How to Vet a Roofer in Cork

To vet a roofer in Cork properly, ask for four things before you sign anything: the CIRI registration number (verified on cif.ie), a current tax clearance access number (checked on ROS), certificates of currency for public and employer liability insurance, and two addresses of completed jobs within 5km you can drive past. A contractor who hesitates on any of the four is telling you what you need to know.

The short version

• CIRI registration is verified free on cif.ie in under 60 seconds — the register lists the trading name, county and status, and unregistered roofers cannot appear there.
• Tax clearance is checked on Revenue's ROS portal using the access number and TRN the roofer gives you; refusing to supply both is a hard fail.
• Public liability cover for domestic roofing should be €6.5 million minimum and employer liability €13 million — anything lower leaves you exposed if a lad falls off your gable in Ballincollig.
• Ask for two completed jobs within 5km of your address, by street name, from the last 18 months — drive past on a Saturday and knock if you're serious.
• A verbal quote in the driveway is not a quote; a written, itemised, fixed-price quote with VAT at 13.5% shown separately is the only document you compare.
• Deposits above 33% on any job, or any deposit at all on jobs under €10,000, are outside normal Irish roofing practice and worth walking away from.

Why vetting matters more in Cork than the national average

Cork has two problems most counties don't have in the same combination. First, the housing stock: Victorian terraces in Sunday's Well and Montenotte, 1970s and 80s concrete-tile estates in Bishopstown, Wilton and Togher, and coastal exposure at Cobh, Crosshaven and Kinsale that punishes cheap fixings within five winters. Second, the trade itself — after every Atlantic storm the driveway callers arrive, and the CIF has been warning about unregistered operators working the south coast for years.

Vetting is not paranoia. It is the difference between a roof that carries a written guarantee and a roof that carries a mobile number that stops answering in March. If you're already dealing with an active leak, book proper Cork roof repairs from a registered contractor rather than the first van that knocks — the price difference is smaller than people assume and the paperwork is the whole point.

Step 1 — verify CIRI registration on cif.ie

The Construction Industry Register Ireland (CIRI) is the statutory register the government points homeowners at, run by the Construction Industry Federation. Every legitimate roofing contractor working in Ireland should be on it.

How to check, in 60 seconds:

1. Go to cif.ie and open the CIRI register search.
2. Type the roofer's trading name exactly as it appears on the quote.
3. Confirm the county listed matches where they claim to trade.
4. Confirm the status reads "Registered", not "Lapsed" or "Applied".

If nothing comes up, ask the roofer for their CIRI number directly and search on that. If they don't have one, they are not on the statutory register — that is the answer.

Two things worth knowing. CIRI membership is not free and it is not automatic; contractors submit accounts, insurance, tax clearance and safety documentation to get on. And CIRI is separate from trade-body memberships like the National Guild of Master Craftsmen, which speaks to craft standards rather than statutory registration. A serious contractor will hold both — Recommended Roofing is CIRI registered and a member of the National Guild of Master Craftsmen, listed in the Guild's own Roofers directory alongside the same phone number and email address that appear on our site.

Step 2 — check tax clearance on ROS

Tax clearance is the quiet one homeowners skip and shouldn't. A roofer with current tax clearance has filed and is up to date with Revenue. A roofer without it is either new (fair enough — ask for a start date) or has fallen out of good standing.

Ask the roofer for two things: their Tax Reference Number (TRN) and their Tax Clearance Access Number. Both together. Then:

1. Go to revenue.ie and open the "Verify Tax Clearance" tool on ROS.
2. Enter the TRN and access number.
3. The result is a plain "Tax clearance is in place" or a rejection.

Takes 30 seconds. If a roofer refuses to give you the access number — the whole point of the access number is that they issue it to third parties to check — walk away. Nothing they can be doing on your roof is worth the trouble that will come with it.

Step 3 — insurance verification (not just "sure we're insured")

Every roofer will tell you they are insured. Fewer will produce a certificate of currency dated within the last twelve months, and fewer still will send it to your email before the site visit. That last group is the group you want.

What to ask for, in writing:

• Public liability: minimum €6.5 million for domestic roofing in Ireland. This covers damage to your property and injury to anyone not on the roofer's payroll — a neighbour, a delivery driver, your own kids.
• Employer liability: minimum €13 million. This covers the roofer's own crew. If they subcontract and don't hold employer liability, an injured worker's claim can end up landing at your door as the property owner.
• A certificate of currency from the broker, not a photocopy of last year's schedule. Brokers issue these on request within a day.

For reference, Recommended Roofing carries €6.5 million public liability and €13 million employer liability, and we hand over certs before the site visit rather than after the deposit. That is not a boast — it is what a straight contractor does.

While you have the roofer on the phone, ask the follow-up: do you employ your own crews, or do you subcontract? The answer changes what the insurance actually covers. Our own crews are directly employed, which is the reason our insurance covers the people on your roof without argument. Subcontracted crews are a different conversation with a different insurer.

