How Much Does Roof Restoration Cost on the Northern Rivers? A 2026 Guide

What does a roof restoration actually include?

A roof restoration is a full clean, repair and recoat of a roof that is still structurally sound. It is not the same as painting a roof: painting is the last stage, and paint over an unrepaired roof just hides the problems until the next heavy rain.

A proper restoration on the Northern Rivers runs in six stages:

• Inspection, with every fault photographed so the quote lists repairs separately from coating.
• Cleaning: a high-pressure clean for tile roofs, and a low-pressure soft wash for Colorbond and other metal roofs so the coating is not stripped.
• Repairs: broken tiles replaced and ridge caps rebedded or repointed with flexible pointing on a tile roof; failed screws swapped for Class 4 (AS 3566) fixings and rust treated on a metal roof.
• Drainage: gutters and valleys cleared and checked, and rusted valley irons replaced.
• Coating: a primer or sealer matched to concrete tile, terracotta or metal, then two coats of a flexible roof membrane in the colour you choose.
• Finish: clean-up, a check of every coat, and a before-and-after photo report.

If a quote skips the inspection or the repair stage, or does not name the products going onto the roof, you are being quoted a paint job, not a restoration.

How much does a roof restoration cost on the Northern Rivers in 2026?

No published cost guide gives a Northern Rivers figure, and local roofers, ours included, quote restorations after an on-site inspection rather than listing a price. The national and NSW guides do agree on a range, and it is a sensible starting point from Lennox Head and Ballina to Byron Bay and Lismore.

Yakka Labour's October 2026 cost guide puts a full restoration with coating on a single-storey roof of 150 to 220 square metres at $4,500 to $11,000 including GST, tile or metal, which works out at roughly $25 to $50 a square metre. The Quote Yard's 2026 NSW guide gives $25 to $55 a square metre, $4,500 to $8,000 for a standard three-bedroom home and $3,000 to $8,000 for a Colorbond roof. Canstar, using hipages data, quotes $4,500 to $11,000 for a full tiled roof restoration, says small roofs can start around $2,500, and notes that large, complex roofs pass $20,000.

Two things move a quote more than anything else. The first is the repair bill before coating, which The Quote Yard puts at an extra $1,000 to $3,000, and more again if the ridges need full rebedding. The second is access: two-storey scaffold or edge protection adds anywhere from $500 to $5,000 depending on the guide and the house. A restoration is really three or four jobs rolled into one, so it helps to know what each stage costs on its own.

What it costs on the Northern Rivers, stage by stage

These are our own from-prices for the jobs that make up a restoration, from our published cost guide, and they are the same whether you book them one at a time or as a full restoration.

Tile roof pressure clean

from $1,000 for an average single-storey home

Colorbond soft wash

from $1,000

Tile repointing and rebedding

from $2,000

Metal roof re-screw with Class 4 fixings

from $2,000

Rust treatment

from $400

Broken tile replacement

from $300, plus $50 per extra tile

Gutter, valley and flashing repairs

from $300

Rusted valley replacement

from $500 per valley

Roof report

$249 standard, $399 pre-purchase or insurance

Add those up for a tile roof that needs a clean, a repoint and a few replacement tiles and you are at roughly $3,300 before any coating goes on. The sealer and two membrane coats are then priced on the roof's area (Yakka Labour's 2026 range is $15 to $30 a square metre for the coating stage) and quoted once the roof has been measured. Every price is confirmed on site before work starts.

What makes a coastal restoration cost more, or less?

Everywhere, price follows roof area, pitch, storeys, how many tiles or sheets are past saving, and the grade of coating. The Quote Yard notes that terracotta runs 15 to 25 per cent above concrete tile, steep or awkward roofs run 15 to 30 per cent above straightforward ones, and a budget coating is expected to last 5 to 8 years against 10 to 15 for a premium product. A cheap coating is a false economy on a roof that cops this much sun.

Near the ocean, three more things matter:

• Fixings. BlueScope's guidance is that Class 3 fasteners should not be used within 400 metres of the ocean or other severe marine influence, so a metal roof in Lennox Head, East Ballina, Skennars Head, Suffolk Park, Brunswick Heads or Evans Head gets Class 4 (AS 3566) screws as part of the restoration. They cost more than standard screws and are the wrong place to save.
• Salt. Salt that sits on sheets, screws and the undersides of gutters has to come off before any primer goes on, otherwise the coating fails early.
• Weather. Ballina Airport averages about 1,782 mm of rain a year, with February and March the wettest months, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Coatings need dry sheets and a dry day or two between coats, so the drier months from late autumn to spring are the easiest time to book, and a summer job can stretch out while we wait for weather.

Further inland, in Lismore, Goonellabah, Alstonville, Wollongbar and Bangalow, salt is less of a factor and the quote is driven mostly by the roof's size, pitch and condition.

Tile roof restoration or Colorbond restoration: what changes?

