New-build roofs
Should you have a new-build roof inspected?
The short answer
Yes, it is worth having a new-build roof looked at, ideally well before the builder's defect period closes. New does not mean perfectly finished: ridge fixings, flashings, valleys and gutter falls are the details that get hurried on a development. An inspection gives you dated photographs and a clear verdict to send to the developer while the paperwork still lets you ask them to put things right.
What a roofer checks on a house that is only a year or two old, and why the warranty dates matter more than the roof's age.
Why a roof only a year or two old can still have faults
A development roof is built to a programme, often by several crews, and the details that take time are the ones most likely to be hurried. The ridge and hip fixings, the lead dressed into a chimney or a party wall, the valleys and the fall of the gutters rarely show from the front path. A badly fixed tile looks identical to a good one until the first strong gale lifts it.
Settling matters too. Timber moves as a new house dries out, mortar joints crack at the verge, and a gutter laid almost level holds a pool that spills over the front edge the first time rain comes hard. Faults like these are cheap to cure when they are caught early and costly after a whole winter of damp creeping into the walls and ceilings. That is the case for one early look at the roof, rather than waiting for a brown stain to spread across a bedroom ceiling.
What the survey looks at on a recently built roof
We start on the ground, then in the loft, then on the roof itself where access allows. On a recent roof the list is short and specific. Do the ridge and hip tiles have a mechanical fixing as well as their mortar bed? BS 5534 changed in 2014, and bedding alone no longer counts as enough. Is every tile or slate fixed the way the maker's data sheet asks? Does the lead round the chimney and abutments sit tight, with the upstands dressed and tucked in? Are the valleys clear, the verges neat and the gutters falling towards their outlets?
Inside, the loft comes next: the underlay, the eaves and the insulation. A chink of light that has no business being there, timber that feels damp, or a cold, clammy ceiling edge all point to a detailing or airflow fault, and our answer on checking roof ventilation explains what to look for yourself. Photographs of what we find, good and bad, come with the written quote.
Reading your warranty before you book anyone
Most new houses come with some form of cover from the builder or a warranty provider, and its terms decide what you do first. Find the paperwork and read three things: how long each kind of defect can be reported, who must be told, and whether the cover is affected if another roofer works on the house. Dates matter more than anything else here. A fault reported in month eleven is a claim; the same fault found a week after the cover ends is an argument.
Terms differ between providers and we have not seen yours, so the reading stays with you. What we can supply is a dated, photographed record of the roof in plain language, ready to attach to your report. If your cover lets you appoint your own contractor, send us the details and we will quote for the repair. If it does not, the same record still helps when you press the developer to act.
Putting a defect in front of the developer
Report it in writing, quickly and with evidence. Send the photographs, say exactly where on the roof the fault is, and quote your warranty or contract reference. Ask for a date by which you will hear back, keep every email, and note the date of any visit. A developer's site team often wants to see the fault before agreeing to it, so do not let a displaced tile or a damp patch of ceiling be tidied away before someone has looked.
Where a ceiling is already wet, say so plainly and ask for a temporary repair. Move furniture and electrics away, photograph the damage, and keep receipts if you pay for any emergency work yourself. Our page on the roof condition report shows what a written report should contain, which gives your complaint something firm to rest on.
Be specific about what you want. A request that names the left-hand slope, attaches three photographs and asks for a repair date is far harder to brush aside than a general note that the roof seems to leak somewhere.
When a new-build roof can safely be left alone
Not every new roof needs a visit. If the house is only months old, nothing leaks, the loft is dry and the gutters run clear in rain, a look from the ground with binoculars may be all you need before the defect period closes. Do it once on a dry day and once after heavy rain, and note any slipped tiles, stained fascias or damp patches on the walls beneath the gutters.
Book a proper inspection if you see a slipped or cracked tile, daylight in the loft, a brown ring on a ceiling, or moisture on the underside of the roof. Our hub on roof inspections and surveys lists what each kind of visit covers, and the answer on what a roof survey includes walks through the order of work. What a visit costs depends on the roof and how easily it can be reached, and we put our quote in writing once the visit is done.
Related questions
New-build roof worries
Does a new-build roof need its own survey if the house passed building control?
Building control checks the work against the regulations; it is not designed as a full snagging survey of every detail. A roofer's inspection looks at fixings, flashings and drainage the way a gale or a downpour would test them, and records them in photographs. Both are useful, and neither replaces the other.
Can a snagging list cover the roof surface?
It can, but snagging visits are often made from the pavement or the hallway, so ask whoever does yours exactly how the roof was checked. If nobody viewed the slopes, ridge and flashings from close up, a roofer's inspection fills that gap before your defect period runs out.