Roofing Merchant Trends: Pitched Roofing

Just under one in five specialist roofing merchants saw the market as quite stable with comments such as “roofing is roofing”, but the majority had very clear views of product trends. Aside from growth in flat roofing, the most mentioned general roofing trends were:

• Solar is growing – both solar panels and PV slates

• High demand for plain concrete tiles

• Liquid roofing and EPDM rubber roofs are increasing

• Roof window sales are up

• Many new products coming out for flat roofing

• Sales of whole roofing systems increasing

• Price competition is increasing

• Big focus on RMI work, with repair systems selling well

Some merchant quotes:

“We're looking at a lot of solar, there are a lot of solar enquiries and a lot of new manufacturers of Solr replica slates, there's a lot of push for that sort of thing similar to Europe.”

“Solar panels going up, both installed in the roofs and on the roofs as well.”

“One of biggest trends are roof windows because people can't afford to move so are renovating or upgrading what they've already got, staying where they are and doing loft conversions.”

“Because of time of year there are a lot more products coming out for repair systems for roofs rather than whole new roofing products, so remedial work products.”

The issues and problems named by the most respondents were lead times, product availability, squeezed margins and supplier price rises – in that order. Tougher competition, both at a local level from general merchants and from online suppliers, was also a major issue for branches.

Pitched Roofing Trends

A net +21% of roofing merchants are seeing sales increase for roof tiles and slates in 2026. Roof windows are also growing in terms of sales - a net +13% of roofing merchants are seeing an increase.

Over 50% of comments about pitched roofing centred around high demand, or the lack of availability and long lead times for concrete tiles. Merchants also mentioned customers switching to cheaper alternatives.

Many comments are related. Price increases have led to customers looking for lower cost alternatives to slate. Many mentioned that the resulting high demand for concrete tiles and supply shortages have led to higher sales of clay tiles or bigger tiles. There were also several mentions of brand switching.

“A lot more folk are going for concrete tile compared to the slate and alternatives because it's cheaper.”

“Concrete plain tiles are so hard to get hold of, a 52-week lead time.”

“Concrete tiles are few and far between, we can't get them, so are selling more clay tiles than concrete due to manufacturing issues.”

“There are supply issues with small tiles, which has led to a change from small tiles to big tiles.”

“There have been two losses in the market, two of the biggest sellers, causing a big hole and we're having to find comparable products. There is over a year waiting list on Marley concrete plain tile, and also the Forticrete Hardrow tile is no longer being made in our area. There are whole estates that have that tile and so that has caused a big hole in the market.”

“Darker colours, everything seems to be leaning towards black charcoal or a darker grey.”

"Selling more of Russell Bute3 as a replacement for concrete plain tiles.”

Several mentioned that darker colours are growing in popularity – black, grey or anthracite tiles, as well as fascias and soffits. Natural slate and reclaimed slate increasing in some areas. However, ‘slates growing’ and ‘slates declining’ received roughly the same number of mentions.

About the survey

The survey is part of a full roofing report: UK Roofing Systems Market: Supply Chain Focus 2026-2030 by MRA Building Market Reports. A nationally representative sample of 100 specialist roofing merchant branches is interviewed by telephone. The sample is balanced by region, type of business, and by national, regional and small independent merchants.