On a tile roof the money goes into the ridges and the tiles. Ridge caps are rebedded where the mortar has crumbled and repointed with flexible pointing, cracked and slipped tiles are replaced, valleys are cleared or replaced, and then the whole roof is sealed and coated. Concrete tiles take a coating well; terracotta is usually cleaned, repaired and repointed but left uncoated because the glaze is the finish, which makes it cheaper on coating and dearer on tile replacement.

On a Colorbond or other metal roof the money goes into the fixings, the rust and the flashings. Every screw is checked and failed ones replaced with Class 4 fixings, surface rust is treated, sheets that are rusted through are replaced (Yakka Labour's 2026 range is $80 to $150 a square metre for new sheets), and flashings and gutters are sealed or replaced. The manufacturer's published maintenance advice for COLORBOND steel is about washing salt off the areas rain does not reach, not recoating, so the coating stage on a metal roof is mainly for faded colour and extra UV protection. If the sheets are sound and the problem is screws, a re-screw from $2,000 is the whole fix and a restoration is overkill.

Restore, repair or replace: which one should you pay for?

A repair is enough when:

• The roof has one problem, such as a leaking valley, a run of failed screws, cracked pointing on a couple of ridges or a handful of broken tiles.
• The colour and surface are acceptable to you and the sheets or tiles are sound.
• You are selling soon and the roof is not holding the sale up.

A restoration makes sense when:

• The roof is structurally sound but has several problems at once: faded and chalky surface, failed pointing, scattered broken tiles or rusting screws, and dirty or mossy sheets.
• You plan to keep the house for years and want to reset the roof in one go rather than call someone out every storm season.
• A rebed-and-repoint or re-screw alone would still leave a surface that is wearing out.

Replacement is the better spend when:

• Metal sheets are rusted through in many places, not just at the screws.
• A large share of the tiles are cracked, soft or crumbling. The 2026 guides put the tipping point somewhere between a fifth and a third of the tiles needing replacement.
• The roof has had repeated patch repairs and still leaks.

For scale, Yakka Labour's 2026 guide puts a rebed-and-repoint on its own at $1,500 to $4,000, a full restoration at $4,500 to $11,000 and a replacement roof at $18,000 to $45,000. Restoring a roof that should have been replaced is money gone; replacing a roof that only needed repointing is money that could have stayed in your pocket.

How long does a restoration last near the coast, and is it worth it?

Nobody can promise a number of years on a coastal roof, so here are the guides and what shifts the result. The Quote Yard's NSW guide expects a budget coating to last 5 to 8 years and a premium one 10 to 15. Recycling Roof Tiles' 2026 NSW guide puts repointing at 5 to 15 years and cleaning and painting at 7 to 12. Those are Sydney-centric figures; salt spray, wind-driven rain and sun on the Northern Rivers all work against the top end, and the parts rain never washes wear fastest.

What makes a restoration last is mostly what happens afterwards. COLORBOND steel's maintenance advice is to hose down unwashed areas at least every six months and more often in coastal areas. Gutters kept clear stop water sitting on the coating. A yearly check, which is what our roof maintenance plans from $295 a year are for, catches a lifted ridge cap or a popped screw before it opens a leak through a surface you have just paid for.

Is it worth it? If the roof is sound, you are staying put and it has three or four problems at once, a restoration is usually cheaper than fixing them one by one over the next few years and far cheaper than a replacement. If the roof has one fault, you are about to sell, or the sheets are already rusted through, it usually is not, and we will say so.

What should a Northern Rivers restoration quote include?

Ask for:

• Repairs and coating itemised separately, with the number of tiles, metres of ridge and sheets allowed for, and the price of extras beyond that allowance.
• The product names for the sealer, membrane, pointing and fixings, and the fixing class for a metal roof.
• The roof area the price is based on, and how access, edge protection or scaffold is handled.
• The workmanship warranty in writing, plus the coating manufacturer's own warranty terms.
• Photos of the faults found at inspection, and a photo report at the end.

NSW law also sets some rules at these prices. A contractor needs a NSW licence for residential building work worth more than $5,000 including GST in labour and materials, which covers almost every restoration, and you can check a licence with the NSW Government's Verify Licence tool. Work over $5,000 needs a written contract, and over $20,000 a large job contract. The deposit cannot be more than 10 per cent of the contract price, and for jobs over $20,000 the contractor must hold home building compensation cover and give you the certificate before asking for any money.

Not sure you need the full job? Start with a roof report

The cheapest way to find out whether your roof needs a restoration, a repair or nothing at all is a roof report. For $249 ($399 for a pre-purchase or insurance report) you get a photographed inspection of every ridge, valley, screw line, flashing and gutter, a written list of what is wrong and what is fine, and a price for each item, within 48 hours. The fee is credited to repairs booked within 30 days.

Coastal Roofing Co restores and repairs tile and metal roofs across Lennox Head, Skennars Head, East Ballina, Ballina, Cumbalum, Byron Bay, Suffolk Park, Bangalow, Alstonville, Wollongbar, Lismore, Evans Head and Brunswick Heads, with 28 years in the trade, Class 4 coastal fixings as standard and a written workmanship warranty. Call 0412 483 911 or email office@coastalroofingrepairs.co to book a roof report or a free restoration quote.