About Flat Roof Swindon
Flat Roof Swindon is a roofing business covering Swindon and most of Wiltshire. We repair and replace pitched roofs in tile and slate, and flat roofs in EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass and felt. The name reflects where the work started — flat roofing on garages and extensions across the town — but the roofs we are called out to now run the full range, from a single slipped slate in Old Town to a complete strip and re-cover on a detached house.
Who we are
We are a roofing outfit built around doing the work properly rather than doing as much of it as possible. There is no call centre, no commission-based surveyor, and nobody sitting outside in a van waiting to hand you a today-only price. The person who surveys your roof is the person who works on it.
That shapes how we operate. We take on the work we can properly do and turn jobs down when the diary is full rather than stretching and letting people down. And because the same person surveys and installs, the detailing is right — the edges, upstands, valleys and abutments where the majority of roof failures actually begin.
How we work
Every job starts with a free survey. We get on the roof where it is safe to do so, because the point where water shows up inside a house is frequently a long way from where it is getting in. Diagnosing that from ground level is guesswork, and guesswork is how people end up paying twice.
You then get a written quote setting out what will be done and what materials will be used. It is a fixed figure, not a day rate. The single thing that can change is deck or timber replacement, because nobody knows the condition of the boards until the covering comes off. When that happens we photograph it, show you, and agree the extra before carrying on. Nothing appears on an invoice you have not already seen.
We will also tell you when you do not need the bigger job. If a repair will see a roof through several more winters, we say so rather than quoting a replacement. That costs us money on the day and earns us the phone call when the roof genuinely does need doing.
The roofs we work on
Swindon’s housing spans more than a century and a half, and the work follows the era of the property. The railway village and the older streets around Old Town are largely natural slate, laid as the Great Western Railway works expanded the town. On roofs of that age the slate is usually still sound — it is the iron nail fixings that have corroded, which is why slates come down in ones and twos every winter rather than all at once.
The post-war and 1970s expansion across Park North, Walcot, Penhill, Moredon and Toothill brought concrete tile in volume. Those roofs rarely fail at the tile. The problems are mortar bedding on ridges and hips breaking up after decades of frost, and underlay perishing where it has been exposed at the eaves.
And Swindon has an unusual number of flat roofs. The estate building of the 1960s and 1970s put flat-roofed garages, porches and dormer cheeks on thousands of properties, and much of that original covering is now well beyond its service life. That work is where this business began and it remains a large part of what we do.
What we install
On pitched roofs we work in tile and slate, including sourcing matching reclaimed slate where a period property calls for it. On flat roofs we fit all three major systems — EPDM rubber, GRP fibreglass and high performance felt — and we will tell you honestly which one suits your roof rather than fitting whichever we happen to prefer.
EPDM suits most garages and extensions and carries a 25 to 50 year lifespan. GRP is the better answer on complex shapes, dormers and any surface that will be walked on. Felt remains a sensible option where budget matters or where the roof is small and simple. All work is carried out to BS 8217 and manufacturer specifications.
Guarantees and standards
Every job carries a written workmanship guarantee, handed over on completion rather than promised verbally. Where a manufacturer guarantee applies to the covering, you get that in writing too.
For independent guidance on roofing standards, specifications and what a homeowner should expect from a contractor, the National Federation of Roofing Contractors publishes information worth reading before commissioning any roofing work.
Where we work
We cover Swindon and most of Wiltshire:
We also work in Highworth, Cricklade, Purton, Wroughton, Shrivenham and the villages around them. Have a look at our roof repairs and roof replacement pages, or call and tell us what the roof is doing.
Get in touch
Call 01793 569055 or request a quote below. We will arrange a survey at a time that suits you, look at the roof properly, and put a written price in front of you within 24 hours. No charge for the survey and no obligation to go ahead.