Roofers in Emsworth whounderstand a harbourside roof,not just any roof

The old town around the Square, South Street and the two millponds is dense with listed and period buildings — Georgian townhouses, Victorian merchants' cottages and converted mill buildings, many finished in natural slate or handmade clay tile and sitting within a conservation area. Any work here has to respect the existing roofline, match materials where the local authority requires it, and be carried out with a scaffold plan that accounts for narrow lanes and shared boundaries. We have priced and carried out work on exactly this kind of property, and we know the difference between a repair that will pass under a conservation area's expectations and one that will not.

Move away from the water and the town changes. The streets off Horndean Road, the estates towards Denvilles and the newer housing pushing out to Hermitage and Westbourne are mostly interwar and post-war construction with concrete tile, plus a run of more modern developments with lighter tile and factory-fitted fascia systems. These roofs fail in the ordinary ways — slipped tiles, perished felt on extensions, blocked gutters — but they are far easier and cheaper to access than anything in the conservation area, and repairs here are usually quicker to turn around.

What both halves of the town share is exposure. Emsworth sits directly on Chichester Harbour, and the salt-laden air coming off the water and the millponds does not stop at the waterfront — it reaches well inland on a south-westerly. Steel fixings corrode faster here than they would in Rowlands Castle a few miles north, lead flashing tarnishes and softens sooner, and even good-quality guttering shows white salt staining and premature wear within a handful of winters. We price fixings and materials for Emsworth with that in mind rather than defaulting to whatever is cheapest.

The harbour also brings weather patterns you do not get further inland. Wind funnels up the millponds and along the quay with very little to slow it, so ridge tiles and hip tiles on the older properties take a battering that a sheltered street in Southbourne never sees. We are called out to Emsworth most often after a spring tide combined with a south-westerly gale, when displaced ridge tiles and lifted lead flashing around chimney stacks near the water start letting rain into roof spaces that were dry the week before.

Minutes from Havant, not hours from elsewhere

We operate out of Havant, a short drive from the Square. That means fast inspections, fast emergency attendance during a harbour gale, and a lower call-out cost than a firm travelling from Portsmouth or Chichester.

Owner-led on this coastline

Tommy-Davey Stevens and Jordan Jay Stevens work across Hampshire and West Sussex themselves, including the salt-exposed properties along this stretch of Chichester Harbour, with a team of six.

Evidence before opinion

Every inspection ends with a photographic report, so you can see corroded fixings or lifted flashing yourself before agreeing to any work — useful if you also need to satisfy a conservation officer.

Fixed written prices

Materials and labour listed separately, in writing, whether that is slate to match an existing roof around the Square or concrete tile on a Denvilles semi.

Insured and guaranteed

£1,000,000 public liability insurance, plus a workmanship guarantee confirmed in writing with your quote. Cover varies by job type.

Reviewed by people like your neighbours

Our Google reviews come from local customers describing tidy sites and honest pricing — Sarah Woolley, Kaila Clark, Darcie Wall, Ashley Bellinger and Justin Kercher among them.

None of this needs guesswork, but it does need diagnosis before a price is given. A damp patch on a bedroom ceiling in a South Street cottage could be a corroded lead flashing, a slipped slate two courses up, a blocked valley by the chimney stack, or condensation from a loft with no ventilation — and the correct repair, cost and guarantee differ in each case. Pricing before inspecting is how people in Emsworth end up paying for the wrong fix twice.

That is why we inspect free of charge and hand over a photographic report afterwards, whether the property is a listed cottage by the millpond or a modern house near Hermitage. If a slate roof only needs three replacement slates and a re-nail, we will quote for exactly that. If years of patching mean the roof genuinely needs stripping and re-covering to match the conservation area's requirements, you will see the evidence and can weigh the quote up without pressure.

S&S Roofing & Building Limited

13 Braishfield Rd, Havant, Hampshire PO9 2HS, UK

Open 24 hours, 7 days a week