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Expectations of a building company before the build?
Can I ask what would be your expectations of a building company in the lead up to a build?
We’re due to have our loft conversion start in a week and a half but still don’t have an official start date. Spoke to the builder a couple of weeks ago and he said he’d send us details for a few outside trades we’d need and give us an official start date 2 weeks before the build started but we never heard back.
We got in contact again last week saying we’re getting worried about lack of communication and he said they’d had a family emergency but he would get on it asap. We’d also been saying for months we were worried about lead time on the windows (we want timber rather than PVC), and he kept saying it was fine. When we said it again last week he then got the window guy to call us, I spoke to him and said what we wanted and he said they wouldn’t be ready til mid December so the build would finish but the windows would still be boarded up waiting for windows. He also said the builder had told him there’d been an accident on site last week and the builders brother who works for the company was in hospital.
We then got a bit more communication and the builder said he would send us carpenters details, set up a whatsapp group for the builder and a start date “early next week” so this week that we’re currently in. But we’ve not heard a thing this week. The windows guy meanwhile sent a message Monday saying he’d sent the quote to the builder but the builder hasn’t passed it on yet and mid December is the soonest we can have them…..later if we don’t actually get on and order them! My husband sent the builder a message this morning but no reply yet. We don’t want to nag when he’s got family issues but also we’re genuinely worried these are red flags. And honestly if someone is going to take our roof off I’d rather they weren’t distracted.
We’ve paid a deposit and we did loads of checks in advance, they have amazing reviews on trustpilot and google reviews and seemed incredibly efficient when we first talked to them in the spring.
The last time we had significant building work done the builders walked off and left us half way through the build and cost us a lot of money and even more upset, so my husband and I are very nervous about getting any work done. We’re trying to work out if these are genuine red flags or just us being paranoid.
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11 Replies
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Trust your gut…it’s usually right, you’ve come on here flagging it up….
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I wouldn’t panic – yet. You’ve heard from a third party that they had an accident on sight, they are probably running behind on their previous job. In todays climate it’s unfortunately easy to assume the worst, but I’d be patient for a bit longer in this particular situation and ask straightforward if his brother is ok, if his injury means he’s late with a current job and when realistically you can expect start on yours.
Good luck!
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I will chip in with something I’ve realised over the past 2 years of doing most work ourselves with getting tradespeople in from time to time with specific skillsets – of course there are the scammers and people who do crap work, but there is also a group of good builders/tradies that have delays but who are worth the wait because the result will be worth it. I don’t know if you know their previous work and thus hired them?
We have a plasterer we are happy to wait for (even with delays), as his results will be perfect, similarly just having a worktop installer in (with 2 week delay), who is doing an amazing job, but got delayed on previous jobs. I hope this helps a little? X
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This isn’t great, Im sorry. I suppose the thing you have to think about here is, if this is how it’s started your entire bulld will probably be like this.
You’re paying a lot of money to be the one contacting other trades, chasing etc. The only advice I can offer is to think carefully about whether you have the patience and stamina to have these folk on your roof for months over winter when this is how they work. I think I’d be rethinking, and looking at getting my deposit back. Once they start, you’re committed, or have to find new people to take over (even harder than finding a company the first time round).
Do not be scared to back out if you want, it’s your house and home, your mortgage and insurance, your costs. To them you’re just another job.
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There’s a few things seemingly going on that collectively don’t add up well. Mostly, and firstly, don’t be worried (esp. females!) about contacting them (usually males!) – bear with me, it’s relevant; it’s not “nagging”, you’re the customer and you’ve paid a deposit and they have repeatedly not committed or fobbed you off. Vicious circle. They sound very badly organised and shuffling trades is horribly common. Their work product might be good hence the reviews but their client care is sorely lacking!
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Having given my builders the benefit of the doubt and ignored too many red flags, only to get bitten badly – I would get my deposit back and walk away at this point. It’s disappointing but better in the long run.
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When did the brother have his fall? Because it sounds like the windows should have been ordered a long time ago to be done on time for the build?
While I agree that individual trades people can be excellent even if flakey, a loft conversion needs a lot of coordination and so not arranging things on time seems like a red flag to
me. I’ve had quite a few builders with
excellent reviews (even from neighbours) that were a complete disaster. I’ve also learned that if the communication doesn’t work at the beginning, it’s not going to improve!
Maybe you can have an honest conversation where you lay out how this puts you in a difficult position, and while you have a lot of understanding about his brother this has become untenable. When you paid the deposit did you agree a completion date? I would assume that if now completion seems significantly later due to the windows not being ordered you could try to get the deposit back, but defer to the experts in the group here.
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Sometimes windows can only be measured and ordered once the actual openings are there to measure. In terms of a loft extension you may be making new mansard openings which need to be built first before measuring and ordering.
Making some assumptions here but windows can’t always be ordered at the start
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I agree, he did say they normally only order the windows once they have the openings but that he was sure even with wooden windows it wouldn’t hold the build up. We’ve always found timber to take much longer which was why we repeatedly raised it with him. Since finding out the timber windows will take much longer he’s now said we could order them and make sure the holes are the correct size. But it’s still going to mean the build will be delayed by about a month. We’re also now looking at some hopefully more appealing pvc alternatives which would be quicker. I think the biggest problem was expectation management and communication, rather than the problem in itself, if that makes sense.
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yeah, makes total sense. Seems disorganized and not very professional. Think this is where a lot of builders fall down, on the process and management of clients.
And yes, my experience of wooden windows can be up to 6 months lead time… which I have had recently on a project.
Have you found the composite wooden look window frames ? Dekko is one of the brands that springs to mind.
I haven’t used them but once met and saw their product at a home exhibition and was impressed.
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were having a look at some samples of residence 7 and 9 windows early next week, so I’m keeping everything crossed. They look good on the website so that’s a good start. Id always rather timber both from an appearance and environmental point of view but feeling a bit backed into a corner on this one.
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