Buyer guide

Guarantees and insurance: what to check before booking

Two words get used loosely in this trade. Guaranteed usually means a specific promise about regrowth over a stated period. Insured should mean cover that protects your property if something goes wrong while someone is working above it.

Neither is worth anything unwritten, and the differences between one company's version and another's are where most disputes start.

Ask before you book 01525 600162

What a biocide guarantee covers

A biocide guarantee is a promise about how long treated growth stays suppressed, not a promise that a roof will never be dirty again. Wind-blown debris, leaf litter and new spores land on every roof, treated or not.

Ours is a written 24-month guarantee on full roof cleans. It is issued in writing so both sides know what was agreed, and it applies to the full clean and treatment rather than to a partial job.

Wording worth reading twice

Does the guarantee cover the whole roof or only the elevations treated?
Is it transferable if you sell the property within the period?
What voids it, and is that list reasonable or a get-out?
Is the remedy a return visit or a partial refund, and who decides?
Is it issued in writing at the time, or promised verbally and never produced?

What insurance is actually for

Public liability cover exists for the day a ladder marks a conservatory, a tile is dropped or a gutter comes away. It is not about the quality of the clean, it is about who pays if your property is damaged.

We are fully insured for the work we carry out, including work at height, and we are happy to confirm that before booking. Any contractor unwilling to discuss it plainly is telling you something.

Reducing the chance of ever needing either

Most claims and most guarantee arguments come from rushed work. Hand cleaning rather than pressure washing, protecting the ground before starting, photographing existing damage before touching anything and clearing down properly afterwards prevent the majority of disputes.

We photograph pre-existing defects as standard, which protects you as much as it protects us, because everyone can see what the roof looked like before we started.

Our own photographs

Images from Sky Scrapers Ltd work showing the methods described on this page.

a roof section showing the difference between treated and untreated tiles, relevant to guarantees and insurance: what to check before booking

Sky Scrapers Ltd branded vans parked at a job with a ladder to the roof, relevant to guarantees and insurance: what to check before booking

a before-and-after comparison of a tiled roof cleaned by hand, relevant to guarantees and insurance: what to check before booking

Where this applies locally

Towns where this comes up most often on our patch:

Questions we get asked

What does your guarantee cover?

Full roof cleans carry a written 24-month biocide guarantee. It is a promise about suppressed regrowth over that period, issued in writing rather than agreed verbally.

Does a guarantee mean the roof stays spotless?

No. Leaf litter and airborne debris land on every roof. A biocide guarantee is about growth returning, not about the roof never needing another wash down.

Can you confirm you are insured?

Yes. We are fully insured for the work we carry out, including working at height, and we will confirm that before you book.

What happens if something is damaged?

We photograph existing defects before starting, so there is a clear record. If we cause damage, our insurance is there for exactly that.

Ask the awkward questions first

Ask us about cover, guarantee wording and method before you book. We would rather answer it now than argue about it later.