1930 mid terrace - what roofing option to go for?

[Greenartywitch]

I bought my 1930 mid terrace 3 bed house 2 years ago. It still has its original clay tiles roof with no leaks so far but chimney needs repointing & I have a couple of broken/damaged tiles that I can see.

My neighbour just had some basic roof work done and I thought I would ask her roofer to give me an idea of how much working on my own roof would cost.

The roofer gave me 3 options/quotes:

• scaffold; do the chimney repoint; strip off & re-bed ridge; change any broken tiles. Cost: about 2k + vat
• scaffold; do the chimney repoint; new ridge tiles; battens & breathable membrane felt; new lead around chimney but reuse existing clay tiles when possible. Cost: about 5k + vat
• scaffold & doing all of the above but with brand new tiles. cost: 10k + vat.

I am a bit confused about what would be best & whether these quotes are reasonable (South East)

The roofer said that the original clay tiles are better quality than anything new that is currently being made, so option 2 was his suggestion.

Basically I would rather save a bit more and sort out the roof properly rather than doing bits and pieces.

Anyone with a similar property or roofing knowledge what have you gone for/what would you advise?

A lot of that cost sounds like scaffolding. I think number 2 is also the best. The old tiles, where in good condition, are likely to be better than new. Number one sounds like a waste of money as you're mostly paying for the scaffolding.

Thank you @Fibrous .

That's my thinking as well. Number 1 does not seem worth it to me.

I would rather pay for scaffolding and have more done rather than just a basic fix & ending up paying again for proper work in a year or two...

I own a scaffolding company. All roofers use their preferred scaffolding company and usually get the quote from them and then add on 10-20% for themselves of the scaffold cost.

You can ask your roofer if you can pay the scaffolding company direct to keep costs down.

Thank you @JellyComb! that's a good tip :).

I would do option 2.

On the scaffolding, it's worth comparing costs. If you pay for your own scaffolding it's likely to be a weekly charge, meaning that if your job is delayed or takes longer you'll be paying more. If your roofer arranges the scaffolding that's not an issue.