Hertfordshire · London and the South East
Roof survey in The Folly, Hertfordshire
Find out what’s going on with the roof before you spend money on it. Roof surveys in The Folly.
- Ponding, splits or blisters on flat roofs
- Loose chimney pots
- Condensation or damp timbers in the loft
Rented homes, blocks and businesses
Landlords, agents and building managers in The Folly and across Hertfordshire can book any of our surveys. To discuss a property or a block, phone 07833 053749 or send us an email.
We survey roofs for landlords and agents as well as homeowners. The report gives you a dated record of the roof, with photos, which helps you plan work between tenancies.
How a roof survey works in The Folly
Roofs vary a lot across London and the South East. If your home is a Victorian terrace, it may have Welsh slate, a butterfly roof and parapet gutters, while many post-war homes have concrete interlocking tiles. We adapt the survey to the roof in front of us. Some older homes have clay tiles, and many have a flat-roofed extension as well. Each part is checked in the way that suits it. Common reasons to book are gaps in the roof where coverings have gone and torn or sagging underlay, across lead flashings, the roof space and flat roofs.
Village roofs often face open fields and take the full force of wind and rain, which is hard on ridges, chimneys, flashings and gutters. Damp in old walls is slow to dry, so a small leak can do a lot of harm. A written report sets out what to deal with and in what order. On exposed older roofs, chimneys and lead flashings are often the first to give way.
Nothing in the report is left vague: where something needs attention, it says so plainly, along with how urgent it is.
- Place
- The Folly (AL4)
- Region
- Hertfordshire
- Cost
- From £150 inc. VAT
- Report
- Written, with photos, emailed to you
- When we survey
- Weekdays and weekends
- Insured
- PI and public liability insurance
- Call
- 07833 053749
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Questions from The Folly
Will you come out to The Folly?
Yes, smaller places are covered as well as towns. We survey roofs across London and the South East. Let us know about access, parking and anything unusual about getting there as you book.
Do you survey roofs for landlords with property near Harpenden station?
Yes, letting agents and landlords book with us as well as owners. You can call 07833 053749 or drop us an email with the address and a few details.
Can you survey at the weekend?
Surveys run on weekdays and at weekends. To arrange a date, phone 07833 053749 or drop us an email.
Do I have to be there for the survey?
Not necessarily. An outside-only look can be arranged beforehand, but the loft and any rooms with damp need someone to let us in.
How long have you been surveying roofs?
We have more than 20 years’ experience and have carried out more than 5,000 surveys.
Can you inspect my roof with a drone?
Yes, where it is applicable. We hold a CAA Flyer ID and Operator ID and fly a drone under 250g, and the airspace and weather are checked before every flight.
Do you carry out asbestos surveys?
No. We do not carry out asbestos surveys or testing. If we see materials that could contain asbestos, like cement sheets or soffits on older buildings, we flag them and recommend a specialist asbestos surveyor checks them before they’re disturbed.
Why act early in The Folly
Leaks rarely show up right away. Damp spreads through insulation and timber before anything shows below. A survey can pick up the early signs from the loft. Where a roof is exposed, as many are in small places like The Folly, driving rain gets into any weakness, and older walls, once damp, take a long time to dry.
For a price for your roof in The Folly, call 07833 053749 or drop us an email with the address and a few details. The price is agreed before a date is set.
Why us?
- PI and public liability insurance
- Over 5,000 surveys carried out
- We hold a CAA Flyer ID and Operator ID
- Over 20 years’ experience
Practical tips
Nothing here needs a ladder. Our suggestions:
- Keep a record of damp patches and dates
- Include dormers, porches and garages when booking
- Have details of recent roof work to hand
- Hold on to the report for future surveys
Premium comes with a follow-up after 12 months. It helps you see whether anything has changed, and whether work has done its job.
Have the roof surveyed every few years, and after major storms. Regular checks catch problems while they’re small. Each report gives a record to compare against.
When to book a survey in The Folly
A blocked gutter does more harm than it looks. Once leaves and moss block a gutter, water spills down the brickwork. Valley and parapet gutters can overflow inside the building.
Here are some of the things we see often:
- Debris building up in roof valleys
- Slipped, cracked or missing slates and tiles
- Loose ridge or hip tiles
- Loose chimney pots
For an older house near a landmark like St Helen's Church, its roof may have old fixings, lead flashings and chimneys that need a closer look.
Choosing a roof surveyor
- Their insurance cover
- What they won’t be able to tell you
- What happens after the report arrives
- Will the report include photos?
Different roofs, different checks
Lead flashings and valleys
Flashings close the joints where a roof meets a wall or chimney. We check for lead that has lifted, split or slipped, and for flashings replaced with mortar or bitumen.
Flat roof coverings
Repeated coatings can hide what’s underneath. If the covering would need opening up to know more, we say so.
What happens on the day
A survey visit follows a simple order: we hear what you’ve seen, look at the roof from every safe viewpoint, photograph what we find and make notes for the report. Most visits take roughly 1–2 hours for a house, or half a day or so for a commercial building. Somewhere like The Folly needs a little journey planning: tell us about narrow lanes, gates, long drives and where we can park. The roof is looked at from the ground, from windows, from the loft where there is safe access and from the roof where it is safe.
- You get in touch with the address and anything you’ve noticed.
- We agree a date, on a weekday, Saturday or Sunday.
- We inspect from ground level, from windows, from the roof space and from the roof where safe.
- Slates or tiles, ridges, hips, valleys, flashings, chimneys and gutters are all examined and photographed.
- We email a written report with photographs and recommendations.
Before the survey
- For flats, make sure roof access has been agreed
- If you are buying, check with the agent that we can get in
- Tell us where we can park nearby
Booking a survey
Booking is simple: just call 07833 053749 or send us an email, tell us about the property and we will explain which survey suits. The price is agreed up front.
Related advice
Roof surveys around The Folly
The flight restriction zone around Luton Airport comes within about 2 miles of The Folly. If the drone is used for your survey, the exact boundary is checked for the address first. Across the South East, older homes tend to have slate or clay tiles, and many later ones concrete tiles, with flat-roofed extensions, dormers and garages common everywhere. On roofs like these, good slates or tiles can outlast the nails, battens, lead and mortar around them.
For site and facilities teams at buildings such as St Helen's Church of England Primary School, its roofs, gutters and any chimneys need the same checks as a house’s, just on a bigger scale. If you own a rental within reach of Harpenden station, a roof report between tenancies helps plan work before a small defect becomes a tenant’s leak.
The Folly is about 2 miles east of Harpenden, in Hertfordshire. Bookings from The Folly are handled just like any other: a call or an email, a price, then a date. The Folly is one of the towns and villages in Hertfordshire we cover. For surveys nearby, see our London page.
Roof surveys in AL4 are booked the same way as anywhere else. You will find streets like Folly Fields and Lower Luton Road, and we cover them all. Nearby, we also carry out roof surveys in Lea Valley (1 mile west), Amwell (1 mile south), Mackerye End (1 mile north-west), Blackmore End (1 mile north) and Batford (1 mile west). Larger places within reach include Watford (11 miles south), Hemel Hempstead (8 miles south-west), Stevenage (8 miles north-east), St Albans (5 miles south), Welwyn Garden City (5 miles east) and Hitchin (9 miles north).
Around The Folly
We work in homes and buildings around Sir John Lawes School and The Cherry Trees pub, among other places. The closest station to The Folly is Harpenden station, about 2 miles west of the centre. Nearby you’ll also find St Albans City Hospital (4.2 miles south) and Harpenden Museum (2.2 miles west). Not far away are Wheathampstead Local Nature Reserve.