Leak Repairs & Roof Maintenance in Auckland
The most common causes of a roof leak are a lack of maintenance or a significant weather event. Working out which one you're dealing with usually takes a site visit. Talk to us and we'll book one in.
A brown mark, damp patch or dripping after rain. A stain like that is a clear sign the roof is letting water in.
Fine in a normal shower, water inside during a downpour. That often points to a design issue: flashing upstands that aren't high enough, or a profile being overwhelmed by the volume of water.
Wind-driven rain getting past flashings and penetrations. Usually a detailing issue, where upstands or exposed areas need more cover than they've been given.
Rust visible from the ground, or around loose fixings. Not every rust spot means you need a new roof, but it tells you something about the age and integrity of the iron.
Solar, an aerial, a paint job, gutter cleaning or a new skylight. Someone's been up there, and something has been noticed or unintentionally damaged.
Someone has already attempted to fix the issue and it hasn't held. It never hurts to get a second opinion.
| Call-out | Price (excl. GST) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Leak investigation, single storey | $180 | Up to 30 minutes on site. We find the likely cause of the leak and quote to repair it. If the quote is accepted, the fee is waived. |
| Leak investigation, two storey | $250 | As above. The job requires a two-person team due to the height and the safety considerations, or a drone survey where that's practical. If the quote is accepted, the fee is waived. |
| Insurance leak call-out | $350 | We identify the likely cause and photograph the roof, the internal roof space where practical, and the damage below. You get a quote to repair, plus a brief written summary of the cause to submit with your insurance claim. |
| Full assessment report | $1,200–$2,500 | A detailed written report, priced on the building and the scope. Generally for commercial buildings, body corporates, pre-purchase inspections, larger claims or a maintenance plan, rather than a homeowner with a single leak to repair. |
One thing to be clear about. The insurance call-out gives you a practical report in the form of a quote: the cause, photos and the cost to fix it. That's what most homeowners' insurers need. It isn't a full assessment. If your insurer, body corporate or lawyer needs more than that, the full report is the right tier.
A seal or patch repair done inside an hour is a very different job from replacing a set of chimney flashings, or a full rescrew with ridge and back-tray flashings where scaffolding is needed.
Is the roof easy to get onto? A 45-degree pitch is a different proposition from a low mono-pitch. Some roofs need edge protection or scaffolding, others a ladder and a harness.
Is it a design issue that needs rethinking and detailing again, or has something simply rusted or broken down and needs swapping out?
Does it need to be done today, or can it be scheduled over the next few weeks? Fitting a job into the run of work costs less than dropping everything for it.
We can carry out a targeted repair. Often it's prudent to do maintenance at the same time while we're up there, and we'll tell you when that's worth doing.
An insurance claim needs photos, a written summary of the cause and a quote set out for the insurer. That's time on top of the repair itself.
Repair or Replace
Not every leaking roof needs to be replaced. If the problem is isolated and the rest of the roof is in sound condition, a targeted repair is usually the right answer. If there's widespread deterioration, recurring leaks, significant corrosion, or the roof is near the end of its serviceable life, replacement makes more sense than patching it. We'll tell you which one you're dealing with, and why, before you spend anything.
The areas rain never reaches need washing: soffits, under eaves, sheltered roof areas and the undersides of gutters. Moss and lichen treated before they take hold, and gutters and valleys kept clear. It matters most near the coast, where salt sits on surfaces that never get rinsed.
Almost everything fails at a penetration. We check nail fixings that should be screws, rust under ridge flashings and whether a wider flashing is needed, tired chimney flashings, perished rubber Dektites around pipe penetrations, rusted valleys, skylight flashings, and any other junction that's a common cause.
We can assess surface rust and chalking. We don't paint or coat roofs, but where the metal is still sound and a coating would genuinely add life, we'll say so and put you in touch with people who specialise in it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Finding the leak is $180 or $250 plus GST, depending on whether the house is single or two storey. The repair itself is quoted once we know the cause, and if you accept that quote, the call-out fee is waived. If it's something small we can sort while we're up there, such as replacing fixings or a quick seal repair, we'll usually do it within the call-out cost. Replacing a flashing or corroded sheets takes more time and materials, so it's priced separately. Either way, you get a fixed price in writing before any repair work starts.
We start inside, at the point where the water is showing up. Where it's practical, we get into the ceiling space to see where the water is tracking from, then go up on the roof and look at what's actually there: the fixings, flashings, penetrations and junctions. From experience we can usually narrow it down to the most likely cause. If it isn't obvious, we carry out a leak test, replicating the rain and wind to force the leak to show itself. Once we know the cause, we can quote a repair that fixes it rather than covers it.
On Auckland metal roofs, most leaks trace back to a handful of things. Perished washers under exposed screws, which let water track down the fixing. Flashings that rely on sealant rather than the detail itself, particularly around chimneys, skylights, pipes, vents and roof-to-wall junctions. Corrosion at cut edges, laps and anywhere close to the coast. Blocked or undersized gutters and internal gutters overflowing back under the roof. Roofs laid below the minimum pitch for their profile, or with short end laps. And previous repairs where silicone was used to cover a problem rather than fix it.
Yes. Water leaves evidence, so we start at the stain or damp area inside, get into the roof space where it's practical, then look at the roof itself. If the cause isn't obvious, we replicate the rain with a hose and force the leak to show itself. If it happens to be raining when we're there, that helps too, because we can see exactly where the water is coming in and how it's tracking, which takes the guesswork out of it. Some leaks are straightforward to find; others are complex, because water can travel a long way and behave differently depending on the volume and the wind.
Most repairs are quick. A small patch or a run of fixings can often be done within the hour, sometimes during the call-out itself. A larger repair, such as replacing a flashing or a section of corroded sheets, usually takes one to two days. Commercial buildings can take longer, depending on the scale of the roof and access. We'll tell you how long yours will take when we quote it.
Get in touch. We'll ask you some questions about what you're seeing, when it happens and how long it's been going on, then book an assessment. In the meantime, catch the water where you can and move anything underneath it.
That depends on your insurer, so it's worth asking them directly. What we generally see is that a leak caused by an old roof or a lack of maintenance is treated as wear and tear, which often isn't covered. A leak caused by a one-off event, such as storm damage, is more likely to be. What we can do is carry out an insurance leak assessment for $350 plus GST: we find the likely cause, photograph it, quote the repair and write a brief summary of the cause for you to submit with your claim.
Our workmanship is warranted. What we can't always warrant is the rest of an older roof. A repair often means working with materials that can't be brought up to current standards without replacing them, and a full replacement isn't always necessary or practical. So in some cases a repair is a considered attempt to solve a problem within those limits. Where we think a repair carries real risk of not holding, we'll say so before you spend anything, and the quote will set out exactly what's included and what isn't. We won't sell you a repair we don't believe in.
A quote for a roof replacement is pricing a defined job. Finding a leak is diagnosis: time on the roof, in the ceiling space and sometimes with a hose, working out where the water actually gets in. That's the valuable part, so it's the part that's charged. If you accept the quote for the repair, the fee is waived.
