse charge technical guide
- GOV.UK: What you must do as a CIS subcontractor
- GOV.UK: Register or renew as a waste carrier, broker or dealer (England)
- GOV.UK: Goods vehicle operator licensing guide