Know what you are buying before you compare a single price
A restoration is a set of separable operations. Name them, then ask every contractor to price the same list.
Most people do the same thing when the roof needs restoring: line up three quotes and take the lowest number. Queensland's building regulator argues against that instinct, and attaches a cost to it — accepting a quote priced below fair market value can reduce what you are paid if you later claim under the state's home warranty scheme. That turns the cheapest quote from a saving into a risk you carry yourself. This page is written for the part nobody else will do for you in McDowall: working out exactly which operations you want priced, so that two or three quotes describe the same job before you compare what they cost. Ask to have the work quoted that way.
The cheapest quote is not a neutral choice. QBCC's guidance to Queensland homeowners is to get more than one quote, to check that the quotes cover the same scope of work before comparing them, and not to decide on the lowest price alone — and it warns that if you accept a quote below fair market value, compensation under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme may be reduced. Price is still the easiest thing to read on a quote, and it is what most buyers reach for first. The problem is that it is only meaningful once the quotes in front of you describe the same work. So the useful question is not who is cheapest. It is what, precisely, is being bought.
**In McDowall, the person checking the scope is you.** McDowall is a suburb of owner-occupiers: at the 2021 Census 36.5% of occupied private dwellings were owned outright and another 40.3% were owned with a mortgage, against 22.5% rented, across 2,768 private dwellings. Read that structurally rather than demographically. Where the occupier is the owner, there is no landlord's agent, no property manager and no body corporate reviewing the scope of work before it is signed — and for the third of households who own outright, no lender either. Nobody sits between you and the contractor checking what is on the page. That is the whole reason this page exists: not to sell the work, but to make you competent to describe it.
**What a roof restoration actually consists of.** Buyers usually describe a restoration as one undifferentiated thing, and only itemise it afterwards, once they have seen what happened. In practice the phrase names a set of separable operations, each of which a quote either includes or silently leaves out. Customers describing completed work have listed pressure cleaning, gutter cleaning, re-pointing of ridge caps, replacement of cracked tiles, and coating. Those are the lines to look for on any quote you receive. They are operations, not a running order — no source settles a universal sequence, so ask which operations are included rather than in what order they run.
Two more things change the scope before anyone prices it. The substrate is one: a tile roof and a metal roof are not the same job, so confirm the quote names the material on your own house. Age is the other: it is illegal in Queensland to use a high-pressure water blaster on asbestos cement, and Queensland Government guidance is that an older house has a good chance of containing asbestos and that you cannot tell by looking. A quote that prices a pressure clean without addressing identification on an older roof is a quote worth questioning.
**Re-pointing is a fixing, not a finish.** This is the single most misread line on a restoration quote. The National Construction Code requires that hip, ridge, barge and capping tiles be fixed, and lists flexible pointing complying with AS 2050 as an acceptable fixing alongside clout nails, screws and purpose-made clips. CSIRO tests flexible pointing under the AS 4046.8 method, which conditions pointing by prolonged water saturation and then assesses whether it still works as an adhesive mechanical fastener for ridge tiles. So when one quote covers ridge and capping re-pointing and another does not, that is not a difference in tidiness. It is a difference in whether the fastening along the ridge is being dealt with at all.
Restoration work across tile and metal roofs, covering cleaning, repairs and coating.
Because a restoration is a set of separable operations rather than one product, the useful thing for a McDowall owner-occupier is a quote that names each operation being priced, so the same list can be put to every contractor being considered.
Book an inspectionRe-pointing of ridge, hip and capping tiles with flexible pointing.
Worth understanding before you compare prices: the Code lists flexible pointing complying with AS 2050 as a fixing for hip, ridge, barge and capping tiles, alongside nails, screws and clips, and the AS 4046.8 method soaks pointing and tests whether it still holds the tiles.
Roof repairs in McDowallReplacement of cracked, chipped or broken roof tiles.
