Choosing a roofer

ss2020jd

Hi I’ve been getting a couple of quotes from roofers for some work on a low level clay tiled roof at the back of the house and a small area of lead work and am due to get a third quote this weekend. 

The roofer we like the best so far is the most expensive (of course) and it seems to be the scaffolding cost that is over £1200 including vat for scaffolding to rear lower roof. I know things have gone up a lot but was expecting it to be more like half that for a small area on one side. The other quote I had didn’t break down the scaffolding cost. 

I’d rather go with the roofer that I liked and can see has done good local work with good reviews and I might be able to reduce the cost if I just replace the damaged tiles rather than all the felt and battens, unless they are in a bad state. He did say that could be an option. But if his scaffolding cost is over the top I’m not so sure.

The two quotes I have are coming in at £4800 and £6200 incl. vat for reroofing with reclaimed tiles. The higher one also includes leadwork in a couple of places and fixing and clearing some gutters, eaves tray and felt support tray. They both include removing debris etc. I didn’t have much confidence in the roofer that gave the lower quote. 

I’m hoping I’ll have another benchmark after the third quote but Any pointers, advice or opinions in the meantime would be much appreciated. 

grumbler

Have a look at this recent thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6439856/new-roof-or-re-bed-new-ridge-tiles/p1

ss2020jd

grumbler said:

Have a look at this recent thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6439856/new-roof-or-re-bed-new-ridge-tiles/p1

Thanks I did see that one and your comments about scaffolding which is what made me think about the inflated charge. I know they would need scaffolding due to the regs but suspect there is a bit of padding there too.  

grumbler

IMO, for a reasonably  small job it can be a scaffolding tower that costs next to nothing.

travis-powers

If it’s any help I had a 7 meter single story scaffold last year cost me £350, depending on where you live I can’t see it being more than £500.
Could you look into supplying the scaffold yourself?

ss2020jd

Thanks @grumbler and @travis-powers
I was thinking more like that cost too. 

Just had the third roofer come and have a look. He said as it’s only low level and it doesn’t look like the felt and battens need replacing, just a small section on the left, he wouldn’t need scaffolding. He would just replace the tiles that need doing and tidy up the lead and sort the gutter.  He said he could reuse the lead too whereas the other roofer said he couldn’t. 

He’s a local guy, works on his own. I liked him, he seemed to know his stuff, and he didn’t make a big deal about what needed doing so just got to wait and see about his quote and hope my instincts are correct. Somebody recommended him on next door when someone was asking for a roofer. 

benson1980

It can be a bit of a minefield. We had a bit of damp in our loft room by our chimney so we ended up getting a few roofers round as I suspected a leak- and I could see some potential problems with the tiles/chimney pointing etc. One, who we'd used before to replace a ridge tile (cheap, did an ok job), took one look at the roof, the ridge, and leadwork around the chimney and declared it all absolutely fine and the damp was just condensation.

Another roofer came out a few months later and straight away highlighted a load of potential issues. I then removed the plasterboard and it was indeed clear that there was a reasonably substantial leak. It's cost us several thousand to fix but I was annoyed that the first roofer said with some certainty there weren't any leaks and that all the leadwork looked ok. I guess the learning point for us was that the cheap one man band playing down issues, really didn't do us any favours on that occasion. Clearly your experience may (hopefully) pan out somewhat differently.

ss2020jd

That’s the worry, @benson1980 so it’s good to hear your experience. 

It’s definitely a minefield. We don’t want work done that doesn’t need doing but equally want to make sure what is done is done properly otherwise cheaper can cost more in the long run. 

On the other hand the inflated cost of the scaffolding from the other quote rang alarm bells so getting a few quotes has definitely opened our eyes a bit. It will be interesting to see how much this quote comes in at and what it covers versus the  pricey one with the scaffolding. 

ss2020jd

So the latest update in case anyone is interested, or if it might be helpful to anybody to know, is the last quote came in at around what I was expecting, at £2000. Although it just came as a text with no details of work outlined or discussed so I said I would call tomorrow to have a chat and would hope to get that detailed in writing. But he is the only one who has quoted the work I wanted done, and what the surveyor recommended, rather than making it into a whole lower re-roof.  

Has anyone else ever accepted a quote by text? I know he works on his own so not sure how formal he is, but any advice on that front re accepting quotes or confirming the work agreed (in a text back, for example) would be good. 

I did go back to the most expensive one and asked what it would be for the replacement tiles without felt and battens but he said it would only knock a £1000 off and the new tiles might not fit the existing batten, might need to shoulder the tiles etc, so he wouldn’t recommend it. So with that and his costs for the scaffolding I won’t be going for that option. I get he is a bigger company and has to make it worth his while and has staff to pay but I don’t want stuff done if it doesn’t need doing at over three times the cost.