Step 4 — proof of completed jobs in named Cork estates

This is where most vetting guides stop and where the real work starts. Certificates prove a roofer can do the job. Completed addresses prove they have done the job. In Cork specifically, ask for:

• Two completed jobs within 5km of your home, by street or estate name, from the last 18 months. Not "we did a load in Douglas" — the road name and roughly which end.
• The month and year of each job.
• The type of work — a full re-roof in Rochestown tells you very little about whether they can flash a valley in a Victorian terrace on Wellington Road.

Then drive past. Look at the ridge line from the footpath — is it straight? Are the verges neatly bedded? Is there mortar smearing on the slates from a rushed pointing job? If you're spending €12,000–€28,000 on a natural slate re-roof, a Saturday morning driving through Bishopstown, Ballincollig or Glanmire is cheap insurance.

For your own reference, our completed work across Cork is documented on our gallery of finished roofing jobs and the pattern of local work is visible on the area pages for Wilton, Blackpool and Glanmire — pages exist because the jobs did.

If a roofer offers you photos on a phone but no addresses, the photos might be theirs and might not. Insist on an address.

Step 5 — read the written quote properly

A verified roofer will send a written, itemised, fixed-price quote. Read it for four things:

1. VAT shown separately at 13.5% — the reduced rate for residential construction. If VAT isn't shown, ask why.
2. Scaffolding as a separate line where the job needs it — and it doesn't always. Scaffolding goes on very high buildings or where a busy street means public safety, not on every job. A quote that buries scaffolding inside the headline price is a quote that can grow later.
3. The guarantee stated in writing on the quote itself, not promised verbally. Repair work should carry a minimum written guarantee of 3 years, rising to 10 years on major repairs. Full replacement work should carry a 10-year workmanship guarantee plus a Lifetime Leak Guarantee — that combination is what we hand over signed before contracts are signed.
4. Payment terms. On jobs of €10,000 or more, a 33% deposit with the balance on completion is standard Irish practice. On jobs below €10,000, no deposit at all is standard. Anyone asking for 50% up front on a €4,000 repair is outside normal practice.

If numbers are the sticking point, our roofing cost calculator gives an indicative range you can measure a written quote against before you sign anything.

The five red flags, in one place

• No CIRI number, or a number that doesn't come up on cif.ie.
• Refuses to supply a tax clearance access number.
• Insurance "cert" is a photo of a schedule with no broker letterhead and no current date.
• Cannot name two completed jobs within 5km with street and month.
• Verbal price only, or a written price with no VAT line and no guarantee wording.

Any two of those together and the answer is no. One on its own is a conversation worth having before it becomes a contract.

Ready for a quote you can actually check?

If you'd like a written, itemised, fixed-price quote from a CIRI-registered contractor with insurance certs handed over before the site visit, get in touch with our Cork roofing team for a free quote or call 021 2040925. We go into the attic on every survey, the price quoted is the price paid, and every full re-roof carries our 10-year workmanship guarantee alongside the Lifetime Leak Guarantee.

Is CIRI registration a legal requirement for roofers in Ireland? Registration itself is not yet a strict legal requirement for every domestic roofing job, but CIRI is the statutory construction register the government promotes and any contractor doing public-sector, commercial or BCAR 2014 work needs to be on it. For residential work, an unregistered roofer is a choice — a choice with less recourse if things go wrong.

How do I check a roofer's tax clearance in Cork? Ask the roofer for their Tax Reference Number and their Tax Clearance Access Number, then verify both together on Revenue's ROS portal using the "Verify Tax Clearance" tool. It takes under a minute and returns a plain yes or no.

What insurance should a roofer working on my Cork home have? For domestic roofing in Ireland the working minimums are €6.5 million public liability and €13 million employer liability, evidenced by a certificate of currency from the broker dated within the last twelve months. Ask for the cert by email before the site visit, not on the day of the job.

How do I check a roofer has actually done work in my area? Ask for two addresses of completed jobs within 5km of your home, by street or estate name, with the month and year and the type of work. Then drive past and look at the ridge line, verges and pointing from the footpath. Photos alone are not evidence — addresses are.

Should I pay a deposit to a Cork roofer? On residential jobs of €10,000 or more a deposit of around 33% with the balance on completion is normal Irish practice. On jobs below €10,000 no deposit at all is normal — payment on completion. Anyone asking for more than a third, or asking for a deposit on a small repair, is outside standard practice.

Does membership of a trade body prove a roofer is any good? It corroborates, it does not prove. CIRI is statutory registration, Guaranteed Irish is about Irish ownership and employment, and the National Guild of Master Craftsmen is about craft standards and trade membership. A serious contractor holds more than one because they say different things — none of them replaces checking insurance, tax clearance and completed jobs yourself.