About
About Oakley Roofing
A roofing business based in Herne Bay, working across Kent. Small on purpose, and not trying to be anything else.
How I work
You ring, I come and look, and I go up rather than assessing your roof through a car window. That costs you nothing and carries no obligation. You get told what I found, shown photographs of it, and given a price in writing that does not change afterwards unless we both agree it needs to.
There is no office and no sales team, which is the main reason the advice is worth having. Nobody makes more money by talking you into a new roof, so when the answer is "that will be fine for another few winters, ring me if it stains again", that is what you get told.
The trade-off is that I am one business, not a chain. In a busy week after a storm I may not get to you within the hour. What I will do is tell you honestly when I can get there, rather than booking you in and leaving you waiting in.
What I take on, and what I do not
Yes
- Tiled and slated pitched roofs - repairs and full re-covering
- Flat roofs on garages, extensions, dormers and porches
- Chimney repointing, flaunching, cowls and lead flashings
- Guttering, fascias, soffits and eaves work
- Storm damage, including making things safe at short notice
- Coming out to tell you whether something is urgent
Not really
- Large commercial and industrial roofs
- Handling insurance claims on your behalf
- Roof coatings and "sealants" sold as an alternative to repair - I will not fit them
- Anything I would be guessing at. If a job wants a structural engineer or a specialist, I will say so and point you at one
Why being local to the coast matters
Roofing on the north Kent coast is not quite the same trade as roofing twenty miles inland. Salt shortens the life of every steel fixing on the building. The wind that does the damage comes off the estuary from the north-east, hitting slopes that were detailed as though the weather would always arrive from the other direction. And the long dry spells this part of the county gets do more quiet harm to mortar than the rain ever does.
None of that is exotic knowledge - it is just what you learn by working on the same streets for long enough to see which repairs are still holding. It is the reason I use stainless fixings where someone from further inland would reasonably use galvanised, and why I am wary of mortar-bedded ridges on anything facing the water.
It also means I know roughly what is under most of the roofs around here before I get on them - which is not the same as assuming, but it does mean fewer surprises in the quote.
Straightforward from here
Ring 0800 246 5315, or 07818 184211 out of hours, and tell me what the roof is doing. If it is easier to write it down, the form on the contact page comes straight to me.
Contact meWant a second opinion on a quote?
If you have been told you need a new roof and it does not feel right, get me out to look before you sign anything. It costs nothing and it is a fairly common reason people ring.