Roof Tiler
Trading name of The Roof Tiler · Hobart, TAS
AustralianRoofers Trust Score New
How it's calculated: a transparent, evidence-weighted score — identity & longevity from the public ABN register, reputation from verified Google reviews, and consistency from cross-checking independent platforms. Grades are proportional to the evidence. Where we search the register and can't confirm a business, the identity check scores zero rather than being quietly left out — so a firm we couldn't verify never outranks one we could. Longevity stays unscored in that case, because without a registration date there's nothing to measure.
Our honest take
Here's the honest picture: this is a one-man tile-roofing operation that's been around a long time on paper, but leaves almost no footprint online. The Google listing shows a perfect 5.0 — from exactly two reviews, both of them star-only ratings with no written text, and the more recent of the two is about six years old. That's not a red flag, but it's also not evidence you can lean on. Two wordless thumbs-up from years ago tell you almost nothing about what it's like to hire him today.
What we could verify is more reassuring than the review count suggests. Our research traced the mobile number on the listing to 'The Roof Tiler', a business name registered to James Michael Ellson, a sole trader based in the Kingston/Blackmans Bay area south of Hobart. His ABN has been active since October 2003 — roughly 22 years — which for a trade this physical usually means someone who's been on the tools for a career, not a pop-up outfit. The business name itself was formally registered in 2018 and he's been GST-registered since 2022, which suggests the operation is still ticking along at a real, invoiceable scale.
The gap is everything else. There's no website, no about page, no photos of completed work on the Google profile, and the listing itself is unclaimed — nobody's ever bothered to take ownership of it. For a solo tradie of this vintage that often just means he's busy enough through word of mouth not to care about the internet. But it does mean you're hiring on a phone call and your own judgement, not on a documented track record.
Reputation across the web New
The same firm, checked across platforms
⚑ Both reviews are old and text-free
The two Google reviews behind the 5.0 rating are star-only — no written text at all — and they date from roughly six and ten years ago. We're not suggesting anything is wrong, but a perfect score built on two wordless ratings from years back shouldn't be read as a strong quality signal. Treat this as an unrated firm you're vetting yourself, not a five-star one.
Verified business details New
Checked against the public ABN register
Source: verified against the official Australian Business Register via ABN Lookup (abr.business.gov.au), including GST registration.
What they're actually known for New
Ranked by what customers mention — not a self-declared list
Who you'll actually deal with
Jim Ellson — owner-operator
The business name 'The Roof Tiler' is registered to James Michael Ellson, a sole trader — and the mobile number on the Google listing matches the one he publishes for the business, so we're confident you're dealing with Jim himself when you call. There's no company structure, no office staff, no crew that we could find: it's one bloke, his ute, and a couple of decades of ABN history behind him.
That cuts both ways, as it always does with owner-operators. The person quoting your job is the person on your roof, which is usually where the best workmanship lives. But availability will be whatever one tradesman's diary allows, and if he's mid-way through a big re-bed across town, your leaking ridge capping waits its turn.
Best for
- Tile-roof repairs, re-bedding and re-pointing where you want a specialist tiler rather than a general roofer
- Homeowners in southern Hobart — Kingston, Blackmans Bay and surrounds — where the business is actually based
- People comfortable hiring a long-established solo tradie on a phone call and their own judgement, without an online paper trail
Less suited for
- Anyone who wants a documented track record — recent written reviews, job photos, a website — before letting someone on their roof
- Large or urgent jobs that need a crew and firm scheduling, since a sole trader can only be in one place at a time
- Metal roofing or full colorbond re-roofs — everything about this operation points to tiles, not tin
Before you commit
Five questions worth asking
- Are you still taking on new work, and what's your current lead time? (The listing is unclaimed and the reviews are years old, so confirm he's active first.)
- Can you give me the addresses of two or three recent tile jobs, or put me in touch with a recent customer?
- Do you hold current public liability insurance, and can you show me the certificate of currency?
- Will you do the work yourself, or do you bring anyone else onto the job?
- Can you put the quote and scope in writing — including whether re-bedding and pointing are included — before you start?
Bottom line
A genuinely long-standing one-man tile-roofing business — 22 years of ABN history under Jim Ellson — but with almost nothing online to judge him by: two wordless star ratings, no website, and an unclaimed listing. Worth a call for tile repairs in southern Hobart, as long as you do your own checking on insurance and recent work.
Assessed by the editorial team at AustralianRoofers.com from public Google Business Profile data, the firm's own website, and the ABN register. Not a paid placement.
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This firm hasn't published an enquiry email we can verify, so the quickest way to reach them is by phone or through their Google profile.
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