Neighbors roofers have been messing with my roof!

Flatulentoldgoat

Help!

I share a flat roof with the adjoining terrace. A few weeks ago I had all the felt replaced and resealed. Been happy with the work so far.

Now, my neighbor is having his roof worked on as well. As I go out, his roofers beckon me up to show me how badly my roof has been repaired.

So I go up, and one of them pulls out his phone showing them blasting blowers under my felting which they've lifted off intentionally.

I'm in a mild state of shock but I feel I need to take evidence of what's going on. What the hell should I do? If I can take my neighbor to court I will but their roofers were particularly unsavoury and I doubt I'd get anything off them even if I did bring a hypothetical case on them and win.

AskAsk

i really think the roofing industry needs to be regulated as there are too many rogue traders operating in this area.  having come across a very bad roofer recently I really have a vengeance for this industry.

you should raise the issue with your neighbour, but it may be best to leave that until the roof work has been completed as the roofers could intentionally damage your roof further and it would be difficutl to prove that they did it.

the likelihood is that to repair the neighbour's roof, they had to lift yours and they were using the excuse of yours having been done very badly so that they would not be blamed.  they could also damage your roof intentionally while they had access to get more work.

Swasterix

AskAsk said:

the likelihood is that to repair the neighbour's roof, they had to lift yours and they were using the excuse of yours having been done very badly so that they would not be blamed.  they could also damage your roof intentionally while they had access to get more work.

And how did you come to that conclusion? It’s not out of the realms of possibility that OPs roofers did a terrible job and their neighbours roofers were kind enough to bring it to their attention. Given your opinion of roofers (I’m assuming formed after a single interaction) then perhaps they are both cowboys? Possibly neither of them are. Reality is that you’ve made an assumption based on little information which really isn’t helpful

My advice to the OP would be to get her contractor back round while the neighbours contractors are still there (if possible) to discuss how to move forward. 

Flatulentoldgoat

Both answers are right, I'm being incredibly careful not to get too involved and risk aggravating the situation even though I'm fuming. My neighbours builders DO not strike me as professionals, are rough characters, rough traders. They were happy shoving stuff into my roof to make their point in front of me after all!

My roofer is a member of the confederation of roofing contractors, the neighbors are just regular builders with very little online presence and a company that's long over due a confirmation state. It doesn't look good and I'm going to try and get my roofer back. I'm sure they won't know who he is and I want to get him up there in his scaffolding.

This is really messing with my mental state.

Can insurance help? Would reckless damage to my roof be my neighbors liability or his contractor.

I am convinced I wouldn't get a penny out of my neighbors roofers if it went legal and I won, whereas my neighbor at least has an old banger, untaxed and driven...

FreeBear

Flatulentoldgoat said: Can insurance help? Would reckless damage to my roof be my neighbors liability or his contractor.

If you have legal cover with your household insurance, they would most certainly be able to help.

The dispute would be with the neighbour as they are the ones responsible for the actions of their contractors (in my opinion). If it did go to court, you could name both the contractors and the neighbour on the paperwork and then you'd have a choice of which one to go after when (if) you won.

Old bangers are hardly worth scrapping as you have to pay for disposal of tyres. His house would be a far more valuable asset to go after.

Swasterix

Just because they are rough, does not mean they are not professional. Some of the best tradespeople I’ve dealt with have been a little rough around the edges! Just because your guy is a member of a professional body, doesn’t mean he’s not a cowboy (I’m not suggesting he is either). 

You’re right in not confronting your neighbours roofers. It won’t achieve anything. You’re not a professional and are not qualified to assess who is at fault. If anyone is to confront them, it should be your roofer. 

I understand it’s stressful, but you’re maybe getting ahead of yourself with talk of court cases and insurance claims. Get your roofer back round as a matter of urgency. See what he has to say and take it from there. 

AskAsk

Swasterix said:

AskAsk said:

the likelihood is that to repair the neighbour's roof, they had to lift yours and they were using the excuse of yours having been done very badly so that they would not be blamed.  they could also damage your roof intentionally while they had access to get more work.

