Most people are less worried about the number of days than about what those days are like to live through. This covers both.
The honest answer for a typical house in Frodsham is days rather than weeks, and for most ordinary properties a straightforward re-roof is a matter of somewhere between a few days and a couple of weeks on site, depending on size and complexity.
That range is wide because roofs vary enormously, so the more useful thing is to explain what happens in each phase and what makes each one longer or shorter. Then you can judge where your own roof is likely to sit — and, more importantly, you know what you are living with while it happens.
The survey, the quotation, materials ordered, and — where the scaffold has to stand on the public footway — the licence applied for from Cheshire West and Chester Council. That licence is very often the longest lead item on the whole job. If your property fronts directly onto the pavement, this is what sets your start date.
Usually up a day or two before work begins. On an ordinary house this is a matter of hours; on a complex or awkward property it can take longer. It stays up for the duration and comes down a day or two after completion.
The noisiest part and the part everyone notices. The old covering, battens and underlay come off — in sections, never the whole roof at once. Waste goes into a skip or a chute. On a straightforward roof this is quick; on a slate roof where the slates are being sorted for re-use it takes noticeably longer, because everything is handled twice.
The genuine unknown. On a sound roof this is an inspection and nothing more. Where rafter ends have softened or a purlin needs attention, it adds time — and it is time nobody can predict beforehand, because none of it is visible until the covering is off.
Underlay, battens, covering, lead, ridge, verges. This is the bulk of the programme, and its length is driven mainly by the covering: interlocking tiles go on considerably faster than slates or plain tiles, because each unit covers more area.
Gutters cleaned and tested, site cleared, magnetic sweep for nails, scaffold struck, paperwork issued.
| Factor | Effect on the programme |
|---|---|
| Slate or plain tile rather than interlocking tile | Significant — far more units to lay |
| Sorting original slates for re-use | Significant — everything handled twice |
| Hips, valleys, dormers and multiple chimneys | Significant — cutting and lead work |
| Defective timber found at the strip | Unpredictable; can be substantial |
| No rear access, or a mid-terrace position | Moderate — all handling through one route |
| Footway scaffold licence required | Affects the start date, not the work |
| Fascias, soffits and guttering added | Modest — usually a day or so |
| Winter working | Moderate — weather and daylight |
| Sustained bad weather | Unpredictable |
This is the part quotations never mention, and it is what most people actually want to know.
A quoted programme that is noticeably shorter than everyone else's is worth questioning rather than celebrating. The steps that get dropped to hit a fast date are usually the invisible ones — a proper structural inspection, correctly lapped underlay, lead formed rather than bedded in mastic, ventilation details at the eaves.
The same applies to weather. A contractor who works through conditions they should not be working in is not saving you time; they are laying a roof in circumstances that will show up later.
At quotation stage we will give you a realistic programme, say plainly which parts of it are weather-dependent, and tell you what could extend it and by roughly how much. If we find something in the structure, you will hear about it that day rather than at the end.
We will give you a realistic timeframe at quotation stage, not an optimistic one you find out about later.
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Not usually. Access to the loft may be needed at some point, and there will be conversations if something is found in the structure, but the work itself is external and does not require you to be there.
It varies with the scaffolder's diary and, where the scaffold stands on the public footway, with the licence from Cheshire West and Chester Council. That licence is usually the longest lead item on a job that needs one, so it is applied for early.
Heavy rain and high wind stop roofing, for safety as much as quality. A good contractor builds weather into the programme rather than promising dates the British climate cannot support. Nothing is ever left open when weather is coming.
Yes. Roofing continues through the winter — the constraints are wind, driving rain, ice on the scaffold and daylight hours rather than cold itself. Expect a slightly longer programme for the same work.
Apex Roofing covers Cheshire and the surrounding area for complete roof replacement, new slate and tiled roofs and re-roofing.
Apex Roofing Cheshire · 105 Fence House, Fence Avenue, Macclesfield SK10 1LM
Tell us about the property and the roof in Frodsham, and we will come back to you — usually the same day.
Prefer to talk? Call 07377 461095 · WhatsApp +44 7465 861265 · Email apexroofing14@gmail.com
