Barr House
Listed Grade II on 17 May 1985; a change to how its roof looks may need listed building consent.
Roofers in Upcott
Barr House, Newley Farmhouse and The Cottage at Upcott House
Upcott is a hamlet west of Taunton with six listed entries close to its centre. We look over every Upcott roof, camera in hand, before naming a price.
Three Grade II houses at Upcott
Newley Farmhouse
Also listed Grade II in May 1985, a farmhouse where original roof details are worth recording.
The Cottage, Upcott House
A third Grade II entry in the hamlet, one of six list entries within 500 metres of the centre.
Street map of Upcott with Hele, Bishops Hull, Norton Fitzwarren, Allerford marked around it, and Taunton.
Between Hele, Bishops Hull and Rumwell
Hele lies close by to the south-west of Upcott and Allerford to the west, with Norton Fitzwarren to the north, Rumwell to the south and Bishops Hull east.
About 2 miles west of Taunton, Somerset Council (unitary).
What we can do for your Upcott roof
Four checks west of Taunton
Reading an Upcott roof, from the listing to the sale
Four checks for a house or cottage in Upcott, covering consent, ridges and verges, paying for the work and what to do when a house survey flags the roof.
Check 1 of 4Six listed entries within 500 metres
A busy heritage list changes the questions
Six entries on the National Heritage List for England fall within 500 metres of the centre of Upcott. Three of them are Grade II houses: Barr House and Newley Farmhouse, listed on 17 May 1985, and The Cottage at Upcott House. So when you ring a roofer about an Upcott address, the first question should be whether the house is on the list. With us it always is the first question, and the answer shapes everything that follows.
Does a listed house need the council for every repair?
No. Putting back slates or tiles that match what was there is repair, and so is clearing gutters or renewing flaunching, the mortar bed around a chimney pot. Listed building consent from Somerset Council comes in once a change touches what makes an Upcott house special: a different covering, a new type of ridge, a roof window cut into a historic slope or a chimney altered. The right to re-roof stays; what the listing adds is consent for any change in how the building looks.
What about the conservation areas nearby?
Seven lie within about 2.5 km, among them Hillfarrance, Staplegrove, Trull Village and Bradford-on-Tone. The newest of the seven, Haines Hill and Trull Road, dates from 14 March 2023. None of them covers the hamlet's core, but a boundary can run along a field edge, so we check the council's map for your address before any price goes out.
The answer is written into the survey notes, next to the pictures. If you sell later, a buyer's solicitor will ask for it, and having it to hand saves a delay. Where a hamlet house has had several owners, the roof often carries repairs from each of them, and we mark which ones are old enough to matter to a heritage officer. That marking saves an argument later about what was original and what was added.
Look for
- Tiles replaced in a new colour
- Rooflights in a historic slope
- Plastic guttering on old eaves
- Chimney stacks capped over
Check 2 of 4Ridges, verges and what holds them
Mortar alone no longer holds it
On an Upcott farmhouse the ridge caps the meeting line of the two slopes, and the verge trims each gable end where the slope stops. Both carry shaped tiles, and both catch more wind than the slopes below them. For generations they were held by mortar alone. Marley explains that the 2014 revision of BS 5534 made clear that mortar's tensile strength could no longer be trusted on its own for ridge and hip tiles, which is why an Upcott ridge bedded today also gets mechanical fixings.
What decides the price
- Run of ridge and count of gable ends
- How many Upcott ridge tiles survive intact
- Bedded repair or dry-fix system
- Reach to the highest point
How does a dry-fix ridge work?
Clips, screws and vented ridge sections take the place of the mortar bed, gripping each ridge, hip and verge tile. BS 8612 sets the tests these kits must pass. Marley also points out that installing to BS 5534 is not a legal requirement, so mortar is not banned; fixings are simply sound practice. A bedded ridge with fixings added combines both approaches.
Can a ridge be re-bedded, or must it be replaced?
Re-bedding suits a ridge whose tiles are sound but whose mortar has failed. Replacement is for cracked or missing caps. MyJobQuote's guide (Oct 2026) puts ridge tile replacement at between £225 and £550, and a dry verge system at between £500 and £2,000, with an average around £1,000. Those are typical UK ranges, and your own roof sets where it lands.
Will a dry system look right on a listed house?
Not always. A dry-fix ridge looks different from a bedded one, and on a listed building that change may need listed building consent. Ask first. A bedded ridge in lime or sand and cement mortar can be correct on an old building, with fixings hidden within it. Our dry ridge and verge page shows where each finish suits, and the survey photos show the state of your own ridge before you choose.
Check 3 of 4Paying for roof work: VAT and grants
What the tax and the schemes cover
Roof work is a large bill for most households, so it helps to know what the tax and the schemes do and do not cover before you decide. The standard VAT rate is 20 per cent on GOV.UK's figures, and that rate covers both a repair and a full re-roof on an Upcott house as it stands. A mention of the domestic reverse charge should not worry you: it is for trade-to-trade supplies inside the Construction Industry Scheme, so a homeowner's bill never carries it. Check that each quote says whether VAT is included, and whether scaffolding is.
