How to Choose a Roofer in Devon: the Checks That Take Ten Minutes

We should say up front why this page exists. Roofers Exeter passes your enquiry to a local roofing firm, and we do not inspect, approve or check that firm ourselves. So rather than claim we have done the checking, we show you how to do it.

The Seven Checks

1. Search the Buy With Confidence Register

Buy With Confidence is the approved-trader scheme run by Trading Standards. In this part of the country it is operated by the Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service on behalf of Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay councils, and it is the one scheme where a trading standards officer, not a marketing company, has audited the business. Members must show they comply with the law and treat customers fairly before they are listed, and they carry a "Trading Standards Approved" mark.

Search the register at buywithconfidence.gov.uk. It is free, it takes a minute, and it is the single most useful check on this page. A roofer who is not on it is not necessarily a bad roofer, but one who is on it has been looked at by someone with the power to prosecute.

2. Check TrustMark and the Competent Person Scheme

TrustMark is the government-endorsed quality mark for work in and around the home. A TrustMark-registered roofer has been checked by a scheme provider against a published standard, and the register is searchable online.

The National Federation of Roofing Contractors runs CompetentRoofer, the roofing competent person scheme for England and Wales. A roofer registered with it can self-certify roof refurbishment work that would otherwise need a building control inspection, which saves you a fee and tells you they have met the scheme's standards. NFRC's own contractor search shows current members; check at the time, because membership lapses and a logo on a van proves nothing.

3. Ask to See the Insurance

Public liability insurance covers damage to your property and injury to third parties. Ask for the certificate, not the assurance. Look at the insured name, the expiry date and the indemnity limit. If the firm has employees, employer's liability insurance is a legal requirement and the certificate should be available too.

4. Get a Written, Itemised Quote

Not a figure on the back of a card. A written quote should name the materials, say what access is included, state what happens if rotten timber is found and how it will be charged, say whether VAT and waste removal are included, and describe the guarantee. Two quotes can only be compared if both do this. Our cost guides, roof repair costs, what a new roof costs and flat roof replacement cost, show you what a fair range looks like, so you can judge the number.

5. Ask About the Guarantee

Ask how long it lasts, whether it covers materials or workmanship or both, and who backs it. A guarantee from a firm that has traded for two years is worth exactly as much as that firm's survival. An insurance-backed guarantee survives the firm.

6. Check the Payment Terms

A deposit towards materials is normal, particularly for slate or a full re-roof. Full payment before the work starts is not. Pay the balance when the job is finished and you have seen it. If you can, pay at least part of the price by credit card, for the reason in the rights section below.

7. Look for a Real Business

A landline or a business address, a company number if it is a limited company, a website or listing that has existed for more than a season, and reviews that read like real customers describing real roofs. Check Companies House for a limited company's filing history. None of this is proof, but the absence of all of it is.

The Warning Signs

Devon has a long history of doorstep roofing scams, and Trading Standards here warn about them every autumn. The pattern is consistent:

• They knocked on your door. A roofer who "noticed a problem while working nearby" and can do it today is the classic approach. Reputable firms are booked up; they do not need to cold-call.
• Pressure to decide now. A price that is only good today, or a warning that the roof is dangerous and must be done immediately.
• No written quote, or a single figure with no breakdown.
• Cash only, or full payment up front, sometimes with a story about needing to buy materials.
• A mobile number and nothing else. No address, no company, no trading history.
• A van with no name on it, or a name that does not match the paperwork.
• The price keeps rising once the work has started, because of things "found" on the roof.

Any one of these is a reason to stop and check. Two together is a reason to say no.

Your Rights

The fourteen-day cancellation right. Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, if you agree a contract with a trader at your home, or anywhere away from their business premises, you normally have fourteen days to cancel it without giving a reason. The trader must tell you about that right in writing. There is an exception for urgent repairs and maintenance you have specifically asked them to carry out, so a genuine storm make-safe is not covered, but a re-roof sold on the doorstep is. A trader who does not mention the cancellation right, or who tries to get you to waive it, is breaking the rules.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015. Any service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill, within a reasonable time, and for a reasonable price if no price was agreed. If the work is not up to standard you are entitled to have it put right, or to a price reduction if it cannot be.

Section 75 and chargeback. If you pay any part of the price by credit card, and the total cost of the work is more than £100 and not more than £30,000, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes the card provider jointly liable with the trader if something goes wrong. That is why paying even the deposit by credit card is worth doing. If you paid by debit card, chargeback is a scheme run by the card networks that can recover money in some circumstances, though it is not a legal right in the same way.

Where to go. The Citizens Advice consumer service can advise on any of the above and passes serious cases to Trading Standards. Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards deal with rogue trading directly. If the firm is on Buy With Confidence or TrustMark, those schemes have their own complaints routes.

Am I Liable If a Roofer Falls Off My Roof?

This comes up often enough to answer. As a general rule, a homeowner who engages a competent independent contractor, and leaves them to manage the job, is not responsible for that contractor's own accident. A roofer is expected to guard against the ordinary risks of their own trade, and their own insurance is the first line if something goes wrong. The homeowner's position changes only in narrower situations, for example if you knew about a hazard on the property and did not mention it, or if you took control of how the work was done.

That is the general position, not legal advice about your situation. It is also one more reason to see the insurance certificate before anyone goes up a ladder.

Putting It Together

Ten minutes with the Buy With Confidence register, the TrustMark search and Companies House, a request for two certificates, and a written quote you can read: that is the whole of it. Most roofers in Exeter and Devon will pass those checks without blinking, and the ones who resist them are the ones the checks exist for.

If you would like an enquiry passed to a local roofing firm, tell us what the roof is doing on the get a quote page. We do not check the firm for you, and we have just shown you why that is the honest position. What we can do is save you the ringing round.

This page is general information about consumer rights and good practice in England and Wales, checked against published sources in September 2026. It is not legal advice. For your situation, contact Citizens Advice or a solicitor.