Homeowners check that a roofer is real and safe to let near their house: membership of a trade body they can verify, insurance, references from past customers, a written quote, and no pressure to decide or pay up front. That's the list roofing trade bodies and Trading Standards give them. Your website should answer every item before they ring.
Key takeaways
- The National Federation of Roofing Contractors tells homeowners to get up to three quotes and choose on "the quality of the advice given and your confidence in the contractor", not the lowest price.
- Coventry Trading Standards lists the signs of a rogue roofer: cold calling, pressure, prices too good to be true, full payment up front, no written contract and no references.
- Citizens Advice tells people to check a trader's claimed membership on the scheme's own website. A badge on your site only counts if it holds up to that check.
- Your website can't fix the trade's reputation. It can show, one item at a time, that you're none of the things they've been warned about.
What do roofing trade bodies tell homeowners to check?
Two of the main roofing trade bodies publish advice for homeowners, and they line up closely.
The NFRC's advice on choosing a contractor says:
- Get up to three roofers to look at the job, ideally from recommendations by family, friends, neighbours or a trade association.
- Choose on advice and confidence. "Do not automatically take the cheapest option."
- Ask for a guarantee. The NFRC recommends an insurance-backed guarantee, because "even the best contractors can go out of business whereupon their own guarantees become worthless".
- Get the quote in writing, except perhaps for small emergency repairs.
- Agree payment terms before work starts, and be careful with cash or VAT-free deals, which "are not easily tracked down if things go wrong".
The Confederation of Roofing Contractors (CORC) publishes advice on choosing a roofer that adds checks a website can help with. Homeowners are told to meet the roofer who'll do the work. They should check the roofer "is insured for roofing as their business description". CORC tells them to get every quote, contract and the 14-day cooling-off period in writing, too.
On big jobs there's also a legal check. The NFRC says that when 50% or more of a roof's area is refurbished, the homeowner must either use a roofer registered with its Competent Person Scheme or contact local authority Building Control before work starts. GOV.UK explains that these schemes let tradespeople prove they can do certain work to the required standards, instead of the homeowner applying for approval. It also points homeowners to a register to check a tradesperson belongs to one. If you're registered, that's worth saying plainly on your re-roof page.
What are homeowners warned about?
Council Trading Standards teams publish warnings about roofers. Coventry's roofing advice says most reported cases involve cold callers who claim to have spotted a loose tile, quote low, then find "further extensive repairs" once they're on the roof. Its list of warning signs:
- turning up at the door uninvited
- pushing for a decision today
- a quote far below everyone else's
- asking for full payment up front
- no written contract, schedule or payment plan
- no references from past customers
- trying to scare them about the state of the roof
Finding a roofer online doesn't make the homeowner safe either. Wrexham Trading Standards reported a rise in complaints from residents who had often found the roofer "via an online platform", with poor workmanship, inflated prices and work that wasn't needed. Its advice is to check a roofer out before booking them.
So write for a reader who may have read these warnings. Suspicion is the starting point.
How do homeowners check a roofer's badges?
Homeowners look you up. Citizens Advice tells people that if a trader says on their website that they belong to a scheme or trade association, they should check that scheme's own website to make sure it's true. Among the places to look, it names TrustMark, which it calls the Government's trader scheme.
Your site makes that easy or hard. Write your trading name exactly as it appears on the member list, and link straight to your entry where the scheme has one. Only show badges you hold today. Electricians face the same rule with their scheme logos, and we set out what UK law says about badges you don't hold in can you put the NICEIC logo on your website.
What should a roofer's website show?
Take the warning list and answer it point by point. Each line below is something a homeowner was told to check, matched to what your site can show before they ring.
| What they check | What your site should show |
|---|---|
| Is this a real local business? | Your address, a landline or mobile that gets answered, and named jobs in named areas |
| Can I check the membership? | Badges you hold, your registered name, a link to your entry |
| Are they insured for roofing? | Your public liability cover, and a note that a copy is available on request |
| What have they done before? | Before and after photos of real jobs, with the town or village |
| Do past customers vouch for them? | Your Google reviews with the count, and an offer of references |
| Will I get it in writing? | A line saying every quote is written, with what it covers and the payment terms |
| Will they rush me? | A clear statement that you don't cold call or ask for full payment up front |
| What about a guarantee? | What your guarantee covers, and whether an insurance-backed one is offered |
For example, a strip under your phone number might read: "Every quote in writing. We don't cold call. Insured for roofing, copy on request." Each line answers a check from the lists above.
