A roof is bought once and judged for decades, yet it is usually bought in a hurry, after a stain has appeared on a ceiling or a slate has landed on the path. That is the worst moment to be choosing someone. This guide is written for the calmer version of events, and it still works if you are already under pressure.
It follows the order in which a hire unfolds: what to know about your own roof before you ring, what to ask on the phone, what a proper survey looks like, what the written scope must say, which insurance and guarantee documents to ask for, how many quotes are worth collecting, and which warning signs matter most on older houses. The Stroud valleys are full of historic stone, slate and mill-era buildings, so the advice leans towards homes where the wrong repair is hard to undo. For quick legitimacy checks on one named firm, see how to check a Stroud roofer is genuine. Our home page sets out how we work.
Know your own roof before you pick up the phone
The best-prepared customers get the best-matched quotes, because a roofer can only price what has been described. Spend ten minutes looking at the covering from the lane and at the loft from inside.
Small, grey, uneven slabs graded from large at the bottom to small at the top suggest Cotswold stone. Thin, flat, regular rectangles suggest slate. Curved or flat interlocking pieces in orange, brown or grey suggest clay or concrete tile. Our guide to the roofs on Stroud houses helps you place yours by age and setting.
Then note the problem itself: where a stain sits on a ceiling, whether it grows after rain, and whether anything is dripping, sagging or lying in the gutter. Phone photographs of the stain, the rafters and the roof from the lane are all worth sending.
Three facts a roofer will ask for
- Whether your home is listed or in a conservation area. Stroud District Council names 41 conservation areas, and listed status can change what is allowed.
- How the roof is reached: a door on the pavement, a rear garden up a flight of steps, a shared passage, or a lane too narrow for a lorry.
- What has been done before, such as a patch, a new ridge or a re-lay, and whether any paperwork survives.
None of this has to be perfect. A good roofer will ask these questions without being prompted, and that is your first test of the firm.
The first call: questions that sort the field quickly
The first call should take ten minutes and tell you a good deal. You are listening less to the answers than to how they are given. Specific answers suggest someone who has stood on roofs like yours. Vague or rushed ones suggest otherwise.
- Do you come and look at the roof before quoting, and how is that visit carried out?
- Have you worked on this kind of covering before: stone, slate, clay, concrete or a flat membrane?
- Who will actually be on the roof, and who answers for the work?
- Will the quote be written and cover the whole job?
- How is the work protected from rain if the roof is open overnight?
The first question matters most. A price given by phone for anything beyond a small repair is a guess. Roofs hide their faults under the covering, in the battens, the rafter feet and the lead, and a firm that quotes without looking is either padding the price or planning to find extras later.
Asking about similar work
Ask the roofer to describe a recent job like yours. A firm that has re-laid a graded stone slope can tell you how the slates are sorted, what holds them and what is done at the eaves. One that has not will tend to talk about price instead. If you want to test the answer, our guide to roofing materials compared gives you the vocabulary.
Notice what is not asked, too. A roofer who never mentions access, scaffold, the loft or the age of the covering has not started thinking about your job yet.
The survey visit: what a proper look involves
A survey is not a glance from the pavement. On a pitched roof it means a ladder or tower at the eaves, a close look at the ridge, hips, valleys, verges and flashings, and a visit to the loft with a torch. (Verges close the slope beside a gable wall, while flashings are the lead strips that keep water out at a chimney or abutment.) Inside, the roofer is checking for daylight through the covering, damp timber and rotten rafter feet, and whether insulation and ventilation are doing their job.
The visit should produce photographs of your own roof showing the faults, so you see what the roofer saw rather than take a description on trust. Those pictures also protect both sides if there is later a disagreement about the starting condition.
Stroud's access question
Many valley houses sit on steep, narrow streets, in terraces cut into hillsides, or behind a wall with no space for a skip. The cost of reaching a roof can matter as much as the cost of covering it. MyBuilder's 2026 re-roof guide puts scaffolding at about £1,125 for a typical house, and awkward access or a long frontage can push that higher. A roofer who looked at the access during the survey can price it in. One who did not will meet it on the day, and the invoice will show it.
What you should receive afterwards
Expect to be told what was found, which faults are urgent, which can wait, and what each option involves. A survey that ends with a single number and no explanation has not done its job.
The written scope: what a quote has to spell out
The quote is the contract in everything but name, so read it as one. It should describe the work, not merely total it. For a re-cover or substantial repair, look for these lines:
- Scaffold or access, including hire period and removal.
- Stripping the old covering, and what happens to sound slates or tiles that can be reused.
- Materials, named by type and size, including underlay, battens, lead and fixings.
