Roof Surveys

What is a roof survey?

A roof survey focuses solely on the roof — coverings, structure, drainage and junctions — and is essentially a Specific Defect Report for the most weather-exposed part of your home. You may need such a service for the following reasons:

• Defects: you suspect there are problems in the roof structure (e.g. damp penetration) and need to find out what is going on.
• Insurance: evidence to your insurance company that the roof requires repair or replacement.
• Landlord: persuade the freeholder(s) that they need to invest in the upkeep of the building.
• Valuation: find out how much it costs to bring the property up to market value.

What the surveyor inspects

Outside: the covering itself (tiles, slates or flat-roof membranes), ridges and hips, flashings and soakers at chimneys and abutments, valley and parapet gutters, and the rainwater goods that keep water moving off the building. Inside: the roof structure from the loft where access exists — rafters, purlins and struts, signs of spread or deflection, the condition of timbers around known leak points, and ventilation, because a roof that cannot breathe rots from beneath.

Common roof defects in UK homes

The recurring culprits are slipped and delaminating slates, nail fatigue on older pitched roofs, failed or missing flashings, blocked valley and parapet gutters, ponding and blistering on flat roofs, cracked chimney flaunching, and condensation in under-ventilated lofts that mimics a leak from below. Each has a different remedy at a very different price — which is exactly why diagnosis should come before quotation.

What the report contains

Beware of obtaining quotes from contractors who may charge you extortionate fees for potentially unnecessary repairs. This is why a roof survey conducted by an independent surveyor will help you establish what exactly is wrong, how to fix it and at what estimated budget — repair versus replacement argued from evidence, with the defects photographed and explained so any contractor's quotation can be measured against the actual scope of work. If the report turns up unfamiliar vocabulary — flaunching, torching, soakers — the building survey glossary translates it.

Roof survey or drone inspection?

Where access is difficult or the covering is fragile, a drone roof inspection captures the evidence safely from the air before any money is spent on scaffolding — the two are often combined, with the surveyor reporting on the aerial imagery. For concerns beyond the roof, see the Specific Defect Report or a full Level 3 Building Survey.

Fees and timescales

Roof surveys are quoted fixed once the property and the concern are described — size, roof form and access drive the fee — with reports typically delivered within 3–5 working days of inspection. Roof surveys sit within the panel's wider building surveying services. Get a fixed roof survey quote →