A new roof on a Wilmington house is a bigger project than on a Dartford terrace. More area, yes, but mostly more detail. Each hip has to be cut and fixed along its full length. Valleys need new linings. Dormers need flashing back in. Get those wrong and a brand-new roof leaks in its first winter. We survey the whole roof and the loft, tell you honestly whether it needs replacing or just repairing, and itemise the quote so nothing appears later. If the house is on Church Hill, you'll also hear what the conservation area means for your choice of tile or slate. Then we strip, re-felt, re-batten and re-cover, one section at a time.
A roofer rings you back to arrange a visit.
Most people only pay for one new roof in their lives. Here's where we refuse to save time or money on yours.
01
New hip tiles go on with a dry-fix system or clips and screws, not just a mortar bed. On a roof with four hips that's a lot of extra fixings, and it's the difference between a roof that sheds a gale and one that drops tiles in it.
02
Modern underlay lets moisture out of the loft. We pair it with airflow at the eaves or ridge so condensation doesn't drip back onto your insulation. Old bitumen felt could never do that.
03
Planning Portal guidance treats a roof as a thermal element, so re-covering one should include an insulation upgrade. We build it into the quote rather than leaving it as an extra you discover later.
04
Natural slate, clay plain tile and concrete interlocking tile each suit different Wilmington houses. Inside the conservation area the choice may be made for you. Elsewhere we'll set out the trade-offs in weight, lifespan and price.
05
On a semi, scaffold and stripping affect the neighbours. We speak to them before work starts, protect their side of the party wall line, and make sure the join between the two roofs is watertight when we finish.
06
We never strip a whole roof and hope the weather holds. Each section is stripped, felted and battened before the next one is opened, with sheeting ready to go if a shower blows through.
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
On a simple two-slope terrace, a re-roof is mostly repetition: strip, felt, batten, tile, ridge. Wilmington is different. The semis and detached houses we're asked to replace here often have hipped ends, a valley where a wing meets the main roof, a dormer or two and a bay with its own small roof. Each junction takes time to set out, cut and flash. That's where the labour goes, and it's why two roofs with the same floor area can be priced thousands of pounds apart. Ask any roofer quoting you how many hips and valleys they've allowed for.
Building Regulations come into play at this scale. If more than half the roof, or over a quarter of the whole building envelope, is re-covered, a building control application is normally needed. Switching from slate to tile, or using a covering that adds 15% or more to the roof's weight, is likely to need approval as well. We sort out the building control side as part of the job and tell you up front which route applies.
If the survey shows the roof is basically sound, roof repairs in Wilmington will cost a fraction of a replacement, and we'll tell you so.
"On Wilmington re-roofs, more of the labour goes into hips, valleys and dormer flashings than into tiling the open slopes."
Roof, loft, chimneys, gutters. We measure every slope, count the hips and valleys, check the timbers for rot or sag, and note anything like a tired dormer that might need rebuilding rather than re-flashing.
We talk through slate, clay and concrete for your particular house, covering weight, appearance and what the conservation area allows if you're on Church Hill. Samples can be left with you to look at in daylight, against your brickwork and next door's roof.
Scaffold, skip, membrane, battens, tiles, lead, insulation and VAT, every line priced. We also confirm whether building control needs to be involved and who's dealing with it, so there's no surprise halfway through.
Scaffold goes round the house with edge protection and a loading bay. Conservatories, patios and flower beds get covered. Next door is told the dates, and we agree how the shared side will be handled.
We take the old tiles and felt off in stages, never the whole roof at once. With the rafters exposed we check every timber and replace anything soft. If something unexpected turns up, you see a photo before we go any further.
Membrane, treated battens at the correct gauge, then the new tiles or slates. Hips and ridge dry-fixed, valleys lined, dormers and abutments dressed in new lead, with ventilation built in at eaves and ridge. This is the slow part of a Wilmington re-roof.
Once the scaffold is down we walk round with you, hand over the photos of each stage and the building control paperwork, and give you the 10 year guarantee in writing. Gutters are flushed through and the site is left clean.
