Bury St Edmunds Roofers carries out commercial roofing in Newmarket, helping businesses choose the right roofing system for their building and budget from flat roof membranes to profiled metal.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Commercial roofing is not a single product. The system that suits a small office block in Newmarket is different from what makes sense for a large warehouse or a retail unit with rooftop plant equipment. Getting the specification right from the start is the biggest single factor in how long a commercial roof performs and how much it costs to maintain over its lifetime.
Below is an honest look at the main systems available, what each one is genuinely good at, and where each has limitations. The aim is to give you enough information to have a useful conversation with any contractor, not just to accept whatever they happen to install most often.
Built-up felt, also called built-up roofing or BUR, consists of multiple layers of bitumen-based felt bonded together with hot or cold adhesive, usually finished with a mineral-surface cap sheet. It has been used on commercial flat roofs for decades and is a proven system.
Honest pros: Lower upfront material cost than most alternatives. Well understood by contractors. Straightforward to repair when damage is localised. The multiple layers provide some redundancy: if one layer is breached, the layers beneath continue to shed water while the damage is found and fixed.
Honest cons: The shortest serviceable life of the main commercial systems, typically 15-20 years under normal conditions. Performance is heavily dependent on installation quality: laps that are not properly bonded will open up within a few years. Felt systems are heavier than single-ply options, which matters on older structures where the deck loading capacity is limited. They are also less tolerant of movement at joints and penetrations, making detailing on complex roofs more demanding.
Typical cost range: Built-up felt replacement on a commercial roof typically runs from around £70-£100 per square metre, depending on deck condition, number of layers and access.
EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) is a synthetic rubber membrane available in very large sheets, which reduces the number of seams on any given roof. It is bonded to the deck using adhesive or mechanically fixed, and seams are bonded with specialist adhesive or tape rather than heat welding.
Honest pros: Excellent flexibility across a wide temperature range, which makes it more tolerant of thermal movement than felt. A well-installed EPDM roof can remain serviceable for 30 years or more. Lightweight relative to felt systems. Resistant to UV degradation, which is a significant cause of felt surface breakdown. The membrane itself is straightforward to patch if it is punctured.
Honest cons: Seam quality depends entirely on correct adhesive application and surface preparation. Poorly bonded seams on EPDM are a common failure point. The black surface can make it difficult to spot dirt and debris accumulation around outlets. Not every contractor has sufficient experience with EPDM detailing at complex junctions, upstands and penetrations, and poor detailing at these points is where leaks start.
Typical cost range: EPDM systems on commercial roofs generally cost from around £85-£130 per square metre installed, depending on roof complexity and deck condition.
Single-ply membranes include systems such as TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) and PVC-based products. They are installed as a single layer, either mechanically fixed to the deck or fully adhered, with seams hot-air welded to create a continuous watertight bond.
Honest pros: Hot-air welded seams, when correctly carried out, create joints that are as strong as the membrane itself. Lighter than felt systems. Available in light colours, which reduces solar heat gain on the building below and can lower cooling costs. Good long-term performance: well-specified single-ply systems are rated for 25-35 years. Mechanically fixed systems are particularly suitable where bonding to the existing deck is not practical.
Honest cons: The highest material cost of the common flat roof systems. The quality of welded seams depends on operator skill and equipment calibration: under-welded seams look fine but fail early, and over-welded seams can become brittle. Not all single-ply products are equivalent; the membrane thickness and formulation matter, and thinner products cost less but perform less well over time. Repairs require the correct compatible patch material and technique.
Typical cost range: Single-ply membrane installation on a commercial flat roof typically ranges from around £100-£155 per square metre, depending on the system specified, roof size and access.
Profiled steel or aluminium sheeting is the standard roof covering for industrial buildings, agricultural units, sports halls and many larger commercial premises. Sheets are laid over purlins and fixed with self-drilling screws fitted with neoprene washers to seal the fixing penetration.
Honest pros: Long lifespan on the sheet material itself: modern coated steel profiles typically carry manufacturer finish warranties of 25-40 years, though fixings and flashings will need attention before the sheet itself shows wear. Spans large distances between supports, making it practical for wide-span structures. Relatively fast to install on new builds or full replacements. Can be overlaid with insulated composite panels if thermal performance needs to be upgraded.
Honest cons: Fixing corrosion is the most common failure mechanism: when washers fail, water tracks in through the fixing hole. This can be widespread on a roof before it becomes visible inside the building. Metal roofs are also prone to condensation on the underside if the building is not correctly ventilated, which can cause internal corrosion of the structure independently of the roof covering. Colour fading is normal over time and the original colour match for repairs is rarely exact.
Typical cost range: Profiled metal re-roofing costs vary considerably depending on sheet gauge, coating specification, structural fixing centres and access. As a broad guide, commercial metal roof replacements run from around £50-£90 per square metre for standard single-skin profiles, with insulated composite systems significantly higher.
No system is universally best. The decision depends on several practical factors specific to your building and your situation.
Working from Bury St Edmunds, we cover commercial properties in Newmarket and across Suffolk. We carry out full roof replacements and repairs across all the systems described on this page, as well as commercial guttering, cladding, fascias, soffits, and roofing carpentry where structural repair is needed.
If you are unsure which system is right for your building or want a second opinion on a specification you have already been given, call us to arrange a survey.
No obligation · We'll call you to arrange a free visit
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
