HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO FIX A ROOF LEAK
If roof leaks aren’t repaired right away, the resulting damage could spread to more than just your roofing components.
When a roof leak happens, your property is at risk for mould growth, wood rot, and content damage. You and your family and friends might be at greater health risks as well.
It’s important to have an idea of how much repairing roof leaks cost in your area.
In this article we’ll discuss:
- Why you should take roof leaks very seriously
- What factors go into the cost of fixing your roof leak
- Whether or not home insurance or home warranty insurance can help cover the costs
- And ultimately how much you’ll be looking to spend when you do hire a professional roofing contractor
Why Do You Need to Fix Your Leaking Roof
No matter how small or insignificant the leak may seem to the eye, a leaking roof is a very serious problem. What seems like a harmless ceiling leak may not be showing the full picture behind your walls or in the lining of your roof.
A leaking roof is not something you can put off until you have the time to address it. Water getting into places it’s not designed to be can lead to multiple disasters. Water can rot foundational components of your home and lead to critical structural failure causing loss of life or overwhelming financial stress.
Water can travel along pathways and come into contact with electrical components within your walls leading to fires or shock hazards. Or simply create moist pockets for mould to grow leading to health hazards for you and your family.
Whatever the case may be, you need to take any roof leak very seriously.
How is the Cost of Fixing a Leaking Roofing Determined?
A leaking roof can be one of the most complicated home construction jobs. Not only does the leak have to immediately be stopped, but the source of the damage has to be found as well as the extent of the damage.
What starts out as an easy roof leak repair, may not be the case upon further inspection. Let’s go over some of the factors involved when determining a roof repair cost estimate
Scope of Project
Your roof contractor will consider the overall scope of the project when giving you an estimate. This includes how much labour is involved, the time it takes to complete the job, and any unforeseen complications along the way.
The entire project may not be as simple as repairing your roof leak. The scope might expand to include repairing or replacing other roof components like your fascia boards, soffit, vents, or roofing material (shingles, tiles, metals).
If it’s determined that work needs to be done on other roofing components before your leaking roof can be fixed, the overall cost estimate for the project will increase.
Accessibility and Safety of Roof
How accessible your roof is will influence the overall cost estimate for your roof leak repair.
If it’s difficult for the contractors to get their equipment into the worksite or simply navigate your roof’s design, the added labour will increase the final bill. Complex roof designs can make it precarious for roofing contractors to easily get around, whereas simpler roofs are the opposite case.
If the roof is in a relatively poor condition and thus more hazardous, this can increase your final bill as well.
Roofing Materials
The roofing materials needed to complete the repairs can range from the tiles, shingles, or metals to secondary components like flashing, insulation, or undersarking.
Be sure to speak with your contractor for competitive quotes, but in general, for different roofing materials you’ll be looking at (per square meter):
- Concrete roof tiles: $45-$65
- Clay roof tiles: $104
- Terracotta roof tiles: $80-$110
- Slate roof tiles: $200-$500
- Solar roof tiles: $320
- ColorBond roofing: $53-$97
Necessary Repairs Before Fixing Your Leaking Roof
As mentioned in ‘Scope of Project’, if it’s found that other damage either related directly or indirectly to the roof leak needs to be repaired first, that needs to be remedied before work can start on your roof leak.
For example, if the damage to your roof is severe enough that there is damage to your roof’s rafters or trusses, you will have to pay to have that critical infrastructure repaired first.
Additionally, another unrelated cost you should look out for is mould. If you find mould as a result of damage to your tile roof, the cost of hiring professionals to remove the mould will range from $500 to $4000.
The cost of all of this should be assessed by a professional roof contractor.
Who Do You Call When Your Roof is Leaking?
You’re going to call a professional roofing contractor–someone experienced in roof leaking repair. The professional roofing contractor will help you address what you may believe to be the cause of your roof leaking.
More importantly, the roofing contractor will provide an entire roof safety inspection to check for any unidentified roofing problems that you have probably missed.
Once a proper damage and repair assessment is made, your contractor will work with you to come up with a roof repair quote.
Finally, after your roof has been repaired, your roofing professionals should help educate you on safety measures to make sure you can protect your roof from future roof leaking problems.
How Much Does it Cost to Fix a Roof Leak?
The answer to questions like this is always, “It depends.”
It depends on the extent of the damage to your roof, the contractor your choose, any unforeseen complications, the cost of labour and materials on the market at the time…
Generally, you’re looking at anywhere from $300 to $1200 with $150 being for a really quick roof fix. While some roof contractors can provide approximate prices over the phone or online, the actual cost of a roof leak repair project can only be determined after the roofer completes an on-site inspection.
We absolutely recommend you hire a professional. Any errors in fixing your own roof properly can lead to more damage to your roofing structure. This can lead to more severe water leaks which can lead to mould, rot, electrical fires, or complete structural damage to your property.
Will My Home Warranty Insurance Cover My Roof Leak?
Home Warranty Insurance, or Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) as it is now referred to in NSW, is a compulsory certification undertaken for residential and domestic projects in Sydney. Homeowners nationwide are protected by mandatory Home Warranty Insurance for domestic and residential constructions.
However, the conditions surrounding Home Warranty Insurance in various states will vary. Licensed builders or tradespersons in NSW need to get home building compensation (HBC) cover for each home building project over $20,000.
Builders are required to give proof of the warranty before they are able to start working, take deposits, or be paid for the construction work.
What is Covered Under Home Warranty Insurance?
Home warranty insurance covers the homeowner (and subsequent owners) where the contracted building work is incomplete or defective. This includes when the builder has either passed away, disappeared, become insolvent, bankrupt during construction or has failed to respond to a rectification order within 30 days of issue. The keywords here are ‘incomplete’ or ‘defective’.
Roof Contractor Damage, Neglect, Incomplete Work
In the case of roof contractor work, roof leaks are covered by your home warranty policy if the tradesman or builder is solely responsible for the leak.
In essence, roof leaks will need to be fixed if they are the result of a major defect, an incomplete job, or a specific non-structural defect covered by the insurance policy. If the roof leak is not fixed or addressed within a certain period of time, the homeowner will be covered by the home warranty policy.
The period of home warranty cover for major defects is six years after the completion of works, and two years cover for non-major defects.
Will My Home Insurance Cover My Roof Leak?
Typical home insurance covers the homeowner’s home and contents in the case of an accident. It’s important to read and understand any insurance policy before purchasing.
In the case of Comminsure Home Insurance provided by CommBank, as provided on their webpage, their policy covers:
- Accidental glass breakage
- Animal damage
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Fire
- Flood
The items listed above are just some of the events and benefits covered. We encourage you to visit their site for a complete list.
Now, whether or not your home insurance covers roof leaks depends on the circumstances of the leak. Home insurance will cover roof leaks if they are caused by falling trees or branches, other falling objects, windstorms, hail, extreme weather conditions, vandalism or accidents.
Basically, your insurance will cover roof leaks if the cause was unavoidable. Most home insurance and home warranty policies will not cover roof leaks if the leak can be determined to be directly caused by lack of maintenance, roof neglect, mould algae or wood rotting, roof deterioration, or from birds, rodents and insects infestations. These are generally considered avoidable causes and are reasons to be exempted from the policies.