When You Need a Roof Inspection
Five situations bring most of our inspection work in Crewe, and each needs a slightly different report.
Buying a Property
A mortgage valuation barely looks at the roof and a homebuyer survey looks from the ground. A roof inspection before exchange tells you whether you're buying a sound roof, a roof that needs a few thousand pounds of work, or a re-roof, and gives you the figures to negotiate with.
Planning Maintenance
An inspection every few years catches the slipped slate, the cracked flaunching and the blocked valley before they become the leak that ruins a ceiling. For older Crewe roofs it's the cheapest money you'll spend on the house.
Insurance Purposes
After storm damage, insurers want an independent description of what failed and why. Some also ask for a roof condition report before offering cover on older properties across Crewe, CW1.
Selling a Property
A recent roof report with photographs answers the buyer's surveyor before they ask, and stops a vague "roof requires attention" line from knocking thousands off your price.
Dispute Resolution
When a repair done by someone else has failed, when a neighbour's roof is draining onto yours, or when a landlord and tenant disagree about the cause of damp, an independent report from a working roofer settles the question.
An inspection tells you what needs doing; it doesn't commit you to anything. Most reports in Crewe lead to a small repair, some flag chimney or flashing work, and on a damp ceiling we follow up with targeted leak detection.
Our Inspection Process
Every inspection in Crewe is done the same way so nothing is missed and the report means the same thing from one roof to the next.
Visual Examination
We inspect from the ground with binoculars, from ladders at the eaves, from the roof itself where access and safety allow, and from inside the loft. Where a roof is too steep or high to walk safely we use a camera pole or a drone.
What We Check
Slates and tiles, ridges and hips, valleys, flashings and leadwork, chimneys, flat roof coverings, fascias, soffits and gutters, roof timbers and membrane from inside, ventilation, insulation, and evidence of past repairs. Every defect is photographed and located on a sketch.
Detailed Report
A written report within a few days, with photographs, a description of each defect, its likely cause and urgency, an overall condition rating, and a prioritised list of recommended work with indicative costs. Written for a homeowner, not a surveyor.
Inspection Types
We offer four types of inspection across Crewe, CW1; most people need the first or second.
Standard Inspection
A full inspection and report on the condition of the roof, suitable for maintenance planning and peace of mind.
Pre-Purchase Survey
A standard inspection written with a buyer in mind: what you're taking on, what it will cost, and what you can use to negotiate. Turned round quickly to fit conveyancing timescales.
Insurance Assessment
A report on storm or impact damage that separates what the event caused from pre-existing wear, in the format loss adjusters expect, with dated photographs.
Drone Survey
For large, steep, high or inaccessible roofs, a drone gives a complete photographic record of every slope without scaffold. Combined with a loft inspection it's a thorough survey at low cost.
Independent and Unbiased
We'd rather tell you a Crewe roof is fine than invent work. Our inspection reports are written to tell you the truth about the roof, and you're free to take the recommended work to anyone. If you do ask us to quote for it, the inspection fee is deducted from the job. Many of the reports we write across Crewe, CW1 conclude that the roof needs nothing more than a gutter clear and a couple of slates, and we're happy to say so.