Standing Seam Roof Costs 2024

[Chris D]

Hi There, 

 

I'm getting prices from various suppliers for a standing seam metal roof and some cladding (~300m2 on the roof) and trying to keep costs as sensible as possible. 

 

Do people have any suggestions on the cheapest options for both the materials (though hoping I have some ok prices thus far) but more importantly on the fitting cost? 

 

I've had one person quote 3 times the material cost for fitting and not sure where to start and if that's just high labour rates or if some material options are much quicker to fit and therefore in total cheaper even if materials are more expensive? 

 

thanks in advance for any help or guidance

[saveasteading]

17 minutes ago, Chris D said:

3 times the material cost for fitting

That seems a lot, especially for an expensive product.  The cost is simply a matter of time and rates, plus some element of risk for the contractor if he damages a more expensive product.

I'm out of touch but I'd hope to do it for a similar rate to the material cost.

When shown the costs and finished products they decided that they didn't mind screws after all.

But I can se the attraction.

 

so will it take 10 days say?   10 x 4 workers x £250 , then plus 40% for oncosts and margins. £14k already. Add scaffolding?

 

I've done maybe 100,000m2 of cladding but never standing seam. No client selected it when given the options. I'm wondering if it is a sellers' market.

You could ask the contractor if he knows an equivalent product that is easier to handle, as standing seam cladding products have some variation in quality and fixing methods.

[JohnMo]

We did Sarnafil with standing seams. All welded together.

[IanR]

2 hours ago, Chris D said:

I've had one person quote 3 times the material cost for fitting and not sure where to start and if that's just high labour rates or if some material options are much quicker to fit and therefore in total cheaper even if materials are more expensive? 

 

Have you looked at rooves in the different materials? Apart from the colours, can you see the difference in finish? are you particularly after one finish over another or does that not matter so much to you?

 

Traditional Standing Seam is a made out of a ductile material (Zinc, Copper, or a modern version being Aluminium) where the material is delivered on a coil and formed on site. The ductile nature allows for upstands, flashings, verges etc. to all be hand created on site, in the same material, with relatively simple tools. More labour tends to be required for the instal. While the material arrives on a coil and has not been "processed" it can be the cheapest way of purchasing that material, however Copper and Zinc are expensive materials to purchase even in a coil format.

 

Less ductile materials such as mild steel and stainless are preformed off-site, into "trays", and mild steel needs to be pre-coated for corrosion protection. That processing increases the cost a little, and likely the shipping costs increase as well, but mild-steel is the cheapest sheet material and the processing into trays brings it up to a similar price as the aluminium on a coil.

 

The less ductile materials will require flashing kits for upstands, verges etc. If you are using a standard Velux roof light, there may be a specific flashing kits for that window, in the same material, but if there's not, or you are using less ubiquitous roof lights, then you'll likely need to introduce a different material for flashings as they not able to be formed on site out of the same material.

 

Copper, Zinc and Stainless don't require pre-coating. Coper and Zinc will oxidise over time, changing their colour. While aluminium doesn't require coating for corrosion protection it is coated as the oxidation occurs in a streaky, blotchy manner.

 

I went with Aluminium as I wanted the traditional standing seam look and pricewise it was cheaper than some mild steels, but more expensive than others. It was much cheaper than Zinc and I didn't entertain Copper.

[saveasteading]

10 minutes ago, IanR said:

mild steel needs to be pre-coated for corrosion protection

As does high tensile cladding. The coating itself is not expensive as it is dipped on both sides as the coil passes a bath of the stuff or sometimes sprayed, but very quickly, and is re-coiled.

I recall it is about £2/m2 more than an upmarket galvanised finish.

Then standing seam adds another £10/m2 plain or coloured.

This may only apply to my once preferred suppliers so I'd be glad of updates and corrections.

Standing seam preformed takes up a lot of lorry space as it doesn't stack.

It's pretty well impossible to repair or patch neatly , so I wouldn't have it near trees where a branch might fall.

 

 

[Kelvin]

Ours is galvanised and coated steel and was all formed on-site as were all the flashings. In fact every part of the roof was made on-site from the coils. It is beautiful but I wouldn’t have it anywhere where it could easily get damaged. It took three guys seven days to do a roof smaller than yours. 

[Mr Blobby]

3 hours ago, Chris D said:

I'm getting prices from various suppliers for a standing seam metal roof and some cladding (~300m2 on the roof)

 

We got prefalz aluminium standing seam and would definetely do it again.  At 200 m2 its not cheap but it does look amazing, despite some crapness from the installers. 

Aluminium gives colour options to match windows and gutters if that's your thing.

 

A couple of things to think about with standing seam.  Firstly, the roof buildup costs a bit more before the standing seam beacuse sarking boards need to be laid under the metal.

 

Also, maybe consider narrower seams.  We asked for 400 centres instead of the standard 600 centres.  This costs a little more because of the extra labour required but looks, I think, awesome, and supposedly reduces canning.  Time will tell if canning is actually reduced. 

 

Closer seams also gave us more options to attach pv panels with S5 clamps and repeated nicely across the panels.  On the back of the house of course, where they don't spoil the look of the roof.

 

Edited April 23 by Mr Blobby

[SimonD]

3 hours ago, Chris D said:

but more importantly on the fitting cost? 

 

It completely depends on the roof and the required detailing. Installing a traditional standing seam roof is very labour intensive because everything is literally made by hand from a coil. Your other option is to follow the path of quite a few on this site where they've bought the prefab versions that are delivered ready profiled on a lorry and some of which you can then diy after a little training.

 

There's also the company Metal Solutions that can supply all the types of Standing Seam but also have a prefab service, so worth getting in touch with them.

[nod]

There’s three guy from Bolton that do quite a few of the jobs that I’m on 

No boots No PPE They rock up in two beat up old estate cars Both pulling trailers 

they make a cracking job and are very quick 

Book by it’s cover 

[Mr Punter]

I have had Kalzip -type standing seam in the past.  I think ours was Rigidal.  It is ali sheets and they fix tall halters to the deck, mineral wool then the sheets go on and they use a machine to zip them together and to the halters.  It is a bit like walking a dog along the roof.  You can use the machine to unzip as well should it be required.

[Chris D]

really helpful, thanks all, much appreciated. will take a look at the options above. Notifications weren't working hence the delay in reply.