Much of the stress of a roofing job can come from surprises: a scaffold tower in the one spot where the car lives, a loft full of boxes that must be moved in a hurry, a neighbour who first hears about it when the lorry arrives. An afternoon of preparation heads off a good deal of that.
Roof work is noisy, dusty and public. Scaffold goes up at the front and sometimes over a shared boundary. Old tiles come down, new ones go up, and for a few days or weeks the house has a different rhythm. Knowing the order of events lets you plan around it, and gives you a sensible list of questions to put to your roofer before the start date.
The notes below follow the order in which things need doing: licences, neighbours, the loft, the drive, the household, and the first morning. They apply to any roofer. If you are still choosing, read how to choose a roofer, and for our own approach see our Andover roofing page.
Scaffolding and the highway licence
Many roof jobs need scaffolding. Where it stands on your own drive or garden, you need no one's permission. Where it stands on or over a public footway or road, section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 calls for the highway authority's licence. That is a separate piece of paperwork from planning and from the Building Regulations, and it has its own lead time.
Who applies, and for how long
For every Hampshire district address, including Andover and the Test Valley villages, the highway authority is Hampshire County Council, which says the scaffold firm makes the application on your behalf, so you do not apply yourself. Hampshire County Council wants the application lodged ten or more working days before the start, charges £211.90 for the first two weeks and £72 for each further two weeks, offers no extensions, and gives no deemed consent.
Wiltshire Council expects the company supplying the scaffold to apply through its MiPermit portal, charges £143.80 or £164.70 according to how much notice is given, and issues each licence for 28 days. West Berkshire Council also requires the scaffolding firm to apply, wants at least ten working days, and charges £125 plus £71 per week. The fees are in each council's own units, so do not set one beside another.
Whichever council issues the licence, plan for the lead time. A job booked for next week may not be able to start if the licence has not been granted, so ask for the realistic date and not the hopeful one.
What you should do
Ask your roofer whether the scaffold is on the highway, who is applying and what start date that allows. Dates can move. Elsewhere, ask who applies and keep the answer in writing.
Telling neighbours and party wall points
Tell the people next door before the scaffold appears. A short note with the start date, how long it should run and a phone number is enough. Mention the noise, the skip and the scaffold boards, and ask whether anything near the boundary needs care, such as a greenhouse, a pond or a parked car.
When the Party Wall etc. Act applies
Many roof repairs never touch a party wall. Some jobs do. Section 2(2)(g) of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 covers cutting a protruding breast, jamb or flue out of a shared wall, and the notice must go out no less than two months ahead of the start. Cutting into an adjoining owner's wall to insert a flashing is another right the Act lists, in section 2(2)(j).
Silence is not consent
GOV.UK says you cannot assume that no response from a neighbour means they agree. Where the two of you cannot agree, a party wall surveyor has to be appointed. Questions about party walls go to a party wall surveyor, not to building control, and your roofer should know the difference.
Neighbours with a view of the work
The scaffold may block a neighbour's window or sit close to their boundary. Having the conversation early makes that easier to resolve, and may avoid a complaint to the council that delays everyone. Offer to take down any fence panel that the scaffold needs to pass, and put it back afterwards. Tell your roofer if a neighbour has raised a concern, so it can be dealt with at the start.
If your plans include a chimney breast, read our chimney repairs hub as well.
Clearing the loft
The loft is where a re-roof does most of its mess. As the old covering and underlay come off, dust and debris can fall through any gap. Clear what you can, and cover what you cannot.
What to move out
Take out boxes, suitcases, decorations and anything that would be harmed by dust. If something is too large to move, drape it with dust sheets. Clear a path to the hatch so a roofer can get in and out safely, and leave the area around the chimney stack open.
Do not step between the joists
Ceilings are not floors. Step only on the joists or on boards that are properly fixed, and keep children out of the loft. If you have a water tank, check with your roofer whether it needs protecting from falling debris.
