In plain words
What a workmanship guarantee is
Workmanship is the way a job was done: how the tiles were laid, how a flashing was tucked into a wall, how a flat roof was bonded and finished. A workmanship guarantee is a written promise from the contractor about that work. Ours runs for 10 years and is given to you in writing, and the wording for your job is in the paperwork that comes with it.
It is a promise made by Affinity Roofing Andover itself, about the work it carried out. It is not an insurance policy, and it does not depend on anyone else paying out.
Three different things
Workmanship, materials and lifespan
People often run three ideas together, so it helps to separate them.
Workmanship is what this page covers: the quality of the installation.
Materials carry their own manufacturer warranties, which are separate documents with separate terms. A tile, a membrane or a roof window can have a manufacturer warranty whether or not the installer gives any promise.
Lifespan figures are typical ranges, never promises. HomeBuilding (Sep 2025) gives natural slate a life of 100 years or more, and MyJobQuote (Oct 2026) reports that lead can last for over 80 years. A guarantee is something different: a stated period during which a stated kind of fault will be put right.
Because the two numbers are separate, a long guarantee tells you nothing by itself about how long a covering will last. When you compare roofers, ask what each document actually covers.
Making a claim
What to do if there is a problem
If something goes wrong with work we carried out, contact us as soon as you notice it. Email or telephone using the details at the foot of this page, give us the address and the date of the job, and send photographs showing where the problem is and what it looks like. Pictures taken at the time are valuable because they show how the problem developed.
We will arrange to look at the roof, tell you what we find and explain whether it falls within the written guarantee for your job. Where it does, we put it right.
Your legal rights
How the guarantee sits with the law
A guarantee adds to your rights and cannot take any away. Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says a service must be performed with reasonable care and skill. Sections 54 and 57 deal with your remedies if it is not, and a trader's liability for that cannot be excluded. Those rights are yours as a consumer whether or not a guarantee exists, and they stay in place beside it.
For independent advice about a dispute with any trader, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline is 0808 223 1133. Our complaints procedure explains how we handle a problem from our side.
Before you rely on any guarantee
Questions worth putting to any roofer
The same questions are useful whoever you choose.
- Is the guarantee in writing, and do you get it before or after the work is finished?
- Who gives it, and what does it say it covers?
- How long does it run, and from which date?
- What does it leave out, such as work by other people or storm damage?
- What must you do to make a claim?
To see our paperwork before you commit, ask for it when you request your free roof quote.
Storms and insurance
When the cause is the weather
Damage from a storm is a different question from the quality of past work, and it normally goes to your home insurer first. Tell the insurer, make a temporary repair where that is safe, and keep photographs and receipts. The Financial Ombudsman Service describes a storm as violent winds, often bringing rain, hail or snow, and notes that insurers use their own wording, so read your policy's own storm definition. Nothing on this page promises that an insurer will pay.
If you cannot tell whether a fault comes from the original work or from later weather, send us photographs and we will say what we can see.