Question 1

Do I need a scaffold for roof work?

Accepted Answer

For anything more than a brief, low-risk task, yes. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require suitable access and edge protection, and a full re-roof, chimney work or a gable end cannot be done safely or properly from a ladder. On a terrace fronting the pavement, the scaffold also needs a licence from Cheshire East. Scaffolding is often the single largest line on a roofing quote, and that surprises people until they see what it is doing. The legal position first. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require work at height to be properly planned, supervised and carried out with suitable equipment — which in practice means a working platform with edge protection for anything beyond a short, low-risk task. A ladder is legitimate for a brief job where the risk is low and the work can be done with one hand: replacing a couple of slates on a low roof, clearing a gutter on a bungalow. It is not legitimate for a re-roof, a chimney, or a gable end. The practical position reinforces it. Chimney work takes time and needs both hands. A gable end is the hardest place on a roof to work from a ladder because there is nothing to lean against. A full strip means moving materials up and down all day. None of that is a ladder job, and a quote that prices it as one is either leaving the access out or intending to work unsafely. Then there is the local complication, and in this town it is a real one. The Macclesfield Character Assessment describes the silk-era workers' cottages and three-storey weavers' garrets as 'built hard up against the pavement edge' — so on a great many terraced properties there is no private ground at the front to stand a scaffold on. It goes on the footway, and scaffolding on the highway needs a licence from Cheshire East as highway authority. That licence is applied for in advance, it is chargeable, and it can come with conditions about pedestrian protection and sometimes about hours. It takes time to obtain. All of which is why it belongs in the quote and the programme rather than being discovered on the first morning — and why a re-roof quote with no scaffold line on it is not a cheaper quote, it is an incomplete one. Where a scaffold has to stand on or oversail a neighbour's land instead, that is not a council matter but it does need the neighbour's agreement — there is no automatic right to put scaffolding on somebody else's property. One thing worth doing when the scaffold is up: get everything done that needs that access. Chimney, flashings, ridge, gutters, fascias, roof windows. Paying for access twice within a couple of years is the most avoidable cost in roofing.

Question 2

Can a roofer work off a ladder?

Accepted Answer

For anything more than a brief, low-risk task, yes. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require suitable access and edge protection, and a full re-roof, chimney work or a gable end cannot be done safely or properly from a ladder. On a terrace fronting the pavement, the scaffold also needs a licence from Cheshire East. Scaffolding is often the single largest line on a roofing quote, and that surprises people until they see what it is doing. The legal position first. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require work at height to be properly planned, supervised and carried out with suitable equipment — which in practice means a working platform with edge protection for anything beyond a short, low-risk task. A ladder is legitimate for a brief job where the risk is low and the work can be done with one hand: replacing a couple of slates on a low roof, clearing a gutter on a bungalow. It is not legitimate for a re-roof, a chimney, or a gable end. The practical position reinforces it. Chimney work takes time and needs both hands. A gable end is the hardest place on a roof to work from a ladder because there is nothing to lean against. A full strip means moving materials up and down all day. None of that is a ladder job, and a quote that prices it as one is either leaving the access out or intending to work unsafely. Then there is the local complication, and in this town it is a real one. The Macclesfield Character Assessment describes the silk-era workers' cottages and three-storey weavers' garrets as 'built hard up against the pavement edge' — so on a great many terraced properties there is no private ground at the front to stand a scaffold on. It goes on the footway, and scaffolding on the highway needs a licence from Cheshire East as highway authority. That licence is applied for in advance, it is chargeable, and it can come with conditions about pedestrian protection and sometimes about hours. It takes time to obtain. All of which is why it belongs in the quote and the programme rather than being discovered on the first morning — and why a re-roof quote with no scaffold line on it is not a cheaper quote, it is an incomplete one. Where a scaffold has to stand on or oversail a neighbour's land instead, that is not a council matter but it does need the neighbour's agreement — there is no automatic right to put scaffolding on somebody else's property. One thing worth doing when the scaffold is up: get everything done that needs that access. Chimney, flashings, ridge, gutters, fascias, roof windows. Paying for access twice within a couple of years is the most avoidable cost in roofing.

