Essex · London and the South East
Flat Roof Survey in Bures Green
Surveys of flat roofs on homes, extensions and commercial buildings around Bures Green, with a written report you can act on. Book a weekday or weekend visit.
- Ponding water that does not drain away
- Failed upstands where the roof meets a wall
- Damaged trims at the roof edge
Flat roof surveys for homes and businesses in Bures Green
Water through a flat roof doesn’t always come in where the stain is. It can run along the deck from a split, an open lap or a failed upstand some distance away. Our survey covers the whole roof, not just the part above the mark, and photograph anything that could let water in. A roofer can then start from a clear picture of the problem. If you’ve noticed pools of water lying on the roof and cracked or split membrane, a survey will tell you what’s going on, whatever the roof.
Flat roofs on exposed homes in small places like Bures Green take more wind and rain, which is hard on edges, upstands and joins in the covering. Felt roofs, which often last around 15–20 years, normally show it first. EPDM rubber and GRP coverings last longer, but their edges and joints still need checking. Exposed edges are normally the first part of a flat roof to go.
Most points in the report come with a picture, because a photo of a cracked flashing says more than a paragraph. Anything out of sight on the day is listed as such.
- Place
- Bures Green (CO8)
- Region
- Essex
- Price
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Reports
- A written report with photos, by email
- When we survey
- Weekdays and weekends
- Cover
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Call
- 07833 053749
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
How we price flat roof surveys
A few things affect what a survey costs:
- The package you choose: Basic, Standard or Premium
- The number of roofs, including extensions and garages
- House, block, shop or office
- Features like valleys, chimneys, dormers and parapets
Price depends partly on the package: from £150 for Basic, £250 for Standard and £400 for Premium, with VAT included. Size, height and access can affect the price too.
Booking your survey
Before you get in touch, it helps to have:
- Any deadline, such as an exchange date
- What’s prompted the survey
- Access details, such as a loft hatch or a shared roof
- Pictures from the garden or a window, if you have them
Surveys can be booked for weekdays, Saturdays or Sundays. To arrange a day that suits you, ring 07833 053749 or use the contact form.
Places near Bures Green
What else we do in Bures Green
Questions from Bures Green
Is Bures Green in the area you cover?
Yes, Bures Green is within the area we cover. We cover the whole of London and South East England. You can phone 07833 053749 or use the contact form with the address and some details.
Does a conservation area affect roof work in Bures Green?
For listing, use Historic England’s list; for conservation areas, ask the council. The answer matters most when a change of material is on the cards.
What does the report include?
It sets out what we found, why it matters and what we recommend, backed by photographs. Anything we couldn’t see safely is noted too, so you know exactly what was covered.
Will this cover the whole house?
No. We look closely at the flat roof rather than the whole building. It complements a RICS home survey rather than replacing it, and it isn’t a structural engineer’s report.
Which days do you carry out surveys?
We survey on any day from Monday to Sunday, during the day, which suits people who work during the week. Let us know your preferred days as you book.
Do you carry professional indemnity insurance?
Every survey is covered by professional indemnity and public liability insurance, and details are available on request.
What do I do with the report?
The report comes by email, and you decide the next step: raise it with a seller, send it to an insurer, brief a roofer or share it with a managing agent.
Why act early in Bures Green
Waiting for a stain inside means the water has already got through the layers. A survey can find worn areas and failing details before that point, while there is still time to plan the work. Older and listed buildings around Bures Green may need consent and matching materials for repairs, so leaving a defect until it’s urgent leaves less time to plan.
The Premium Survey includes thermal imaging and drone inspection where applicable, from £400 including VAT. We can help you choose the package that fits what you’d like to know.
What you get with us
- More than 5,000 surveys completed
- Professional indemnity and public liability insurance
- Weekday and weekend surveys
- Thermal imaging and drone inspection where they help
Take a look at how roof surveys are priced and what we found on two real jobs.
