Vector is not an emergency roofer. Vector is your consultant for a permanent fix after the leak diverter.

The fix is not immediate, and rushing it is the most expensive mistake available. People are understandably panicked and looking for something done now. When the investigation and the clear identification of cause get skipped, what follows is a half-hearted repair in the wrong place, niggles that continue, another repair that is not necessarily the right one, and months of it. Every round makes it harder to tell what actually happened, and every time it rains the occupants expect the worst. Once that goodwill goes, the repair gets harder and the costs climb.

The stain on the ceiling is almost never under the defect. Water travels sideways through a green roof build-up, often ten to fifty metres, sometimes a floor or two down, before it finds a way through. Lifting the planting above the wet patch finds nothing, disturbs sound waterproofing and makes the eventual investigation harder. Do not let anyone do it.

The survey needs the roof to be leaking while it is measured. Before we attend, your team recreates the leak by watering the deck, with leak diverters in place below; we give guidance and suggest equipment, sometimes as simple as a timer on a tap. We only want to be on site once the leak is running. Where the people under the roof are not the people responsible for it, get written permission for access and for the watering sorted early; it is often the slowest part.

On the days themselves: two of the Vector team, usually two consecutive days, walking the roof and measuring in a grid. Planting does not normally need to be moved. If it does, we agree it in advance and your team or the landscaper does it.