The days on site are usually the shortest part. What determines when your roof is actually finished is mostly what happens before anybody climbs a ladder.
For an ordinary house, a complete re-roof is a matter of days rather than weeks on site once the scaffold is up — longer on a complex roof, longer again if something turns up in the timbers.
That is the easy part of the answer. The more useful question is when to book it, because the gap between deciding you need a roof and having one is usually dominated by everything that happens before the first tile comes off.
Quick, and it should not be rushed. A proper survey means the roof from outside and the roof space from inside, because the loft is where the condition of the underlay, the battens and the rafter ends is actually visible.
Allow time to get three quotations and to compare them properly. If they are not quoting the same scope, the totals mean nothing — and establishing that takes a conversation with each of them.
Two free enquiries, and they belong before the quotations rather than after: is the address inside a conservation area, and is the building listed?
For a like-for-like renewal neither is likely to change anything — putting the same covering back is not development at all. Where it matters is if you are changing the covering, because inside a conservation area that test is applied more tightly and an application can be weeks rather than days. It is also the item most likely to change what you can have, so it should be settled before anything is ordered.
Three things run in parallel here, and the longest of them sets the start date.
Stock coverings are generally quick. A specific slate, a particular clay tile, or anything being matched to existing work can take considerably longer. Where reclaimed material is involved, availability rather than price is often the constraint.
Subject to the scaffolder's diary, and where the scaffold has to stand on the public footway, subject to a licence from the council. That licence is frequently the longest lead item on a job that needs one, so it gets applied for early.
Either a notification, or self-certification by a roofer registered under a competent person scheme. Agree which, and when, before the start date rather than after.
| Phase | What happens | Relative length |
|---|---|---|
| Scaffold | Erected a day or two before work starts | Short |
| Strip | Covering, battens and underlay off, in sections | Short and noisy |
| Structure | Inspection; timber repairs if needed | Unpredictable |
| Rebuild | Underlay, battens, covering, lead, ridge, verges | The bulk of it |
| Junctions | Chimneys, valleys, abutments | Slow — and worth it |
| Ventilation and insulation | Eaves, ridge, thermal upgrade | Moderate |
| Finish | Gutters tested, site cleared, scaffold struck | Short |
The rebuild dominates, and its length is driven mainly by the covering. Interlocking tiles go on considerably faster than slates or plain tiles, because each unit covers more area — a slated roof takes several times as many pieces per square metre, each lifted, positioned and nailed by hand.
Worth being precise, because “bad weather” covers several different problems with different consequences.
A quoted duration noticeably shorter than everyone else's is worth questioning rather than welcoming. The steps dropped to hit a fast date are the invisible ones: a proper structural inspection, correctly lapped underlay dressed into the gutter, lead formed and dressed into the brickwork rather than bedded in mastic, ventilation details at the eaves.
Two systems, and they are separate. 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.
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. A patch repair does not trigger it, and neither does a roof over unheated space such as a detached garage. The work is signed off through building control or by a roofer registered under a competent person scheme, and you should receive a certificate.
We will tell you what has to happen before we start and roughly how long each part takes.
Complete new roofs, re-roofing and roof replacement across Chester, the Wirral, Deeside and the surrounding areas.
Tell us about the property and the roof, and we will come back to you — usually the same day.
Prefer to talk? Call 07464 259566 · WhatsApp 0044 7464 259566 · Email Evensbuddy@yahoo.com