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 Wilmington 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.
Different coverings suit different houses in the parish, and the heavier options can affect the structure underneath. Here's how the main three stack up.
| Comparison point | Concrete interlocking tile | Clay plain tile | Natural slate | Fibre cement slate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical lifespan | 50 years or more | 60 to 100 years | 80 to 100+ years, depending on source | Around 30 years |
| Weight | Heavy | Heaviest, as each tile is double-lapped | Light | Lightest of the four |
| Relative cost | Lowest | Mid to high, slow to lay | Mid to high, Welsh slate dearest | Low to mid |
| Look | Chunky profile, common on postwar homes | Small, warm-coloured, traditional Kent look | Thin, dark and neat | Uniform slate look, flatter colour |
| Planning and conservation | Fine for most homes, can jar in a conservation area | Often expected on older Kent buildings | The like-for-like choice for slate roofs | May be refused on listed or conservation roofs |
| Best for | Budget re-roofs on postwar and newer houses | Period homes and steeper pitches | Victorian terraces, slate-to-slate jobs | Lighter swap where rafters are marginal |
Re-roofing prices here run higher than in central Dartford because the houses are bigger and the roofs more complicated. These four factors move the figure most. Scaffold and skip hire are included in every quote we write, not added later.
Our guide bands are £10,500 to £16,000 for a typical semi and £14,000 to £24,000 or more for a detached house. Most Wilmington re-roofs fall somewhere in those two bands. Where exactly depends on the next three points.
Every junction means cut tiles, extra fixings and usually lead. A detached house with four hips and two dormers can cost far more than one with two plain gables, even when the floor area is the same.
If you're inside the Church Hill conservation area and the existing roof is natural slate or clay, dropping to a cheaper concrete tile may not be acceptable. Reclaimed or closely matched materials can cost more and take longer to source.
Rot in rafters, wall plates or valley boards only shows once the old covering is off. We put a per-metre rate for replacement timber in the quote, so if some does need changing you already know what it costs.
Not usually. Re-roofing that doesn't materially change how the house looks generally doesn't need planning permission. Dartford Borough Council handles planning for Wilmington, with the parish council consulted on applications. Inside the Church Hill conservation area, a change of material or colour could count as a change in appearance, so check first. Building Regulations are separate, and a full re-roof normally needs a building control application.
Harder and slower, yes. Every hip has to be cut to an angle along its whole length and fixed securely, and every valley needs lining before the tiles go on. Done badly, these are exactly where new roofs leak first. We allow proper time for them in both the programme and the price, rather than rushing the details to finish early.
For a typical semi with a hipped end, plan on one to two weeks once the scaffold is up, weather allowing. A detached house with dormers and valleys can take longer. North Kent's low rainfall helps us, but strong wind can make working at height unsafe, so we build a little slack into the dates.
Often, yes, and it usually takes weight off the roof. But changing material is likely to need Building Regulations approval, and natural slate needs a different batten gauge and fixing method. In a conservation area the council may want a say too. We check the timbers can take the change and sort the approvals before ordering anything.
It should, if it's done right. A re-roof is the natural moment to bring loft insulation up to current standards, and Planning Portal guidance expects that when a roof is re-covered. Add a breathable membrane and proper ventilation and you get a warmer house without condensation forming on the underside of the roof.
Grade I listed church at the top of Church Hill, with origins that go back before the Norman Conquest. The churchyard keeps a number of large table tombs and memorials.
Learn more about St Michael and All Angels Church on Google Maps
Grassland, orchards and footpaths laid out in 1999 on part of the old Darenth Park Hospital site, between Wilmington and Darenth. The hospital opened in 1878 and closed in 1988.
Learn more about Darenth Country Park on Google Maps
National Trust property at Sutton-at-Hone, about three miles south of Wilmington. The 13th-century chapel was built for the Knights Hospitaller, and the River Darent loops round the garden as a moat.
Learn more about St John's Jerusalem 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 Wilmington, 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.
We'll measure the roof, check the loft and put an itemised price in writing, free of charge. Call 01322 946667 or send the form below.