Look before the work starts
This is a good moment to photograph the underside of the roof, any damp patches and the state of the insulation. The pictures record the starting point and help if a dispute comes up later.
Items in the rooms below
Dust and vibration can reach the top-floor rooms, so move mirrors and pictures from the walls under the work, and lift light fittings or cover them. Cover furniture in the bedroom closest to the roof.
Ask your roofer whether they will lay boards or sheeting across the loft floor, so that nothing needs lifting twice.
If the loft is insulated, tell them whether you plan to top up or replace it afterwards. Planning any insulation alongside the re-roof is simpler than coming back to it later, and Part L may apply to the roof itself, as our building regulations guide sets out.
Parking, skips and access
A roofing job needs room to work. The scaffold, a skip, a delivery of tiles and the roofers' vehicles all compete for the same strip of drive and road, and a plan avoids arguments.
Where the skip goes
Ask your roofer where the skip will stand and who deals with any permission needed if it must go on the road. Agree whether you or the roofer will arrange it. Waste is the roofer's to remove, and it should be taken away rather than left to build up in the garden.
Deliveries
Tiles, battens and lead arrive in bulk, often on a lorry with a crane. The driver needs a clear approach and somewhere to unload. If your road is narrow, tell the roofer in advance so the delivery can be timed with that in mind.
Your own car and gate
Move cars off the drive on the first morning, and if a side gate is the only way round the house, leave it unlocked or give the roofers a way through. Mark anything fragile in the garden and move it away from the drop zone.
Asbestos and old materials
Where asbestos may be present in the roof covering, soffit boards or a garage roof, the roofer should explain the handling method. Asbestos waste is bagged twice, labelled and moved on a consignment note, and it never belongs in an open skip. If you have any doubt, ask before the first day, not on it. Do not move or break old sheeting yourself in the meantime.
Children, pets and daily life
A working roof is a building site above your head. Keep children away from the scaffold and the area under it, and explain why. Do not let anyone climb a scaffold, however tempting it looks.
Noise and dust
Stripping and fixing is loud, and the sound carries through the house. If someone works from home, shift to a room away from the slope being worked on, or plan for a day elsewhere. Close windows on the side being worked on and remove washing from the line.
Pets
Dogs and cats dislike the noise and the strangers on their territory. Keep them indoors, preferably in a room away from the work, and warn the roofers about any animal that may slip out. Small caged animals and birds need a quiet room.
Nesting birds and bats
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 1, it is an offence to intentionally damage an occupied or half-built nest of a wild bird. If you know of an active nest, tell the roofer so the work can go around it. Bats are fully protected, and repairing a roof can affect them. If the survey finds signs of bats, stop and take advice.
Power and water
Check where the electric and water supplies run in the loft, and tell the roofer. A short plan in a drawer saves a mistake on the day. Know where the main stopcock and consumer unit are, so that a burst pipe or a cut cable can be dealt with at once.
The day before and the first morning
The day before, walk round with your roofer or phone them. Confirm the start time, who will be on site, what will be delivered and how long each stage is expected to take. Ask what the plan is for rain, and who makes the call to stop. Write the answers down.
Who is responsible
CDM 2015 moves the responsibilities of a householder who commissions work onto the contractor, so the roofer takes on planning and managing the site safely. If there is more than one contractor, extra duties follow. Where one contractor works alone, that firm must prepare a construction phase plan, and you can ask to see it.
Photograph the starting point
Take pictures of the drive, the garden, the outside walls and the rooms beneath the roof, with dates. Photographs of the condition before the job are the simplest way to settle any question about damage.
Money and paperwork
Have the written price, the payment stages and the roofer's contact numbers where you can find them. Our guide to roofing contract payment stages covers what to agree before the first payment.
When the scaffold goes up, walk round once with the roofer, so that you both know where it stands, how the boundary is protected and which gate is in use. A five-minute walk on day one saves arguments later in the week. Agree a daily check-in, even a brief text each evening, so you hear about progress, weather delays and any change to the plan without having to chase.
