Who's actually up the ladder? Skills, supervision and your Islington roof
Picture a Victorian terrace off Upper Street with a flat roof over the back extension that's started to pond after rain. You get three quotes, they all look similar, and the real question never makes it onto the paper: who's going to be on the roof, and who's checking their work?
Roofing tutors across the UK are asking for exactly that to be taken seriously. At the BMI roofing tutor forum they said there's no formal Level 3 step for qualified roofers who already end up supervising apprentices. The NFRC's Winter 2026 report backs up the pressure behind it: 58% of contractors say skilled labour shortages are limiting the work they can take on, and 47% say recruiting has got harder over the past year.
For a homeowner in Canonbury, Highbury or Barnsbury that comes down to workmanship you can't see from the pavement. A flat roof wants the deck sound, a vapour control layer, insulation boards such as Celotex or Kingspan laid with staggered joints, then the membrane with upstands taken at least 150mm up the wall and finished with Code 4 lead flashing. Rush that on a cold afternoon with someone who's never been shown, and the leak turns up in a year.
Pitched roofs in N1 and N5 have their own traps: slipped slates on mansard fronts, failing lead in valley gutters behind parapets, and hips that were pointed in sand and cement when they should have been dry-fixed. Ask who's supervising, what they'll be using, and what's covered if it goes wrong.
Thomas Roofing works as roofers in Islington and across North London, from flat roofing to lead work and general repairs. If you'd like a straight conversation about your roof before you commit, have a look at thomas-roofing.co.uk or ring the office on 0208 363 9499.