Question 3

Why is scaffolding so expensive?

Accepted Answer

For anything more than a brief, low-risk task, yes. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require suitable access and edge protection, and a full re-roof, chimney work or a gable end cannot be done safely or properly from a ladder. On a terrace fronting the pavement, the scaffold also needs a licence from Cheshire East. Scaffolding is often the single largest line on a roofing quote, and that surprises people until they see what it is doing. The legal position first. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require work at height to be properly planned, supervised and carried out with suitable equipment — which in practice means a working platform with edge protection for anything beyond a short, low-risk task. A ladder is legitimate for a brief job where the risk is low and the work can be done with one hand: replacing a couple of slates on a low roof, clearing a gutter on a bungalow. It is not legitimate for a re-roof, a chimney, or a gable end. The practical position reinforces it. Chimney work takes time and needs both hands. A gable end is the hardest place on a roof to work from a ladder because there is nothing to lean against. A full strip means moving materials up and down all day. None of that is a ladder job, and a quote that prices it as one is either leaving the access out or intending to work unsafely. Then there is the local complication, and in this town it is a real one. The Macclesfield Character Assessment describes the silk-era workers' cottages and three-storey weavers' garrets as 'built hard up against the pavement edge' — so on a great many terraced properties there is no private ground at the front to stand a scaffold on. It goes on the footway, and scaffolding on the highway needs a licence from Cheshire East as highway authority. That licence is applied for in advance, it is chargeable, and it can come with conditions about pedestrian protection and sometimes about hours. It takes time to obtain. All of which is why it belongs in the quote and the programme rather than being discovered on the first morning — and why a re-roof quote with no scaffold line on it is not a cheaper quote, it is an incomplete one. Where a scaffold has to stand on or oversail a neighbour's land instead, that is not a council matter but it does need the neighbour's agreement — there is no automatic right to put scaffolding on somebody else's property. One thing worth doing when the scaffold is up: get everything done that needs that access. Chimney, flashings, ridge, gutters, fascias, roof windows. Paying for access twice within a couple of years is the most avoidable cost in roofing.

Question 4

Scaffold licence for the pavement

Accepted Answer

For anything more than a brief, low-risk task, yes. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require suitable access and edge protection, and a full re-roof, chimney work or a gable end cannot be done safely or properly from a ladder. On a terrace fronting the pavement, the scaffold also needs a licence from Cheshire East. Scaffolding is often the single largest line on a roofing quote, and that surprises people until they see what it is doing. The legal position first. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require work at height to be properly planned, supervised and carried out with suitable equipment — which in practice means a working platform with edge protection for anything beyond a short, low-risk task. A ladder is legitimate for a brief job where the risk is low and the work can be done with one hand: replacing a couple of slates on a low roof, clearing a gutter on a bungalow. It is not legitimate for a re-roof, a chimney, or a gable end. The practical position reinforces it. Chimney work takes time and needs both hands. A gable end is the hardest place on a roof to work from a ladder because there is nothing to lean against. A full strip means moving materials up and down all day. None of that is a ladder job, and a quote that prices it as one is either leaving the access out or intending to work unsafely. Then there is the local complication, and in this town it is a real one. The Macclesfield Character Assessment describes the silk-era workers' cottages and three-storey weavers' garrets as 'built hard up against the pavement edge' — so on a great many terraced properties there is no private ground at the front to stand a scaffold on. It goes on the footway, and scaffolding on the highway needs a licence from Cheshire East as highway authority. That licence is applied for in advance, it is chargeable, and it can come with conditions about pedestrian protection and sometimes about hours. It takes time to obtain. All of which is why it belongs in the quote and the programme rather than being discovered on the first morning — and why a re-roof quote with no scaffold line on it is not a cheaper quote, it is an incomplete one. Where a scaffold has to stand on or oversail a neighbour's land instead, that is not a council matter but it does need the neighbour's agreement — there is no automatic right to put scaffolding on somebody else's property. One thing worth doing when the scaffold is up: get everything done that needs that access. Chimney, flashings, ridge, gutters, fascias, roof windows. Paying for access twice within a couple of years is the most avoidable cost in roofing.

Do I need a scaffold for roof work?

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