Roofs from a Domesday village that now holds 27,088 people.
Tadworth sits on the downs beside Walton Heath, with a Domesday past and a large modern population. Roofs of many ages stand side by side here, so we survey first and quote once.
Tadworth Court was built by Leonard Wessells in 1700. A village with a house that old also has newer streets close by, so each roof gets judged by what is on it, never by its road name.
Older house with a tiled roof
Hunters Hall and Meare Close are both listed Grade II, and Tadworth Court itself is Grade I. Owners of a listed Tadworth home need listed building consent for work that would affect its special character, and we help you describe the roof as it stands.
Pitched tiled roof with chimney
The 2021 Census counted 27,088 people in the Tadworth built-up area. Homes built across many decades share the same few roads, so one street never tells us what the next will need.
Streets of homes with tiled roofs
Map of Tadworth and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Tadworth stands on the Reigate road on the chalk downs south of Banstead, next to Walton Heath.
Tadworth site diary
Three chapters on reading mixed roofs, what Hunters Hall and Meare Close mean for listed houses, and how Surrey's scaffold and building control rules fit a Tadworth job.
Stage 01 · First look
Domesday names North and South Tadworth, and the village has grown ever since, so only a survey tells us what a postcode cannot.
Tadworth turns up in Domesday Book of 1086 as two holdings: William de Braose held North Tadworth, and Ralph held South Tadworth of Odo of Bayeux. Tadworth Court was built by Leonard Wessells in 1700, the land north of the village on the edge of the downs was still common field in 1841, and Tadworth and Kingswood School opened in 1875. Today the Census counts 27,088 people in the built-up area. That history and that many residents add up to roofs of many ages, and a street name alone does not tell us what is under the tiles.
We start from the ground and work upwards. From the garden we look along the ridge for dips, across the tiles for gaps or odd colours where someone has patched, and at the eaves for gutters that have sagged away from the fascia. Once up, we check the covering itself, the nails and clips that hold it, the underlay beneath, and the lead, mortar or sealant at each junction. A roof carrying three generations of repair is nothing unusual here, and the aim is to separate what is failing from what is merely different.
Reading a mixed street
Patching earns its keep while the tiles themselves are holding up and the damage sits in one spot. A few slipped tiles, a cracked verge or a lifted flashing can be fixed on their own, leaving the surrounding slope untouched. When tiles crumble across several slopes, or battens are rotten along the eaves, patching only moves the leak to the next weak spot. Our pitched roofing page explains how we weigh the two choices, and the photographs let you check our reasoning against your own roof. Marley quotes roughly 60 years for concrete tiles and calls that a guide rather than a pledge, so what the tiles show at close range outweighs the year they went on.
Gutters, fascias and downpipes are inspected with equal care. Everything we find goes into one total in writing, with the photographs beside it.
In the loft we trace daylight through gaps, damp marks on the underside of the boards and the state of insulation at the eaves. Where the felt under the tiles is the older non-breathable kind, BS 5250 guidance expects an eaves opening of 25 mm for pitches of 15 degrees or less, 10 mm for steeper ones. Insulation pushed in tight can block it. Price depends on access, roof area, the new covering and whatever is lying beneath the old tiles.
Stage 02 · Listed buildings
Two Tadworth addresses are listed Grade II, and the Walton on the Hill conservation area lies close by, so both are worth checking.
The National Heritage List records Hunters Hall as Grade II, first listed on 29 September 1983, and Meare Close is Grade II as well. Reigate and Banstead Borough Council handles planning for Tadworth. Neighbouring Walton on the Hill has a conservation area that lies within a kilometre of Tadworth's centre, so homes towards Walton deserve a boundary check, and for other Tadworth roofs a listing is the planning question to settle first.
