Free inspections

Is a free roof inspection worth having?

Yes, when it ends with photographs and written findings you can keep. Below: what to ask for, where the catch can hide, and when to pay for a survey.

The short answer

Yes, a free roof inspection is worth having when you come away with photographs and written findings for each fault, whether or not you book any work. It is worth little when it is a quick glance from the pavement that ends in a sales pitch. Ask before the visit what you will receive, who will go up, and whether the findings are yours to keep.

5 min read · Part of Roof inspections

A hipped red-tile roof on a white-rendered bungalow — Checking a pitched roof from the top of a ladder

What a free visit should leave you with

A visit is only as good as what you can hold afterwards. A roof can look fine from the garden for months while a slipped tile or a lifted flashing lets damp into the timbers below, so the useful part of any inspection is the record it leaves behind. Before you agree to one, ask what the record will contain. The list below is a fair test.

close photographs of each fault, taken on the roof or from a ladder, and not only wide shots of the whole house
a plain description of every problem and where it sits, so you could point to it yourself
a judgement on each one: mend it, replace the part, or leave it and keep watching
a note of anything that could not be reached, such as a slope hidden behind a taller neighbouring building

That last point matters most. A report that lists no limits has probably not looked very hard. If the findings come back as one line saying the roof needs replacing, ask which parts, and why a repair would not do the job.

Where the catch can sit

Nothing is wrong with a visit that costs you nothing. The risk is a visit built to lead to one particular job. A few questions put early will tell you a good deal, and they cost nothing to ask.

Ask whether the person who inspects is the person who will do the work, and whether the findings stay yours if you decide to get other quotes. Ask whether the roof will be looked at from above or only from the ground, and whether the loft is included. Be wary of anyone who wants a decision on the day, or who tells you the work cannot wait while giving you nothing to look at.

You should also be able to leave with the findings and no obligation. A firm that is confident in what it has found does not need you to sign in the garden. Be clear with yourself about what you want, too: a quick opinion on one worry is a smaller job than a full condition report, and the visit should be pitched to match. Take your time, compare the findings with a second opinion if the work is large, and keep the photographs whatever you decide.

When a paid survey is the better choice

A free visit suits a roof you want a second opinion on. Some jobs need a report that another person will rely on, and for those you pay for independence and detail. A paid report is written for a reader who will rely on it, so it carries more on materials, causes and limits than a quick visit can. Three cases stand out:

buying a house, where the report goes to your solicitor and lender; our post on roof inspections before buying a house covers it
an insurance claim, where the insurer will want an expert's account of the damage and its cause
a listed home, where the record has to describe the historic fabric of the roof

MyJobQuote's survey page, dated 12 October 2026, quotes an average near £300 for a roof survey. That is a national average, so treat it as a guide to the order of cost and not a quote. Set it against the price of a wrong decision: replacing a roof that only needed a repair costs far more than any report. Our roof inspection cost guide goes through what pushes a figure up or down, and what a fair report ought to contain for the money.

How we approach an inspection

We look at the roof the way a careful owner would want it looked at: from the ladder, from the loft and, on a tall or steep roof, with a drone. You get photographs and the findings, with a plain verdict on each fault. Where a repair is sound, we say repair. A re-roof is put forward only when the roof cannot fairly be saved, and we explain why.

If work follows, you receive a written price for the whole job once the survey is finished, and the findings that justify it sit beside it. You are never asked to decide about the roof while we stand in the garden, and the findings are written down so you can read them again at home.

The roof inspections page explains the ladder, loft and drone checks in full, and our answer on inspection versus survey sets out where one becomes the other. If you only want to know what a visit would cover on your own roof, ask before anyone is booked, and ask what happens to the photographs afterwards.