A roof price means little until someone has looked at the roof. A quote worked out from a postcode and a guess can be wrong in either direction, and the gap tends to turn up halfway through the job. So the order here is simple: we look first, show you what we found, and only then write a figure down.
The quote form on this page, the phone and WhatsApp all lead to the same place. Pick whichever suits you. A short note about the leak, the slipped slates or the tired gutter is plenty to start with, and the rest comes out at the survey.
What you receive is one written total covering the work agreed. It is not a menu of options with a different figure against each, and if something unexpected turns up once the scaffold is up, any change to it is agreed with you before that work is done.
Before the visit
What helps us when you get in touch
You do not need roofing words. Say what is visible from inside the house: a stain on a bedroom ceiling, a drip in the loft after westerly rain, a gutter that overflows at one corner. If you can safely take photos from the ground, a couple of clear ones of the whole roof and of any slipped or missing pieces save a lot of guessing.
- The address, so we can think about access, scaffold position and the street outside.
- The type of building: terrace, semi, bungalow, flat, shop or a converted house with several flats.
- Whether the building is listed, or sits in a conservation area, if you happen to know. If you do not, we can help you find out.
- Anything urgent, for instance a ceiling that is dripping at this moment.
Please do not climb a ladder or go onto a roof to take pictures. A phone held at arm's length from an upstairs window is safer and usually enough.
On the day
What the survey looks at
The survey is a proper look, not a drive-by glance. On a pitched roof that means the slopes, the ridge and hips, the verges along the gable ends, the valleys, the flashings around chimneys and abutments, the gutters and the fascias. In the loft it means the underside of the covering, the timbers and any damp or daylight where there should be none.
A flat roof gets the same attention: the surface, the upstands where it meets a wall, the outlets, the edge trims and any ponding, meaning pools that linger on the surface once the rain has stopped.
Some problems turn out small. Three slipped tiles, or a flashing that has cracked along a chimney, call for a repair, and the quote says so. A full replacement goes on paper only when the roof really needs one.
Reading the paper
What a written quote should tell you
Whoever you ask, check that the document names the address, the work to be done and the materials in plain words, and that it says clearly if VAT and scaffold sit inside the total. It should also say how the work will be paid for and when it is expected to start. If anything is vague, ask for it to be written in before you agree.
Asking more than one trader is sensible, and our own page on what a roofing quote should include gives you a checklist to hold each one against. If you want to know how many to ask for, how many roofing quotes is worth a read first.
After you say yes
Your right to change your mind
If you sign at the house once the survey is done, the contract counts as off-premises, and consumer law gives you 14 days to cancel it. The exception is a repair you have specifically asked for as urgent, which is outside that right. Work should begin within those 14 days only when you request that in writing.
The detail is set out on the page about how to cancel a roofing contract. For rough numbers before you ask anyone, roofing costs in Margate shows typical UK ranges from published guides.
Send the details
Use the form, ring 01843 305243 or message on WhatsApp. Describe what you can see, where it is and whether water is coming in.
We survey the roof
Someone checks the roof from the ground, the loft and up on the slopes wherever that can be done safely, before any price is set.
You see what we saw
You receive photos of the roof itself, with the defects marked, so the reasoning behind the work is plain to follow.
One written total
The figure reaches you on paper, one amount for the job agreed. You decide in your own time, with no pressure to sign on the spot.