We price roofs by looking at them. Until someone has seen how the slates or tiles sit, how the edges and lead joints are wearing and what the loft timbers look like from inside, any figure is a guess, and guesses on roofs tend to grow. So every quote we write comes after a survey visit, and the visit comes with pictures of your house that let you check our reasoning for yourself.
Below is what is useful to send, how the visit goes, what ends up on the quote and what pushes the figure up or down on houses in Bognor Regis, its villages and the coast either side. If you would rather just talk it through, ring 01243 252373, message us on WhatsApp or fill in the enquiry form on this page.
What to send us before anyone climbs a ladder
A couple of lines will do. Anything extra simply helps us plan the visit and turn up with the right ladders and materials.
- Your postcode, which tells us which council and which highway authority cover the property.
- The symptom: a brown stain spreading on the landing ceiling, a tile sitting proud on the street side, water spilling over the gutter by the downpipe, a green coat of moss thickening on the shady slope.
- The timing: since when, and whether it shows only when rain is driven sideways off the sea or in every shower.
- The house: bungalow, chalet bungalow with dormers, 1930s semi, seafront terrace, a flat-roofed kitchen extension or a garage.
- Pictures from the garden, from across the road or out of an upstairs window. Keep your feet on the ground to take them; a phone zoom does the job.
If you know the house is listed, or that the street is a conservation area, say so. The same goes for an insurer you have already rung. You can book without any of this; it just shortens the visit.
How the survey visit runs on the day
We fix a time that suits you. Then we work from the outside in: ground level first, a ladder where the footing allows, and the loft hatch if you are happy for us to go up.
Outside, our eyes go to the ridge (the row of capping pieces where the two main slopes meet at the top), the verges (the finished edges at each gable end), any hips and valleys (the outward and inward corners formed where slopes join) and the flashings (the dressed strips, normally lead, sealing roof to wall or roof to chimney). We also check the gutters, the fascias (eaves boards that the gutter brackets screw into) and the soffits (the boards closing the underside of the eaves).
Up in the loft we look for pinpricks of daylight, darkened or wet timber, underlay (the breathable or felt sheet lying beneath the tiles) that has torn or sagged, and tide marks along the rafters showing where water has run. Anything that bears on the verdict is captured on camera and sent to you, so the evidence sits with you and not only in our notebook.
You hear our verdict before you see a price
The money conversation waits until we have told you what the roof needs and why. Nearly always that comes down to one of three calls: mend it, make it good for another season or two, or start again with a new covering. We point you to the least work that will genuinely cure the fault.
Loose tiles after a blow, one cracked ridge piece or a lifting chimney flashing is roof repair territory, and that is what we will price. When the battens (thin timber rails nailed across the rafters, holding each tile) have gone soft across a whole slope, or the tiles themselves are spent, patching only postpones the bill, and we will tell you that too, then explain what roof replacement would mean for your house: how long it takes, what it disturbs and how a different covering would look from the street.
Sometimes the roof sits on the line between the two. Then we set out both routes side by side and you choose; the pictures make the trade-off easy to follow.
What the written quote sets down
Following the survey, you receive a written quote showing one total. Our prices are good and fair, and that total is what we hold to unless lifting the old covering reveals something no one could have seen from outside; if that happens we pause, show you, and agree the change before anything else is done.
The words around the figure matter as much as the figure. They describe which part of the roof we are working on, the covering and fixings going on, the way we will get up there, and the tidy-up, with every bit of waste loaded and removed when we leave. They also state plainly whether VAT and any scaffolding are inside the total.
If the job is notifiable under the Building Regulations, the quote flags it and we deal with building control for you. If planning could come into it, such as a listed building or a new covering in a conservation area, we tell you which consent might apply and who decides. Your right to cancel is written into the paperwork as well.
Things that move the price on a Bognor roof
No two roofs cost the same, yet the reasons usually come from a short list.
Getting up there
Plenty of single-storey homes in Aldwick or Rose Green can be done off ladders and hook-on roof ladders. A tall terrace close to the front generally means a scaffold, and once that scaffold stands on the footway it needs a licence under the Highways Act, issued by the highway authority. West Sussex County Council wants a minimum of 10 working days' notice and charges £266 for one month, so the application needs to go in early.
What the roof is covered in
Natural slate is dearer to buy and slower to fix than concrete interlocking tiles. Clay plain tiles fall in between, varying with the tile chosen and the pitch.
Hidden timber
Soft battens, crumbling underlay or a cracked rafter only reveal themselves when the covering comes off. Should that happen, you see the pictures and we agree the next step together.
Our roofing costs page lists our guide prices next to published national ranges.
Your right to cancel once you have said yes
Agree a job with us in your own home, say at the kitchen table after the survey, and the law gives you 14 days to change your mind with no reason needed. The clock starts on the day you agree the contract, and the cancellation details are handed to you in writing.
We begin inside that fortnight only when you ask us to, in writing. For a roof that is not letting water in, there is seldom any need to: two weeks to reread the paperwork, talk it over at home and gather other prices costs a sound roof nothing.
Emergencies follow a separate rule. When you call us out specifically for an urgent repair, for example to stop water coming through after a gale, the cancellation rules do not cover that visit. Anything further we suggest while on site, over and above the urgent fix, does still fall under them. The full picture is in our answer on cancelling a roofing contract.
Weighing up quotes from more than one roofer
On anything bigger than a small repair, asking two or three firms is common sense, and we are happy to be one of them. What matters is that everyone is pricing the same job. One firm might have a full re-roof in mind while another plans a repair; one figure might carry scaffolding and VAT and another not.
So ask each roofer for a written figure given after they have seen the roof, a clear statement on VAT and scaffolding, and a name for whoever will deal with building control on notifiable work. A doorstep price offered the morning after a storm, with a push to sign there and then, is your cue to step back.
Two of our answers go further: how many roofing quotes to get, and why roofing quotes vary so widely for roofs that look alike.
Questions
Before you ask us for a roofing quote
Can you give me a rough idea of the price over the phone before a visit?
On the phone we can say what kind of job it sounds like and send you to our guide prices, which show the spread for repairs, flat roofs, pitched roofs, chimneys and roofline work. Pinning down your own figure needs someone on site, since reaching the roof, the material on it and the soundness of the timber all shift it. The written figure comes once we have surveyed.
Do I need to be in when you survey the roof?
Being there helps, mostly so we can see the loft and walk you through what we spot. If you are out, we can normally check the outside with your say-so, email the pictures and our verdict afterwards, and come back for the inside if the loft would change the answer.
Should I speak to my insurer before asking for a roofing quote after storm damage?
Which? says to contact your insurer quickly after damage, to file away the receipt whenever you pay someone for emergency work, and not to throw damaged things away unless they are a hazard. Our first job on a leak is stopping the water; after that we can supply pictures and a written quote for you to forward. Paying out is the insurer's decision under your policy.