[Gilly1973]

Hi,

We have just bought our first NZ house, just outside of Balclutha in South Otago.

It needs a bit of work doing on it, mainly roof repairs or new roof and a new kitchen.

Just wondering if anybody on the forum is from the area and if they have any experience of roofers in the area.

I think the floor area is around 170sq metres.

Has anybody had work done to the roof in Longrun Colour Steel (I Think?) and how much is cost.

Similar question for a reasonable kitchen, nothing too flash or posh.

Cheers

[wiki]

Hi,

We have just bought our first NZ house, just outside of Balclutha in South Otago.

It needs a bit of work doing on it, mainly roof repairs or new roof and a new kitchen.

Just wondering if anybody on the forum is from the area and if they have any experience of roofers in the area.

I think the floor area is around 170sq metres.

Has anybody had work done to the roof in Longrun Colour Steel (I Think?) and how much is cost.

Similar question for a reasonable kitchen, nothing too flash or posh.

Cheers

Hi there, can't answer on price, but I don't think I've ever seen a forumite from South Otago or the Catlins before! I'm in Invercargill, so I know you're in a lovely part of the world - especially if you're over Owaka way.

I've got a couple of staff in Balclutha, so I'll tap them out to see if they can recommend anyone to you :)

[Tia Maria]

Sorry, haven't had a new roof either, but try to watch Homesick, they often have prices for things like that, that you could use as a guideline.

If you don't get any personal recommendations you can always check out this site:

http://www.nocowboys.co.nz/

If you do get some quotes I'd be interested to here how much it roughly is....thanks.

Cheers

Tia

[bob_the_engineer]

Oooooooo be very very careful!

I had a roof replaced on a 160sqm house, in longrun colour steel and it cost me 10k.

The reason I say be careful is I was quoted 36K from one guy, and the quotes were 36K 22K 17K 14K and finally one at 10K.

The thing that stood out was all the silly quotes were coming in from kiwi or ozi tradesmen. I finally got a descent quote off a Scott (a great guy who did a fantastic job for me)

Now I’ve heard it said before that there is something called the POM price, sometimes its taken as read that if you’re an immigrant then your rich, and the price goes up, if I’m honest I have found this to be the case on a few occasions.

My approach is to price the parts, so I know how much the labour is costing me, you have to understand that these guys have overheads, wages to pay and dry spells to cover (excuse the pun). The labour may seem a lot but on a new roof I’d expect 3-4k in labour (and small parts like builders paper and fixings) to be good for 2 days work, for 3-4 guys (that’s enough to replace a roof). Remember too that they are going to get parts for a lot less that you can.

One more thing, you don’t want to look desperate, so fix the roof for now, almost every roof is reparable in the short term, for a few hundred dollars.
All you need is a can of roof paint (it sets like a rubber skin) and a roll of what is called window tape. The window tape is a roll about 6 inches wide, it’s tar on one side and foil on the other (mitre 10). Find the holes, scrub the lose rust off with a wire brush, apply the tape over the holes. Lay it like you would lay wall paper, pushing any air bubbles out, then slap a good helping of paint on top. Once dry this type of repair can even be submerged without leaking.

I’d expect a good repair to last 6 months if the weather isn’t too hot, maybe 4 months if it has to see out a summer.

One last thing, be very weary if your told that the roof can be fixed, the parts are really cheap when it comes to patching roofs, all the cost is in the labour, you can set yourself up as a tradesman’s cash cow very easily. When you sell the house you will get your money back, if I see a patched roof I immediately knock 30k of the figure in my head (just in case there is a problem with timbers). If I see a new roof I allow +10k on the price for the vendors cost.

If I offered to buy your house, and the roof was patched then that’s 40k you’ve lost because you didn’t replace the roof (I’ve done this before!)

Well good luck with the new home.

Bob

[jubjub]

We got our roof done last year (auckland) but might give you an idea...

Its about 140sqm and we got it repaired, at a cost of around $3500, this included cleaning it down., patching holes & recoating. As it was an old roof we got a 5 yr guarantee, usually it would be ten. We also got a quote for replacement and that was over $6000 to be replaced by longrun coloursteel.

[bob_the_engineer]

Can I go on a little more (yes I know I go on and on and on :D) just a thought, check the insulation in the loft space, if it’s a matt, then fine, but if it’s a powder then now is an excellent time to take action.

The powdered type is called insufluff (a type of paper pulp), it can cause a problem with dust leaking into the house, but on the VERY RARE occasion this was mixed with asbestos to improve insulation and its outright dangerous!

A great deal of the cost involved in removing this is that if it contains asbestos you have to take the roof off to vacuum it out safely; so if you have this type of insulation, (it probably has no asbestos in it) but have it vacuumed out while the roof is off.

Bob

[Genie]

oooohh thank you Bob for such brilliant advice. We are going to be settling in somewhere near Dunedin so would be very interested to hear local prices :)

Any more Bob?? Go on, you know you want to :laugh

[Gilly1973]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I am going to contact a couple of local builders and see what kind of prices they come up with.

The roof is reasonable condition, mainly some loose lead nail heads and minor bits of corrosion on the edges, which I understand can be quite easily repaired. My thought was get it done now, as we did knock them down due to the roof and certainly isn't a unexpected cost.

The insulatin is pink bats and the roof is a skillion roof, or so I am led to believe. Don't know if this makes a difference to the cost of repairs or new roof?

I'm one of the local cops and being here for a while so kind of hoping the pom tax thing won't come into it with the local tradesmen. If so they can jog on!

Another question if I may.

The house is a rough cast 1960s house and I have started to strip the wallpaper off one of the rooms. As I have done this, under the paper is some kind of silver plaster? Is this anything I need to be careful with for toxin etc I don't know if it is somekind of damproof paint or the colour of the plaster they used when it was built. Never seen anything like it before?

Sorry for all the questions.

[Gilly1973]

Thanks for all the advice and information.

I have had 4 quotes and they varied from $28k, $24k and 2 at $17k.



I actually got up on the roof and did some measurements myself and was surprised to find that the roof actually measures 400 sq metres, which was a lot more than I expected, considering the size of the house. I did the measurements prior to the quotes and when I asked the guys who came to do the prices, they all came up with the same measurements.

This price is for longrun colour steel, which has just gone up in price by 10% so I guess my target of $15k wasn't too far out of the way.

Have gone with a local guy, as he came recommended by a number of people and from the work I have seen of his, appears to do a good job.

Will let you know how I get on.

[Red Devil]

Good luck with the new roof :yes

Some sound advice there from 'bob the engineer'... excellent :nice1