Cambridge Roofers handles flat roofs, pitched roofs, repairs and full re-roofs on offices, warehouses, retail units and light industrial buildings near Little Shelford.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A commercial roof failure does not wait for a convenient moment. Whether you manage an office, a warehouse, a retail unit or a light industrial building, a leaking or deteriorating roof costs you money in disrupted operations, stock damage and emergency call-outs. Cambridge Roofers covers business premises of all sizes in and around Little Shelford, handling everything from a single repair to a full re-roof.
We work on flat roofs, pitched roofs, and every detail that sits between them: guttering, fascias, soffits, leadwork, chimney flashings and rooflights. Getting all of that work from one contractor keeps the job straightforward and avoids arguments over who is responsible when something goes wrong at the junction between trades.
Flat roofs on commercial buildings are most commonly finished in felt or EPDM rubber membrane. Felt systems are less expensive upfront but need inspecting every few years; EPDM membranes are more resilient and can last significantly longer when properly installed. Pitched roofs on industrial and retail buildings often use profiled metal sheeting, concrete tiles or natural slate depending on the building's age and spec.
Common failure points include failed laps on flat roof membranes, corroded or loose flashings where the roof meets a parapet wall, cracked ridge tiles, blocked or broken gutters that push water back under the covering, and deteriorated leadwork around rooflights or chimney stacks. A thorough inspection will check all of these, not just the area where the water is coming in.
Re-roofs and new roofs on commercial premises need a proper specification before any work starts: the right membrane or tile for the pitch and exposure, correct falls on flat roofs so water does not pond, adequate ventilation to prevent condensation damage to the structure, and the right fixings for the substrate. Cutting corners on any of these shortens the life of the roof considerably.
This is the section most businesses skip, and it is the one that matters most. A poor contractor can leave you with a roof that fails within a year or two, and with no straightforward way to recover the cost. Here is what to look at before you agree to anything.
A quote that says "repair flat roof" is not a quote. It tells you nothing about what materials will be used, how large an area will be treated, whether the existing membrane will be stripped or overlaid, or what happens if the deck underneath is rotten. A proper written scope should describe the work step by step so you can compare it like-for-like with other quotes and hold the contractor to what was agreed.
If a contractor is reluctant to put the detail in writing, treat that as a warning. Vague quotes almost always lead to disputes about what was included.
If two contractors inspect the same roof and come back with completely different diagnoses, that tells you something important: either one of them has missed something, or one of them is selling you more work than you need. Use the inspection stage to understand what condition your roof is actually in, not just to gather prices.
Ask each contractor to walk you through what they found and why they are recommending what they are recommending. A contractor who can explain their reasoning clearly is far more likely to deliver a job that matches your expectations.
Not every commercial roofing problem requires a full re-roof. Isolated failures in an otherwise sound membrane can often be repaired at a fraction of the cost. However, a series of repairs on an ageing system can quickly add up to more than a re-roof would have cost, and each repair only addresses the visible failure, not the underlying condition of the membrane.
A useful rule of thumb: if a flat roof membrane is over 20 years old and has had more than one or two repairs in recent years, a full replacement is almost always better value than continuing to patch. If the roof is relatively young and the failure is isolated, a well-executed repair buys you many more years of service.
These elements are part of the roof system, not an afterthought. Blocked or broken gutters cause water to back up under roofing materials. Failed leadwork at parapet walls, chimney stacks or around rooflights lets water into the structure at a point that can be very hard to trace. Rotten fascias allow birds and pests into the roof void.
When having any roofing work done, ask the contractor to inspect these elements at the same time. Catching a failing gutter or a loose flashing during a planned job is far cheaper than dealing with the water damage it causes after the work is finished and the scaffolding has come down.
Once the job is complete, ask for a record of what was done: the materials used, the area covered, and any areas the contractor flagged as needing attention in future. Keep photographs if you can. This information is useful when you next need work done, when you are negotiating a lease or a sale, and when you want to satisfy yourself that the inspection the next contractor carries out matches what was actually installed.
Touch the surfaces and check the details yourself after the job is signed off. Look at the upstands, the gutters, the flashings and the outlets. A good contractor will not mind you doing this; in fact, they will walk you round and point things out themselves.
Cambridge Roofers works on commercial premises across Cambridge and the surrounding area. Call us to arrange a proper roof survey so you know exactly what your building needs before you commit to anything.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
