Greater London · London and the South East
East Finchley Gutter Survey
We carry out gutter surveys in East Finchley and the rest of Greater London. Surveys run seven days a week.
- Cracked or loose downpipes
- Overflowing eaves gutters
- Soffits marked by water
Landlords, agents and block managers in East Finchley
A roof problem in a let property affects your tenants as well as the building. A survey helps you spot issues early and plan the work around your tenants.
Businesses and commercial landlords can book us too. Bigger roofs take more time, so they’re priced to suit.
How a gutter survey works in East Finchley
Damp patches on inside walls, stains below a valley or water running down the brickwork often trace back to the gutters. We check whether gutters, outlets or downpipes are the likely source, as far as can be seen safely. Where the cause looks more like the roof covering or a flashing, the report says so, with a suggested next step. We survey valley gutters, eaves gutters and outlets and hoppers, and people most often book us about rotten fascias or stained soffits and leaves and moss blocking gutters.
Victorian and Edwardian terraces are found right across London, often with slate roofs, chimney stacks shared with neighbours and gutters hidden behind parapets. Good slates can last over a hundred years, yet the nails often give out first and let slates slip. In East Finchley, as across London, that is why a roof needs a careful look rather than a glance from the street. Lead flashings and shared chimney stacks on these houses need a proper look too.
With the Standard Survey, you also get moisture detection, a structural check and a follow-up consultation. The Premium Survey adds thermal imaging, drone inspection where it applies, structural analysis and an in-person consultation.
- Where
- East Finchley (N2, N3, NW11)
- Wider area
- Greater London
- Cost
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Report
- A written report with photos, by email
- Appointments
- Monday to Sunday, daytime
- Insurance
- Professional indemnity and public liability
- Telephone
- 07833 053749
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
What happens on the day
We do not take risks to get a closer look. Everything that can be seen safely is inspected, and if part of the roof cannot be seen, the report says so. Most visits take an hour or two at a house, depending on how many gutter runs and downpipes there are. London terraces rarely offer a view of the whole roof from one spot, so in East Finchley we work round the house, using the street, the windows, the loft and any safe vantage point behind it. Shared stairs or a basement flat? Tell us who holds the keys.
- First, we agree the areas to focus on.
- We look along each run for debris, sagging and drips.
- Outlets, hoppers, downpipes and overflows are inspected.
- Fascias, soffits and the walls below are looked at for signs of overflow.
- Findings are photographed and set out in a written report.
Before the survey
- Move anything stored under the loft hatch
- If you are buying, check with the agent that we can get in
- Keep pets inside or away from the areas we are looking at
Book a survey
To get a price for gutter surveys in East Finchley, phone 07833 053749 or use the contact form. A few details about the property and the roof help us give you an accurate price.
Related advice
DIY checks: what’s safe
You can learn a lot from ground level. With binoculars, look for slipped or missing slates and tiles, gaps along the ridge and leaning chimneys. Please don’t climb up for a closer look.
The one thing to avoid is getting up close. Roofs are fragile and slippery. That’s where a survey comes in, using safe viewpoints and a drone where applicable.
Places near East Finchley
What else we do in East Finchley
What we look for on each type of roof
Aluminium and other metal gutters
Long metal gutter runs on larger buildings can hide blocked outlets so outlets get close attention.
Cast iron gutters
Cast iron gutters and downpipes are found on many older buildings. Kept painted, they can last a long time, but rust where the paint fails.
East Finchley homes and their roofs
About 1.1 miles south lies Heath Hall, a reminder of how long the area around East Finchley has been built on. Older roofs in the wider area can hide decades of patch repairs, so the detail matters. Alongside Victorian and Edwardian terraces, outer London has a great many interwar semis, frequently with hipped roofs of clay or concrete tiles. On a semi of that age, the small roofs over the bays, the hip tiles and any later dormer each need their own look. Whatever the covering, it is frequently the fixings, flashings, valleys and gutters that give out first.
