Why we won't price a roof over the phone

Ring around for roofing quotes and someone will give you a number on the call. It's a good feeling — progress, finally, something to plan around.

That number is worth very little, and here's the uncomfortable part: whoever gave it to you knows that too.

What the phone can't tell anyone

The largest single variable on a re-roof is the condition of what's underneath the covering. On a flat roof, the state of the timber deck is most of what decides between an overlay and a full strip-off. On a pitched roof more is in play: water getting in, a tiling membrane that's failed or was never there in the first place, a roof laid out wrong from the start, or slate that's begun to shale and splinter apart.

Some of that we genuinely can read from a photograph. A roof with a visible sag in it doesn't need a second opinion, and we can often tell you from a picture whether you're looking at a strip-off, an overlay, or taking the covering off and keeping the deck underneath. So if sending a photo is easier, send one — it's a real starting point, not a fob-off.

What a photograph can't tell anyone is the price. Knowing which job it is isn't the same as knowing what it costs. That needs someone on the roof or in the loft: measuring it, working out how the scaffold goes up, counting the chimneys and valleys, and seeing the condition of what they're standing on.

A phone figure is therefore a figure for a roof that might not be your roof. If the guess was low, you get a conversation later that starts with "unfortunately when we opened it up". If it was high, you overpaid or you walked away from a job that would have been fine.

Why there's no calculator here either

We considered building one. We decided against it on purpose.

A calculator can only use what you can type into it — postcode, rough dimensions, roof type. Those are the variables that don't matter most. It cannot know about your access, your chimneys, your valleys, or the state of your deck. So it produces a confident-looking number that our own written quote then contradicts, which is worse than offering nothing: it sets an expectation and then breaks it.

We'd rather be the ones who say "come on, we'll look properly" than the ones who say "ah, about that figure".

We don't do ranges either

This is the part people find genuinely annoying, so it's worth being direct about.

There's too much variance in what a roof needs for a published range to be honest. Wide enough to be true across every roof, and it tells you nothing. Narrow enough to be useful, and it's simply wrong for a good proportion of the roofs it gets applied to. Either way somebody ends up misled.

The one exception on this site is drone surveys, from £360 including VAT — a fixed piece of work with a defined scope, which is precisely why it can carry a price.

What you get instead

A free visit. One of our team — usually Dave — comes out on a date agreed with you.
Findings and options, on site. Sometimes more than one system would work. We'll explain the trade-offs and tell you the guarantee term each one carries.
A written quote within seven days, with payment terms, full T&Cs and the workmanship guarantee written into it. We text you when it's sent so it doesn't sit unread in a spam folder.
A priced contingency where we genuinely couldn't see the deck — so if there's bad news under the covering, you knew the number in advance.

That's slower than a figure on the phone. It's also the difference between a price and a guess.

Ask us to come and look, or send a photo and we'll take it from there.

While we’re on the subject

Can you give me a rough price over the phone?

No, and we'd rather say so plainly than give you a number we'd have to walk back. The single biggest variable on any roof is the condition of what's underneath the covering, and that can't be assessed down a phone line.

We'll come and look for free instead, on a date that suits you, and you'll have a written figure within seven days.

Why isn't there an estimate calculator on this site?

Because it would produce a number our own quote would then contradict, which is worse than useless — it sets an expectation and then breaks it. We looked at building one and decided against it deliberately.

A calculator can only work from what you can type in: postcode, rough size, type of roof. It cannot know your deck is soaked, your access is awkward, or that your ridge needs redoing.

Won't a survey visit cost me something?

No. Survey visits and quotes are free, with no obligation, and there's no pressure at the end of one. If the answer is that your roof has years left in it, that's what we'll tell you.

Can I send photos instead of arranging a visit?

Yes, and it's often the sensible first step. Stand back far enough to get as much of the roof in frame as you can, then add close-ups of anything specific. Send them by WhatsApp or text with a short description.

We can often tell you from photographs whether something needs looking at properly, which saves us both a visit if it doesn't.

Do you at least have a price range?

We don't publish ranges either. There's too much variance in what a roof needs for a range to be honest — wide enough to be true, it tells you nothing; narrow enough to be useful, it's wrong for half the roofs it's applied to.

The one price we do publish is for drone surveys, which start from £360 including VAT. That's a fixed piece of work with a defined scope, which is exactly why it can carry a figure.