Questions To Ask A Roofer Before You Say Yes

Key takeaways

• Ask what they found before asking what they propose. The order matters.
• Specific questions produce specific answers, and vagueness under a specific question is the signal.
• Who is actually doing the work is one of the most useful and least asked questions.
• Ask what happens when something unexpected is found, because on a roof something usually is.
• None of these are aggressive questions, and a good contractor will be pleased to be asked them.

What did you find, and how did you establish it

Start here, before any discussion of price or work. You are asking for the condition of the underlay, the battens and the fixings, and which junctions were examined. The follow up matters as much: how did they establish it. The underlay cannot be assessed from outside, so if the answer describes its condition there should have been a look in the loft. Batten condition is judged by pressing on timber, not by looking at tiles. A contractor who has done the work will describe what they saw specifically. One who has not will speak generally about the roof's age.

Which parts of the roof did you actually get to

Roofs have areas that cannot be seen from a ladder at the front, and it is entirely legitimate to ask what was and was not reached. The back elevation, the valleys, behind the chimney, any parapet gutter, the far side of a hip. A contractor who says candidly that they could not see the rear valley without a tower is being more useful than one who implies they inspected everything from a ladder. It also tells you whether the quotation covers what they saw or what they assumed, which is a distinction that surfaces expensively once work begins.

What is the actual cause, as opposed to the symptom

For any repair, ask what caused it rather than what will fix it. A slipped tile is a symptom; the cause is a corroded nail, a rotted batten or a broken nib, and which of those it is determines whether one tile or fifty are about to do the same. A leak at a chimney is a symptom; the cause is a specific failed detail. If the answer to what caused it is that the roof is old, that is not a cause, and it is usually the answer given when the diagnosis has not been made. This is the single question that most reliably separates assessment from guesswork.

What are my options, including the cheaper ones

Most roof situations have more than one legitimate answer: monitor and do nothing yet, targeted repair, partial work, strip and relay, full replacement. Ask for the range rather than the recommendation, and ask what each would cost and buy you in years. A contractor willing to describe a cheaper option that they will earn less from, and to explain why they nonetheless recommend something else, is demonstrating something useful. One who presents a single option as the only possibility, particularly the most expensive one, is asking you to take a great deal on trust.

Who will actually be on my roof

This is among the most useful questions and it is asked least often. The person quoting is not always the person working, and on larger jobs the work may be subcontracted entirely. That is not inherently a problem, and it is something you should know. Ask who will attend, whether they are employed or subcontracted, who is supervising, and who remains responsible if something goes wrong afterwards. The answer also affects continuity: if a problem emerges in a year, you want to be dealing with the same organisation rather than discovering that the crew were a different firm altogether.

What happens if you find something underneath

Nobody can see the battens or the deck until the covering is off, so every roofing job carries genuine unknowns. The question is how they will be handled. A good answer states what has been assumed, gives a rate for the additional work if the assumption is wrong, and commits to telling you before proceeding rather than after. A poor answer is that it will be fine, which is not a plan. This is also the mechanism behind most disputes on roofing jobs, where a price rises substantially mid job and the householder has an open roof and no leverage.

What is the specification, in named materials

Ask for materials by name rather than by description. Which underlay, which grade of batten, what fixings and in what material, what code of lead, what tile or slate and from where. If reclaimed material is being used, how much and how graded. These are not difficult questions for somebody who has priced the job, because they had to decide all of it to arrive at the figure. Vagueness here usually means the price was arrived at by rule of thumb, which also means it may move once real materials are ordered.

How long will it take, and what happens if the weather turns

Duration matters for your own planning and it also reveals whether the job has been thought through. Ask how many days, how many people, and specifically what happens if it rains partway through with the roof open. The answer should describe how the roof will be made temporarily watertight overnight and during bad weather, because that is a real part of the job and not an afterthought. A contractor who has not considered it is either very confident about the forecast or has not run many jobs on British roofs.

What cover do you hold, and can I see current evidence

Ask what insurance cover they hold for the work and ask to see evidence that is current rather than a certificate from three years ago. This is a normal request in any trade and a professional contractor will expect it. It matters because roofing involves work at height above your property and other people's, and because damage during roofing work, to a neighbouring conservatory for instance, is not a hypothetical. A reluctance to produce current documentation is worth taking seriously, since it is the easiest of all these questions to answer if the answer is straightforward.

What is not included

Ask the negative question explicitly, because it produces information the positive one does not. What is excluded from this price. What might come up that would be charged separately. What happens to the gutters, the fascias, the plaster inside, the garden. Is disposal included, is the skip permit included, is VAT included. People are generally honest when asked directly and simply do not volunteer exclusions unprompted. Asking what is not in the price is the fastest way to find the difference between two quotations that look similar.

How the answers should feel

None of these questions are confrontational and none require technical knowledge to ask. What you are listening for is not the content of the answers, most of which you cannot independently verify, but the manner: whether they arrive immediately and specifically, or after a pause and in general terms. Somebody who spent forty minutes on and under your roof has all of this material in their head. Somebody who formed an impression from the pavement does not. That difference is audible, it is the most reliable signal available to a non expert, and it is why asking is worth doing even when you cannot judge the answers.

The questions worth asking after the work as well

The same approach applies at completion, and hardly anybody uses it. Ask what was found once the covering came off and whether it matched the assumption. Ask what was done differently from the quotation and why. Ask for photographs of the completed work and of anything that was hidden again afterwards, such as new battens or underlay, because that is the only opportunity anybody will ever have to see it. And ask what to keep an eye on, since a contractor who has spent days on your roof knows which part of it will need attention next. Those four questions turn a job into information you keep.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the single most useful question to ask a roofer?

What did you find, and how did you establish it. Asked before any discussion of the work, it separates an assessment from an impression. The underlay cannot be judged from outside, so a specific answer about its condition should come with a look in the loft.

Why ask what caused the problem rather than what fixes it?

Because the cause determines the scope. A slipped tile might be a broken nib on one tile or corroded nails across the whole roof, and those are entirely different jobs. If the answer to what caused it is that the roof is old, no diagnosis has been made.

Should I ask who will actually do the work?

Yes, and it is asked far too rarely. The person quoting is not always the person working, and jobs are sometimes subcontracted entirely. That is not necessarily a problem, but you should know who attends, who supervises, and who remains responsible if something emerges a year later.

How should a quote handle unexpected findings?

By stating the assumption, giving a rate for the extra work if it proves wrong, and committing to tell you before proceeding. Nobody can see the battens until the covering is off, and vagueness here is behind most roofing disputes, where prices rise mid job with the roof open.

Is it rude to ask about insurance cover?

Not at all, and a professional contractor expects it. Ask what cover is held and to see evidence that is current rather than historic. Roofing involves work at height above your property and your neighbours', and damage during work is not hypothetical.

I cannot judge the technical answers. Is asking still worth it?

Very much so, because what you are assessing is the manner rather than the content. Somebody who spent proper time on and under your roof answers immediately and specifically. Somebody who formed an impression from the pavement pauses and generalises, and that difference is audible without any technical knowledge.