Living close to Lyttelton Playing Fields is pleasant, but mature trees mean leaves in gutters and valleys each autumn. For site and facilities teams at buildings such as Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, long gutter runs and wide roofs on a building that size are worth checking on a regular cycle. If you live in an older home near Church of the Holy Trinity, corroded nails, tired lead and weathered chimney pointing are the things to watch on older roofs.
East Finchley is about 5 miles north of Marylebone, in Greater London. East Finchley is one of many places we visit across Greater London. Across Greater London, we cover East Finchley and the places around it. London is in our area too.
All of N2, N3 and NW11 is within our area for gutter surveys. We offer gutter surveys to properties on Oak Lane, Maya Road and High Road. East Finchley is on the A1, so it’s easy for us to get to. Close by, we survey roofs in Hampstead Garden Suburb (1 mile south-west), Fortis Green (1 mile east), Temple Fortune (1 mile south-west), Muswell Hill (1 mile east) and Golders Green (2 miles south-west). We also work in nearby towns like London (7 miles south-east), City of Westminster (5 miles south), Marylebone (5 miles south), Kensington (6 miles south), St Pancras (5 miles south-east) and Shoreditch (6 miles south-east).
What’s near East Finchley
Around East Finchley, our work takes us to homes and buildings near Tollington School, Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum and Bishop Douglass School Finchley, among other places. Nearby too are Lyttelton Playing Fields (0.5 miles south) and The Bald Faced Stag pub (0.5 miles east). The nearest railway station is New Southgate station, roughly 2.2 miles north-east of the centre. A little further out are Grand Arcade (1.6 miles north) and Jewish Museum - Finchley (0.7 miles north-west). Not far away are Highgate Hill and Long Lane Pasture.
Honest limits
A survey is a proper look at the gutter, but it can’t do everything. Its limits include:
- Whether a material contains asbestos (a specialist asbestos surveyor’s job)
- Gutters out of sight from every safe viewpoint
- Damage hidden inside walls or behind boards
If in doubt, ring 07833 053749 or send us an email and we’ll point you to the right survey. What our survey covers.
Roof types and parts we check
- Valley gutters
- Eaves gutters
- Fascias and soffits
- Parapet and box gutters
- Outlets and hoppers
- Downpipes
Before and after the survey
There is plenty you can do without going near the roof. What helps most:
- Get the gutters cleaned out every year
- Check for spilling water in a downpour
- Don’t leave hidden gutters out of a clear-out
- Do not climb a ladder to look in the gutters
Report times depend on the package you choose: within 48 hours for Basic, 24–48 hours for Standard and the same day for Premium. It’s sent to you by email once it is done.
Hidden gutters need clearing too. They block in the same way as the gutters you can see but they’re much harder to spot, so ask for them to be included when gutters are cleared.
East Finchley questions
Is parking a problem for a survey in East Finchley?
It depends on the street. If East Finchley has controlled parking where you are, a visitor permit is the easiest answer, and a driveway is even better.
Do you survey roofs for landlords with property near New Southgate station?
Yes, rented property is part of what we cover. You can call 07833 053749 or drop us an email with the address and a few details, including who will give access on the day.
Is a CCTV drain survey included?
No, we don’t carry out CCTV drain surveys. We check gutters, outlets, hoppers, downpipes and overflows and flags signs of a drain problem.
Will you walk on the roof?
Only where it is safe to do so. We look at everything that can safely be seen: from the ground, from windows and vantage points, from the loft space, from the roof itself where safe and by drone where it applies. The report says if anything couldn’t be seen.
Do you look in the roof space?
If there’s a loft and safe access to it, yes. From inside, the underside of the roof often shows damp, staining or daylight that can’t be seen from outside.
Does someone need to be in?
Not always. An outside-only look can be arranged beforehand, but the loft and any rooms with damp need someone to let us in.
What does the report include?
It explains what we saw, what it means and what we’d suggest, backed by photos. It also says if any part of the roof couldn’t be seen safely, so you know exactly what was covered.