# Roof leak repair, Fair price?



## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

To cut a long, long story short, been having trouble for 6+ months with a leak in the roof. No obvious damage to roof. Insurers didn't want to know. Any genuinely at least 4/5 roofers in a row either didn't show up or made excuses/blanked phone calls. 
Finally got a guy out a few days ago who straight away noticed a previous bad repair at replacing tiles and noticed a ridge tile?? cracked. I will upload photos through tapatalk as I don't have them on my laptop.

From the pics you will see the cracked tile plus the obvious broken tiles and the tiles that were part of the bad repair. Haven't seen it in daylight yet to take any after pics but all the stuff listed was fixed plus re-cemented at places. Guy charged £450. 
Is this fair or a bit steep? We were at a point where we needed something done as we have a baby coming in 3 months and want the house to be perfect.
All work came with a 3 year guarantee. Just praying for bad rain (that's a first) to confirm the repair. 
long post but thanks for reading!


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

Loose/broken and missing tiles









Crack should be visible on this pic! (iPhone)


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

To be fair, what choice do you have if no one else has fixed it?

Just hose the roof in the area for a while to check it.


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## Caledoniandream (Oct 9, 2009)

If it's done well, it's not much.
Guy have to get his van, drive to you,do a quote, come back, get to somewhere to get the correct tiles, tools etc.


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

ardandy said:


> To be fair, what choice do you have if no one else has fixed it?
> 
> Just hose the roof in the area for a while to check it.


Yes I know we had so many bad dealings with other roofers we were always going to be a bit sceptical. Haven't seen it in daylight yet due to work but will get the hose on it tomorrow. Can't believe it hasn't rained heavy in days. This is Scotland lol


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

Caledoniandream said:


> If it's done well, it's not much.
> 
> Guy have to get his van, drive to you,do a quote, come back, get to somewhere to get the correct tiles, tools etc.


Yes the guy is based around 15/20 miles from us. The ridge tile he said was quite old and hard to get. I'm happy with the way he worked and seemed very honest, especially giving us a 3 year guarantee.

Do not have a clue about roofing so I wouldn't even presume to know about prices etc.


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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

That is a bad repair, the hardrow tiles are the wrong colour, I take it you can't see them from below that's why they couldn't be bothered to cut them with a sthil saw. How do you know it's leaking is there water marks on the ceiling?


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## tyson1989 (Feb 21, 2015)

Have you any clue to how long he was actually there fixing the roof?

I'm assuming the pictures are before it had been fixed and is the only area that was repaired?


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## transtek (Mar 2, 2007)

Any "afters" pics?


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

Will get some afters tomorrow. 

With regards to the leak, we had discolouration on the ceiling so had a square cut out and there was water dripping off some insulation. It would only noticeably leak when it was severe rain with wind. We fixed a bit of timber up inside the ceiling (bay window extension) and placed a bucket on the timber and monitored after bad weather. Water was never pouring in but if it was heavy rain we could hear it dripping into the bucket, if no rain tomorrow I will be onto it with a hose.


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

tyson1989 said:


> Have you any clue to how long he was actually there fixing the roof?
> 
> I'm assuming the pictures are before it had been fixed and is the only area that was repaired?


Yes the pics that are there is showing previous bad repairs and damaged parts. Wife said he was there around 2/3 hours. He asked to use our power for his stihl saw so I know that he at least cut the tiles to fit. He was laughing at how bad the previous 'repair' was. The red tiles had been hammered up the way and he said this actually damaged the tiles above it


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## tyson1989 (Feb 21, 2015)

eibbor said:


> Yes the pics that are there is showing previous bad repairs and damaged parts. Wife said he was there around 2/3 hours. He asked to use our power for his stihl saw so I know that he at least cut the tiles to fit. He was laughing at how bad the previous 'repair' was. The red tiles had been hammered up the way and he said this actually damaged the tiles above it


So...£450 for 3 hours work. I'm sorry but i would consider half that price still to be on the steep side.
I'm in the wrong trade if that's the kind of money he's making off of a job like that.


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

tyson1989 said:


> So...£450 for 3 hours work. I'm sorry but i would consider half that price still to be on the steep side.
> 
> I'm in the wrong trade if that's the kind of money he's making off of a job like that.


I wouldn't say that's fair to just break it down to the price charged per hour. As another poster said, if it's done well it's not much. But again I am clueless to roofing! 
He was the only one who actually wanted to do any repairs. Came one day, was on the roof a long time inspecting it, had to source a ridge tile as it was hard to buy. 
I know from the receipt that he renewed missing tiles, drilled and refitted tiles properly, replaced ridge tile. And re-cemented all parts that were cracked.

At the end of the day if it's stopped the leak I'm happy, it's dragged on too long and hopefully I can get on with getting the living room done up!


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## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

tyson1989 said:


> So...£450 for 3 hours work. I'm sorry but i would consider half that price still to be on the steep side.
> I'm in the wrong trade if that's the kind of money he's making off of a job like that.


There might be materials in that price 
He may be vat registered so has to give 20% to the hmrc
Lots of variables here we don't know about to do billy basic maths


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## tyson1989 (Feb 21, 2015)

justina3 said:


> There might be materials in that price
> He may be vat registered so has to give 20% to the hmrc
> Lots of variables here we don't know about to do billy basic maths


I took into consideration materials etc. Only reason I could see the price being so high is if the job took a long time to do which is why I asked how long it took.
Although I'm not a roofer, I'm a joiner to trade and work alongside roofers a lot,so no not billy basic maths.

eibbor - As long as your happy with the job, ultimately thats the most important thing. I'm glad you've managed to get it fixed finally.
Your original question asked whether it was a fair price. Taking into consideration everything I can possibly think of, I can't see an outcome where he can justify charging that amount of money. That's just my opinion though


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## eibbor (Sep 8, 2015)

No problem! After all I put the post on for people opinions. Will try and get pics from the bedroom window. But I will not attempt to enter that room while my pregnant wife sleeps for nightshift. That is a death wish lol


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