Roof work

[SmallestMan]

Just wanting to sense check a quote. Been quoted 4.5k to repoint 2 chimneys, redo the flaunching, put on 6 cowls, repair some lead flashing and replace about 10 slates. It includes scaffold and vat. Does this seem reasonable?

Difficult to say. Have you got any more details?
How big are the chimneys? How old is the property? Are they grinding out the old mortar and then repointing or just slapping a bit more cement in? What mix are they using, eg lime mortar? What type of cowls?
Also, are you sure you want the leading repaired rather than replaced? I mean seeing as you are already paying for the scaffold and the call out fee so the speak. Seems quite a lot seeing as I'd imagine labour costs make up much of the total.

But if it needs doing and you've got someone at least ok to do it, then you're doing better than a lot of people looking for roofing work!

Did you get a breakdown of the costs? Difficult to say without a proper costing. Did you get more than one quote?

We just paid that but instead of repointing ours were rendered. So I'd say your cost was about right, bloody extortionate though.

my husband is a roofer and says that's pretty cheap. your also paying for there time aswell. you would be more with out scaffolding so that is a good price.

I think that seems about right. Most people are paying nearly £5k to remove a chimney. I’m currently waiting on halving my chimney removed on my house, a 5 bed detached, and a whole reroof done. It’s costing £13.1k which is reasonable for the amount of work and the credentials of the company that’s doing it. In the past three years we’ve spent £6/7k on roof repairs that have mainly failed and it was a false economy to keep spending this kind of money when we finally have the budget for a reroof.

Thanks. It’s a ‘grind out and repoint using a 4:1 mortar, replace mortar cap around base of pots using a 3:1 mortar applied in two coats. Lead flashings repair where necessary with a code 4 lead sheet’. House is 160 years old, roof has been patched over the years. If we go ahead, we’ll have spent 6k on the roof in the past 5 years. I dread to think how much a reroof would be. Its a terraced 3 story town house.

To me it sounds like a lot but I might out of touch. It really shouldn't take very long at all. Where are you based? Just thinking about prices in different regions. But for a 160 year old house, I think the roofer should be using lime mortar to allow the chimney to breathe. Also, 'repair where necessary' doesn't sound good but code 4 is good for chimney stack to roof lead work.
How bad is the water ingress? Would it be better to wait until you can replace the whole roof? And do you want to keep the chimneys? You might be better to remove them. But to be fair, if this fixes your problems for some years at least, then I think that sounds ok - £6k in 5 years. What was the other work that cost £1.5k?