The roofers are booked, the date is set, and now there’s a stretch of days before anyone climbs a ladder. That gap is worth using. A crew arriving to a cluttered driveway, a locked side gate, and a shed full of unmoved gear loses the first hour of the morning sorting out problems you could have handled over a weekend. The jobs below are small, but doing them ahead of time keeps the work moving and keeps your household out of the way of it.
Clear the Driveway and Work Zones
Roofers need room to stage materials, run scaffolding, and drop offcuts without walking them across your lawn. Start with the driveway. Cars, trailers, bikes, and the wheelie bins all need to be somewhere else on day one, because the crew will want the hardstanding closest to the house for delivery and rubbish.
Then look at the edges of the building. Pot plants, garden furniture, the barbecue, kids’ trampolines and anything leaning against an exterior wall should be pulled back at least a couple of metres. Old tiles, torn membrane and stray nails come off the roof and land below, and you don’t want them landing on things you care about.
Sort Out Parking, Access, and the Skip
Think about where the truck parks and where the skip sits, because those two things shape the whole site. A skip on the verge in a tight Palmerston North street may need council sign-off, so ask the company early who arranges that. If your place is down a shared driveway or a right-of-way, warn the neighbours a delivery truck is coming and check nothing is blocking the turn-in.
Access to the roof itself matters too. Make sure gates open fully, unlock the side of the house, and clear a path from where the crew parks to where the ladder goes up. A well-organised firm offering reliable roofing services will usually walk the site with you beforehand and flag anything they need moved, but the more you’ve already handled, the less time gets burned on the first morning.
If you have security cameras or a locked garage the crew might need to reach for power or water, decide now how they’ll get in when you’re at work.
Protect What’s in the Roof Cavity and Ceiling
This is the part homeowners forget. When boots and hammers are working overhead, fine dust and grit sift down through the ceiling cavity. Anything stored in the roof space or the top of a wardrobe can end up coated.
Move boxes out of the attic if you can, or throw dust sheets over what stays. Downstairs, take pictures and mirrors off the walls in rooms directly under the roofline, since vibration can shift them. Cover the beds and the good furniture in those rooms. If you have ceiling-mounted lights with open fittings, expect a bit of dust and give them a wipe afterwards rather than during.
Move the Kids, Pets, and Fragile Bits Out of the Way
A roofing site is noisy, and the ground around the house is genuinely a hazard for small feet and paws. Dogs bolt when compressors start up. Plan for children and pets to be somewhere else during the busiest days, or at least kept indoors and away from the work zone, and let the team lead know if anyone’s home so they keep the ground clear before they knock off.
Anything fragile near the exterior walls, wind chimes, garden ornaments, a glass table on the deck, is safer packed away. It only takes one dropped bundle of tiles to turn a nice thing into a mess.
Line Up Your Questions for the Team Lead
You’ll meet whoever’s running the job on the first morning, and that’s your moment. Write your questions down beforehand so you don’t forget them in the rush. Ask how many days they expect, what the noisiest phase is, whether power or water will be interrupted, and how they’ll leave the site each evening.
It’s also worth confirming what happens if they open the roof and find rot or old damage underneath, because that’s common on older Manawatū homes and you’ll want to know how variations get priced before, not after.
Set the House Up for the First Wet Night
Weather here turns fast, so assume the roof could be partly open when rain arrives. Empty the roof cavity of anything that can’t get damp, keep towels and buckets handy for the worst case, and make sure your gutters aren’t already blocked feeding water where it shouldn’t go.
Do the groundwork in the quiet days beforehand and the first morning stops being a scramble. The crew gets straight to the roof, and you spend the week watching a job go smoothly instead of chasing problems you could have cleared away.