We're roofers working across Swanscombe, from the old streets off Swanscombe Street and Galley Hill Road to the newer homes up at Castle Hill. It's about 13 minutes from our base on the west side of Dartford, so a survey usually fits into the same week you call. Most of what we see here is terraced. That means your roof runs straight into your neighbour's, with a shared stack, a party wall and a gutter that doesn't care where the boundary is. Get one of those details wrong and the water turns up in the wrong house. The town sits out on a Thames peninsula, open to wind coming up the river, and wind is what lifts tiles and drives rain under flashings. We'll go up, look properly, and tell you what's wrong in plain terms. Free survey, written quote, no pressure.
A roofer rings you back to arrange a visit.
Swanscombe grew because of what was under it. James Frost opened a cement works here in 1825, and between 1840 and 1930 it was the biggest cement plant in Britain. The works needed men, and the men needed houses, so rows of workers' terraces went up within reach of the pits and the river. The plant finally shut in 1990. Plenty of those terraces are still lived in, and most have been roofed, mended and part re-roofed by different hands since. Around 6,300 people live in the town, which shares a town council with Greenhithe.
Go back much further and Swanscombe matters for another reason. From 1935 onwards, finds here included the earliest-known human remains in England, and the spot is now Swanscombe Heritage Park. The parish church of St Peter and St Paul, mostly 13th century, is one of eight Grade I buildings in Dartford borough. On the eastern side the land is changing fast. Castle Hill has around 1,600 newer homes, Eastern Quarry is being built out as Whitecliffe, and Swanscombe Marshes became an SSSI in 2021 after the London Resort plans were withdrawn. Two very different kinds of roof in one small town, and they go wrong in different ways.
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 after a windy night, a damp patch by the stack, a ridge that's lost its mortar. We find the cause first, then fix that, not the symptom you can see from the bedroom.
Learn more about roof repairs in Swanscombe →
When a terrace roof has been mended so often there's little original left, a full strip and re-cover can cost less over time. We'll say honestly which side of that line yours sits on.
Learn more about re-roofing in Swanscombe →
Old terrace stacks take the brunt of river wind. Cracked pots, tired pointing and failed flashings are common, and a shared stack needs your neighbour's agreement before anyone touches it.
Learn more about chimney repairs in Swanscombe →Swanscombe roofs have their own habits. These are the things we check for, and why it pays to use someone who knows them.
In a terrace, your roof slope often carries on next door without a break. We work to the party line, talk to your neighbour when a job crosses it, and point you to the Party Wall Act guidance on gov.uk if it applies. Nobody wants a falling-out over a gutter.
Swanscombe sits on a peninsula in the Thames with not much to slow the wind down. Loose verges and ridges go first, then the tiles at the eaves. We refix them mechanically where that makes sense, instead of trusting another layer of mortar to hold through the next big blow.
This is one of the driest corners of England. The nearest Thames-side Met Office station averages 577mm of rain a year, about half the UK figure. So when a roof leaks here, it's almost always a detail that has failed. That's what we hunt for.
Old Swanscombe comes under Dartford Borough Council. The peninsula, and possibly some homes at Castle Hill, sit in Ebbsfleet Development Corporation's planning area. We'll tell you which applies to your address before any work is priced.
NHBC Buildmark cover runs for ten years from completion. Once it's gone, a loose dry-fix ridge or a cracked verge unit is your bill. We look at newer roofs with that in mind and fix only what needs fixing. If it's still in cover, we'll tell you to ring the builder first.
You can't see your own roof. So we photograph what we find and show you, tile by tile. If a stranger knocks claiming he's spotted a problem, ask him for the same, then call a roofer you picked yourself.
"Most of the leaks we trace in Swanscombe terraces start at a shared chimney stack or a valley gutter, not in the open slope of the roof."
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 Swanscombe 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.
Tell us what you've noticed and roughly where. A photo from the street helps. We'll book a survey slot, usually within a few days, any time Monday to Saturday between 8 and 6. You don't need to be on the roof's side of the house for it.