Before altering a listed house so that its special interest is touched, the owner applies for listed building consent. Relaying the identical tile in the identical bond is far less likely to worry anyone than a new material or an extra opening, but the council's planning team makes that call, not us, and it is better to ask before a tile is ordered than after. Our guide to re-roofing a listed building explains the steps in order. We back up the conversation with photographs, measurements and a plain description of the tile, the pitch, the ridge and the verge, so the council can judge from facts.
Listing terms
A listed house gets a careful look at the roof before anyone orders materials.
Not by the listing itself. A neighbour's status does not carry across the fence, so an unlisted house outside any conservation area keeps the usual rules. What can matter is the setting: a roof that can be seen from a listed building's grounds may interest the council if you propose a big alteration. If you want certainty, send the planning team your address and one sentence about the job, then file the answer alongside the deeds.
Patience and records. We photograph each slope before work begins, mark the areas that need attention, and note the nails, battens and underlay that come off. Salvageable tiles are sorted and reused where they can be, with new ones mixed in only if the survey shows no other way. Where lead sits at a chimney or valley, we describe the sheet and its fixing before any cutting starts, so you are never asked to approve something you have not seen. If the council asks for a particular tile, the written price names it, and we hold the survey photographs so that nobody has to guess what was there before.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Surrey issues scaffold licences for the highway, while approvals for Reigate and Banstead come from the Southern Building Control Partnership.
Tadworth is in Surrey, which makes Surrey County Council responsible for the roads and pavements; the borough decides planning. Building control for Reigate and Banstead comes through the Southern Building Control Partnership, the borough's own Local Authority Building Control team in the council's words. A small repair brings none of that into play.
A frame on the carriageway or the footway has to be licensed by the county. Surrey quotes £208 for each 28 day period, charges the same on renewal, does not refund the application fee and wants applications at least 10 working days before the start. Its page does not say who has to apply, so ask us or the scaffolder before you agree a date. Surrey's page ties the licence to scaffolding on a public road, pavement or highway, and a wide front garden can keep the frame off all three. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page covers the lower-level jobs that often need only a tower or a short run of scaffold.
Before a Tadworth re-roof
Sometimes. The Planning Portal's guide puts a re-roof outside building control while under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is involved. Exceptions: a covering adding at least 15 per cent to the roof's weight, or one that reacts differently to fire. Should the survey show a full strip is needed, we would speak to the partnership first, and our roof replacement page describes how a whole job runs.
Water has to run to the outlet. Brett Martin's advice for rainwater systems is a fall of 1 mm for every 600 mm of gutter, slight enough to be hard to see and large enough to be lost when a bracket drops. We check the line with a level, and a gutter that holds standing water is a reason to reset the run, not just to clean it. On bats, the law protects them and their roosts, and nests in use are covered too, so a find during the survey means we pause and call you. To start, email a photo of the slope taken from the lawn, with your Tadworth postcode and any details of past repairs you know of.
By looking at yours, not at the street. Among 27,088 residents, neighbouring roofs can differ in covering, fixings and past repairs. The survey checks the tiles, underlay, junctions and gutters on your own house, you see the photographs, and only those findings shape the single total in writing, which keeps the price tied to your house.
Only if your house sits inside its boundary, which comes within a kilometre of Tadworth's centre; outside it, a repair using the same tiles has one question fewer. Listings still count: Hunters Hall and Meare Close are Grade II, and a listed house needs listed building consent before work that touches its special interest. For your own address, ask Reigate and Banstead Borough Council's planning team before ordering anything.
Only if the frame has to occupy the public footway or carriageway, where Surrey quotes £208 per 28 day period. Surrey's wording links the licence to a public road, pavement or highway, so a frame kept on your drive is a different matter. We check what is possible at the survey, so the start date allows for the 10 working days the county asks for.
Marley's figure is about 60 years, though it says plainly that no promise is attached, so condition tells you more than age. The nails, the mortar and the felt at the eaves often tire before the tiles. Only a close look shows whether a repair will serve, and the written total sets out the cost of each choice.
Send a garden-level photo of the slope, add your Tadworth postcode and any past repairs, and we will arrange the survey.
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