The short answer
Our re-roofs come with a 10-year workmanship guarantee, given in writing. It covers the fitting: fixings, laps, flashings and finish, and it is a promise from us, not an insurance policy. A manufacturer may separately offer a material warranty on tiles, slates or membranes, with its own conditions. A lifespan figure is never a guarantee, so read each document for what it covers.
Workmanship guarantee versus material warranty
A workmanship guarantee comes from the firm that laid the roof. If the roof fails because of how it was fitted, the firm puts it right. A material warranty comes from whoever made the tile, slate, membrane or metal, and deals with a fault in the product, usually by supplying replacement product.
The faults differ. A tile that crumbles in its first years is a material question. A tile that slips because it was poorly fixed, or a leak at a chimney because the flashing was badly dressed, is workmanship. Failures on new roofs tend to fall in the second group, which is why the written workmanship terms deserve more attention than the logo on the pallet.
Neither is a lifespan. Marley is careful to say its own figure of around 60 years for concrete tiles promises nothing about how long a particular roof will last. Lifespans are ranges that depend on exposure, the quality of the laying and upkeep, never a promise to you.
Our 10-year workmanship guarantee in plain words
Each re-roof we fit comes with a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing, handed over with the final paperwork. It covers our fitting work: battens and underlay, how the covering is fixed and lapped, ridge, hips, verges and valleys, flashings and making good.
It is a guarantee from us and nothing more: it is not an insurance policy. If a problem comes from how we did the work, you tell us and we put it right. If it comes from something else, such as storm damage, a fallen branch, other trades on the roof or an unrelated leak, insurance is the route, and new roofs and insurance sets out when insurers pay.
Read the guarantee wording while you are still weighing the quote, not when the final invoice arrives. It should be a page you can finish in two minutes.
What a manufacturer warranty usually involves
Material warranties vary a good deal, so read the document for the actual product rather than a sales line. Look at how long it runs, what it covers (product only, or some labour too), whether you must register it and what conditions it sets on fixing and ventilation.
One published example shows how the numbers can differ. VMZINC, a zinc manufacturer, states a material warranty of up to 50 years, decided project by project, while separately stating that its zinc lasts in excess of 100 years. One is a warranty on terms; the other is a service-life claim. Neither is a promise from the roofer.
On flat roofs, Less, a roofing cost publisher, reports that EPDM manufacturer warranties of 20 to 25 years are standard. That is again the product maker's promise, with conditions, and it sits beside the fitter's written terms rather than replacing them.
What to look for in any roofer's guarantee
Five questions reveal most of what you need.
- Is it a document you receive, or a line in an email?
- How long does it run, and from what date?
- Does it cover workmanship, materials or both, and does it take in flashings and lead as well as the covering?
- What is excluded, and how do you make a claim?
- Who answers for it if the firm closes or is sold?
The last is the one most often missed. A guarantee is only worth what its giver is worth. Where a long guarantee backed by an insurer matters to you, for a sale or a mortgage perhaps, ask each roofer how theirs is supported and compare the answers on paper. Our guide to comparing roof quotes shows what to line up side by side.
What voids or limits a guarantee
Guarantees of every kind share a few limits, and they are easier to accept when known in advance. Damage from storms, falling branches, vandalism or later alterations normally sits outside a workmanship guarantee. So does neglect, such as gutters left to overflow onto a fascia or moss left to build on slate. Work by someone else on the same roof, say an aerial fitted by a third party who cracks tiles, can complicate a claim.
Keep the paperwork together: the written quote, final invoice, guarantee and the pictures from the survey and the stripped roof. Our survey pictures of your own roof show the starting condition. If you later hire someone else to touch the roof, tell them what is under guarantee.
A roof built by an amateur comes with none of that paperwork, one of the points in doing a re-roof yourself.
Matching the paper to the covering you choose
The right documents differ by covering. With natural slate, clay and concrete tiles, the maker's warranty covers the product and the fitter's guarantee covers the laying. With stone slate on an older house, material warranties are rare and the laying counts for most: pegs, battens and mortar done properly. With a flat roof, the membrane maker's warranty often attaches conditions to who fitted it and how details were finished, so read it before signing.
All of this goes into the written quote that follows the survey. Where a material warranty is on offer, we tell you what it is, who gives it and what the job must satisfy. Where none exists, the workmanship terms stand alone. The process from survey to handover is set out on our roof replacement page.