Get a roofing quote in Swindon

You do not need roofing vocabulary. Describe what you see in your own words and add a photograph if you can. The details that help most are these:

• Where it shows. Which room, which wall or which part of the outside of the house.
• What it looks like. A brown ring on the ceiling, a drip during heavy rain, tiles on the ground, daylight in the loft, a gutter spilling over at one corner.
• When it started. After a particular storm, slowly over winter, or only in certain wind directions.
• The type of building. A terrace, a semi, a bungalow, a shop, a barn or an industrial unit. An approximate age helps too.
• Access. Whether there is a side alley, a shared drive or a narrow road that affects where a ladder or scaffold can go.

If water is coming in as you write, tell us straight away. Leaks and storm damage get priority with us, and a dripping roof is stopped from getting worse before the lasting repair is planned in daylight.

On the day we check the covering, the ridge, the hips and valleys, the verges and the flashings round each chimney and along any abutting wall. Where we can reach it, we look at the loft or the ceilings beneath, because the inside of a roof often explains the outside. A water stain tells you where the water arrived. The timbers and the underlay tell you how it got there.

Pictures are taken throughout, which lets you see the fault and its cause for yourself. They show your roof, not stock images, and they travel with the quote.

For some jobs a closer look is worthwhile. A drone or pole-mounted camera can reach a roof that is awkward to climb, and a thermal image can point to where heat is escaping. Where a survey needs that, we explain why before we use it. Our roof inspections and surveys page describes the types of inspection in more detail.

Once the survey is done, a written quote follows, giving a single total for everything described. It names the work we propose, the covering and materials we intend to use, and the access the job needs. It also says what is included in the price.

What drives the figure is easy to list, even though the figure itself comes only after the survey:

• Access. A job that needs scaffolding costs more than one that can be done off a ladder with a crawling board, and a chimney or a high gable often needs scaffold even on a small repair.
• The covering. Natural slate, clay tile, concrete tile, stone slate, felt, EPDM and GRP all have different material costs and different laying times.
• Size and shape. A simple gable is quicker to cover than a hipped roof with valleys, dormers and chimneys.
• What the survey finds. Rotten battens, damaged rafters or failed flashings can add work that nobody could see from the ground.
• Regulations. Some jobs need a Building Regulations notification, and some need an insulation upgrade as a result.

Our pricing is meant to be fair, and the quote spells out what it buys. If you want an idea of typical figures before you ask, the costs page sets out our guide prices and the published national ranges.

Whoever you ask, the same checks apply. A useful quote should answer these questions plainly.

• Does it say exactly what work will be done, and on which parts of the roof?
• Does it name the covering, the underlay and the fixings, not just "new tiles"?
• Does it say whether VAT is included?
• Does it say whether scaffolding is included, and if not, who arranges it?
• Does it say what happens to the waste?
• Does it describe any guarantee, in writing, and say what it covers?
• Does it say how long the job should take, and how payment works?

Laid side by side, every quote should describe the same work, scaffolding, waste and VAT included. Two figures that look far apart often turn out to describe different jobs. Our roofing quote checklist goes through the same questions in more depth, and choosing a roofer covers the wider decision.

Payment terms should be written into the quote, with nothing left to a handshake. Ask what is due before work starts, what is due on completion, and what happens if the job changes once the roof is open. If a roofer asks for a large cash sum up front before any materials are on site, treat that as a reason to pause. Our guide to roofer deposits explains what is reasonable.

Consumer law also protects you. Agreeing work at your own front door normally gives you 14 days to change your mind. An earlier start happens only at your written request, on paper or by email. You can read more on the cooling-off period page.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 every service contract carries a term of reasonable care and skill. Separately from that, our 10-year workmanship guarantee reaches you in writing once the job is finished.

Some roof jobs need more than a builder. Re-covering like for like seldom calls for planning permission, but a listed building or a home under an Article 4 direction can be the exception. Work that makes the covering heavier, or alters the structure, may need a Building Regulations application. If your job is one of these, it comes up at the survey, and the quote reflects the extra involvement.

On notifiable work, we file the Building Regulations notification. Questions about listed buildings or conservation areas belong with your council, and we steer you to the right team. Our page on roof Building Regulations sets out the main points.

Ring 01793 626096, share a picture of the problem on WhatsApp, or send the form below. Give us the area, the type of building and what is visible. A survey gets booked, and the written quote comes after it. Nothing is booked, and you are not committed, until you have read the quote and said yes.