The National Federation of Roofing Contractors Limited

To ensure that NFRC contractors offer the highest standards in workmanship and customer service, all member contractors are rigorously vetted before joining NFRC and every three years thereafter.

A contractor must meet the following vetting criteria:

• A satisfactory trading record, including financial stability
• Inspections of past contracts to verify quality craft skills and technical competence
• Satisfactory public, employers’ and third party insurance cover
• Compliance with Health and Safety Legislation
• Compliance with the NFRC Code of Practice as well as British and European Standards
• Compliance with the Government-endorsed TrustMark scheme (for domestic contracts), of which NFRC is an approved scheme operator, set up to help the general public find reputable tradesmen to carry out work on their home.

Once the member contractor has investigated the technical aspects of the job, considered and agreed to the possible courses of action, you will receive a clearly written quote or estimate, giving a fair price for the planned work clearly showing whether VAT is applicable, and setting out the conditions of the contract. NFRC member contractors will offer customers technical and contractual advice in plain English. 

Free technical advice is available from NFRC to customers of NFRC member contractors. NFRC supplements this service with a comprehensive series of technical publications to support both member contractors and their customers. 

For added peace of mind, NFRC provides a range of warranties for its members through Quality Assured National Warranties (QANW). Warranties are available for large repairs, refurbishment and new roofs. They can be for domestic, commercial and industrial properties. The time period ranges from 10 – 20 years and they can take the form of either IBG or Latent Defect (see below).

Insurance Backed Guarantees (IBGs)

The roofing contractor agrees to guarantee his work for an agreed time period, say 10 years, the materials are also guaranteed for 10 years and the contract is underwritten by the insurance company QANW, producing cover for the 10 year period. IBGs are used for domestic, commercial and industrial roofs.

Latent Defect

This differs from IBGs in that it is for commercial and industrial roofs and the contractor only has to cover the first 2 years of the 10 year contract, the insurance company take over at that point. Domestic warranties are usually at a fixed fee, whereas commercial and industrial contracts are at a percentage of the contract value. Contracts over £80,000 must be notified to the insurance company in advance of commencing work and an audit is required.

For a full list of warranties and costs, click here.

Notes: Domestic Warranties – The materials can be sourced from any reputable supplier but we urge members to use our associate members wherever possible. It is possible to re-use existing material; these cannot be covered under the insurance only the workmanship.

For Commercial and Industrial Contracts – The materials must be from an associate member source.

• The contractor should give a guide on the time to be taken – but this may vary due to bad weather, or if extra work outside the original estimate has to be done.
• The contractor will try to keep the work site clean but space for storage and a skip may be required.
• Scaffolding is likely to be erected and must be out of bounds to children and any other unauthorized persons.
  

• On completion, run through the work, refer back to the contract, make sure you are happy with the work, that the area has been cleared up and you have all relevant paperwork and certificates. The contractor, in the case of normal domestic roofing jobs, should inspect on completion.
• If you have employed an architect, engineer or surveyor to oversee the work, he should be asked to complete his inspection asap, list any defects and hand these to the contractor.
• All waste, scaffolding, etc should be removed by the contractor.
• You, as the client, should settle the account as soon as possible because unnecessary delay or ‘retention’ will cause the contractor liquidity problems.