Help - dodgy builder and my flat roof

Yazza

Hi
I don't know if this is the correct place for this kind of query, but it seemed the most logical. Around 18 months ago we decided to do the first major bit of work on our newly bought house. The flat roof we knew (from the surveyor's report) needed re-doing, so I asked my dad if he knew anyone and he got details of someone from a friend. He seemed nice enough, and he got to work.
We have one fairly large flat roof, which covers the garage at the side of our semi, extends to connect to the main building (covering the "passageway to the garden") and also extends to cover part of our kitchen extension (back end of the garage).
That was re-felted, and we also had new plastic gutters fitted, and new plastic fascias. The laths on the roof were also replaced (and some broken tiles). Anyway, it was a lot of work, and cost a lot (even more so as we had just moved in after getting married).
When dad inspected it he seemed to think it was a bit untidy at best, so he got another friend (someone who has been a roofer for a long time, but doesn't do flat roofs) to inspect and he confirmed there was a lot of shoddy worksmanship.
We were disappointed, but didn't think at the time there was anything that could be done, as money had exchanged hands and besides we couldn't afford any further work.
That was in the summer, and a few months later in winter after some heavy rain I noticed a very small leak in the extended kitchen, coming from where the flat roof meets the original building. Apparently the wrong type of lead lining had been used. Anyway, as a quick fix we painted some Ronseal 10 Year Roof Seal on all the cracks/joins and that stopped the leak...
We've since had a lot of work done inside the house, but yesterday I noticed another leak from the flat roof, this time where it meets the main house underneath the "passageway". The passageway already had some plaster falling away from the ceiling from a long time ago, but now there is at least one new "bulge" where the water is dripping through.

What are my rights legally? Surely I can expect for a newly laid flat roof to last longer than this without leaking? Can I get some kind of refund? Can I get another builder in and claim the money back from builder #1? Can I claim anything under the home insurance?
I know this was a bit long but I thought I'd give as much info as possible. Please help. Thank you.

ormus

the first thing to do is ask the first roofer to correct any faults due to bad workmanship.
you cannot get the job done elsewhere and then ask him to pay up, at this stage. that comes much later.

as for the property insurance, very unlikely. its a maintenance problem.
not only that, also the repair job would probably cost about the same as your excess.

docmatt

Can you post loads of pictures of the roof on here?

Tell roofer number one that you are to seek out the services of a roofing inspector/surveyor to report on the work in question and any rectification work will be contracted out to a qualified flat roofer and the bill sent to roofer number one via a solicitor. Give roofer number one a chance to rectify the work first.

Where do you live?

Yazza

Sorry for the late reply folks, but been very busy at work. Just an update, I've spoken to my dad and he only has the mobile number of the builder, and on the "warranty/certificate" we got for the work done it just has his company name. Dad doesn't think he can find out the address and is very insistant that pursuing him will be more or less a dead end and won't be worth the hassle. Dad's point is that we painted the Ronseal onto the joins, and it did the job, and that now it just needs another coat. This is a quick fix in my eyes, surely that's not the expected maintenance you have to do on a flat roof every 12 months or less? Dad also says he wouldn't let that guy anywhere near this house again anyway, after the quality of the previous job.
Anyway, I might get another person in (hopefully a proper roofer this time) to give a quote on how much it would cost to get it "done properly". We get three little advert magazines posted every so often with local builders/companies advertised, I'll just go by the size of the advert!
I live in Leicester by the way. I haven't taken any photos of the flat roof at all, I have some of the very small leak from inside the kitchen. I can take some this weekend I guess.

docmatt

A new roof should last at least 15 years with todays modern felts.

Don't go for the biggest advert, the !!!!!! always have loads of spare cash left over as the rest of us pay our tax and insurances so they stick a huge advert in a magazine.

EPDM is the way forward these days, a one sheet blanket of rubber, no joins, no seams.

Like this company who did mine , but they Birmingham only

http://www.mwroofline.co.uk/epdm.php

Try and get a trust mark approved contractor so you get an insuranced backed guarantee

http://www.trustmark.org.uk/

Good luck