Most people don’t check their roof and often only do so after a storm, when a leak occurs, or tiles fall down by which time more damage has been done than might have been avoided if checked earlier on.
For a homeowner the next step is often to call a roofer to assess the roof and then provide a quote for either repairs or replacement. For a person purchasing a property a survey is often the main route to gain an insight into the roofs condition.
Validating Advice Given by a Roofing Company
For existing homeowners roof repairs and replacements are a necessity to maintain the weatherproofing and overall integrity of the roof and its assets (chimneys, gutters, velux windows, flashing). In most cases the trigger to consider having a roofer or builder to come and check the roof out are leaks, issues with tiles falling or another issue that occurs.
Good quality roofers will get safely up on the roof, checking all the aspects and capturing information in the form of images to show you and then discuss any work that is needed. In many cases we have come across though this is not the case with little or no ‘evidence’ provided to the homeowner for the recommended works that the roofing company advise are needed.
Check Before Agreeing to Changes
In the worst case we have come across so far no changes were needed at all to the customers property, but the elderly customer was charged more than £15,000 for a roof replacement that was definitely not needed.
A roofing company knocked the persons door, advised they had ‘noticed’ that the gutters of the house needed clearing. The resident believed them and the next day the roofers returned, got up on the roof (no safety equipment or equipment at all). After being on the roof they reported back to the customer that the roof was “Urgently in need of replacement or it was going to collapse”.
Horrified the customer asked for a quote and one was given verbally, with a request for money upfront to get on with the works. The elderly customer was in shock but now convinced that the works HAD to be done. The works commenced and the elderly persons’ daughter eventually heard about it but wasn’t convinced by the whole scenario, the need for the new roof and the way the works were being carried out. But it was too late.
S4G Drone Services were not only able to provide the service at very short notice understanding that the work was needed urgently, but left us with piece of mind. I simply cannot recommend them more, they are brilliant and you will not be disappointed!
–Anonymous customer, London EN5
The daughter called us to assess the roof next door (same age and type) to give an independent view of whether the works should have been carried out. Doing so in retrospect makes it difficult for a surveyor or drone company to make such an assessment however comparing like for like, as can be seen in the photo, does provide an element of information to assess. The information was captured by our drone inspection, and we passed the report to our independent roofer to assess the cost to replace the roof – the quote was £7,000 less than the unscrupulous roofers had charged.
The outcome was that, whilst the whole cost of the roof couldn’t be recovered, the customer was able to negotiate a far reduced cost and settled with the roofing company.
This is not a one-off scenario in our experience. It happens daily. It is worth asking a drone company to carry out a roof condition inspection to check the claims of a roofer before the quote is accepted and before works proceed, to give you peace of mind, and potentially save you £’000s.
