Roofing Case Studies

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These are examples of the type of 'horror stories' that we come across regularly and, where invited to do so, our roofing engineers have resolved the problems successfully.

Roof leak - Two tiles: £900 charge - Problem returns within a month

An RCC engineer was called to a roof repair in Thornton Heath and, while he was there, the next door neighbour came out and said he had a problem that was supposed to have been cured. When the engineer had finished the job he was there to do, he went next door. The neighbour told him that he had discovered a roof leak about March 2008, which he had repaired through someone that he had found in Crystal Palace out of the Yellow Pages.

The roofer from Crystal Palace had come to his house and had been on the roof for two hours, charging him £900 in cash! The roofer would not leave the doorstep until the money had been paid, so the homeowner had no alternative but to go to the bank and withdraw the money.

A month later the roof was leaking again. The homeowner contacted the roofer once more, who said, “I’ll come back again for another £900 and fix another leak.” When our engineer went up on the homeowner’s roof, he discovered that the other roofer had only replaced two tiles – worth about 90p. It appeared that the roofer from Crystal Palace had simply spent a couple of hours killing time on the roof in order to give the impression that he had been working. Our roofer discovered that the actual problem was the lead flashing, which was still hanging out as it had not been put back in place. The Crystal Palace roofer had indicated to the homeowner that he was going to come back and redo the flashing as another job. Instead, the RCC roofer undertook the work for the homeowner for a nominal fee, after which he immediately became a member of The Roof Care Club.

Cardboard slates con

A few years ago our Founder, Ken, was called to a house in Coulsdon with a roof leak. The owner said that she had had her roof repaired but there was still damp coming through. From the road you could just see the slate roof. The owner said there had been new slates put up there, so Ken went onto the roof and took a look. By chance, he put his finger through a slate … the slate was simply a piece of cut cardboard painted black! The roofer had replaced a number of slates with real slates but, to save himself money, he had simply replaced others with imitation slates made from cardboard. At the time you could have probably bought a slate for about 70p. The roofer was obviously out to con the owner, so she got a mixture of real and cardboard tiles.

Flat roof con: £2300 charge – Collapsed ceilings – Insurance cover invalidated

An RCC roofer went to a house in Putney that had a large extension. Foreign roofers had put a new flat roof on with three layers of felt and had charged the owner £2,300. Shortly afterwards, it had rained heavily and her bedroom ceilings had collapsed. The owner showed our engineer what had been laid on the roof … shed roofing felt!

The foreign roofers had been to a DIY store, bought a couple of rolls of shed roofing felt and had simply nailed it on. The rain had seeped under the joints and brought her ceilings down. As a result, she would not now be covered by her insurance because of the shoddy workmanship. She could make an insurance claim, but it would not be entertained by her insurers due to the condition that the roofers had left her property in.

Flat roof con: £10,000 charge – Extensive damage – Inability to contact / trace roofers

Another RCC roofer was called out to a three-storey townhouse in Mitcham where some extensive work had been undertaken. A new flat roof had been put on by foreign roofers, costing £10,000 … cash! No skip, no chute, no scaffolding; they obviously had not removed any of the old roof. The homeowner was clearly concerned about the quality of the new roof because he had leaks in every bedroom. When our engineer examined the ‘new’ roof, he found it to be in an abysmal state. The foreign roofers had left the old roof on, laid the other roofing materials on top and, as a consequence, it was all lifting! Our roofer informed the owner that, had the job been done properly, it should have cost about £14,000 - £15,000. This price would have provided the homeowner with a watertight roof and a ten-year guarantee.

The job would have included scaffolding, chutes and a skip to remove the rubbish. Instead, none of this had been done and the homeowner had paid the roofers £10,000 in cash. The roofers had since disposed of their mobile phone so the owner could not contact them again. The details on the business card left by the foreign roofers were deliberately untraceable. The roofers had long gone, along with the homeowner’s £10,000!

Pensioner turned down by her insurance company

A pensioner had been paying her buildings and contents insurance premiums for over 60 years. During this time only once had she submitted a claim for a small amount of damage to a garden fence. When a panel from her dormer window became loose, she immediately contacted her insurance company. She was astounded to learn that her claim was invalid as the damage was not covered. The insurance company explained that the damage was due to “fair wear and tear” and could have been prevented through regular maintenance of the roof. Unsure of what to do next, but expecting to have a bill of several hundred pounds, she was very relieved when she heard about The Roof Care Club.

Following an inspection of the damage, our engineer undertook the repair and provided a report on the overall condition of the roof. The lady was so delighted and relieved that she immediately became a Roof Care Club Member – signing up for two years there and then to guarantee her ongoing peace of mind.

With 30 years’ roofing experience, RCC Founder, Ken Rousell, an insurance approved roofer, regularly sees the frightening results of shameless rogue tradesmen first hand …

Ken was called out by a well-known charity to meet police at the home of a 79 year old lady in Thornton Heath. She had come back from shopping to find some ‘travelling workmen’ in her garden. They said her guttering was dangerous and had started to remove it. She was very frightened by them and, when asked to pay the rogue traders over £2,500, agreed to do so. A few days later one of them returned and now demanded £7,500 rather than the original £2500, claiming that they had not only fixed her guttering but had also overhauled the roof. On a third visit, they demanded a further £900, stating that they had under-charged her! Ken Rousell estimated the cost of the guttering was no more than £700 and no work had been done on the roof. The men have never been caught.

<!--[if gte vml 1]> <![endif]-->Shocked to discover that damage to the fascia on her dormer 
window was not covered by her household insurance, a recent
new member was delighted to hear that the Roof Care Club 
was able to provide an immediate solution.

"Very grateful to have the repair done so quickly and reliably.” 
Maureen Tullett, Coulsdon