A roof swap is a small job with a lot of small decisions. Most of them take a minute, but missing one can mean a light switch in the wrong place or a gutter that overflows the first winter. Print this page, or keep it open on your phone, and work down it. Each stage has four or five ticks. Twenty-five in total.
Stage 1: before you ask for a price
- Measure from outside. Width along the house wall, depth out to the front of the gutter. Our guide on how to measure a conservatory roof shows where to put the tape.
- Name the style. Lean-to, Edwardian, Victorian, P-shape or gable end. If you are not sure, a photo from the garden settles it.
- Note what is on the roof now. Polycarbonate (and roughly how thick), or glass, and roughly when it went on.
- Photograph the problems. Leaks in rain, drips on winter mornings, sheets that have slipped, rooms behind that are dark.
Stage 2: choosing what goes on
- Pick the outside colour. Any RAL colour is available; the inside is always white. Look at samples against your frames in daylight. The colours page has the popular choices.
- Decide on roof lights. Each one is £395. Place them where you want sky, not where the sun will land on a screen or the television. See roof lights.
- Decide on spotlights. LED spotlights cost £345. Stand in the room and decide where the switch should be before the survey, not after.
- Look hard at the gutters. If they sag, leak at the joints or carry water from the house roof, new gutters and fascia at the same time cost £295.
Stage 3: rules and paperwork
- Check the location. Is the house listed, or in a conservation area, a National Landscape or a national park? If so, planning permission may be needed. Our conservation area guide explains the routes.
- Check the planning history. Some homes have had permitted development rights removed by a condition or an Article 4 direction.
- Accept that building control is part of it. Going solid takes the room outside the conservatory exemption, which normally means building control approval. We settle the details with the officer and send in the application ourselves.
- List anything that passes through the roof. A boiler flue, an extractor duct, an aerial cable or a security light. Each one needs planning into the panel layout.
Stage 4: reading the written price
- Check what is included. On our prices: fitting, taking away and recycling the old roof, your colour, the building control application and the 10 year insurance backed guarantee.
- Check the extras line by line. Roof lights, spotlights and gutters should each be listed with their price.
- Check the size band. Small is up to 12 m², medium 12 to 25 m², large 25 m² and over. A measured roof can move bands.
- Check the dates. Lead time is 3 to 5 weeks. Fitting is one day for a small roof, one to two for medium, two to three for large.
The six stages on a real calendar
Here is how the stages fell for a 4 m by 3.5 m Victorian on a 2000s detached house. At 14 m² it is a medium roof, with a Victorian guide range of £4,350 to £5,150. The owners added one roof light and spotlights, bringing the guide range to £5,090 to £5,890.
| When | What happened | Checklist stage |
|---|---|---|
| Week minus 1 | Measured the roof and tried the online price tool | Stage 1 |
| Week 0 | Survey, colours chosen, switch position marked | Stages 2 and 3 |
| Week 1 | Written price agreed, building control application made | Stage 4 |
| Weeks 1 to 5 | Panels made to measure | Stage 5 in the final week |
| Week 5 | Roof fitted over two days | Fitting |
| Week 6 | Building control inspection and completion certificate | Stage 6 |
Stage 5: the week before fitting
- Clear the room. Move furniture to the middle or out, and cover anything you cannot move.
- Take down anything fixed to the roof. Blinds, hanging plants, fans and fairy lights on the roof bars all come down before we arrive.
- Clear the outside. Pots, bins, bird feeders and garden furniture away from the walls and the side path.
- Sort access and parking. A route round the side of the house, the gate unlocked, and a space for the van near the front.
- Plan for pets. Gates will be open and ladders up for most of the day.
You do not need to move out. The room is kept weathertight at the end of each day on longer jobs. The full order of events is on our how we work page.
Stage 6: after the fitters leave
- Look it over. From the garden and from an upstairs window, check the finish, the gutters and the join at the house wall. Tell us about anything you are unsure of.
- File the completion certificate. Building control issues it once the work is signed off. When you come to sell, the buyer's conveyancer will expect to see it.
- File the guarantee. Keep it with the certificate and the written price, which shows exactly what was fitted.
- Tell your home insurer. The room has changed from a conservatory to an extension with a solid roof, and your insurer may want to know.
After that, the only regular job is keeping the gutters clear. Put a reminder in for late November.
Start at tick one
Tape measure out? Put your sizes, style and extras into the build your roof tool for a guide figure, then get my price to book the survey.
Questions
What should I do before my conservatory roof is replaced?
Clear the room, take down anything hanging from the roof bars, move pots and bins from the outside walls, and make sure we can get round the side of the house.
How long does the whole conservatory roof process take?
Allow about 4 to 7 weeks from survey to sign-off. Most of that is the 3 to 5 week lead time while the panels are made; fitting takes one to three days.
What paperwork should I keep after a new conservatory roof?
The building control completion certificate, the guarantee and the written price. Keep them together for when you sell.
Should my home insurer hear about the new roof?
It is sensible to. A solid roof changes the room from a conservatory to an extension, and your insurer may want the details.
