The short answer
A re-roof takes as long as the roof in front of us: its area, the covering, how many hips, valleys and chimneys it carries, and the state of the timbers beneath. The programme comes out of the survey, and you hear each day what happens next. Weather and the scaffold date can move the start, while the standard of the work stays put.
A small bungalow and a large semi with dormers are different jobs. Here is what stretches or shortens a re-roof, and how the days run.
Four things that stretch or shorten the job
Four factors set the pace. First comes area, because more slope means more covering to lay. Next comes the covering itself. Slate is laid by hand, course by course, while big concrete interlocking tiles cover ground faster. Third is the shape of the roof. Every hip, valley, dormer and chimney needs cut work, leadwork and careful finishing.
Does a terrace take less time than a detached house?
Not by rule. A short run of terrace roof has less area, but it may share a party wall, hide an awkward valley or carry a chimney stack that eats time. A detached house with a plain two-slope roof can move briskly. The survey weighs these points for your roof, in place of guessing from the house type. Access counts as well: a roof reached from a low scaffold goes quicker than a tall house on a narrow plot where every load is carried by hand.
Fourth is whatever sits beneath the old covering. If battens (the cross-laths nailed over the rafters) or the rafters themselves prove rotten, they are replaced before the new roof goes on. Our page on rotten roof timbers explains how that is found and put right, and the roof replacement hub sets out the whole job.
Scaffold and the start date
Work cannot begin until safe access is up. A scaffold built over or beside the public highway falls under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, which requires the highway authority to grant a licence first, and the notice period can set your start date.
When can the scaffold actually go up?
Somerset Council restricts scaffold licences to accredited contractors, and the appointed contractor is the one who files. Its guidance calls for at least 10 working days between applying and erecting, with a fee of £124.60 for each 28-day period (April 2026). Devon County Council also wants 10 working days' notice, and its licences run for a maximum of 12 weeks.
Not every house needs a highway licence. A house well back from the road may carry its scaffold entirely on private land. Where a licence is needed, we sort the licence with the scaffolder and pass on the date as soon as it is confirmed, so the plan rests on a real date and not a hope.
Our page on re-roof scaffolding goes through the licence, the cost and the access in more detail.
Weather and keeping the house dry
A roofer cannot strip a slope in heavy rain or lay slates in a gale. Weather can move a start by a day or two, and a finish moves with it. Wind is a safety issue before it is a quality one, since a tile lifted off a stack is a danger to anyone below.
Is the house left open to rain overnight?
It should not be. A careful roofer strips only as much slope as can be re-covered before nightfall, lays new underlay (the membrane beneath the battens) as each section is cleared, and sheets over anything left open when work stops. We work to that on every job.
Winter runs on its own timetable: short days, damp battens and slower drying. Short daylight and slow-drying battens mean the season is worth raising when you book. If you have a date in mind, such as a family event or a house sale, tell us at the survey so the plan has room in it for a wet spell.
A dry forecast is welcome, but it is not a promise, and a roofer who names a finish date unseen is guessing at the weather as well as the work.
A typical sequence, stage by stage
The sequence rarely changes, and the sequence matters more than speed. Scaffold goes up first, with the safety checks that come with it. Then the old covering comes off in sections and the waste goes into a skip. Battens are checked or replaced, new underlay goes down, and the new covering follows.
What happens at the end?
The ridge, hips and verges are finished, either dry-fixed or bedded and mechanically held, and the valleys, chimney flashings and other leadwork are completed. Gutters are checked, the site is swept, the waste is taken away, and the scaffold comes down last.
Each day we tell you what is happening and what comes next, so you are not guessing from the pavement. After the survey we can also give you the likely duration in plain terms, without promising a finish date that the weather could change.
Our answer on booking a re-roof in advance covers how far ahead to plan.
More on timing
Can the work go ahead while I am out at work all day?
Yes. We need access to the outside of the house and, sometimes, the loft, so leave the loft clear and tell us how to reach it. We tell you what has been done each evening and what comes next, so you are never left in the dark about the stage the roof has reached.
What if it rains on the planned start day?
We move the start, not the standard. A roof stripped in rain is a roof that leaks into your house, so the day is rearranged. Because we strip in sections and cover each one before nightfall, a shower mid-job is manageable, but a wet week is not, and we would rather wait.
The full picture: Roof replacement and new roofs in Taunton · More short answers