Choosing a covering for a re-roof usually comes down to slate versus tile — and within tile, clay versus concrete. Each is a legitimate roof; the differences are lifespan, money, weight and looks, and they trade off predictably.
Lifespan
Slate wins outright: 80–100+ years for good natural slate, against 60+ for clay and 40–50 for concrete. Per year of roof, slate is arguably the cheapest covering there is — the catch being that you pay for the century up front. (Full numbers in how long does a roof last.)
Cost
Installed cost runs concrete → clay → slate, with slate\'s premium coming from both material and labour — each slate is individually holed and nailed, where interlocking tiles hang and clip at pace. Within slate, good Spanish costs materially less than Welsh and performs excellently; within tile, large interlocking concrete profiles are the value benchmark. See what drives roof cost for the rest of the picture.
Weight — the constraint people miss
Roof structures are sized for their covering. Slate is light; plain concrete tiles are heavy — nearly double in some pairings — and swapping in either direction isn't automatic. Heavier covering onto slate-era framing needs a structural check (it\'s a classic cause of sagging); lighter covering onto a tile roof is easier but changes fixings and details. Pitch constrains too: slate and plain tiles want steeper roofs than big interlocking profiles.
Appearance and the house's vote
The house usually has an opinion. A Victorian terrace re-roofed in concrete interlocking tile looks wrong from the street and reads as a downgrade at resale; an estate house re-roofed in slate can look equally out of place. Matching the street and the architecture is rarely the wrong call — and in conservation areas it may not be a choice at all.
Our honest defaults
Period house, budget allows: slate (or clay where that's the original language). Modern house, value focus: concrete tile without embarrassment. Undecided: we'll quote both ways — the comparison on your actual roof beats any article, including this one.