The roof is the line on most of our reports that moves the price. It is also the one buyers most often guess at. Below are real figures from roofs we inspected and priced in 2025 and 2026, from a small terraced house in Porto to a manor house in the Viseu hills, so you can see where your roof is likely to land.
What we actually priced
- Small terraced house, Porto, about 25 m² of roof: strip tiles and battens, check the rafters, relay clay tile on new battens. €8,500–13,500.
- Detached house, Porto, about 150 m²: strip and relay over new sarking and battens, with flashings, gutters and downpipes. €9,000–14,000 for the re-covering alone.
- Three-storey townhouse, Porto, about 95 m², with woodworm in all three hip beams: full rebuild €40,500 including a 10% contingency. Patching the worst members came to €28,800.
- Granite farmhouse, Porto district, tiles straight on the battens with no membrane: strip, counter-batten, mineral wool between and over the rafters, new telha lusa. €24,000–34,000, plus €2,500–5,000 provisional for timber found once it’s open.
- 1883 manor house, Viseu district, about 320 m²: €45,000–64,000 with membrane, counter-battens and insulation, or €27,000–38,000 as a retile on a membrane with no insulation. Scaffold for the job was another €10,000–16,000.
Where the money goes
On the Porto townhouse the full rebuild broke down roughly like this, per square metre of roof: new treated C24 structural timber about €95, clay tiles supplied and laid about €75, insulation between the rafters about €30, OSB sheathing about €22, counter-battens and battens about €14, a breathable membrane about €6. Then the fixed costs that don’t care how big the roof is: €4,500 of scaffold for eight weeks on a three-storey building, €1,200 for waste, around €2,800 for ridges, hips, valleys and flashings, and €1,500 for gutters and downpipes.
That last group is why small roofs look expensive per square metre. Scaffold, access, the street licence and the flashings cost much the same on a small roof as on one twice the size.
Patch or replace
On the townhouse the difference between patching and rebuilding was €11,700. For that you get a fully insulated roof with a membrane and no unknowns left in the structure. Patch it and you keep timber you can’t fully see into, and you may be opening it all up again within ten years. We recommended the rebuild. Where the structure is sound and the problem is the covering, a retile on a membrane is a fair middle option, as it was on the manor.
What pushes the price up
- Timber decay or woodworm found once the tiles are off. Always carry a provisional sum.
- Asbestos fibre-cement anywhere on the roof. See asbestos roofs in Portugal.
- Height and access: three storeys and a narrow street means more scaffold and a longer licence.
- Insulating at the same time. It adds cost, but it’s far cheaper now than later.
- Heritage or ARU rules on tiles and roof lines.
Before you buy
We don’t walk roofs. We inspect from the ground, the roof space and, where it’s needed, by drone (€290 + IVA). The report puts a cost range on the roof so you can take it into the negotiation. On an apartment the roof is shared, so read buying a top-floor flat as well. More background: why roofs in Portugal cost what they cost.
Figures are from our own inspection reports in 2025 and 2026, ex IVA, with names and addresses left out. Every house is different, so treat them as a guide to scale, not a quote.
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