Customers describe tile replacement as a distinct part of what they received, separate from cleaning and coating — so it is one of the lines to look for individually on any quote you are comparing.
Roof repairs in McDowallPressure cleaning of roof surfaces and clearing of gutters.
Two scope questions belong here rather than in the price: who manages site protection and the neighbours during cleaning — customers have described the crew checking about washing on the line first — and how an older roof is identified, given it is illegal in Queensland to high-pressure blast asbestos cement and it cannot be identified by sight.
Roof cleaning in McDowallApplication of protective surface coats to prepared roof surfaces.
Coating is one of the operations customers describe as part of a restoration; a quote you are comparing should make clear whether it is included and on which substrate, tile or metal, since the two are different jobs.
Roof painting in McDowallThe phrase names a set of separable operations — cleaning, gutter cleaning, tile replacement, ridge re-pointing, coating — and buyers typically treat it as a single undifferentiated product.
QBCC tells homeowners to make sure quotes cover the same scope of work, confirming that project extent, materials and finishes, labour and timelines match across all of them, before comparing.
Write the operations you want priced into your enquiry, and ask every contractor you approach to answer against that same list.
"Repointing" sounds like tidying the mortar line, so it is the first item people are willing to trade away.
The Code treats flexible pointing as a fixing for hip, ridge, barge and capping tiles, in the same list as nails, screws and clips, and the AS 4046.8 method tests pointing after prolonged water saturation for exactly that fastening job.
Ask any quote to state whether ridge, hip, barge and capping tiles are covered, how they are being fixed, and which pointing product is used.
A single emailed figure feels like enough when the buyer trusts the tradesperson and nobody else is reviewing the paperwork.
In Queensland, domestic building work priced over $3,300 including labour, materials and GST requires a written contract complying with Schedule 1B of the QBCC Act; from $3,301 to $19,999 it is a Level 1 contract, and at $20,000 and over it is Level 2, where you must also be given a QBCC-approved consumer building guide before signing.
Treat the written contract as an entitlement you insist on from whoever you engage, not a formality to be waived.
There is no single QBCC licence class for "roof restoration" — the operations sit across roof tiling, roof and wall cladding, painting and plumbing classes.
If one price bundles ridge re-pointing, coating and guttering, more than one classification is implicated, so a number alone tells you nothing about scope.
Check anyone you are considering on QBCC's free public register and read the licence class against the operations in their quote.
The premium is collected from the homeowner and paid to QBCC by the contractor, so buyers rarely see the transaction and assume it has happened.
"Restoring or repairing roofs" is expressly insurable work, cover is compulsory for residential construction work valued over $3,300 including materials, labour and GST, and the scheme pays up to a maximum of $200,000 per claim — but it runs through a licensed contractor and a compliant contract, and the premium must be paid before work begins.
Look for the premium in your contract and ask whoever you engage whether it has been paid before anyone starts.
McDowall is overwhelmingly separate houses on established suburban blocks, so cleaning happens close to a neighbour's yard, washing line and windows.
Site protection and overspray management are part of the scope being bought, but they are rarely written down, which makes them easy to leave out of a price.
Ask any quote who manages site protection and neighbouring properties; customers have described this crew checking with neighbours about washing on the line before cleaning began.
This section is about our own record, and it is deliberately kept apart from the checklist above, which is QBCC's advice to you about every contractor you approach — including us. What we can point to is what customers have described. One customer has recounted the crew arriving on time to quote and explaining the work fully on site, with the written quote following that evening. That is one person's account of one occasion, not a published standard, and it is not a description of what any future quote will contain. Another has described the crew checking with neighbours about washing on the line before the shed roof was cleaned. Customers have described restorations covering pressure cleaning, gutter cleaning, re-pointing of ridge caps, cracked tile replacement and coating, on both tile and metal roofs. None of those accounts names a suburb, so they are evidence of method rather than of place. We make no claim here about licensing, accreditation or insurance status — use the QBCC register and check us the same way you check anyone else.
