The document is the point
An inspection where someone climbs up, comes down and says "yeah it needs doing" is worth very little. What is worth something is a written record: what the roof is, what is wrong with it, where, why, how urgent, and what could not be seen. That is what you can act on, hand to an insurer, show a strata committee, or use in a price negotiation.
On the Northern Beaches the reason to insist on it is that the expensive faults here are invisible from the ground. A metal roof can be failing at every screw head while the sheets look immaculate from the footpath. A tile roof can look tidy while the ridge bedding has let go along its whole length. A low-pitch rebuild can be in perfect condition apart from a box gutter outlet that will flood the house in the next heavy rain.
Call (02) 8000 1949 to book. If you want a quote for work rather than a formal report, that inspection is free.
What the inspection covers
The roof covering. Tile condition and porosity, cracked and slipped units, sheet condition, corrosion at fasteners and cut ends, coating condition, and whether past repairs were done properly or just sealed over.
The details. Ridge and hip bedding and pointing, valleys and valley irons, flashings at chimneys, skylights, vents and wall junctions, penetrations, barge and apron lines, and parapet upstands where there are any.
The drainage. Gutter condition and sizing, fall, downpipe number and condition, box gutters and sumps, visible blockages, and whether the roof water is actually leaving the roof.
The roof space. Where there is access: wet or stained timber, condition and presence of sarking, insulation that has been wet, daylight visible through the covering, and signs of condensation as distinct from leakage. These two look similar on a ceiling and need completely different work.
The exposure. How far the property sits from breaking surf, which decides whether the fixings and flashings in place were ever the correct grade for that address. On the inland side, whether the lot is on mapped bushfire-prone land, which brings AS 3959 requirements into play for roof coverings, sarking and ember detailing.
Pre-purchase inspections
If you are buying between Manly and Palm Beach, the roof is one of the few large costs you can quantify before exchange rather than discover afterwards.
What we look for specifically on a pre-purchase job:
- Fresh paint or a recent coating over faults that have not been repaired, which is more common than it should be
- Pointing that has been patched at the front of the house and nowhere else
- Mismatched tiles, which indicate repeated repairs rather than a stable roof
- Corrosion at the fixings on a coastal metal roof, and whether the grade suits the distance from surf
- Box gutters and concealed drainage on an architectural rebuild, which is where the serious money hides
- Whether the roof space shows evidence of past water that has since dried
The report gives you a repair-versus-replace position and the rough shape of the cost, which is exactly what you need when you are deciding what to offer.
Reports for insurance claims
An insurer is being asked to accept that a specific event caused specific damage. A useful report helps that by being precise and by being honest about what is wear.
It should state the roof type and apparent age, describe each item of damage with a photograph and a location, offer a view on the mechanism of failure, distinguish storm damage from pre-existing deterioration, and quote the remedial work separately. Vague reports that claim everything get queried. Specific reports that separate the two get processed.
If a storm has already caused damage, the make-safe comes first, then the documentation — see storm and emergency roof repairs.
Strata, apartment and townhouse roofs
A great deal of the housing through Manly, Fairlight, Dee Why, Brookvale, Collaroy and Narrabeen is unit blocks and townhouses where the roof is common property. That changes the process rather than the work: an individual owner with a leak needs a document the owners corporation and the strata manager can act on, including the extent of the problem across the whole roof rather than only above the affected unit.
Flat and low-pitch roofs on walk-up blocks have their own failure pattern — membrane condition, parapet upstands, box gutter capacity and outlets, and the ponding that follows any settlement in the slab. These are worth inspecting as a system before a committee votes on a budget.
Owner maintenance reports
The other common reason to get a report is simply to stop guessing. A roof that has had nothing done to it for twenty years is not necessarily in trouble, and a report that says "the covering has years left, the pointing needs doing within two seasons, the gutters are undersized" lets you plan and budget instead of reacting to the next leak.
On this coast an annual look at the unwashed areas — under eave overhangs, behind parapets, inside gutters — catches salt accumulation and early corrosion while it is still a cleaning job rather than a replacement job.
Costs, and what is free
Inspections carried out so we can quote work are free, with no obligation and nothing to sign. A formal written report prepared for a purchase, a claim or a strata committee is a separate piece of work and is priced on the size and complexity of the roof and the access required. We will tell you which category your job falls into before anyone comes out, so there are no surprises.
Work is carried out by established, licensed and insured roofing contractors working to NSW Fair Trading requirements. Any repairs that follow carry a written workmanship warranty.
Book an inspection
Call (02) 8000 1949 or use the form and tell us whether you need a quote or a report. We inspect roofs across all thirty suburbs we cover, including Manly, Dee Why, Mona Vale and Frenchs Forest.