Roofing in Stratford-upon-Avon, priced in writing before anything starts.
Roofs in Stratford’s historic core are frequently part of what is listed, which changes both what can be done and how it has to be done.
On a listed building the covering, the structure beneath it and often the detailing are all protected, so like for like replacement is the expectation rather than an upgrade to something cheaper or lighter. Handmade clay tile and natural slate are the usual coverings, and where a roof is being stripped, material is sorted and reused rather than skipped and reordered.
Lead work on these roofs has proper detailing rules, and they exist because lead moves. Bays that are too long, codes that are too thin and joints soldered where they should be welted all fail within a few years, and on a listed building the resulting repair costs more than doing it correctly would have. We work to the sizes that suit the metal rather than the ones that suit the day.
Insulating a historic roof needs designing rather than stuffing, because the wrong build up traps moisture in timbers that need to stay dry. Re-covering triggers a Building Regulations requirement to look at insulation, and we arrange that inspection and see it through to sign off.
The modern housing at the town edges is concrete tile on trussed rafters and a much simpler proposition. More on coverings, flat roofs and repairs on our roofing page.
Four things we commit to on every job, rather than four things we say about ourselves.
Permitted development is not an exemption from Building Regulations. We arrange the Stratford-on-Avon District Council inspections, meet the inspector on site at each stage and see the work through to sign off. We do not make the application itself, and we will tell you what is needed and when.
Free, and you get it before you commit to us. Party walls and skip licences are raised at quotation stage, not three weeks into the dig.
The same people do the groundworks, the brickwork and the fit out. Nobody hands your job to a subcontractor you have never met.
You get a straight answer rather than a padded price. It costs us a job occasionally and saves you a great deal more.
Process, specification and what moves the price are set out on our roofing page.
The answers that genuinely differ from one Stratford-upon-Avon street to the next.
Scaffold in the town centre usually stands on the footway, which is a highway licence from Warwickshire County Council arranged by the scaffold company. With the pedestrian numbers here the scaffold also has to keep the footway usable, which means a properly designed structure rather than the cheapest one.
We do not strip more roof in a day than we can make watertight by the evening. On a historic roof with no felt beneath the covering that discipline is not optional, because there is nothing behind the tiles to hold the weather out.
Where a roof is listed we agree the scope and record the existing detailing before anything comes off.
Where handmade tiles come off a roof we sort and grade them on site and buy in only the shortfall, because a full roof of new tile on an old building is both expensive and unconvincing.
Part of our wider building work in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Send photographs and a rough brief, or call and talk it through. We will tell you if a job is not right for us.
Southfield Construction (Rugby) Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company 14209138.
