Am I being ripped off by my roofers?

AndrewC100

I have just purchased a house (a small 2 bed mid-terrace which has a roof with 4 pitches, one with slate tiles, the others with clay tiles, and a flat back roof over kitchen and bathroom). I knew the property needed some work done to it from a survey carried out, and this included some roof work. I had a roofer come to look at the roof. He went onto the roof to look around and then provided me a quote of £3,250 to:

• clean out and re-felt the valley
• redo the lead flashing on my half of 2 chimney's and fill in any missing pointing
• replace some broken tiles
• replace a single line of guttering
• recover the flat roof
• increase the size of one loft hatch

I was told it would take 3-4 days for 3 workmen and the quote included scaffolding.

The roofers showed up as arranged, but within 10 minutes of them being there, the boss who gave me the quote came to tell me some bad news. He said the tiles were just crumbling away and the 3 clay tile pitches needed replaced with new tiles, new membrane and battens (as the membrane and battens were rotten). He said it would cost a total of £7000 and would take until the following Tuesday with them also working on Saturday. I felt I had little choice but to agree to this.

They proceeded with the work and from later research I felt it was a little expensive. I also ended up speaking to an architect at the weekend (extended family member) who also felt it sounded a bit expensive.

They finished the work today (a day early) having not worked Saturday in the end, and they finished at lunchtime on Friday. Most of the time there was only 2 men on site, the boss disappeared for most of the work. And they used some ladders and a single scaffold tower on top of the flat roof, no full scaffolding.

I feel for certain I am being charged around £1-2k too much for this work. It's not a big roof and did not take as long as made out. Is there anything I can do to challenge this invoice?

The architect advised me to ask for a breakdown of costs, which I did, but all I received was a vague updated invoice with the costs for each bit of work, not the cost of materials etc. Any advice would be appreciated.

Warwick_Hunt

Given you've not got an itemised quote it maybe argued you agreed to £7000 for a new roof. As you've got a new roof they're due the £7000.

You can try and get some money off but knowing the reputation of roofers they may come back and strip the roof.

AndrewC100

Realise I may be stuck with it and I won't let things come to a bad end. But unhappy that he saw the roof beforehand and still only decided on the extra work once he'd started pulling the roof apart. At which point I couldn't really get other roofer quotes before proceeding. And then he gave me a very different impression of the amount of effort required.

LilElvis

AndrewC100 wrote: »

Realise I may be stuck with it and I won't let things come to a bad end. But unhappy that he saw the roof beforehand and still only decided on the extra work once he'd started pulling the roof apart. At which point I couldn't really get other roofer quotes before proceeding. And then he gave me a very different impression of the amount of effort required.

Did you get other quotes before you decided to choose this roofer? What work did they say needed doing? Were their quotes itemised?

AndrewC100

I had 4 roofers come to see the place. Two of them before completing the house purchase. The first showed up, looked at it and asked if I had a ladder. I thought what sort of roofer shows up without a ladder. Next roofer I had to chase to get them, he took a look around and I managed to push for a general verbal quote. The proper written quote never arrived despite chasing.
The third was the one I went with, he was the only one who went on the roof and sent a full quote a couple of days later. The final roofer sounded like he was going to do the minimum required, didn't go on the roof and never sent me a quote.

maninthestreet

How big was the flat roof?
Tiles crumbling? The ones on my roof are the original tiles, and the house is over 40 years old.

AndrewC100

I think about 6m by 2.5m.

He said the tiles were about 100 years old. The house was built about 1900. And he said they were the reason for the membrane underneath being rotten.

I realise I should have done more in the first place instead of now when the work is finished. But I possibly allowed the roofer to rush me into agreeing to a inflated price so just seeing if there's anything I would be wise to do before settling up.

Only been a homeowner a few weeks, making newbie mistakes.

Warwick_Hunt

AndrewC100 wrote: »

I think about 6m by 2.5m.

He said the tiles were about 100 years old. The house was built about 1900. And he said they were the reason for the membrane underneath being rotten.

I realise I should have done more in the first place instead of now when the work is finished. But I possibly allowed the roofer to rush me into agreeing to a inflated price so just seeing if there's anything I would be wise to do before settling up.

Only been a homeowner a few weeks, making newbie mistakes.

It was probably built without a membrane so it's either been reroofed or he's lying.

Sarastro

I don't think you've got much to stand on here, he told you price beforehand and you agreed it. But, you could appeal to the roofer's better nature and say fewer people were on site...didn't work Saturday...could do it cash....see if you get a bit of money off but wouldn't hold your breath. Maybe your architect friend could come and help you negotiate.

Hexidor

I've used My builder.com in the past. You might want to use it for any future jobs.

AndrewC100

So I discussed it at length by email with the roofer. He wasn't budging and refused to accept it was at all overpriced. He also refused to give a breakdown of the materials costs as he said he didn't have them.

He did take £120 off for one of the small jobs included, but not really what I was looking for. It was a mistake on my part to allow myself to be rushed into the decision. I should have challenged everything more in the first place and not let on that I had the money, which was meant for some other repair works required to the house and now put on hold.

He has been paid now, I had no intention of delaying payment unless there was a problem with the work carried out, as far as I can see, the job was done to a satisfactory level.

A very expensive lesson learnt as a new homeowner. I will be more prepared in future.