Roofing

Consumer Rights
Let’s Raise the Roofing
Industry’s Standards
Don Waterworth, Chartered Building Engineer, Building Surveyor and Expert Witness
Unfortunately, in my role as a private practice chartered
building engineer and expert witness, I spend much of my time
inspecting defective building works. The two single biggest
culprits of defective building work, sadly, are roofing
contractors and double glazing companies.
I act as lead expert witness for Lancashire Trading Standards
and Lancashire police force, who are very proactive in pursuing
the rogue traders and indeed quite fraudulent traders that not
only give the roofing profession a very bad name but also take
tens of thousands of pounds, in many cases off old or disabled
people.
The industry as a whole needs to 'grasp the nettle' with
regards to either weeding out these so-called roofers or indeed
raise roof training to a level whereby only properly qualified
professional roofers are able to exist within the industry.
Take a look at the two photographs which are from part of an
expert report that I recently prepared for Lancashire Trading
Standards.
This is a pair of bungalows in Lancashire, looking from the
front of the properties. The bungalow to the right was re-roofed
approximately two years ago for the elderly lady living there.
This lady by the way has Alzheimer's, and the she would have
been unaware that work was of a shoddy standard.
However, I was carrying out a report regarding the work to the
bungalow pictured to the left, which unfortunately was
destined to be worked on by another shoddy roofing contractor.
The householder of the house on the left required the tiles to
'run in' and align with his neighbours, as the bungalow roofs
had been originally, before any recent roofing works were
carried out. The roofing contractor of course said 'no problem'
and work commenced.
However, the roofing contractor was not a professional roofing
contractor and did not, or indeed could not, marry in to the
work completed at the right-hand bungalow. This may have
been due to the appallingly poor standard of the work at the
right-hand bungalow, or due to the fact that the roofing
contractor at the left-hand bungalow simply had no idea of
professional roofing work whatsoever.
In any event, the attached photographs show the attempt at fitting a Klober
valley between the two bungalows (which should have been unnecessary)
and the wonderful repair behind the rear dormer where the tiles simply did
not marry in and interlock, and, therefore, the roofer had decided to fill with a
fillet of mortar.
What a sad indictment of the roofing industry!
And it is these sorts of practices that I view on a regular basis and that the
industry should be aware of.
It is no use the leaders of the industry burying their heads in the sand, and
simply dealing with the larger, professional roofing companies, when the
majority of the industry is one man roofing companies and sole traders.
The industry needs to 'get a grip' of itself, and roofing contractors as a whole,
as it is the image of the whole of the profession that is being 'dragged into
the gutter' by works such as the ones highlighted in the photographs.
In the forthcoming months, I will show other photographs of other deplorable
work carried out by shoddy roofers which not only gives the industry a bad
name, but makes the public as consumers distrust all roofing contractors.
Remember, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link, and there are
many weak links in this industry – and that needs addressing in my opinion.
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