When is the best time of year to have a roof installed in South Africa?

It depends which side of the country you are on. Cape Town, Gqeberha and East London get their rain in winter, so their dry window is summer. Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Durban get their rain in summer, so their workable weather sits around the storm season and installations are planned between storms. In both cases the rule is the same: installation needs a dry substrate and a roof that is not left open to the weather.

Can a roof be installed during the rainy season?

It can, and sometimes it has to be, but it is slower and harder. Underlay, timber and sealants need dry conditions, a stripped roof leaves the inside of the building exposed, and working on a wet or windswept roof is a safety problem rather than a scheduling one. Where work has to happen in the rain it is done in sections, so the building is never fully open.

How long does a roof installation take?

There is no honest single answer. It depends on the size and pitch of the roof, the covering being installed, how easy the site is to work on, and what is found once the old covering is off — a roof with rotten battens or a failed deck takes longer than one where the structure is sound. The programme for your roof is set out in the quotation rather than promised in advance.

Roofers and roof installers

Roofers & Roof Installers

The dry months are the right months.

Putting a new roof on is a different job from patching a leak, and it is a job that needs dry weather. In South Africa that points at summer — the winter-rainfall coast is dry and workable, and on the Highveld and in KwaZulu-Natal the storm season is exactly what a new roof is tested by. Tell us what you need and we route it to a local installation team.

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New roofsFull re-roofingSummer windowAll roof types

What a roof installer actually does

A roof installation is not a new covering laid over whatever happens to be underneath it. The old material comes off, the structure is exposed, and everything the new roof will depend on is checked and replaced before anything goes back on: rafters and purlins, battens, underlay, flashings and valleys, and the drainage at the eaves.

The order matters. Underlay is what catches the water that gets past the covering during a storm, so perished underlay will make even a sound new covering leak. Battens are what hold the covering down, so rotten battens are a wind risk as much as a water risk. Skip either and the new roof simply inherits the old one’s problems.

Then the covering goes on — concrete or clay tile, slate, IBR or corrugated sheeting, or thatch. Each has its own fixings, its own minimum pitch and its own way of handling junctions, which is why the right roofer for a tile roof is not automatically the right roofer for a thatch one.

There is also a real difference between a roof repairer and a roof installer. A repairer fixes what has failed. An installer strips the roof, renews the structure and puts a new one on. Most of what this site handles is repair, but full installation and re-roofing is work we arrange too — and it is worth knowing which of the two your roof actually needs before you ask for a price.

Why summer is the season to put a roof on in South Africa

Roof installation is weather-dependent work. Underlay, battens, timber, and the sealants and dressings used at flashings all need a dry surface to go down properly, and a stripped roof leaves the inside of a building open to whatever the sky does next. That is why the dry months are the practical window for putting a roof on.

Which months those are depends on where in the country you are. Cape Town, Gqeberha and East London take their rain in winter, so their dry window is summer, roughly October through March. Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Durban get their rain in summer instead, so their workable building weather sits around the storm season and installations there are planned between storms rather than through them.

Summer is also when the trade is least stretched by emergencies. In the rainy months roofers are flat out dealing with active leaks, and that is the worst possible time to try to schedule a full strip and re-roof. A dry-season booking gets a crew that is not being pulled off your roof to go and deal with somebody’s burst ceiling halfway through the job.

There is a second argument on the storm side of the country. A roof installed just before or during the summer storm season gets tested almost immediately, so a short lap or a badly dressed flashing shows up while the job is still fresh rather than eleven months later. On the winter-rainfall coast the logic runs the other way: put the roof on in the dry months and it has to survive a full Cape winter before it is even a year old.

A dry substrate for underlay, timber, flashings and sealants
A stripped roof that is not left open to the weather
A crew that is not being pulled away to emergency leak callouts
A new roof tested by the season it was actually built for
On the Cape and Eastern Cape coast: before the winter rains arrive
On the Highveld and in KwaZulu-Natal: ahead of the storm season peak

How to choose a roofer you will not regret

Roofing is one of the trades where you cannot always see how much work is needed until the old covering is off. That is exactly why the written quotation matters more than the headline number.

A quotation worth comparing says what is being removed and disposed of, what is being replaced underneath the covering, which underlay and fixings are specified, how the building will be kept watertight while the roof is open, and what happens if rotten timber or a failed deck turns up once stripping starts. Two prices for the same roof can differ by a factor of several and both still be honest — they are usually quoting two different scopes.

