Our Roofing Services

Roofing attracts rogue traders because you cannot easily see the work once it is done. “How can you tell a dodgy roofer?” comes up on almost every Forth Valley roofing search, so here is a ten-minute checklist that rules most of them out.

• Look them up. If they trade as a limited company, search the exact name on the Companies House register: is it active, when was it incorporated, and does the name on the van match the paperwork? A sole trader will not be listed, but should still have a landline, fixed address and a track record you can find.
• Ask to see the insurance certificate. Public liability is the minimum; check the insurer’s name and expiry date, not just the word “insured” on a website.
• Read reviews the right way. Google, MyBuilder and Facebook reviews spread over several years, with photos and job details, beat a burst of five stars from one month. Notice how the firm replies to the poor ones.
• Be wary of anyone who came to you. A post-storm knock on the door about loose ridge tiles, a cash discount, a large deposit or a price “only good today” are the classic warning signs.
• Insist on a proper written quote. It should name the materials (tile or slate type, membrane, lead code), say what access is needed and who supplies it, include waste removal, list exclusions and how extras are priced, give a start date and duration, set out payment terms and put the guarantee in writing.

If a roofer will not put those things on paper, they do not expect to be held to them. Our guide to the questions to ask a roofer before you hire covers the conversation itself; there is more in our advice section.

Roofers who charge for time typically work at around £25 to £45 an hour or £280 to £360 a day, but beyond an open-ended investigation it is the wrong way to buy roofing: hourly rates reward slow work and leave you guessing at the total. We price the job: one figure, in writing, after we have seen the roof, and that is what you pay unless you change the scope.

What moves the price is predictable. Height and access come first: a slipped tile above a single-storey kitchen is a ladder job, while the same tile on a three-storey tenement needs a tower or scaffold. Then materials: reclaimed Scotch slate to match a Victorian villa costs more than concrete interlocking tile, and Code 5 lead costs more than a flashing kit. Last is what we find once the covering comes off, so sarking boards, rotten timber and failed underlay are quoted as priced options rather than sprung on you halfway through.

The table below gives guide ranges across our main services, in line with the starting prices on our roof repairs, guttering, fascias and soffits, chimney repairs and flat roofing pages and with our longer guide to what a new roof costs in Scotland.

Falkirk grew in three waves and each left a different roof behind.

Victorian and Edwardian sandstone

The tenements and villas around the town centre, Grahamston, Arnothill and Bantaskine mostly carry Scotch slate on sarking boards, with lead valleys and tall shared chimney stacks. After 120 years the slates are usually sound but the nails are not, so they slip a few at a time; this nail sickness is where patching stops making sense and slate roof work becomes a re-slate. Valleys, flashings and stack aprons are the other usual leak points, covered under leadwork and chimney repairs. In a tenement the roof is usually shared, and where the title deeds are silent the Tenement Management Scheme lets a majority of owners agree a repair and split the cost, so the first job is often a survey report every owner can read.

1930s to 1960s council stock

Camelon, Bainsford, Langlees and Carron were built as semis and four-in-a-block cottage flats, usually roofed in concrete tile or slate with timber fascias and soffits. Many are overdue a second covering, and since Right to Buy most blocks are in mixed ownership, so neighbours need to agree. Timber rooflines have often rotted behind the paint and some post-war soffits are asbestos cement, which changes how we remove them. See tiled roofing, fascias and soffits and rendering and roughcasting for the typical jobs.

1970s to 1990s estates

Hallglen and the estates on the edges of town towards Polmont and Larbert use interlocking concrete tiles on bitumen felt underlay, mortar-bedded ridges and verges, and flat-roofed garages and porches. The tiles last, but the underlay goes brittle, mortar verges crack and let the wind lift the edge, and the original felt on flat sections rarely sees 20 years. Dry ridge and verge systems, EPDM or GRP flat roofs and Velux roof windows are the common upgrades. North-facing slopes of every era grow moss in our wet climate, which is where roof cleaning earns its keep; any era can produce the ceiling stains we trace on the damp and water ingress page.

Call 01324 321018 or email info@fjallan.co.uk and we book a survey at a time that suits you. We get to roof level wherever it is safe to, photograph what we find and talk you through it in plain terms, including doing nothing yet if that is honestly the right call.

You then get a fixed written quote itemising materials, access, waste and the guarantee, with no follow-up pressure: get other quotes and come back when you are ready. If the work needs a building warrant from Falkirk Council, which applies to a solid conservatory roof or structural change but not a like-for-like re-covering, we prepare and submit the application; see conservatory roof replacement for how that process differs.

On the job we set up access first, protect your drive, garden and glazing, keep the site tidy and take all waste away. When we finish we walk you round, show you photographs of the parts you cannot reach and hand over your guarantee paperwork; if anything we did fails within ten years, you call us and we fix it. Recent jobs are in our gallery.

Storm damage and urgent leaks. We are not a 24-hour service and do not claim to be: we answer the phone Monday to Saturday, 09:00 to 17:00, and put active leaks and storm damage at the front of the queue. Home insurance normally covers sudden storm damage but not wear and tear, so photograph everything and keep any debris; we supply a written report, photographs and a fixed quote in a form insurers accept. See storm damage roof repair, roof repairs in Falkirk and our guides on an emergency roof leak and what to do after storm damage.