The short answer
Yes. New roofs do fail, usually through workmanship rather than age: slipped or badly lapped tiles, loose ridge and verge fixings, poor flashings, missing mortar or sealant, blocked or wrongly set gutters, and gaps in the loft insulation or ventilation. A roofer's inspection before or soon after completion finds these while the builder's warranty period is still running.
Why a new roof still needs checking
A new roof is not a checked roof. It has been built by a team under time pressure, inspected for compliance in the main, and signed off on the strength of what could be seen. Most of what a roofer looks at on an older roof, such as the valleys, the flashings and the way the covering is fixed, was hidden the day after it was done.
Faults in new roofs are almost always faults of workmanship rather than wear. A batten that was spaced slightly wrong, a flashing that was not dressed down fully, a ridge fixed with too little mortar or too few clips, a gutter set without enough fall. None of these shows on day one, and each can start a leak or loosen a tile in the first winter.
The timing matters. Most new-build homes come with a builder's warranty or guarantee and a defects period for the early years. Ask your builder or warranty provider for the exact terms. A fault found and reported inside that period is the builder's to put right, and a dated report from a roofer strengthens the case. After the period ends the cost generally falls on you.
The usual snags
New-build roof problems tend to repeat, because they come from the same shortcuts and the same details.
- Ridge, hip and verge fixings. BS 5534:2014 treats mortar alone as inadequate for fixing ridge, hip and verge tiles; they need mechanical fixing. Look for clips, screws or a dry-fix set-up. The verge is the finished side edge of a gable-end slope. Dry-fix means ridge and verge tiles held by mechanical fittings instead of mortar.
- Flashings. The lead strip sealing the junction of roof and masonry. Look for gaps, unsealed edges and lead that is short on cover.
- Tile and slate laps. Courses that are laid with too little overlap can let water in under wind-driven rain.
- Underlay. The sheet under the covering may be torn, unlapped or not dressed into the gutter.
- Gutters and downpipes. Wrong falls, loose joints and brackets that are too far apart.
- Loft insulation and ventilation. Blocked eaves vents lead to condensation that mimics a leak.
Debris is another one: off-cuts, mortar droppings and screws left in gutters and valleys.
What to look for before you sign off
Nobody needs to climb up for the first check. A short walk round with binoculars and a torch in the loft will pick up much of this, and the rest is for a roofer.
From the ground, look for tiles that sit proud of their neighbours, uneven courses, visible gaps at the ridge, and gutters that hold standing water after rain. Check the lead along walls and chimneys, and look for stains beneath it. Check the verges for loose or cracked pieces. Inside, check the loft for daylight through the covering, for dampness on the timber, and for insulation that has been pushed up against the eaves, which blocks the ventilation gap that lets moisture escape.
Take photographs with the date visible, before you move in. This is the sort of record covered in our page on roof photos before work, and it works equally well as evidence of the state of a new roof on handover. Put every concern in writing to the builder or site manager, with the pictures, and keep a copy. A verbal comment is easy to lose.
Flat roofs and special details on new homes
Many new houses carry small flat roofs over bays, porches, garages and extensions, and these have their own risks. A flat roof needs a fall so water drains away. BS 6229:2018 recommends a minimum fall of 1:80 in the finished roof, designed to 1:40 so that tolerance and deflection do not leave puddles. Water left standing means the fall is wrong. Edge trims, upstands and where the membrane meets a wall are all places a poor detail can hide.
The covering matters too. EPDM, a synthetic rubber sheet, GRP, a glass-fibre laminate set in resin, and felt each have their own weak spots, mostly at laps, corners and penetrations. Our guide to the flat roof inspection sets out what a roofer examines on each one.
Lead details around dormers and abutments should also be checked. A new-build dormer has a lot of joints in a small area, and workmanship there is easily rushed. A roofer will look at the lead dressings, the cheeks of the dormer and where it joins the main slope.
Getting an inspection, and what it costs
The best time to book an inspection is before final payment or in the first months after moving in. If you are buying off plan or reserving a plot, raise it with the developer early, so access can be arranged. Some developers allow an independent inspection before completion, others only after.
A standard inspection by a roofer is typically £150 to £250, with drone surveys at £200 to £400, according to MyBuilder's roof inspection cost guide (2026). Those are typical national ranges, not Empire figures. Our survey costs nothing and returns photographs of your roof, and any repair we find gets a fixed written price.
If the survey finds a fault, send the report and photographs to the builder and ask in writing for the fault to be corrected. If you want a surveyor's opinion on the whole house, not just the roof, our page on roof survey cost sets out what different kinds of inspection involve. For an older house, the question becomes how much life is left, and our page on a roof nearing the end of its life explains that side of it. The wider service sits under roof inspections.