Reviews carry a lot of this, and plenty of local businesses are short of them. From our own records, across all trades: Of 1995 UK local businesses we looked up on Google Maps between 2 Sep and 13 Oct 2026, 703 (35%) had fewer than 20 Google reviews. The middle one had 35. In those lookups, the review count sat beside each business name on the Maps listing, before anyone reached a website.
What do emergency roofing customers check?
The emergency customer runs the same checks in a hurry, then rings whoever answers. That's why a tap-to-call number belongs on every page of a roofer's site. If you're on a roof when it rings, the missed call goes to the next name on the list. Our missed call calculator lets you work out your own figure from the calls you miss in a week and what a typical job is worth.
If that number is uncomfortable, the AI voice answering service picks up the calls you miss, takes the caller's details and books the visit: £299 setup, then £149 to £399 a month.
What does it cost to have us build yours?
We build websites for roofers around exactly this list: job photos with locations, your reviews on every page, your accreditations shown, and a page per service, from repairs and flat roofs to re-roofs, guttering and storm damage.
The website is built free, and Starter at £39 a month keeps us working on it to bring you more customers: pushing it up Google, getting it recommended by ChatGPT and the other AI assistants, turning more visitors into calls and bookings, with hosting, security and small changes included. The £39 starts the month the site goes live, and you approve the site on your phone first. Under the Busier Guarantee, if you're not busier after three months live, measured on your own Google numbers, you get every penny back. Own it outright for £299 if you'd rather.
Extra service pages are £89 each. If your reviews are thin, the Google Reviews Engine sends one text after every job from your own number with your review link: £299 setup, then £49 a month. Every other price is on the pricing page.
How do you check your own site first?
Run the free scan on your current site. It runs 48 checks and lists the fixes in priority order. They include whether your reviews are shown, whether your phone number is a tap-to-call link and whether your opening hours can be found. Then open your site on your phone and read it as a suspicious homeowner would, against the table above. Plumbers have a version of the same question about the directories they're listed on; we went through it in do plumbers need a website if they're already on Checkatrade.
Sources
- National Federation of Roofing Contractors, Advice on choosing a contractor, read 13 Oct 2026.
- Confederation of Roofing Contractors, Advice on choosing a roofer, read 13 Oct 2026.
- Coventry City Council Trading Standards, Home repairs and improvements, read 13 Oct 2026.
- Wrexham Council, Trading Standards warning on roofing work, read 13 Oct 2026.
- Citizens Advice, Find a trader and check you can trust them, read 13 Oct 2026.
- GOV.UK, Use a competent person scheme, read 13 Oct 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Common questions
How do homeowners find a reputable roofer?
Trade bodies advise getting quotes from up to three roofers, ideally recommended by people they know or by a trade association, and choosing on the quality of the advice and their confidence in the roofer. Citizens Advice adds checking any claimed membership on the scheme's own website.
What are the signs of a rogue roofer?
Trading Standards lists cold calling, pressure to decide quickly, quotes far lower than others, demands for full payment up front, no written contract, no references and scare tactics about the roof's condition.
Should a roofer put their insurance on their website?
It helps. The Confederation of Roofing Contractors tells homeowners to check that a roofer is insured for roofing specifically. Saying what cover you hold, and that a copy is available on request, answers that before they ask.
Does a re-roof need Building Control?
The NFRC says that when 50% or more of a roof's area is refurbished, the homeowner must use a roofer registered with its Competent Person Scheme or contact local authority Building Control before work starts.
What does a roofer website cost with you?
The website is built free and Starter is £39 a month, starting the month it goes live, with the Busier Guarantee behind it. Extra service pages are £89 each, and you can own the site outright for £299. Every price is on our pricing page.
What your missed calls cost you.
£780 a month
£180 a week, £9,360 a year, going to whoever answers first.
As an example from these numbers, £631 a month is left over after the receptionist’s £149 starting price. Illustrative only, not a promise of earnings.
These are example numbers. Change them to your own. Worked out as 5 missed calls a week, times £120, times the 30% who would have booked, then over a month (52 weeks divided by 12).
A receptionist that answers every call in seconds, day or night, is £149 to £399 a month. It has to pay for itself in the first month, or you get every penny back, setup included.
Hear it answer as your businessBoth calculators, calls and messages, on one page: the missed call cost calculator.
Want the version of this with your name on it?
Run the free scan on your current site, 48 checks including AI search, no charge, or ask for your free website: we build it first, then the systems that get you booked. £39 a month keeps us working on it to bring you more customers. It starts the month your site goes live, and if you’re not busier after three months, you get every penny back. There is no obligation either way.
9 things that decide whether your phone rings.
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