MADE BECAUSE THE JOB DEMANDED BETTER.

It started with roofing

I started metal roofing around 2000, working on commercial and industrial roofs in Australia. In 2014 I moved into standing-seam metal roofing, first in Australia and then in the UK, where I have continued working ever since.

Standing seam is a specialist discipline. You quickly learn which tools genuinely make the work easier, and which ones feel as though they were designed by somebody who has never had to use them all day on a real roof.

DoubleSeam began in that gap between what was available and what the job actually needed.

The first tool

Open the seam. Keep the sheet.

The first DoubleSeam tool was a first-turn unpicker. I needed a way to open a seam without damaging the metal. The tools available would mark or distort the seam, making it difficult to put back together properly.

So I made one in my own workshop, used it on the job, changed what needed changing and made another. When other roofers asked for one, I started making them for the trade.

One solution led to another

The soldering iron adapter came from wanting a more practical gas setup. The scratch gauges came from the frustration of gauges that only marked from one side. I learned CAD, designed larger versions, added clearer markings and laser-cut the DoubleSeam logo into them.

These were not products chosen because a catalogue needed filling. They were solutions to problems I had already had on site.

Then came the decoiler

Build it, use it, rebuild it.

When we moved from labour-only work into supply and fit, we needed decoiling machinery. The machines available all forced a compromise. Some ran smoothly but were bulky and awkward. Others were compact but used rollers that seized, creased the sheet or scratched it.

The first decoiler I made was rough. It was rusty, unfinished and not something I would sell. But it worked, and it showed me what had to change. I built another, then another, improving the design each time.

The current trade-built decoiler combines the things that matter: bearing-mounted rollers, a compact base and a fixed bar height that lets you cut sheet cleanly with a cordless cutter as it comes off the coil—without marking the metal.

Where we are now

Built in Britain.

DoubleSeam tools are designed in Cambridgeshire. We do the design and CAD work, then manufacture, assemble, finish and paint the tools ourselves in our own workshop.

The current decoiler, first-turn unpicker and scratch gauges are made in Britain. The decoiler uses British-made components throughout, right down to the bolts. As the range grows, the country of manufacture will be made clear for each product.

DoubleSeam is a family business. Robert designs and builds the tools, with the family helping behind the scenes wherever they can. What started as one roofer making tools for his own work is becoming a growing range for roofers across Britain and Europe.

The point of it

Useful tools. Better work.

We sell direct to individual roofers and roofing companies. Every tool is designed to save time, reduce frustration and do a job properly.

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