What does a roofer do?
You keep water out of a building using overlapping pieces and gravity, working on a slope, above everything else.
Also called: roof tiler, slater, roofing operative.
A day looks like
- 1You strip back far enough to see what the problem actually is, which is usually further than the customer expects.
- 2You lay felt and battens to a gauge, because the tiles cannot be spaced by eye.
- 3You work upwards, so every piece overlaps the one below it.
- 4You spend disproportionate time on the details — valleys, chimneys, verges — which is where roofs actually leak.
Hardest part
Roofs almost never leak in the middle. They leak at the junctions — around chimneys, into valleys, at the verge — and those are the slowest, fiddliest parts that nobody can see from the ground.
Best part
A roof you have tiled that looks completely ordinary, because a roof doing its job is invisible.
How you actually become a roofer
- At schoolNo qualifications; a head for heights and willingness to work outside in all weather.
- TrainingRoofing apprenticeship or NVQ; separate routes for slate and tile, flat roofing and heritage leadwork.
- How longTwo to three years to qualify; heritage and leadwork take longer.
- Your first jobRoofer's labourer, loading tiles and stripping.
Frequently asked questions
- Why do roofs leak at chimneys and valleys?
- Because those are junctions where the simple overlapping pattern breaks down and water is concentrated. They rely on leadwork and detailing rather than tiles, and they take far longer per square metre than the open roof.
- What is headlap?
- How far each tile or slate overlaps the one two courses below. It is set by the batten gauge and it is what actually keeps water out, which is why battens are measured rather than eyeballed.
- Is roofing dangerous?
- Falls from height are the biggest killer in construction, and roofing carries a disproportionate share. Most fatal falls happen on short jobs where access equipment was skipped.
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