West Country Tiling take great pride in being reputable roofers, to evidence this to our clients, we are Competent Roofer, Trust Mark and National Federation of Roofing (NFRC) accredited.
Whenever I hear horror stories about the working practices of disreputable contractors, the precursor is that the client has not checked for references or accreditation. Why not?
Just because someone has ‘Roofing Contractor’ on the side of a van or on a website does not mean that they can be trusted to give honest advice or carry out compliant repairs.
How many people have paid good money to have their property re-roofed but have not been supplied with a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate on completion of the work? In fact, how many sole traders even know about the Building Regulations or the latest updates?
For information, the Building Regulations stipulate that prior to works commencing, the specification must be submitted to Building Control for approval, so that on completion of the work, the home owner can be issued with a Building Regulations Compliance Certificate. As a member of the Competent Roofer Scheme, we deal with all of this on our clients’ behalf, but the public needs to be better informed so that they know about these regulations.
At some point over the next few years the government will launch another scheme designed to protect home owners from “rogue roofers”. We believe that they would be much better advised to inform the public of existing schemes and put their weight behind them by employing inspectors to protect the public.
There will always be dishonest tradesmen, as there are in every walk of life, but most of the problems stem from a lack of communication coupled with a lack of information education. Let’s face it, a sole trader who has been on the roof for 12 hours does not want to spend their evening reading up on regulation changes, nor do they want to pay for membership of a trade body that does not support them.
This brings us to the next issue. Trade bodies are not interested in sole traders. It is a lot of paperwork and hassle requiring additional office bodies without enough levy income. Could this not fall under the umbrella of the Construction Industry Training Board? More on this to follow in a future post.
Why choose West Country Tiling as your reputable roofers
Contact us if you have a complex roofing project that requires an experienced team who’s roofing work complies with the required building regulations Please get in touch on 01373 462 224 or by emailing us on info@westcountrytiling.com.