Roofing quote

[damianwalsh]

Hi there, first post here and seeking advice regarding a roofing quote for chimney repairs, gutter work, and tudor cladding replacement. Roofer provided the following scope of work:

- Grind out and re-point the chimney.
- Remove all existing lead flashings.
- Chimney leadwork to be changed for new code 4
- Remove all existing mortar for gable ends and install new Grey Upvc Dry verge system.
- Remove all existing gutters in the specified area.
- Renew all the fittings to ensure any leaks will be stopped.
- Clean and reinstall the original gutters.
- Remove and replace the Tudor panelling on the front of the property for new black Upvc.
- Replace soffits around the bay window and on the front of the property for new white Upvc
- Hollow Soffit cladding.

The quote comes to £2,875 for a single day's work, including scaffolding and VAT. Our preference would be to repair (patch, sand, paint) rather than replace the Tudor panelling.

No idea what the current going rate is but this seems unreasonable? We’re in South Manchester. Any input appreciated.

[Chipstick]

Gather additional quotes

[Mont Blanc]

damianwalsh said:

Hi there, first post here and seeking advice regarding a roofing quote for chimney repairs, gutter work, and tudor cladding replacement. Roofer provided the following scope of work:

- Grind out and re-point the chimney.
- Remove all existing lead flashings.
- Chimney leadwork to be changed for new code 4
- Remove all existing mortar for gable ends and install new Grey Upvc Dry verge system.
- Remove all existing gutters in the specified area.
- Renew all the fittings to ensure any leaks will be stopped.
- Clean and reinstall the original gutters.
- Remove and replace the Tudor panelling on the front of the property for new black Upvc.
- Replace soffits around the bay window and on the front of the property for new white Upvc
- Hollow Soffit cladding.

The quote comes to £2,875 for a single day's work, including scaffolding and VAT. Our preference would be to repair (patch, sand, paint) rather than replace the Tudor panelling.

No idea what the current going rate is but this seems unreasonable? We’re in South Manchester. Any input appreciated.

You say one days work, but for how many operatives? That seems like far too much work to be done in one day for say, just a couple of workers.

[damianwalsh]

Four workers

[borcy]

I think they might struggle to do all that in one day, even with 4 people. Although i suppose it depends how big your roof/ house is.

[fat80b]

I read the list and the price, and thought - I wouldn't do all that work for that price......

The pointing alone seems like it would be way more than a day's work to do properly.

And there are a reasonable amount of materials needed - It would probably take me a good few hours just to tot up all the materials required and get them bought......

[damianwalsh]

Wanted to attach a pic to help answer that but seems not possible. It's a 1920's 3-bed semi so not a large property - the tudor panelling is a small triangular area between front bedroom window and roof.

[Dg504]

Doesn’t seem horrendous - £2.4k without VAT;

4 men for the day plus fuel & tea would probably take £1,000 out of it.

Scaffolding - depends, but are they really erecting and striking to chimney stack level in one day? £600(?)

Materials - £250(?)

Leaves not a lot unless I’m missing something.

[Ham_and_Jam]

Get 2 more quotes and see where if lies.

[wolfracesonic]

£2875.00 includes scaffold AND vat? That seems horrendously cheap!

[A500leroy]

Yep that's cheap, I paid a grand just for pointing up hip and ridge.

[Coxey]

Think I would be clear on what the scope is so when you get quotes you can compare clearly. Get the guys to specify what they haven’t included for, I.e clearing away the waste

[dhutch]

Depending on the property age/style then I too would be looking to avoid plastic 'tudor' paneling. I would also avoid a dry verge and or ridge.

[Lotobear]

....'grind out' pointing rings a small alarm bell in my head.

Price sounds okay for the scope of work but I'd be a bit concered they intend to bash all that work out in a day, regardless of how many are going to be on site.

[theboss]

dhutch said:

I would also avoid a dry verge and or ridge.

Why's that out of interest? I've just had both jobs done after the ridge mortar had really deteriorated. There were no downsides I could see other than the mortar verges looking a bit more traditional than a piece of continuous PVC capping, but it's high up enough to look fairly discrete and neat. The ridge tiles are angle-capped overlapping sort so you can't see any fixtures.

[dhutch]

theboss said:

dhutch said:

I would also avoid a dry verge and or ridge.

There were no downsides I could see other than the mortar verges looking a bit more traditional than a piece of continuous PVC capping.....

The predominant reason I would avoid is for aesthetic reasons, certainly on any older or 'period' properties, see also larger format interlocking tiles.

However I would also expect a 'conventional' mortared system to last at least as long, no reason for it not to last 40-50 years.

[Mont Blanc]

Agree with the others, it seems cheap.

But a struggle to do all that in once day, even for 4 men.

I would get another quote, mostly to check how another firm would do the work.

[theboss]

dhutch said:

theboss said:

dhutch said:

I would also avoid a dry verge and or ridge.

There were no downsides I could see other than the mortar verges looking a bit more traditional than a piece of continuous PVC capping.....

The predominant reason I would avoid is for aesthetic reasons, certainly on any older or 'period' properties, see also larger format interlocking tiles.

However I would also expect a 'conventional' mortared system to last at least as long, no reason for it not to last 40-50 years.

Understood. I guess that was my problem, the ridge mortar failing on a property not even 15 years old whereas I bet the adjacent Edwardian house is probably still on its original. Roofers said everything else was absolutely sound, just a poor mix by whoever ridged it. It was a fairly big job, over 80 tiles on 4 ridges, but I had scaffolding up anyway for a mixture of jobs so it was the time to have it done.

On the OP's quote, I would be worrying about anyone claiming to do that much in a day.

I've had two teams of roofers on my roof recently, the traditional guys doing ridge/verge repairs mentioned, who were old school, get here early, take as long as it takes to do it thoroughly. Couldn't be happier with their work and their prices were reasonable.

The others were your more typical solar cowboys (I shouldn't call them roofers), turning up an hour before sunset and attempting to do as much in as short a space of time as possible. 10 panel groups on different flanks and they really rushed it, and it shows in workmanship (or lack of).

Even if they pulled in more workers I wouldn't trust that they won't end up rushing it.

Edited by theboss on Friday 7th February 14:04

[dhutch]

Even if thats six people, and the scafolding was put up beforehand and taken down afterwards, I cant see how thats a days work.

But yeah, as others have said, get more quotes Ideally three at a minimum.

Also use tradesmen that come personally recommended from someone whos practical judgement you trust.

[damianwalsh]

Thank you all for the advice. It's been helpful to get perspectives on price and timeline. I'll try to get more quotes, though that's proving to be a challenge. It seems getting responses from roofers is quite difficult—an occupational hazard, I suppose!