A repeatable roof checklist beats a vague annual glance.

No. Roof surfaces are more slippery than they look, wet or hail-covered ones badly so, and a fall from single-storey height is enough to do permanent damage. There is also the roof to consider: walking an aged shingle roof breaks the seal and crushes granules, so an inspection by an untrained person can cause the problem it went up to find. Use binoculars, a camera and the ground.

Enough that the next decision about this roof is cheaper than the last one. Dated photographs of every plane, taken from the same standing positions each time so change is visible; the written findings from each assessment, including what could not be safely reached; the scopes and invoices for work done; the products and colours actually installed; and the permit and inspection record where one applies.

By taking them from the same places. Pick a handful of fixed positions — each corner of the property, both ends of the ridge line, the two worst valleys — and use those same ones every time, so that a change registers as a change rather than as a different angle. Date them, keep them together, and note the weather. Consistency is what turns a pile of pictures into a record.

Yes, and it is the entry most often missed. Satellite, solar, HVAC, chimney, pest and tree work all put a person on the covering with equipment and fasteners, and the damage that results looks nothing like weather damage to whoever reads the roof afterwards. Note who was up there and when. It settles an argument later and it explains marks nobody else can account for.