Read this before you accept a roofing quote

These guides are about that week. What the figures usually fall between and why they move, which lines should be in a quote and what their absence means, and how to tell nail fatigue from a slipped tile.

Two of them argue against buying work. That is deliberate: we would rather write the page that says your roof has ten years left in it and do the job when it does not.

Every guide

• Flat roof options compared The three common flat roof systems compared on what actually matters: movement, detailing, weather at install, and repairability.
• How to read a roofing quote What a roofing quote should name, the lines most often left off, and how to compare two quotes that do not describe the same job. Read before you sign.
• Repair or replace: how to decide How to tell a roof with years left in it from one at the end of its life, and how to stop paying for the same repair twice. Worth reading before any quote.
• Scaffolding and access When a roof job genuinely needs a scaffold, what a tower or a ladder can safely do, and why access is the line most often left off a quote.
• Signs your roof needs work What to look for from the ground and from the loft, which signs are harmless, and which genuinely mean your roof needs a roofer to look at it.
• What drives the cost of a new roof Why roofing quotes vary so much between houses that look alike, what actually moves the number, and what should always be included.