And how did you come to that conclusion? It’s not out of the realms of possibility that OPs roofers did a terrible job and their neighbours roofers were kind enough to bring it to their attention. Given your opinion of roofers (I’m assuming formed after a single interaction) then perhaps they are both cowboys? Possibly neither of them are. Reality is that you’ve made an assumption based on little information which really isn’t helpful

My advice to the OP would be to get her contractor back round while the neighbours contractors are still there (if possible) to discuss how to move forward. 

i have had a run in with a few roofers over time and they come across to me as the most dishonest of all the trades.  because they work high up, it is easy for them to cause damage and you won't have any proof that they did it unless you had photos of your roof just before they started work.

even when they do cause damage, you could not easily climb on to the roof and inspect the damage yourself.  most likely you won't notice the damage until leaks start to come into your property.

i had a roofer out to give me a quote some years ago and when i said to him that i would let him know if i would like to proceed with his quote, he says that i would need to pay him £50 for the call out charge as the quote was not free.  when i refused to do so because he never said that there was a charge for the quote, he threatened to cause damage to the roof if i did not pay him the call out charge.

i called his bluff and said to him that if he goes ahead and cause damage i will be take him to court for the damage.  he said fine, i will smash the tiles on your roof and put the phone down.  he never actually did it, but this is the sort of behaviour that i have come across from roofers, which i have not come across in any other trade.

it may be that i have been unlucky but i use tradesmen very often and the dishonest and threatening tradesmen that i have come across are the roofers.

i had a terrible run with a roofer recently and he caused damage to the neighbour's roof and pointed it out to the neighbour and asked if they would like him to repair their roof as well.  i had taken photos of the roof before he did the work and that showed the neighbour's roof undamaged.  i told him that the damage was not there before he started.  as i had photo evidence, he repaired the damage for the neighbour.

it was obvious to me that he deliberately caused the damage as he took a tile out of the neighbour's roof that was there in the photo.

Swasterix

AskAsk said:

Swasterix said:

AskAsk said:

the likelihood is that to repair the neighbour's roof, they had to lift yours and they were using the excuse of yours having been done very badly so that they would not be blamed.  they could also damage your roof intentionally while they had access to get more work.

And how did you come to that conclusion? It’s not out of the realms of possibility that OPs roofers did a terrible job and their neighbours roofers were kind enough to bring it to their attention. Given your opinion of roofers (I’m assuming formed after a single interaction) then perhaps they are both cowboys? Possibly neither of them are. Reality is that you’ve made an assumption based on little information which really isn’t helpful

My advice to the OP would be to get her contractor back round while the neighbours contractors are still there (if possible) to discuss how to move forward. 

i have had a run in with a few roofers over time and they come across to me as the most dishonest of all the trades.  because they work high up, it is easy for them to cause damage and you won't have any proof that they did it unless you had photos of your roof just before they started work.

even when they do cause damage, you could not easily climb on to the roof and inspect the damage yourself.  most likely you won't notice the damage until leaks start to come into your property.

i had a roofer out to give me a quote some years ago and when i said to him that i would let him know if i would like to proceed with his quote, he says that i would need to pay him £50 for the call out charge as the quote was not free.  when i refused to do so because he never said that there was a charge for the quote, he threatened to cause damage to the roof if i did not pay him the call out charge.

i called his bluff and said to him that if he goes ahead and cause damage i will be take him to court for the damage.  he said fine, i will smash the tiles on your roof and put the phone down.  he never actually did it, but this is the sort of behaviour that i have come across from roofers, which i have not come across in any other trade.

it may be that i have been unlucky but i use tradesmen very often and the dishonest and threatening tradesmen that i have come across are the roofers.

i had a terrible run with a roofer recently and he caused damage to the neighbour's roof and pointed it out to the neighbour and asked if they would like him to repair their roof as well.  i had taken photos of the roof before he did the work and that showed the neighbour's roof undamaged.  i told him that the damage was not there before he started.  as i had photo evidence, he repaired the damage for the neighbour.

it was obvious to me that he deliberately caused the damage as he took a tile out of the neighbour's roof that was there in the 

This doesn’t detract from the fact that your reply was full of assumption and really wasn’t very helpful to the OP. 

As sad as it is, there are bad apples amongst all of the trades. 

It can be very difficult to find good tradespeople. But that is no reason to tar them all with the same brush.