- Labour, as a figure or a stated number of days.
- Waste removal and site clearance.
- Making good: pointing, flashings, fascias and gutters if included.
- VAT, stated clearly.
Your quote will show VAT at 20% on ordinary roofing. Insulation fitted into a loft or roof space of a house is the exception, charged at zero until 31 March 2027, which can alter one line on a mixed job.
Like for like, stated plainly
On older houses the covering is the sentence that matters most. A stone roof should be quoted as stone, a slate roof as slate, in matching type, colour and size. A quote that says only "new roof covering" leaves room for a cheaper substitute, and substitutes on historic buildings can be unsuitable and sometimes need consent. English Heritage policy, reproduced in Cotswold District Council's 2000 stone slate guidance, treats artificial products as inappropriate for historic buildings.
What is left out
Ask what the quote does not cover. Typical gaps are rotten timbers found once the covering is off, lead replacement, chimney work and insulation. Where a gap is likely, ask for an agreed rate per rafter or per metre so any extra can be checked against something fixed in advance.
Insurance, guarantees and the paperwork trail
Three different documents get confused at this stage: insurance, a workmanship guarantee and a manufacturer guarantee. They answer different questions.
Insurance
Ask the firm to show you the certificate for public liability cover rather than simply saying it exists. Read the dates and the limit, and check that roofing is a described activity. If anything looks unclear, ring the insurer on the number printed on the certificate, not one from a business card. Cover matters because roof work puts other people's property at risk: a falling slate, a damaged neighbouring gutter, a dropped scaffold pole.
Workmanship guarantee
This is the roofer's own promise about the quality of the work, and it is only as good as the document and the firm behind it. Ask how long it lasts, what it covers and whether it is in writing. Ours is a 10-year workmanship guarantee on paper. It is not insurance-backed, and a guarantee that rests on one business is worth understanding on those terms.
Manufacturer guarantee
A tile or slate maker may guarantee its product. That speaks to the material, not the installation, and it is not a lifespan. Marley's own page on tile life states that its figure is not a guarantee or warranty.
Building Regulations paperwork
The Planning Portal sets two thresholds: under 25% of the building envelope and under 50% of the roof. Stay below both and a Building Regulations application is not normally needed; go beyond them, or choose a covering 15% heavier or more, and approval applies. In Stroud district the council route is the Gloucestershire Building Control Partnership, and a registered building control approver is the private route. A good roofer explains which applies and who files it. Some jobs are notifiable. On those we talk you through the consent and send the notification ourselves.
How many quotes, and how to compare them
Three written quotes is the usual advice, and for a re-roof it is sensible. Two can be enough for a small job; more than four tends to add noise. What matters is that every firm prices the same thing.
Give each roofer the same description and photographs, then set the quotes side by side on one sheet.
Reading the gaps
A lower total is not a better one until you know why. It might omit the scaffold, price a concrete tile where others price slate, leave out the battens, or ignore a rotten fascia the rest included. Or the firm may simply be efficient. Using the same description is what lets you tell the difference.
Published ranges help you test whether a figure is plausible. In MyBuilder's 2026 figures a full re-roof typically lands between £5,000 and £12,000, with gable roofs at the cheaper end and hipped ones above. Neither tells you the price of your roof, but they show when a quote sits well outside the usual range, high or low. Our guide to materials and costs per m² shows how far the covering alone moves a total.
Payment and timing
Ask when payment falls due and what triggers it. A modest deposit for materials is common. A large payment before any work starts is a risk. Stage payments tied to scaffold, stripping and completion keep both sides honest.
Red flags on older, stone-roofed houses
Some warning signs apply everywhere. Others bite harder where the wrong decision cannot be quietly reversed.
- A knock on the door about your roof. A stranger who says slates are loose and offers to start today is a reason to decline and arrange a proper survey.
- A price with no visit. Anything above a minor repair needs eyes on the roof.
- A quote that says only "re-roof". No covering named, no scaffold mentioned, no waste mentioned.
- A suggestion to swap the covering. Concrete for stone, or sawn slate for split, to "save money". On a listed house or in a conservation area that raises consent questions, and heavier coverings can trigger Building Regulations approval.
- Mortar-only ridges. Under BS 5534:2014 the ridge and hip pieces need mechanical fixings, not just a bed of mortar.
- Cash only, no paperwork. No written terms, no address, no phone number that is answered.
- Pressure on timing. A price valid only today, or a fear-based pitch.
Calm is a signal
The best sign is the opposite of a red flag: a roofer who explains the options, names what cannot be known until the covering is off, and does not mind you taking time. After our survey you get a written quote and photographs of your own roof, with no clock running.