Roof Restoration
1 Richards Court, Bellmere QLD 4510
Mon-Sat 7:00 am - 4:00 pm
McDowall
McDowall, Brisbane City Council, QLD
Brisbane
Enough for you to put the identical list to somebody else. Name the operations one by one — pressure cleaning, gutter cleaning, re-pointing of ridge caps, replacement of cracked tiles, coating — because each is separable and each is something a quote either includes or silently leaves out. Then have the quote name the substrate on your own house, since a tile roof and a metal roof are different jobs. Have it state whether ridge, hip, barge and capping tiles are covered and how they are being fixed. And have all of it in writing. QBCC's own guidance is to check that quotes cover the same scope of work — project extent, materials and finishes, labour and timelines — before you compare them at all.
Not on price alone, and Queensland's regulator attaches a specific cost to that instinct. QBCC advises homeowners to get more than one quote, to check the quotes cover the same scope of work, and not to decide on the lowest price alone — and it warns that if you accept a quote below fair market value, the compensation you receive under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme may be reduced if you later need to claim. So the cheapest quote can quietly transfer risk onto you. A lower number usually means less work rather than better value, which is only visible once all the quotes describe the same job.
Yes, above a low threshold. Domestic building work priced over $3,300 including labour, materials and GST requires a written contract complying with Schedule 1B of the QBCC Act. From $3,301 to $19,999 that is a Level 1 contract; at $20,000 and over it is a Level 2 contract, and for Level 2 work you must also be given a QBCC-approved consumer building guide to read before you sign. Most roof restorations on a whole house will clear the first threshold comfortably. Treat the written contract as an entitlement you insist on from whoever you engage — not a formality anybody gets to waive because the job feels straightforward.
"Restoring or repairing roofs" is expressly listed as insurable work, and cover is compulsory for residential construction work valued over $3,300 including materials, labour and GST, with the scheme paying up to a maximum of $200,000 per claim. Two conditions sit behind that, though, and they are the ones worth checking. Cover runs through a licensed contractor and a compliant contract, and the premium must be paid before work begins. The premium is collected from you and paid to QBCC by the contractor, so you rarely see the transaction happen — which is exactly why it gets assumed. Look for the premium in your contract, and ask whoever you engage to confirm it has been paid before anyone starts.
No, because there is no single QBCC licence class for "roof restoration". The operations sit across roof tiling, roof and wall cladding, painting and plumbing classes. So if one price bundles ridge re-pointing, coating and guttering, more than one classification is implicated, and a licence number on its own tells you nothing about whether it covers the work being quoted. Search the contractor on QBCC's free public register and read the licence class against the actual operations in their quote. Do that for everyone you are considering, this business included — we make no licensing claim on this page precisely so that you check rather than take our word.
Because it is easy to drop, and it sounds like the kind of thing you can drop. "Repointing" reads as tidying the mortar line, so it tends to be the first item traded away when a price is being sharpened. What the Code actually says is that hip, ridge, barge and capping tiles must be fixed, and it lists flexible pointing complying with AS 2050 as an acceptable fixing alongside clout nails, screws and purpose-made clips. The AS 4046.8 test method conditions pointing by prolonged water saturation and then assesses whether it still works as an adhesive mechanical fastener. So a quote without it is not a tidier-looking roof for less money — it is a quote in which the fastening along the ridge is not being dealt with.
If you want a quote from us, ask for it the way this page has just described: the operations you want priced, named one by one; the substrate on your own house named; ridge, hip, barge and capping tiles addressed and their fixing method stated; and all of it in writing. Then put the same list to everyone else you are considering, so the quotes you compare describe the same job. The sequence matters here: the home warranty premium is included in your contract and is paid before work begins, so the specifying happens now, before anyone is engaged — not once a crew is on the roof.
