Roofers in Southbourne whounderstand salt, windand flat-roof extensions

Southbourne itself blends into Prinsted, Nutbourne and Hermitage without any real gap, and we cover the whole strip as one job area rather than treating each hamlet separately. The housing here is largely post-war: 1950s and 1960s bungalows, semi-detached estates built out from the main road, and more recent developments filling in the gaps between them. Roofs are predominantly concrete tile, with a large number of flat-roofed rear extensions, garages and porches added over the decades as families extended outward rather than upward.

The location right on Chichester Harbour is the single biggest factor in how these roofs age. Southbourne, Prinsted and Hermitage all sit on low, flat land with very little to break the wind coming off the water, and that wind carries salt a long way inland compared with a more sheltered site. Metal fixings, cheap fascia systems and unprotected timber corrode and degrade here noticeably faster than the same materials would on a roof a few miles north in Rowlands Castle or further into Chichester.

The number of flat roofs in Southbourne is also unusually high for the area we cover. Bungalow porches, garage roofs and single-storey rear extensions built in mineral felt decades ago are common right along the strip, and felt in this environment has two problems working against it at once — UV and general ageing like anywhere else, plus salt-laden wind that finds every weak lap and pinhole faster than it would inland. We see more felt failures and more requests to convert old felt flat roofs to modern GRP or single-ply systems in Southbourne than almost anywhere else on our books.

Being low-lying also affects drainage in a way that higher ground does not. Several properties along the A259 and the roads running down towards the harbour, such as those near Prinsted Lane and Nutbourne Marsh, sit close to the water table, so a roof that cannot shed rainwater quickly enough adds to problems already caused by the ground beneath it. Getting the fall right on a flat roof extension, and keeping gutters clear so water reaches the drain instead of pooling near the foundations, matters more here than in a lot of other places we work.

Full A259 coverage

We work the whole corridor from Emsworth through Southbourne, Prinsted and Nutbourne to Hermitage and on towards Chichester, so we know the housing stock rather than treating it as an unfamiliar detour.

Owner-led on coastal and inland roofs

Tommy-Davey Stevens and Jordan Jay Stevens work across Hampshire and West Sussex themselves, including plenty of harbourside and salt-exposed property. A team of six, with an owner on the job throughout.

Evidence before opinion

Every inspection ends with a photographic report, including flat roofs and low-pitch areas that are easy to overlook from the ground.

Fixed written prices

Materials and labour itemised separately, in writing, whether the job is a like-for-like felt repair or a full GRP flat-roof replacement.

Insured and guaranteed

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

Reviewed by real customers

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

A leak over a Southbourne kitchen extension is almost always the flat roof rather than the main pitched roof above it, but plenty of homeowners assume the opposite because the pitched roof is the more obvious feature from the street. Diagnosing correctly before pricing matters here more than most places, because a felt repair, a full flat-roof replacement, and a fascia and gutter renewal are very different jobs with very different costs.

That is why we inspect free of charge and back it up with photographs, including the flat roofs and low-pitch areas that are easy to miss from ground level. If a garage roof genuinely just needs a lap resealing, we will tell you that. If years of salt exposure mean it needs stripping back to the deck and replacing properly, you will see the evidence for that too before you agree to anything.

S&S Roofing & Building Limited

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

Open 24 hours, 7 days a week