We're roofers working across Erith, about eight minutes up the road from our base off Shepherds Lane in Dartford. Erith faces the open Thames. On the riverside streets there's often very little between the water and your roof, so when the wind gets up over the river it meets ridge tiles, verges and chimney flashings at full strength. That's where most of our Erith work starts. We also climb a lot of roofs on Northumberland Heath, where the Vickers estate houses are now more than a hundred years old, and around Slade Green, where homes sit close to the marshes. Some jobs are a single slipped tile. Some are a full strip and re-cover. Either way you get a free survey, photos of what we found and a written quote before anyone touches a batten.
A roofer rings you back to arrange a visit.
Erith grew up on the river and it still feels like it. Salt marsh runs right alongside industrial land, and the pier, billed as the longest in London, pushes out into the tideway. The low ground has a history with water too. In the 1953 North Sea flood the Erith and Plumstead marshes went completely under, four people drowned and around 350 were evacuated. The town centre you see now is mostly post-1960. Redevelopment started in 1961, the old streets came down in phases between 1966 and 1980, and tower blocks followed. So the roofs around the middle of town are a mix of that era and whatever survived it.
Up the hill, Northumberland Heath tells a different story. Vickers built it as a First World War estate and sized the houses by job: labourers, skilled workers and managers each got a different home, and the smaller ones had the bath in the kitchen. Vickers sold up in 1927, and nearby orchards became the ABC roads during the 1930s. Walk along Northumberland Way or Heath Way and you're looking at roofs that have been patched, re-covered and patched again by several generations of owners. We rarely find two that match.
1,000+
Roofs repaired, renewed and rebuilt
10 yrs
Written guarantee on every re-roof
5★
The only rating anyone has left us
£0
For the survey and the written quote
Slipped tiles, cracked ridges, leaking flashings round chimneys. Most Erith repairs we're called to come down to one weak detail that the river wind found first. We find it, fix it and show you photos.
Learn more about roof repairs in Erith →
When the battens are soft and the felt has gone brittle, more patching is money wasted. We strip back, check the timbers and re-cover in a material that suits your street and your budget.
Learn more about re-roofing in Erith →
Storms that shut the QEII Bridge tend to leave Erith with lifted tiles and open ridges. If water's coming in, we'll get the roof covered and safe first, then quote for the proper repair.
Learn more about emergency roof repairs in Erith →Erith roofs take more weather than the rainfall figures suggest. Here's what we do differently because of it.
On the riverside streets, the side of a roof facing open water usually tells you everything. Ridge mortar cracks there first and verge tiles rattle loose there first. We begin on that slope and work round the rest, so the survey is more than a quick look from the top of a ladder.
The Thames-side weather station at Stanford-le-Hope averages 577mm a year, about half the UK figure. So when an Erith roof leaks, sheer volume is rarely the reason. It's rain blown sideways under a lifted tile or behind a cracked flashing, and that changes where we look. A downpour on a still day rarely gets in, while the same rain in a gale finds every gap.
Northumberland Heath roofs have had a hundred-odd years of owners. Some have been re-covered in heavier tiles than the rafters were built for. Before recommending anything we check the timbers, the extra load and what the house next door has done. Sometimes the honest advice is a lighter tile, and we'll give it even if it costs a bit more.
Lots of Erith homes are terraced or semi-detached, so a ridge, a chimney stack or a valley can belong to two households. We'll explain what's yours, what's shared, and when the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is worth reading before work starts. Most neighbours are fine once they know what's planned and when.
Lesney Park Road, Erith Riverside, Brook Street and Oak Road are all conservation areas. If your house sits in one, we'll tell you before quoting and point you to Bexley's planners if the job would change how the roof looks. Most straight repairs won't.
Every survey comes with photographs of what we found, good and bad. If a section of roof is sound, we say so plainly. You can show the pictures to anyone you like, another roofer included, before you decide what to do. We'd sooner you checked our work than took our word for it.
"When we survey Erith roofs after a big blow, it's usually the slope facing open ground or water that has taken the damage, while the sheltered side looks almost untouched."
10
Years' cover on a new roof
1,000+
Roofing jobs finished
Paperwork in your hand on the last day. Not posted out "in due course".
Re-roof a house in Erith with us and you get 10 years of cover on the workmanship. It's a written document. It has your address on it, lists what was done, and is dated the day the roof is signed off. If water gets in because something was fitted wrong - a batten, a fixing, a lap, a flashing - a roofer comes back and puts it right. You don't pay for that.
Why are we happy to promise ten years? Because of how the roof goes on. Every tile or slate is mechanically fixed to BS 5534, the current British Standard. Ridges and hips are fixed too, not just sat in mortar. A breathable membrane goes down first. Where a roof meets a wall, a chimney or the house next door, it gets proper lead or a tested dry system. Shortcuts there are what make a guarantee expensive, so we don't take them.
