This is the question everybody wants answered before anybody comes out, and it is the one question a roofer cannot answer honestly over the phone. What follows is the next best thing: exactly what the price depends on, so you can tell whether a quotation is reasonable.
You will find websites that publish an average cost for a storm damage repair. We are not going to, and it is worth explaining why rather than just declining.
A storm damage repair is not one job. It covers replacing three slates on a bungalow and rebuilding a chimney stack on a three-storey terrace. The same phrase describes both. An average across them is a number that describes nothing and misleads everybody: half of readers are quoted more than they expected and conclude they are being overcharged, and the other half are disappointed.
What is genuinely useful is knowing what moves the number, because then you can judge a quotation on its merits — and you can tell the difference between two prices that differ because one firm is dearer and two prices that differ because they are quoting for different work.
This surprises people. The tiles are rarely the expensive part of a small repair. Getting a person safely to the damaged area, with the right equipment, is.
A repair reachable from a ladder on level ground at the front of a bungalow, and the same repair on the rear slope of a three-storey terrace with no side access, are the same roofing work and are not remotely the same job.
If two quotations differ substantially, access is the first place to look. One may have priced scaffolding and the other a ladder, which is not a difference in price but a difference in what is being proposed.
The visible damage is where the conversation starts, not where it ends. What a roofer finds on the roof decides the real scope.
This is why a firm price over the phone should make you cautious rather than pleased. Somebody quoting a fixed figure before seeing the roof is either padding it heavily to cover what they might find, or will be back with a revised figure once they are up there. Neither is what you want.
On a small repair, materials are usually a modest part of the total. There are exceptions worth knowing about.
Replacing a few slates on a Welsh slate roof is straightforward when the size and thickness are common. Matching a discontinued concrete tile profile from the 1970s, or a decorative ridge or finial on a Victorian villa, can be considerably harder and sometimes means reclaimed material.
Flashing work carries a real material cost, and lead is worth paying for. Repairs made with mastic or roofing cement instead are cheaper on the day and crack within a few years, because they set rigid while the roof and the masonry move at different rates.
On a roof whose fixings are failing across the whole slope, a series of repairs can quietly cost more over a few winters than recovering the roof once. That is a genuine conversation rather than a sales pitch, and you should expect a roofer to set out both options with prices rather than only the one that suits them.
Where a roof needs securing urgently, that emergency visit and the permanent repair that follows are separate pieces of work. Both are legitimate; what is not legitimate is a quotation that blurs them so you cannot tell what you are paying for.
If you are claiming, keep the make-safe invoice separate. Many policies treat emergency measures to prevent further damage differently from the repair itself.
Whoever you use, and whether or not it is us, a written quotation for storm damage work should tell you:
A quotation that says "repair storm damage" and a price is not a quotation. It is a number, and it gives you nothing to compare and nothing to hold anybody to.
The only way is to have the roof looked at. T & T Roofing South Wales quotes free and without obligation across fifteen areas of South Wales, and the quotation sets out what we found and what we propose to do about it.
If the answer is that the roof does not need the work, we will tell you that instead. It is a short-lived business selling people repairs they do not need in a region this size.
Because the range is so wide that a rough figure would mislead rather than help. Access alone can change the cost of identical roofing work several times over, and nobody can assess access without seeing it.
No. It depends on height, the pitch of the roof, ground conditions and where the damage is. Where it is needed it is a genuine cost in its own right, and any quotation should say clearly whether it is included.
Usually that they are for different work. Check whether both include access and scaffolding, whether both propose lead where lead belongs, and whether one is a temporary measure and the other a permanent repair.
Almost always to repair, on a roof with life left in it. On a roof whose fixings are failing across the whole slope, repeated repairs can cost more over a few winters than recovering it once, and you should expect both options priced.
No. Assessment and quotation are free and carry no obligation.
Storm damage in South Wales? T & T Roofing South Wales will assess the roof, explain what needs repairing and give you a free, no-obligation quotation. Storm Damage Roof Repairs South Wales has the full detail, or call us on 07766 547309.
Tell us what the weather has done and what you can see from the ground. We will come back to you — usually the same day.
If water is coming in now, please call rather than email — 07766 547309.