From a ladder, a roof hatch or the loft, depending on access. We check tiles, ridges, flashings, the stack and the gutters, and we look at your neighbour's side where the two roofs meet.
You get a price that says what we'll do, which materials we'll use and what's included. If scaffolding is needed, it's in there. Nothing gets added once we've started unless you agree to it first. Take your time over it.
On terraces, scaffold often has to go up on the street side or through a rear passage. We sort that out, and if it touches next door's frontage we speak to them well before the day.
We strip back only as far as the fault goes, fix the cause, and make good with matching or compatible materials. An old roof gets patched with care, not with whatever happens to be spare.
We check the repair from above and below, clear debris out of the gutters and valleys, and note anything else we spotted on the way up that you might want to know about.
Before and after photos, a note of the work, and an honest view of how long the rest of the roof has left in it. Then the invoice, which matches the quote.
Park on the site of the old Barnfield gravel pit, where pieces of a human skull roughly 400,000 years old were dug up from 1935 onwards. Stone markers and panels along the paths explain the finds.
Learn more about Swanscombe Heritage Park on Google Maps
Marsh, grassland and old industrial ground on the peninsula north of the town. Natural England confirmed it as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 2021 because of the rare insects and spiders recorded there.
Learn more about Swanscombe Marshes on Google Maps
Grade I listed parish church, mostly 13th-century work, built of flint. Its west tower is capped with a tall shingled spire that can be seen across the surrounding streets.
Learn more about St Peter and St Paul Church 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 Swanscombe, 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.
A slipped tile or two on a Swanscombe terrace usually comes in at £180 to £450, depending mostly on access. Rebedding or refixing a ridge runs from about £450 to £1,200. A full re-roof on a terrace is typically £8,000 to £14,500, and the biggest swing is scaffolding: narrow fronts, rear passages and busy roads like London Road all add to it. Shared stacks and valleys can push the figure up when the work has to be coordinated with next door. Every price comes after a free survey, in writing.
Usually not, if you're replacing like for like. Re-roofing that doesn't materially change how the house looks generally falls outside planning. The part people get wrong is who to ask. Old Swanscombe is handled by Dartford Borough Council. The Ebbsfleet Development Corporation decides applications inside its own area, which takes in the Swanscombe Peninsula and Eastern Quarry, so some newer homes around Castle Hill may fall to EDC instead. Building control is separate and still runs through Dartford or Gravesham. If you're unsure which side of the line you're on, EDC publishes a map of its area. Listed buildings, like the Grade I parish church, need consent for almost anything.
It's more exposed, yes. The town sits on a peninsula poking out into the Thames, and wind running up the estuary crosses open marsh and water before it reaches you. Upriver at Dartford, the QEII Bridge shuts to traffic when crosswinds over 60mph are forecast. It closed in Storm Eunice in February 2022 and in three more storms in January 2024. After a night like that, have a look at your verges and ridge from the street. A gap in the line of ridge tiles, or a verge tile hanging at an angle, is worth a call before the next rain finds it.
It's normally something you agree between you, because the stack serves both houses. In practice it depends on what's wrong and on whose side. A cracked pot on your own flue is your problem. Failed pointing across the whole stack affects you both. We'll give you photos you can pass to your neighbour and quote the work so it can be split. Most neighbours are glad someone has finally organised it. If anything structural is involved, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may apply, and gov.uk publishes a plain explanatory booklet.
Often, though not always from new. An older terrace can carry a covering that's been out of production for years, and a neighbour's re-roof may have used something heavier. We look at what's actually on your roof, then source a match, use reclaimed tiles, or move sound tiles from the back slope to the front where they'll be seen. If nothing fits, you'll hear it before we quote, not halfway through the job. Sometimes the tidiest answer is re-covering one whole slope in a new tile rather than dotting odd ones across it.
Ring 01322 946667 or send the form. We'll come out, go up, and give you a written price with photos. If the roof only needs a small fix, that's what we'll quote for.