Tiles, slates and membranes also carry the maker's own warranty. Those vary by product, and your paperwork tells you which ones apply. If a job is too unusual to guarantee in the normal way, you'll hear that at quote stage.
Call 01322 946667 or send the form. Tell us the street and what you've noticed, whether that's a damp patch, a tile on the lawn or a whistle in the loft. We're eight minutes away, so a visit is rarely a long wait. If water is already coming through, say so at the start of the call and we'll treat it as urgent.
A roofer checks the roof itself, not just the view from the pavement. We go into the loft too if you'll let us, because a stain on the rafters often shows where the water really gets in. Nothing gets prised open or lifted at this stage unless you've asked us to.
The quote lists each job separately with its own price, plus materials, any scaffold and VAT. If one item could safely wait a year, we'll mark it as optional so the choice is yours. The figure you sign is the figure you pay, unless you agree a change.
For anything beyond a quick ladder repair, scaffold or a tower goes up first. On tighter Erith terraces we'll talk to you about the neighbours' paths and parking before the scaffolders turn up. When high winds are forecast, we check the scaffold ties and sheeting beforehand, not after.
Old material comes off, the cause gets fixed and the new work goes on to suit the exposure. On riverside roofs that means mechanically fixed ridges and verges, and tiles clipped as well as nailed where the position needs it.
Gutters are cleared of debris from the job, the garden is swept and we look over every bit of new work before the scaffold comes down. Anything we're unhappy with gets redone there and then. That includes the details no one will ever see from the street.
We walk you through the photos from first day to last and explain what was done. For a full re-roof you also get the paperwork for your 10-year guarantee. If anything about the work isn't clear, ask. We'd rather answer it on the day than over the phone in six months.
At around 360 metres, Erith's concrete pier is the longest in London. It was built in 1957 as a deep-water wharf and reopened for walkers and anglers in 1999 when the supermarket beside it was built.
Learn more about Erith Pier on Google Maps
Community theatre on the High Street, founded in 1949. The auditorium is part of the old Oxford Cinema of 1913, and the street frontage was rebuilt in 1973.
Learn more about Erith Playhouse on Google Maps
Grassland and woodland on the slope between Erith and Belvedere, with a fenced playground in the open part of the park. The Green Chain Walk passes through on its way down to the Thames.
Learn more about Frank's Park on Google MapsEvery review left for us so far has been five stars. We're adding them here as they come in.
Reviews only tell you so much anyway. When a roofer comes out to Erith, ask to see photos of a recent job on a house like yours. A good roofer will have plenty and won't mind you asking.
Erith prices swing on two things: access and exposure. A slipped tile on a two-storey semi might be £180 to £450, but a ridge re-bed on a tall riverside house needs scaffold and pushes towards the top of the £450 to £1,200 band. A full re-roof on a terrace usually lands between £8,000 and £14,500. The bigger manager-grade houses on Northumberland Heath and the 1930s semis on the ABC roads tend to sit closer to £10,500 to £16,000. Scaffold on taller riverside buildings takes longer to tie in, and that shows up on the access line.
Erith is in the London Borough of Bexley, so Bexley Council is the planning authority, not Dartford. Like-for-like re-roofing usually needs no planning permission, because the outside of the house barely changes. It's different if you're in one of the local conservation areas: Erith Riverside, Lesney Park Road, Brook Street in Northumberland Heath or Oak Road in Slade Green. Some Bexley conservation areas also carry Article 4 directions that bring roofing changes under council control, so check your address with Bexley's planning team before switching materials or adding rooflights. Building Regulations are a separate matter, and we cover those in the quote.
Position, mostly. Two roofs a few streets apart in Erith can see very different wind. One faces open ground or the river, the other is tucked behind a row of houses. Ridge tiles bedded in mortar rely on that mortar staying sound, and once it cracks a strong gust can lift a tile clean off. On exposed roofs we'd usually fix ridges mechanically rather than re-bed them in mortar again, so the same thing doesn't happen next winter. It costs a little more at the time and saves a call-out later.
These homes went up during the First World War, so even a well-kept one has had a long run of repairs and re-covers. The things we check first are the rafters and wall plates, any heavier tiles that have been added since, and the chimney stacks, which are often shared between two houses. If you're near Brook Street you may also be in a conservation area, which matters if you want to change how the roof looks. Ask us and we'll tell you whether your road falls inside one.
We'll always try. When the QEII Bridge shuts for wind, as it did in Storm Eunice and again in Henk, Isha and Jocelyn, the phones get busy across north Kent and south-east London. We sort calls by risk. Open roofs and water coming through ceilings go first, then loose material that could fall. While you wait, keep everyone out of the room below, move what you can, and don't go up a ladder in the wind. Once the roof is safe and dry, we come back and quote for a proper repair at a normal pace.
Tell us what you've spotted and where you are. We'll come out, get on the roof and give you a straight answer and a written price. The survey costs nothing. If you'd rather send photos first, that's fine too.
