Overview
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In New South Wales, roof plumbing is its own licensed trade. It covers metal roofing along with the guttering, downpipes, flashings and rainwater goods that move water off a roof, which is why one roof plumber can complete a metal re-roof including the guttering without a second trade. The distinction is technical as well as administrative: a roof is watertight because its flashings are right, not because its sheets are waterproof, and flashings are roof plumbing work. For a tile roof, restoration and repointing sit with a different trade entirely.
Key points
- Roof plumbing is a separately licensed trade in New South Wales
- It covers metal roofing plus gutters, downpipes, fascia and flashings
- Flashings, not sheets, are what make a roof watertight
- One trade can finish a metal re-roof including the guttering
- Tile restoration and repointing are a different trade again
- Ask which licence someone holds, not just how long they have been roofing
What roof plumbing actually covers
Roof plumbing is the trade that deals with a metal roof and everything that moves water off it. Sheet, ridge capping, barges, valleys, flashings, gutters, downpipes and rainwater goods.
It is licensed separately because it is plumbing work: it is about the controlled movement of water, and it connects to the stormwater system at the bottom of every downpipe.
Why flashings decide everything
A roof is not watertight because the sheets are waterproof. Sheets are the easy part.
A roof is watertight because of what happens at the joins: where two planes meet, where the roof meets a wall, where a flue or a vent comes through, and where the roof ends at the edge. Every one of those is a flashing, and every one of them is formed rather than bought off a shelf.
That is why almost every leak on a well-built roof is at a flashing, and why the flashing detail is where the time on a good job goes.
What this means practically
The difference shows up in three places that affect you directly.
- One trade can finish the job
- A metal re-roof including new guttering is one scope of work for a roof plumber. You are not booking a roofer for the sheets and then waiting on somebody else to hang the gutters.
- The gutter is not an afterthought
- Fall, downpipe capacity and the gutter to fascia detail are part of the same trade as the roof, so they get designed together rather than fitted around a finished roof.
- Tile work is somewhere else
- Tile restoration, repointing and roof painting are a different trade. A roof plumber who says no to that work is being accurate rather than unhelpful.
What to ask before you engage anybody
The useful questions are specific and take about a minute on the phone.
- What licence do you hold?
- Not how long they have been roofing. The licence is the checkable fact and it tells you which work they are entitled to do.
- Are you doing the guttering as well?
- If the answer is that somebody else does that, you now have two trades to coordinate and a gap between them where responsibility for a leak lives.
- How do you handle the flashings at the wall junction?
- You do not need to understand the answer in detail. You need to hear a specific answer rather than a reassurance, and silicone should not be the main character in it.
- What happens if the battens are gone?
- Concealed timber damage is genuinely unpredictable. Anyone who says it will not happen is either inexperienced or planning to argue about it later.
When you genuinely want a different trade
None of this makes a roof plumber the right call for every roof problem.
If you have a tile roof that is sound but needs repointing, you want a tile specialist. If you have one persistent leak and no interest in replacing anything, you want somebody who does leak detection properly, which is a specialised skill and not a discount version of re-roofing.
A trade that tells you which of those you actually need is worth more than one that quotes whatever you asked for.
If this sounds like your roof
We will come and measure it.
Ring and describe what it is doing. If it is a repair rather than a replacement, we will say so.
(02) 9072 1993
