Specifying a roof survey: what to ask for

What the surveyor needs from you

Every survey starts by reviewing what is known about the roof, so the method suits it. Send the drawings and O&M information you have, and say where they are missing or out of date.

Give the roof’s history as far as you know it: its age, what it is made of, its repairs and overlays, and earlier reports. HSE guidance on roof work lists a roof’s make-up, age and earlier changes among what a client should tell anyone working on it.

Add leak records, any work carried out on the roof and any warranty: under this site’s survey terms, a warranty that coring could affect is raised before the visit.

Then access and hazards. The same terms leave the client to arrange access, with any keys, escorts or permits, and ask to hear of fragile rooflights or sheets, asbestos, missing edge protection, running plant and site rules. RICS adds the asbestos register, where there is one.

If the roof has a fall protection system, say so: HSE says one the client has maintained and inspected should be used.

What to specify

RICS guidance asks for the services, the parties and every limitation to be confirmed in writing, and the areas to be identified precisely. A specification sets those out.

The areas. Name each roof or mark it on a plan, and say what is left out. Where drawings are wrong, a measured survey draws an accurate plan to record findings on.

The methods. Name one for each question, or ask for them to be proposed with reasons. Each method finds what it is designed to find, so one left out leaves its question unanswered.

What is intrusive. Most methods are not. Core sampling cuts small holes only where the quote includes it, at agreed locations, each sealed watertight. On a RAAC survey, the IStructE says intrusive work should be specified with care, its locations chosen by the engineer, because it damages the panels.

The deliverables. From a condition survey, graded defects on a plan with photographs; from moisture mapping, the wet areas to scale; from thermography, thermal and visual images; from each core, every layer measured and photographed.

The report format. Online, PDF or both, with drawings in the file formats you need. RICS also suggests agreeing whether photographs are included, who else gets copies and whether repair costs are wanted.

Access, safety and disruption

Going on a roof is work at height, and HSE sets the order: avoid it where reasonably practicable, prevent falls where it cannot be avoided, and minimise the consequences where the risk remains. For inspection, HSE starts with a drone survey, or mast photography or video, where only a visual check is needed.

Where someone has to go up, HSE says a secure double guardrail and toeboard prevents falls from a flat roof edge, and puts protection for everyone, such as guardrails, before protection for one person, such as a harness.

HSE says every roof should be treated as fragile until a competent person has confirmed it is not. Fibre cement sheets, rooflights, liner panels and corroded metal sheets are among the surfaces likely to be fragile, and falls through fragile surfaces account for 22% of fatal falls from height in construction. The NFRC puts it simply: if you don’t know it is safe, treat it as fragile.

Occupation can restrict a survey, RICS notes: noisy or intrusive work can need the space to be empty. Some methods need the rooms under the roof, as a RAAC survey does, and HSE asks for falling objects to be prevented or people kept clear with an exclusion zone.

Before the visit, the surveyor should confirm the way up, any access equipment such as a tower or a powered lift, the areas unsafe or out of bounds, and any permit, induction or escort: RICS calls this a pre-assessment of the hazards. Under the survey terms, they can decline any part of a roof they judge unsafe, and the report covers what could be surveyed.

The report

The survey terms say a report sets out what the survey found, by the methods in the quote, on the parts of the roof that could be surveyed. It records the roof’s condition as found, and is not a guarantee that the roof is watertight, nor a specification for repairs.

RICS guidance says a report should identify what is wrong, the consequences, the repairs recommended and any further investigation needed, name the areas not inspected, record the weather, and separate fact from opinion.

Reliance and who can use it

Under the survey terms, a report is written for the client, for the purpose the quote describes, and the client can rely on it for that purpose.

The client can share it with anyone they choose, such as an owner, a tenant, a buyer, a lender, an insurer or a contractor, but none of them can rely on it. Reliance can be extended to a named third party by written agreement, which can carry a fee.

So reliance has to be agreed, not assumed: the contract is between the client and the surveying company, and the report was written for one purpose. If a buyer, a lender or an insurer will need to rely on it, say so in the brief.

Copyright stays with the surveying company, and the client can copy and use the report for the building it is about.

Comparing quotes like for like

The survey terms say a quote sets out the survey, the methods it uses, what is included and the price. Check each quote against the brief: the same areas, methods, intrusive work and deliverables, in the same report format.

The survey pages name what drives the cost: the roof area, the number of roofs, access, the method, the number of cores and the outputs needed. A lower price can simply mean less of one of them, such as fewer cores or a smaller area.

Read the exclusions as closely as what is included: areas not inspected, testing left out, and what the report does not do, such as designing repairs. RICS asks for every limitation to be stated, and encourages clients to avoid restrictions that dilute a survey.

Look closely at access. The NFRC says too many fragile roof incidents happen when people accept the cheapest access solution without properly considering the risk. A quote should say what access it allows for, and what happens if the access is not as described.

Questions about specifying a roof survey