Gunning for cowboy roofers

The Roofing Industry Alliance's Hallmark scheme - a kind of Quality Mark for roofing contractors - has taken four years to come to fruition. But a jubilant Nick Raynsford, the construction minister, finally launched it at the DETR in January, with 10 roofing contractors collecting certificates.

Setting the standard
The scheme aims to root out cowboy roofers. It covers all sizes of roofing companies and projects and includes products, materials, architecture and design relating to roofing as well as roofing contractors. Its key areas of assessment are training, health and safety, quality management, customer care and financial stability.

Like the Quality Mark, the Hallmark is certified by the Building Research Establishment; and it is run by the CIOB on behalf of the RIA. The Hallmark is also a fast-track route into gaining the Quality Mark. A Hallmarked contractor will only have to carry out a simple assessment to be awarded the QM.

The Hallmark costs between £1500 and £3000 for a contractor, depending on the size of the company and the types of roofing it produces. Manufacturers pay a £500 fee. The fee for designers hasn't been set as yet, but the programe will be available to them from May onwards.

Why did it take so long to finalise this scheme? George Richardson, managing director of Richardson Roofing, which was the first company in Britain to be awarded the Hallmark, says pulling together the disparate parts of the roofing industry was problematic.

"I sit on the RIA council, and finding common ground between all the different roofing trade organisations was an arduous process. There are so many different types of roofing, from slates to tiles to felt and so on, and they all had to agree on common standards."

Has the drive to encompass all parts of the industry compromised the standard of the Hallmark? Richardson contrasts the Hallmark with the Lead Delegated Assessment certificate for lead roofing contractors, which the company also holds.

"The Lead Delegated Assessment is a very intense examination," he says. "To be a member of the Lead Contractors Association, you are vetted thoroughly and it is heavily policed, which is why there are only about 100 members.

Companies get thrown out all the time for not being up to the required standard. The Hallmark scheme was more or less a formality fora company like us." But Richardson adds that the two assessments have very different aims. "The Lead Contractors Association is all about the pursuit of excellence. The Hallmark scheme is the RIA's attempt, driven by the government, to regulate the whole of the roofing industry.

To gain the Hallmark you have to have ISO9000, be a certified member of Constructionline and demonstrate you have systems in place for your business and the training of your staff. While that was an easy test for us to pass, a lot of smaller contractors may find it difficult. The Hallmark is way of bringing the whole industry to a minimum standard."

Industry awareness
Richardson also points out that the RIA faces a considerable task in bringing the estimated 40,000 roofing companies in Britain up to the minimum Hallmark standard. "The aim of the Hallmark is to regulate everybody - from established companies to one man operations," he says. Because of this, the RIA had to go for the lowest common denominator, and introduce a standard that isn't that tough for companies such as ours to acquire. We joined because it has government backing."

“The aim of the Hallmark is to regulate everybody - from established companies to one man operations”

George Richardson, managing director of Richardson Roofing

For Richardson, the biggest challenge for the scheme is creating industry awareness. "There is still a long way for the scheme to go.

Architects and main contractors need to be made aware of it and make use of it when deciding on roofing contractors and materials, or there is no point in the scheme." Northumberland-based WH Hillerby & Son is the smallest contractor to gain the Hallmark certificate, and with a staff of only 18, the contractor found that entering the scheme presented a significant challenge. "It was quite difficult to get all the documentation in order," says managing director Paul Hillerby. "Things that you take for granted when you are doing your work all have to be kept a record of.

It wasn't that we weren't doing what was required to get the certificate; it was just a case of getting all the paperwork in order." For Hillerby, the certificate is set at the right standard, and as a small contractor, he sees it as an important mark of quality. "It shows we do a better class of work than other local roofing contractors," he says, "and is a way for us to prove our competency to clients.

As long as it is promoted well and membership of the scheme snowballs it will have been worth the time and money."

Pushing the scheme
The RIA ran an advertising campaign last year, but before it formed a partnership with the CIOB it lacked the resources to really push the scheme with clients. "We are developing a business plan with the CIOB," says Ken Hamilton, secretary of the RIA. "We have been contacting main contractors and clients directly as well.

Clients such as the National House Building Council and English Heritage are part of the RIA, so they will support the Hallmark." Geoff Holt, managing director of Associated Roofing and Maintenance and president of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors, agrees that the standard of the Hallmark is sufficiently rigorous, as it covers the important areas of training, safety and quality.

"We need training very badly in the roofing industry. The Hallmark scheme is one way of getting people to focus on training, development and continuous improvement," he says.

But Holt echoes George Richardson's comments on the importance of clients taking up the scheme. "It will make or break on the clients' backing.

They need to start specifying Hallmarked roofing contractors and materials to get the scheme to gather momentum. All NFRC members are now promoting it to clients. But if clients want quality, they have to realise that they have to pay a bit extra for it."

Client backing
The Confederation of Construction Clients has backed the programme. Executive secretary Tony Pollington says that using the Hallmark, and similar schemes, is an essential part of belonging to the Confederation. "It is part of the commitment companies take on when they sign up to the Client's Charter to use schemes such as the Hallmark.