Roofers in Hertfordshire who know three kinds of county house
Hertfordshire's roofs tell three stories. There are the market towns and period villages, where clay tile and slate have been repaired for centuries. There are the planned towns of the twentieth century, the garden cities of Letchworth and Welwyn and the New Towns of Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead and Hatfield, where whole neighbourhoods were built in a few years. And there is the commuter belt, with Metro-land semis around Watford and Victorian villas around St Albans.
Each story needs a different plan, and Hertfordshire roofers who treat them all the same get one of them wrong. We work from the office at 59 Union Street, Dunstable, so most of the county is a short drive up the A5, the M1 or the A505.
Roofers in Hertfordshire town by town
The table shows the Hertfordshire towns we cover, what the housing means for the roof, and roughly how far each one is from our Dunstable office.
Read the local guides for Harpenden, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Hitchin and Letchworth, Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield and Watford for roads, estates and roof types by neighbourhood.
| Town | Postcodes | What the housing means for the roof | From Dunstable |
|---|
| Harpenden | AL5 | Large Edwardian and detached houses, many valleys and stacks, shaded roofs | about 9 miles |
| Hemel Hempstead | HP1, HP2, HP3 | 1947 New Town terraces, felt and verges at the end of life, flat porch roofs | about 13 miles |
| St Albans | AL1 to AL4 | Victorian slate terraces, Edwardian clay tile villas, conservation areas | about 15 miles |
| Hitchin, Letchworth and Baldock | SG4 to SG7 | Georgian clay tile, garden city cottages, a scheme of management | about 17 miles |
| Stevenage | SG1, SG2 | First New Town, 1950s terraces, 1960s flat roofs and garage blocks | about 21 miles |
| Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield | AL7 to AL10 | Neo-Georgian hipped clay tile, Old Hatfield, post-war estates | about 22 miles |
| Watford | WD17 to WD25 | 1930s mock Tudor, Callowland terraces, South Oxhey post-war estate | about 24 miles |
New towns and garden cities: whole streets, one age
Stevenage was designated in 1946 as the first New Town in the country, and Hemel Hempstead followed in 1947. Whole neighbourhoods went up in a decade to a repeated design, so when one roof fails the neighbours' roofs are close behind. Letchworth began in 1903, and Welwyn Garden City in 1920, with clay-tiled cottages and neo-Georgian pairs under hipped roofs.
The practical result for owners is simple. A 1950s Hertfordshire roof is near seventy years old, and a 1930s Hertfordshire roof is closer to ninety. We inspect first, photograph the faults and quote both a repair and a new roof where the roof is near the end, so you decide with the evidence.
Period homes, conservation areas and schemes of management
Hertfordshire has many conservation areas, from the city centre and Sopwell in St Albans to Old Town in Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead, Nascot and Estcourt in Watford and large parts of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City. Letchworth and Welwyn also have schemes of management that apply in addition to planning permission.
On those streets the roof is part of the heritage. We match tile, slate and ridge detail, repair chimneys and lead like for like, and put any consent or planning authority charge on its own line in the quote. You see the full cost before you agree to anything.
The jobs Hertfordshire homes create, wherever you live
Whatever the town, five jobs account for most of the calls we take across the county. We carry out each as a repair first and a replacement only when the roof needs one.
- Roof repairs: slipped slates, cracked tiles, ridges and verges, traced to the cause
- Flat roofing: porch, garage, dormer and extension roofs in felt, EPDM or GRP
- Chimney repairs: flaunching, repointing, rebuilt stacks and new lead
- Fascias, soffits and guttering: the roofline renewed in a single visit
- Emergency roof repairs: storm damage made safe, then repaired properly
Chilterns edge, clay vale and frost: how the county's ground shapes its roofs
Hertfordshire rises to the Chiltern chalk in the west, round Hemel Hempstead and Harpenden, and drops to clay lowland towards Hatfield and the Lea valley. Hilltop roofs take more wind, which loosens ridges and verges, and old clay tile in damp, shaded gardens suffers frost and holds moss through the winter.
Hertfordshire roofing is a mix of wind repairs, frost and moss repairs, and the slow failure of felt and mortar on estate roofs. Roofers in Hertfordshire who tell you the cause before the price are worth more than the ones who quote by the square metre, and that is how we work.
How we price a job across the county
Every Hertfordshire roofing quote from us follows the same steps, whichever town you live in.
- A visit and a full no obligation assessment of what the roof needs
- Photographs of each defect, explained in plain English
- A detailed quote with materials and labour itemised and no hidden costs
- A detailed timetable, so you know when the scaffold goes up and comes down
- The promise to beat any written quote you hold
Why Hertfordshire homeowners pick Doyle Homes
The family business behind the work has TrustATrader 4.91 from 62 reviews and Google 4.7 from 23. Our TrustATrader profile is listed under Hitchin and Letchworth, and our reviews come from Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire homes. We are fully insured, we carry out a risk assessment before every job, and we will beat any written quote.
Quotes are free with no obligation, and all work is backed with a 20 year written guarantee. Use the free quote form with your postcode, or call 01582 807949. For south Hertfordshire we also cover Potters Bar and North London.
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