What Is Included When Roofline Solutions Quotes for a New Roof?

There is a guide in our advice centre listing the questions worth asking any roofer before you accept a quotation. This one does the opposite: it sets out what ours contains, so that if you are comparing us with two other firms you can see exactly where any difference sits.

Several items below are stated explicitly precisely because they are the ones most commonly left out of a price without the omission being obvious.

Before the Quotation Exists

• A survey of the roof and the loft. Not just the outside. The underlay, the battens and the rafter ends are only visible from inside, and they determine the real scope of the job.
• What we found, with photographs where there is something worth showing you.
• An honest view on whether it needs replacing. If a roof has years left and needs a chimney flashing renewed, that is what we will quote for.

The Strip

• Existing covering, battens and underlay removed
• Slates sorted and graded as they come off, where reclaim is intended
• Old lead removed from chimneys, abutments and valleys
• Waste removed from site and disposed of responsibly
• The roof stripped in manageable sections, so the building is never left open
• Open areas sheeted overnight and in poor weather

The Structure — and the One Variable

This is the only part of a roofing job that cannot be priced in advance, because nobody can see through a covering.

• Rafters, purlins, ridge board and wall plates inspected while exposed
• Particular attention to the rafter ends at the wall plate, which is where a long-failing gutter shows first
• A stated rate for replacing defective timber, agreed before work starts
• You are shown what was found, and told the cost, before it is put right

Rebuilding

• New breathable underlay across the whole roof, correctly lapped and dressed into the gutter at the eaves — not stopping short behind it
• New treated, graded battens at the gauge the chosen covering requires
• The covering, named by manufacturer and range, or by producer and grading on slate
• A fixing specification calculated for your address — not a generic pattern. Exposure, altitude, terrain, building height and roof pitch all feed into it
• New lead at every junction, at stated codes — chimneys, abutments, valleys and any pipe penetration
• Valleys, stated as lead-formed or a proprietary system
• Ridge and hip mechanically fixed, with the system named
• Verges finished appropriately to the property

Ventilation and Insulation

• Ventilation at the eaves, so air enters the roof space
• Ventilation at the ridge or high level, so it leaves again
• Insulation brought up to the applicable standard where the threshold is crossed, with the method stated
• Insulation kept clear of the eaves ventilation path, so one does not defeat the other

That last point is worth dwelling on. Insulation stuffed hard into the eaves blocks the airflow the roof needs, and the result is condensation on the underside of the membrane. It is a common fault and it is easily avoided.

Optional, and Priced Separately Rather Than Assumed

These are quoted as separate lines so you can decide, rather than being bundled in or silently omitted:

• Fascias, soffits and guttering
• Chimney repointing and renewing the flaunching around the pots
• Removing a redundant chimney stack
• High-level pointing to gable verges and parapets
• Flat roof sections over extensions, dormers or porches

Every one of these needs the same scaffold as the roof. Bundled they cost comparatively little; done separately later, each carries its own access.

Access and Compliance

• Scaffolding designed for the property, for the duration of the works
• A footway licence where the scaffold has to stand on the public pavement
• Who notifies building control, or whether the work is self-certified — and whether the fee is inside the price

Handover

• Gutters cleared and tested with water
• Site cleared, and a magnetic sweep for nails
• Scaffold struck
• Building regulations compliance certificate
• Written guarantee, stating what it covers, for how long, and who honours it
• Manufacturer warranty on the covering, where one applies
• Photographs of the structure and anything now concealed

What Is Not Included

Stated as exclusions rather than left unsaid, so nothing is a surprise:

• Flat roofs, unless specifically itemised — a different trade and different materials
• Internal redecoration where a previous leak has marked a ceiling
• Loft conversion work beyond what the regulations require
• Chimney removal, unless quoted
• Solar panel removal and refitting, which is normally arranged with the panel installer

The Regulations, in Brief

Two separate systems. Planning: a like-for-like re-roof does not materially affect the external appearance of a building, so under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 it is not development at all and needs no permission. A visible change of covering can be a different matter, particularly inside a conservation area, where the test is applied more tightly.

Building regulations: where more than 50% of the roof's surface area is renewed, or the work forms part of a major renovation, regulation 23 of the Building Regulations 2010 requires the roof to be brought up to current thermal standards so far as that is technically, functionally and economically feasible — 0.16 W/(m²K) for a roof in an existing dwelling. A patch repair does not trigger it, and neither does a roof over unheated space such as a detached garage.

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