How to Spot a Dodgy Roofer

No licence is needed to work on a roof in the UK. You cannot see the work from the ground, the job often starts with someone else telling you there is a problem, and the money is large enough to be worth a scam. Trading Standards teams name roofing and guttering among the most common doorstep frauds.

The pattern Bromley Trading Standards described in August 2026 is typical: a caller at the door says they have spotted a loose tile or a roofing problem that needs immediate attention, scaffolding goes up quickly, the price climbs, and the work that follows is partial, unnecessary or both. Gloucestershire Trading Standards adds that some traders will stay in the house until a contract is signed.

None of this needs specialist knowledge to defeat. It needs a few checks done before anyone climbs a ladder.

1. They came to you. An unsolicited knock, leaflet or phone call about your roof is the single strongest signal. Trading Standards advice is not to deal with unsolicited traders at all.
2. Urgency. "This needs doing today" is a sales technique. A genuine roof problem that cannot wait a week for two more quotes is rare.
3. No postal address. A mobile number and a first name is not a business. Ask for the trading address and a landline.
4. No written quote. A quote is a promise to do the work at an agreed price. A figure said out loud on the drive is not.
5. Cash, and cash up front. Citizens Advice says to avoid traders who only accept cash or want everything paid before work starts.
6. Pressure to pay quickly or by an unusual method. Both are on the Citizens Advice list of scam signs.
7. A photo of "your" damaged roof. Ask which part of the roof, then look yourself or ask a neighbour with a view of it.

1. Companies House. If the roofer trades as a limited company, search the name free at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. You will see the registered address, when the company was formed, who the directors are, the filing history and whether the company has been dissolved. A company formed three months ago, or a director with a string of dissolved roofing companies behind them, is worth knowing about. Companies House does not check the accuracy of what is filed, so treat a clean record as the start, not the end. A sole trader will not appear at all; sole traders register only with HMRC, so ask them for their trading history another way.

2. Trade body membership. NFRC, the National Federation of Roofing Contractors, vets members on their trading record, inspects their work and re-inspects every three years. Check the name at nfrc.co.uk/trade-member-directory. The Confederation of Roofing Contractors has its own search at corc.co.uk/members. Check on the body's website, never on the roofer's.

3. TrustMark. The government-endorsed quality scheme for work in and around the home. Search trustmark.org.uk/homeowner and confirm the business is registered for roofing specifically.

4. Insurance. Ask for the public liability certificate and read the expiry date. Public liability pays if a tile comes through a neighbour's conservatory. Without it, that bill is yours.

Replacing the covering on a pitched or flat roof needs building regulations approval in England and Wales. There are two ways to get it: apply to your council's building control, or use a roofer registered with a competent person scheme who self-certifies the work and has the compliance certificate issued for you.

GOV.UK lists two schemes for roof coverings: NFRC CPS, the roofing-specific scheme run by NFRC, and NAPIT. Search a registered roofer at nfrccps.com/find-a-contractor. Without approval you will not have the certificate of compliance a buyer's solicitor asks for when you sell.

There is also an insulation rule. If more than half of a roof's surface is renovated, Approved Document L requires the whole roof to be brought up to the current insulation standard where that is technically and economically feasible. A roofer who quotes a full re-cover without mentioning insulation has either not read the rules or is planning not to follow them.

Citizens Advice's guidance on deposits is plain: do not agree to more than 25 per cent, pay in stages as work is completed, and never pay everything up front. TrustMark says the same: pay for completed work, not in advance.

Pay by credit card where you can. For anything costing between £100 and £30,000, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes the card company jointly liable if the work is not done, even when only the deposit went on the card. Debit card payments can be disputed through chargeback.

If you agreed the job at your own front door, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 give you 14 days from the day the contract was made to cancel, for services costing £42 or more. The roofer must tell you this in writing. If you asked them to start inside those 14 days, you pay for the work done up to the point you cancel.

• Trader still at the house and refusing to leave: call 999.
• Money already paid: call 159 to reach your bank and ask about stopping or recovering the payment.
• Report the fraud: Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; 101 in Scotland.
• Trading Standards: the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 (0808 164 6000 in Scotland) records the case and passes it on.
• Getting money back from a trader who exists: write first, citing the Consumer Rights Act 2015. If that fails, a small claim in England and Wales covers amounts up to £10,000.