Flat roof surveys around Bures Green
Clay tiles and timber weatherboarding mark out many of the older buildings in Essex, and lots of post-war and modern estates besides. Alongside them, flat-roofed extensions, dormers, garages and commercial units are common almost everywhere. Historic houses such as Gainsborough's House, about 4.5 miles north-west, show how far back building in the area around Bures Green goes. Older homes in the wider area frequently have features worth a closer look, like lead valleys, tall stacks and roofs that have been patched over the years, and a listed home or one in a conservation area may need consent for changes of material.
If you own a rental within reach of Bures station, a flat roof over a rented flat is easy to forget until the tenant reports a leak. If you live in an older home near Church of St Mary the Virgin, later flat-roofed additions are common on older houses, and their edges and upstands often show the first signs of wear.
Bures Green is in Essex. Whether the building in Bures Green is a house, a flat or a commercial unit, we can survey the roof. Our area takes in places right across Essex. For surveys nearby, see our Chelmsford page.
All of CO8 is within our area for flat roof surveys. Other places close to Bures Green include Bures (1 mile south-west), Lamarsh (1 mile west), Mount Bures (2 miles south), Alphamstone (2 miles west) and Cross End (3 miles west). Larger places within reach include Colchester (8 miles south-east), Braintree (12 miles south-west), Witham (14 miles south-west), Camulodunum (8 miles south-east), Halstead (7 miles south-west) and Greenstead (9 miles south-east).
Near you in Bures Green
Locally, jobs take us to homes and businesses close to Tiger Hill and Angel Inn, among other places. The nearest railway station is Bures station, about 1 mile south-west of the centre. A little further out are Mount Bures (1.7 miles south). Open spaces near Bures Green include Arger Fen.
Roof by roof
GRP fibreglass
A GRP fibreglass roof is a hard, resin-bonded surface over a timber deck. We look for cracks at board joints, around trims and at upstands.
Single-ply membranes
Single-ply PVC and TPO membranes are common on commercial roofs and newer buildings. The survey looks at welded seams, edges, fixings and signs of damage.
The survey, step by step
After the inspection, everything we found is written up as a written report with photographs, sent to you by email. As for time on site, most surveys take about 1–2 hours for an extension, garage or dormer roof, and around 3–4 hours for a commercial flat roof. Older rural homes like those around Bures Green can have a main roof, lower lean-to roofs and outbuildings all joined together. We work round each section in turn, from the safest viewpoints, and anything we can’t see is noted.
- We start with the address and, on larger roofs, the roof area and access.
- We check the rooms or spaces under the roof for staining where there is access.
- We view the roof from safe positions and never walk on fragile surfaces.
- We record every defect with a photo and its likely cause.
- The report explains the condition and recommends what to do first.
Preparing for the visit
- Make a note of anything you’d like us to look at
- If you are buying, let the agent know when we are coming
- Unlock side gates and any roof access doors
Booking a survey
When you are ready to go ahead, phone 07833 053749 or drop us an email. From there it’s a case of choosing a package, agreeing the price and fixing a day.
Advice
Common roof problems in Bures Green
Water that does not drain sits on the roof and speeds up wear. Blocked outlets, poor falls and a sagging deck are the usual causes. Where trees are close by, leaves and silt can block an outlet within a single autumn.
Here are some of the things we see frequently:
- Raised blisters across the surface
- Edge trims that have lifted or split
- Splits and cracks in the covering
- Signs of deflection in the roof deck
If you look after a building such as Bures Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, large flat roofs, common on schools and other public buildings, need their outlets, upstands and coverings checked regularly.
What to check before booking
- How they’ll see the roof: from ground level, the loft, the roof or by drone
- Is there a chance to talk the report through?
- Whether they hold professional indemnity and public liability insurance
- Will the report include photos?
Before and after the survey
Here are a few things we’d tell any owner, before and after a survey:
- Check that new brackets or units haven’t damaged the covering
- Book a survey every few years
- Ask contractors to protect the roof if they work on it
- Note the date and type of any roof work
Landlords, owners and managing agents can keep the report as a dated record of the roof. It helps when planning maintenance budgets, and it makes changes easy to spot at the next survey.
Have the roof surveyed every few years, and after any work that goes through it. You will spot changes early and have a record to look back on.