Many homeowners in the UK tend to get many inflammatory contractor quotes before deciding on one and checking vendor reviews on google. A badly installed roof is often expensive to fix and cause major inconveniences as it is difficult to trace the vendor down the line. In fact, most contractors and vendor reviews online provide little useful information to buyers to check reviews and don’t provide useful information about the contractors and reviews. If it takes at least poorly constructed reviews, then worthwhile to check. A check on the review and contractor’s referral is worthwhile and takes a minute.

What it Means to Be a Member of the NFRC

The NFRC is the major National Federation of Roofing Contractors and tends to provide the most UK contractors. Membership is regulated, i.e. NFRC itself, and every member of the NFRC has to comply with NFRC regulations. Members tend to have employer’s liability and public liability insurance, as well as provide trade references to NFRC. Not every NFRC member has every trade reference, and NFRC member insurance is not universally accepted, but NFRC member insurance meets NFRC member public liability insurance coverage (within employer’s liability public insurance).

NFRC suspends and revokes memberships for NFRC code violations. Membership NFRC can also be voluntarily withdrawn. NFRC holds contractor search, as stated in NFRC, and each NFRC member can be independently verified for membership. Remember, NFRC contractor members can also voluntarily withdraw membership to NFRC. NFRC contractor members also have public liability insurance. This is a net interpretation to NFRC membership. NFRC holds contractor search. NFRC contractor search services offer contractor search by NFRC contractor membership (NFRC contractor claims to be NFRC member). Van signage deterministically clarifies contractor access to NFRC membership. Van signage, NFRC membership, and member liability insurance offer NFRC member contractors public liability insurance.

Being a member of the NFRC is not the only form of recognition considered valid. The NFRC allows roofers to participate in its Competent Roofer Scheme. This is a government-authorized program where registered contractors can self-certify that their roofing works meet the requirements of the Building Regulations without the need for an Approved Inspector. If any re-roofing works undertake activities that are subject to the Building Regulations, such as replacement of more than 50% of a roof covering, then a Competent Roofer registered contractor should be specified as the compliance costs will be lower and the process will be quicker.

 Insurance — what to ask and what to check

A roofing contractor working at your property is required to have employer’s liability insurance covering their workers and public liability insurance covering loss damage to your property and injury to third parties. The standard minimum public liability cover for domestic works is £2 million. This cover may not be adequate for larger jobs. Insurers may place restrictions on the level of cover and the duration of the public liability cover. This means you should see the insurance certificate, and it should contain the name of the Insurer, the policy number, the level of Cover and the date of expiry. If the insurance certificate is not valid, it means the insurance cover is not in force, and the insurance policy is, in effect, not valid.

Some contractors obtain contractor’s all-risk insurance for protection against damages that might happen to the works under construction. This insurance is less common but as the projects get bigger or longer and there is a real possibility of construction work being damaged as a result of adverse weather conditions, it becomes relevant.

Meaningful warranty

A warranty attached to a roof is not worth much without detail, so important specifics must be looked for. A warranty will not be worth much, if anything, without detail, so what will add value is focussing on specifics. It will be worth little, if anything, if it lacks detail, so specifics will add value. Details will increase the value, and an important detail is certainty regarding coverage for both labour and materials. Other important specifics are the claims process and inspection requirements. Minimum requirements for an inspection will be required as it needs to be performed periodically to keep the warranty intact. Concrete certainty will not be available if the warranty is contractor backed and is manufacturer backed.

From experience, a contractor-only warranty is a contractor-specific warranty that will persist as long as that contractor is still in business. In the roofing industry, small contractors often operate on a cycle of business activity that is shorter than the contractor-specific warranty being offered. However, the manufacturer’s warranty that some system manufacturers, including IKO, Sika, and Bauder, offer for flat roofing, plus several suppliers for GRP and EPDM systems, can be sold on to a new owner if the building is sold, and it outlasts that contractor and is transferable.

With new flat roofing systems, there are 10-20 year manufacturer-backed guarantees, but only if the contractor is an approved installer for that warranty manufacturer’s system. Before committing, ask the contractor if they are approved as an installer, as the warranty will not be available to you if they do not, regardless of what the contractor sells you.

The most important question

Ask contractors for the names and contact information of three clients from the past two years, and the roofing job they completed for them. A contractor that is hesitant to provide this information is telling you a lot. One that provides this information and clients confirm that the work was done on time, to spec, and there were no issues is a contractor that you should consider. Your job will not be done correctly, regardless of the contractor’s certifications, if they do not have a history of completed work that is similar to your job.