No grant pays for a new roof, so the useful question is what the quote includes.
What decides the price
- Insulation included in the work or not
- Scaffolding inside the price or extra
- VAT shown in the quote or left out
- Scheme conditions that might apply
Is there any help with paying for a roof?
No national grant pays for a new roof. What exists concerns energy saving and adaptations. Ofgem says ECO4 will run until 31 December 2026. The Great British Insulation Scheme has closed, with installations needing to be complete by 31 March 2026. The Warm Homes Local Grant is for insulation, with a household income limit that GOV.UK gives as usually £36,000 a year or less. The Disabled Facilities Grant, worth up to £30,000 in England, covers adaptations to a disabled person's home. None of this means your household will qualify, because eligibility is decided by the scheme.
Does insulation change the VAT?
HMRC's Notice 708/6 on energy-saving materials describes a zero rate for installations made between 1 May 2023 and 31 March 2027, reverting to the reduced rate of 5 per cent from 1 April 2027. Whether it fits your job depends on what is actually being installed, so ask when the price is given and keep the paperwork. The covering of the roof stays at the standard rate.
At the survey we note the depth and condition of any loft insulation, because that is the part a scheme or a rate might touch. Our pitched roofing page explains how insulation and ventilation fit into a re-roof.
Check 4 of 4When a house survey flags the roof
Buyers' surveys and old re-roofs
A buyer's or seller's survey that flags the roof usually leaves two questions: how bad is it, and is there paperwork? We answer the first with a roof inspection that shows photographs of each slope and sets out what is sound, what needs repair and what will need replacing in time. The second depends on how old the work is, and on whether anyone kept the paperwork when it was done. Sellers can find that a previous owner renewed the roof and that nothing survives except the roof itself. The photographs matter for that reason: they record its condition on a given date.
What decides the price
- How many slopes need inspecting
- Whether repair or replacement follows
- Access to chimneys and valleys
- Whether paperwork must be regularised
What if an old re-roof has no certificate?
Regularisation applications can be made, Somerset Building Control says, where work was carried out after 11 November 1985. A regularisation application asks building control to examine work already done and, where possible, record it. The service keeps completion certificate records for 15 years, so an older job may need a different route. The team answers on 0300 303 7790, and our guide to regularisation for roof work explains the steps.
Does an independent roof survey cost extra?
A stand-alone roof survey from a third party is a separate purchase. MyJobQuote's guide (Oct 2026) puts the average at around £300, with a drone survey at £200 to £350, as typical UK figures. Our own inspection comes ahead of a repair or replacement quote, and it is how we work out what to price. If your surveyor has named a specific fault, such as a failed valley, a cracked stack or slipped slates on one slope, tell us the wording and we will look at that spot first.
Our roof inspections page shows what an inspection covers. At the end you hold dated photographs plus one written total for any work, and a buyer or seller can pass both straight to a solicitor. Send your Upcott address, and say if a sale is under way.
Walked the roof?
- 1 read
- 2 not read yet
- 3 not read yet
- 4 not read yet
When you have read the checks, we walk the roof and show you the photos.
Upcott roofs, from Barr House to the ridge
Can Barr House at Upcott have its ridge changed to a dry-fix system?
Barr House is listed Grade II, and a dry-fix ridge looks different from a bedded one, so the change may need listed building consent. Check with Somerset Council's planning team before ordering. Where the ridge is simply failing, re-bedding it with mechanical fixings added keeps the look while meeting BS 5534 practice.
Is there any help with paying for roof work on an Upcott farmhouse?
Nothing in the national schemes pays for a new roof. ECO4 runs until 31 December 2026, and the Warm Homes Local Grant is aimed at insulation, with an income limit that is usually £36,000 a year. Whether a household qualifies is for the scheme to decide, so check on GOV.UK. A survey can show what insulation the loft has.
My Upcott house was re-roofed years ago with no paperwork. Can that be put right?
Possibly. Somerset Building Control says regularisation applications can be made where work was carried out after 11 November 1985. Completion certificate records are kept for 15 years, so older jobs may need another route. Ring the team on 0300 303 7790, and we can supply photographs of the roof as it now stands.
Which conservation areas are nearest to Upcott?
The national dataset shows seven within roughly 2.5 km, among them Hillfarrance, Staplegrove, Trull Village and Bradford-on-Tone, with Haines Hill and Trull Road the youngest, dating from March 2023. None covers the hamlet's core, but check the council's map for your own address before you order any materials or book a scaffold.
Hamlets and villages around Upcott
Have your Upcott roof surveyed
Send the address and what prompted you to look, and we will arrange the visit.