Planning Leads for Roofers: Find Roof Jobs Before They Go Out to Tender
Roof replacements, dormer loft conversions, new builds with proper pitched roofs — all of it goes through planning, and all of it gets published on council websites the day it’s submitted. Most roofers never look. Not because they don’t want the work, but because checking six different council portals every week isn’t a job anyone has time for.
Meanwhile the homeowner down the road just got approval for a full re-roof and a dormer extension, and right now the only people who know are the council and whoever happens to notice the scaffolding a month from now.
Planr checks for you. Every week, automatically, across every council you’re covering.
How Planr finds planning leads for roofers
Planr’s scrapers run against council planning portals in Herts, Essex, and London (and expanding), pulling every application as soon as it’s live. It reads the documents — including the redacted PDFs councils publish — to pull out the applicant’s name and address. Then an AI model scores each one for relevance to roofing work specifically.
You’re not scrolling past loft conversions that don’t touch the roof, or extensions with flat roofs you’re not interested in. You get roofing-relevant jobs, ranked.
What gets scored highly for roofers
- Full or partial roof replacements — re-roofing applications, often paired with listed building or conservation area consent
- Dormer loft conversions — anything changing the roof structure or adding rooflights
- New build houses — new pitched roofs from scratch, often multiple units
- Roof lantern and rooflight installations — smaller jobs but frequent and quick to turn around
- Extensions with roof structural changes — hip-to-gable conversions, roof raises
What you get
A weekly scored list of roofing-relevant applications for your area, and next to each one, a letter written and ready to send. Planr reads your website first, so the letter references your actual services — re-roofing, dormers, whatever you do — and speaks to the specific project the homeowner has applied for.
You’re not writing anything. Download, print, post.
How much time this saves
Manually checking multiple council portals for roofing-relevant work — reading through applications one at a time to work out which ones actually involve roof changes — takes roughly 2 hours a week if you’re consistent about it. Most roofers aren’t, because it’s tedious and easy to put off.
With Planr, it’s about 10 minutes a week: check the scored list, grab the letters worth sending. That’s roughly 7 hours back a month.
Pricing and free trial
- Starter — £29/month. 1 council.
- Growth — £59/month. 3 councils.
- Pro — £79/month. 15 councils.
Try it with a 7-day free trial — no card required, 3 letters included so you can see real applications and real letters before paying anything.
FAQ
Does Planr tell me if a job needs scaffolding or is a simple re-roof? The scoring and the application documents give you a good sense of scale — a full re-roof reads very differently to a small rooflight addition. You’ll still want to view the actual application for full detail, which Planr links to.
What about roof jobs that don’t need planning permission — will I miss those? Yes, if a job is entirely permitted development it may never appear on a planning portal. Planr covers what goes through planning, which is a large chunk of roof replacement work, dormers, and roof-related new builds, but not everything.
Can I get leads outside Herts, Essex, and London? Planr is currently live across those areas and expanding. If your council isn’t covered yet, get in touch — new councils are being added regularly.
Will the letter mention specific roofing materials or styles? It’ll reference the project as described in the application (e.g. “your dormer loft conversion”), and your own services from your website. It won’t invent technical specifics that aren’t in either source.
How fast after an application is submitted will I see it? Scrapes run weekly, so you’ll typically see new applications within a few days of them going live on the council portal.
Stop finding out about roof jobs after the scaffolding’s already up. Start your 7-day free trial — no card required.