I've just had a roofer call to tell me my roof needs work

[Storytown]

Apparently my chimney needs repointing.

I am always suspicious of these kind of calls and never agree to buy anything from anyone on the doorstep but this one was soooo polite.

He's young a roofer in working clothes but looked respectable, not too scruffy in his dress. Stood well back from the door, apologised for bothering me, spoke gently and said he hoped I didn't mind but he'd noticed....Then explained what was wrong in layman's but not patronising terms, offered to do the job for £150 but put no pressure on for me to agree to the job there and then. Just left a card.

I'll have a look at the chimney when I go out later but WIBU to give him this job and break my own rules about doorstep callers. I feel like he should be rewarded for doing such a professional job and putting himself out there looking for work.

How is £150 to repoint a chimney in the SE?

[Jingleyflashyballs]

Exactly Alex, and as a pp said, decent roofers/builders don't need to be knocking on doors like that.

[AlexD72]

Oh and they also say " I'm doing some work for a neighbour of yours and I noticed......"

[AlexD72]

It's a scam. My husband is a builder and he hears about these exact circumstances all the time. I have had the same thing. Nice chap knocks on the door delivers his little speech. What I say is " I couldn't care less if I have
A tile missing
Bad guttering
Old windows
But I will point it out to my husband who fixes roof tiles,guttering and can fit windows. Ta very much.
They cost up the job then add on "little" extras.

[Finola1step]

Well guess what I saw today?

A house on my road, two fellas (let's call them Bodgem and Scarper) sitting on the roof, hacking away at the chimney. Two ladders, one propped up against the house, one on the roof. Very dangerous looking. Dodgy looking van out front, no company markings etc. not even a name and phone number on the side.

Across the road from this house is another which has had extensive work done on it for months. Builders were up in the scaffolding today. They were laughing at B&S across the road.

I walked past a couple of hours later, chimney has been completely hacked off.

I will put money on B&S knocking on my door in the next couple of days to tell me about a problem they can see on my roof. How they were only passing as they having being doing work for so and so at no ?? How they can get their ladders now and have a look for me...

[BuzzardBirdRoast]

So you were going to give work to someone knowing it didn't need doing? I suspect something amiss...

[Summerisle1]

I can only second what previous pps have said in that good roofers aren't wandering about touting for work. Round here they are like gold dust and booked up for months! Also, £150 is ridiculously cheap for anything to do with chimneys. Not least because you can't just shin up a ladder with a bucket of pug. Undoubtedly he'd get onto your roof and find all sorts of mysterious and expensive extra work. Often by damaging your roof himself.

[NorbertDentressangle]

Another one who says don't touch with a barge pole!

Somebody arsing about on a roof without the proper scaffolding etc will do more damage than good, breaking tiles etc.

They can also claim there are all sorts of other problems that they've spotted whilst up there (and lets face it, your average home owner isn't going to pop up the ladder and have a look to confirm it!)

[Aeroflotgirl]

It's a scam, if your worried get some friends neighbours to give you recommendations, or yello pages. I got a fantastic electrician from there.

[Penguinsaresmall]

[GoodKingQuintless]

Blimey, so a new take on the Reverse AIBU? We now also have to contend with *Third person hypothetical Perspective" threads?????

[Jingleyflashyballs]

My husband is a roofer and would never knock on anyone's door like that.

[Storytown]

I was putting myself in the shoes of my elderly neighbour who probably hasn't had any work done on his roof in years Nancy. And wondering what I need to do about it.

[Nancy66]

eh? Your posts make no sense. In your first post you're talking about giving him the work because he seemed to nice and went out of his way to let you know there was a problem.

Now you say you know it doesn't need doing because you've already had it done.

[BuzzardBirdRoast]

I would tell your neighbours (especially anyone vulnerable) and your local neighbourhood watch.

I know a lot of builders/roofers etc and not one of them would have the time to take on work on spec.

[Storytown]

Thank you I've got no intention of having it done - it was done less than 5 years ago!

He was very very good though, not at all aggressive like most of them are.

Who do I need to tell? My immediate neighbours, but is there anyone else/official? The card has no address, but unusually does have a landline number.

[Comito]

No no no no no no. Just no. This is a con, pure and simple.

One of these guys knocked on my door a few months ago saying exactly the same thing. Unfortunately for him, we'd had the chimney repointed less than two months earlier so his spiel about it being dangerous was a total lie. I told him we'd already had it done, he tried to leave his card anyway so I just said thanks but no and closed the door.

Never ever trust a tradesman who touts for business by knocking on your door. The decent ones just don't need to do that.

[monkeytroubles]

I actually know an elderly gentleman who fell for this exact scam. Once they got up on his roof they "found" a lot more problems and insisted that it wasn't structurally safe to leave it so it had to be done immediately. They charged him an absolute fortune then turned up again a couple of months later and tried to persuade him to have his driveway, windows etc re-done and when he said he couldn't afford it they turned nasty.

[GoodKingQuintless]

Just to add, my friend was that neighbour who got a scammer recommended from that one pleased customer. She ended up thousands out of pocket and wit s botched job half done.

[GoodKingQuintless]

What Nancy said.

[Nancy66]

I always wonder who falls for this....now I know

[BlackbirdOnTheWire]

(And yes, we knew the roof was dodgy - the leak was a bit of a giveaway but it was good to have the pictures)

[BlackbirdOnTheWire]

He's talking bollocks.

Somebody was working on next door's roof (terraced) and we'd let them have access from our property, he told me by way of returning the favour that our roof was dodgy and showed me the photos he'd taken whilst up there. He gave an estimate of the cost we should expect, but also said he was booked solid for the next 6 months so we'd need to find someone else... The cost was more than £150 for a similar amount of work your OP suggests!

[SaucyJack]

Get another quote, but if it does need doing and he's happy to put the £150 in writing first why not give him the job?

He's quite possibly just looking for a way to earn some money. It's not a crime.

[TheBatteriesHaveRunOut]

I think he needs work, not your chimney, and he thinks you can provide it for him.

Agree with everyone, get some quotes from local, recommended builders who are in the Federation of Master Builders/Roofers/some other professional body, and then make a decision. It might not need any work at all. £150 is a lot of money to spend on something that has caused you no problems at all.

I think you need a strategy for when he comes back (which he will) like 'we've just been hit by a massive car bill/I've been made redundant/we'll wait till Santa comes, say he's knackered the chimney, then claim on the house insurance but thankssomuchgoodbye.'

[Finola1step]

SCAM!!

Tell your neighbours that you've had someone knocking so they don't fall for it.

It's a well known scamming trick. They go up on your roof and "find" other really, really serious problems that need sorting now. The bastards.

They also prey on older people. Another tactic is to do the job as described for the money quoted. They then use that job to then knock on other doors telling people "We did the work for so and so over the road. She's really pleased with it". Your neighbours then come and check with you and you are indeed pleased. Your neighbours then use the guys because of your confidence. Your neighbours then get ripped off. Happens all the time.

As someone posted upthread, any decent roofer, especially in the SE, does not need to go touting for work.

CON. CON. CON. Please listen.