roof repair quotes - Am I living in cloud cuckoo land?

[aggywaggy]

Hello all,

Please tell me if I'm living in cloud cuckoo land. I live in an 1st floor maisonette, victorian terrace in south west london and need intel on how much new render on the parapet walls would cost, along with resetting of 4 loose coping stones on parapet and 4 new tiles on back addition.

I've had 3 quotes. One was £7.5k, another £8.5k and one said new roof was required.

We have had no leaks whatsoever and my view is that the repair work is simply cosmetic as we want to put the property on the market and want the roof to pass a visual inspection. For context we tried to sell the flat a year ago but chain collapsed due to issue with onward purchase. The buyer had Level 2 Homebuyers survey which I have a copy of and advised the following roof repairs: replacement of 3 missing coping stones and resettling loose coping stones, patching up render on parapet walls and replacing a couple of slipped tiles.

The roofers who have quoted haven't cared about the survey (fair enough) and broadly speaking have said I the following is required:

Scaffolding at front of and rear
replacement of all coping stones
hacking of lose render at front, rear of roof and back addition
removal of lead flashing at front, rear of roof and back addition
renew all lead flashing
install render beads
all new coping stones
two coats of render
replacement of broken tiles.

Obviously they are the experts and I understand that prices have shot up in recent years but the scope of the work they are proposing is much more indepth than I was hoping - i almost fell of my chair when the one said i needed a new roof?!!!. I have tried to communicate that we want to keep costs to a minimum as we intend to sell and given we haven't had any leaks I'm sceptical that for example all of the coping stones need to be replaced.

What do others think? Are the quotes broadly how much this type of work costs in London?

 

[Bonni]

Those quotes are astronomical, but I live up North. I would have thought £1,500 to £2,000 tops would cover.

At worst, hire a scaffold tower, but most roofers and builders would just sort that from a ladder and roof ladder. If you're planning to sell, I would just hire the two ladders and pop up and put some new copings on.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Put it on the market as it is, if a survey notices anything then knock off 2k.

Andy

 

[datarebal]

The quotes are expensive . Then it's not cheap to work anywhere in SW. We work on a couple of churches in SW 1 Fulham 1 Putney .
Khan makes things even worse !

I would not say it needs a new roof , the roof isn't original . It had redland 49 tiles on it , the parapet has a clay hip tile bedded on top . No true coping .
Those you could get for maybe 6.00 each , yes you need a bit of scaffold .
Get more prices , don't tell on the quotes you have and don't park your Aston Martin outside your house .. basic stuff really

 

[aggywaggy]

Thanks for all your replies, most grateful to know that, as thought, these quotes so far are a bit of a p!sst@ke and i'll definitely have more confidence when getting more quotes. i was starting to feel quite disheartened and although i could just put the flat on the market and hope nothing shows up on the survey, it will likely be FTB who is interested and my experience with them recently is that they want the moon on a stick so trying to minimise potential wrangling.

@datarebal - great to know the exact name of the hip tile. one roofer said you can't get those anymore so best to change to concrete coping stones which i didn't quite believe! that option also sent shivers down my spine as would require permission from and cost sharing with the flats either side (6 flats in total) and i know full well that at least 50% of them wouldn't be interested. at least this way, replacing like for like won't cause any issues.

 

[^woody^]

When you want a quote for work, it is you that should be telling the contractors what you want quoting for, not the contractors telling you what they want to do.

Specify the required work and let the contractors quote for each item or a composite price, and then you know that you are getting comparable prices.

 

[aggywaggy]

Thanks for your reply. I fully agree and have been doing this when contacting them.

I have clearly specified the number of roof tiles that need replacing along with the number of coping stones and have asked for patch up rather than full replacement of other issues. I take days off work to get them quote and then they arrived, do the sharp intake of breath and say that the whole roof is a state and needs major work. I then reiterate I just want the issues mentioned addressed and ask them to quote, wait another day for the quote and it’s like a smorgasbord of repair works that I don’t believe I need. The bloke that said new roof was either take it or leave it and acted like he was doing me a favour.

I’ve been quite clear that we’ve had zero leaks but they all look at me as if I’m mad or lying. One said he guaranteed that there was water egress somewhere in my loft (there definitely isn’t!)

I wonder if it’s just that a lot of roofers in London can’t be bothered with small jobs. So they say you need a lot more doing to make it worth their while

 

[JRHSurrey]

In a similar situation a few years ago I replied that the house was for sale in its present condition at its present asking price. If I carried out the suggested works I would put it back on the market at a higher asking price. That was the last I heard of it and the sale proceeded.