It is also worth asking who will actually be on the roof. Installation is skilled physical work, and the person who quoted is not always the person who arrives.

We are not going to pretend that every enquiry becomes a job, or that the lowest number is the right one. What we do is route your installation or re-roof requirement to a local team and make sure the scope you were quoted is the scope being discussed before anyone starts stripping.

Repair or install — which one you actually need

Not every roof needs replacing, and an installer who says it does before looking at it is guessing. One cracked tile, a failed flashing, a rusted fixing, waterproofing at the end of its life — those are all repairs, and they are almost always the cheaper answer.

Installation becomes the honest answer when the covering has gone porous across the roof rather than at a single tile, when sheeting has rusted through rather than just showing surface rust, when battens or rafters have rotted, or when the same area has been repaired repeatedly and still leaks. Two or three of those together usually means the roof is finished.

If you do not know which side of that line your roof is on, the assessment is what answers it. We would rather tell you a repair will hold than sell you an installation you did not need.

What we help you get installed

✓

New Roof Installation

A roof put on a new build, an extension or a structure that has never had a covering, including the battens, underlay and drainage.

✓

Roof Replacement & Re-roofing

The existing covering stripped and disposed of, the structure renewed where it has failed, and a new roof over the top.

✓

Roof Structure And Battens

Rafters, purlins and battens checked and replaced before a covering goes back on, because a new roof over rotten timber inherits the problem.

✓

Underlay And Flashings

The layer that catches water when the covering is breached, and the junctions at chimneys, walls and valleys that decide whether it performs.

✓

Tile And Slate Roof Installation

Concrete tile, clay tile and slate coverings installed with the ridge, hip and valley work they depend on.

✓

IBR And Corrugated Roof Installation

Metal sheeting installed with the correct laps, fixings and flashings, since sheeting fails at the fixings before it fails anywhere else.

✓

Thatch Installation And Rethatching

New thatch and full rethatching, including ridge work and the penetrations that thatch leaks through.

✓

Roof Drainage And Gutters

Gutters, fascias and downpipes installed as part of the roof rather than bolted on afterwards.

✓

Roof Repair Cost & Quotes

What actually drives the price of an installation, and how to read two quotes for the same roof.

See all roof repair services

Other roof repair services

Every service below is handled by the same team, so a leak that turns out to be a different problem is not a second appointment.

How urgent is your roof problem?

Choose the rating that best describes the problem. Ratings 7–10 enter the genuine emergency queue. For urgent jobs rated 1–6, Priority Booking can move you ahead by one standard booking when the next non-emergency slot is available.

10My roof has blown off and I can see the moon from my Lazy Boy in the lounge.

9Water is pouring into the house and causing active damage.

8Several rooms are leaking and buckets are everywhere.

7Water is coming through the ceiling whenever it rains.

6The leak is getting noticeably worse.

5New water stains are appearing.

4Damp patches are spreading.

3I have one small damp patch.

2Something does not look right.

1I have noticed a possible early warning sign.

Selected urgency rating: 7/10 — Emergency queue

Priority Booking

Need a faster booking?

Genuine 7/10 to 10/10 emergencies always come first. If your job is urgent but does not qualify for emergency dispatch, Priority Booking can move it ahead by one place in the standard queue and secure the next available non-emergency appointment.

Standard BookingNo scheduling fee. Your report stays in the normal repair queue.Priority Booking — from R1,000Move ahead by one standard booking and take the next available non-emergency slot.

How it works: this is a scheduling and dispatch fee paid to Leaky Roof Repair, separate from the repair quotation. It never moves a job ahead of genuine emergencies. We only charge it after we confirm that a priority slot is available.

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Areas we cover

Roof installation, re-roofing and repair dispatch across South Africa’s major cities.

Cape TownLeaky roof repair in Cape Town → DurbanLeaky roof repair in Durban → JohannesburgLeaky roof repair in Johannesburg → PretoriaLeaky roof repair in Pretoria → East LondonLeaky roof repair in East London → BloemfonteinLeaky roof repair in Bloemfontein → Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)Leaky roof repair in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) →

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Need a roof put on?

Call Pete on 081 554 9231 or send a WhatsApp message with your location and photos of the problem.

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