A roof plumber for flashings, valleys, gutters and metal roofs, a tiler for the tiles

There is no trade called roofer in Victoria. It is a word on a van. The people who actually work on your roof are one of three trades, and the leak you have decides which one you need.

A roof plumber does the metal that carries or sheds water. Flashings at walls, chimneys, skylights, vents and pipes. Valley irons between two roof slopes. Gutters, downpipes, box gutters and rainheads. Metal roof sheets, whether corrugated Colorbond on an extension or old galvanised iron on a weatherboard. Roof plumbing is its own licensed trade. The general plumber who does your taps and hot water is not automatically a roof plumber.

A roof tiler does the tiles and everything set in mortar on top of them. Cracked and broken tile replacement, ridge capping, bedding and pointing, sarking under the tiles, and matching a discontinued profile on a 1970s concrete tile roof. Tiling is not plumbing, and a tiler is the right person for it.

A builder comes in when the roof problem is really a structure problem: sagging rafters or battens, a full re-roof of a tile house, an extension, or a job large enough to need a building contract. Most leaks never get near a builder.

The catch is that many real jobs need two of these, and a good office knows which two.

To the roof plumber: a leak where the roof meets a wall or a parapet, which is a flashing job. A leak in the line between two roof slopes, which is a valley job. Anything to do with gutters, downpipes and box gutters. Any Colorbond or metal roof repair. A leaking skylight, because the flashing around it is plumbing work even when a tiler set the skylight into the roof.

To the roof tiler: broken, slipped or cracked tiles, ridge caps that have come loose in a storm, mortar that has crumbled out of the bedding, pointing that has cracked away, and roofs where a tree has come through. Our ridge capping and tile replacement pages are that trade.

To both: a rusted valley, where the plumber lifts the tiles and replaces the valley iron and the tiler rebeds the ridge above it. A chimney leak, where our chimney crew looks at the stack and the roof plumber does the flashing. A storm that has lifted sheets and smashed tiles on the same house.

To a builder: a roofline that has dropped, a tile roof that needs replacing rather than repairing, or a ceiling that has come down. We tell you that honestly and do not book a repair that will not hold.

The office books the right trade from what you tell them, so a minute of detail saves a wasted visit. Here is what helps.

Where the water shows. Which room, and whether the stain is near an outside wall, in the middle of the ceiling, or beside something that comes through the roof such as a chimney, a skylight, a flue or a vent. Near an outside wall usually points to a gutter or a wall flashing. Beside a penetration points to its flashing. Mid-ceiling on a tile roof points to a valley, a broken tile or ridge mortar.

When it leaks. Every rain, or only heavy rain, or only when the wind drives from one direction, or only after a storm. Slow steady rain finds laps and low-pitch roofs; wind-driven rain finds flashings and ridges; a leak that started after a storm is usually something that moved.

What the roof is. Tiles, Colorbond or old iron, single or two storey, roughly how old the house is. A photo from the driveway and one of the stain help more than a long description.

What has been tried. If someone has already siliconed it, say so. It tells us where they thought the leak was, and often where it is not.

From that, the office gives you a free estimate, sends the right trade, and confirms the firm price before any work. You pay after the job, with before and after photos.

Roof plumbing is licensed for a reason. Flashings, valleys and gutters are the parts of a roof that carry water on purpose, and getting the fall, the overlap, the material and the fixing wrong does not show on the day. It shows in the first heavy rain, or a year later as a stain that has been spreading quietly inside a wall. A licensed roof plumber has been trained on exactly those details and works to the way the trade does things rather than what a tube of sealant suggests. Every job we book is covered by our full public liability and business insurance, and every technician is police-checked.

At FreshDuct every metal, flashing, valley and gutter job is carried out by licensed roof plumbers, and every tile and ridge job by experienced roof tilers, through one office and one booking. That matters when a job needs both, and it matters when you want one set of before and after photos and one person to call afterwards. FreshDuct has 15+ years and 10,000+ projects behind it across Melbourne, including roof and gutter cleaning and chimney flashing, and the same rule applies to a repair as to a clean: if it is not right, we come back.

The licence is the starting point, not the sales pitch. The honest scope, the photos and paying after the job are the rest.