Not sure if I should proceed with builder

1, Roofing is a messy job, I would say these two young lads where out to make an impression by dressing smartly. They won't be doing your roof dressed like that.

2, Trust a trader and other similar sites are open to abuse and I would take any reviews on them with a pinch of salt, not that I would ever use one, they are there to fleece the trades.

3, Not many people leave good reviews in general, bad yes, google their phone number and email address and see what comes up. You will see what they have been up to in regards to internet advertising etc.

4, Trade bodies are just as bad as trust a trader and more often than not are just fleecing the trades, there are dozens of them for every trade and if we joined all of them we would be just working to pay them off, for me personally I would have to be a member of BWF, IOC, Guild of master craftsman, fennsa, bali, rospa, the list is endless and sparkies get it worse than I do.

5, Registered office address is probably their mums and nothing to concern yourself about.

6, You don't need a website to have a business.

7, I make my own letterheads up, I would imagine 99% of trades men do.

8, 30% is probably average as a deposit, I always ask for 40/50% or all of the materials upfront.

Most of my local roofers are young men and they are excellent roofers. People don't just become roofers at 30, they start as cheap labour at 16 and learn the trade, its a young mans game.

If you are that concerned ask them for their latest customers number and give them a call, end of the day you will be holding 70% of their money.

Its the same for those lads too, they don't know you, you could rip them off, you could be a customer from hell who will never be happy, a customer who will find problems that are not there, they are putting their trust in you as much as you are them.

There should be a trust a customer website, and the general public need to be woken up about sites like trustatrade

Chill out my man

 

If you are transferring money from your account to theirs you wouldn't normally get a receipt, you will have proof of monies paid, I don't give receipts for deposits and have never been asked, I invoice at the end of the job, but I am sure if you asked for one they would give you one.

You as a customer are better off being nice and polite to your tradesmen, it makes for a better experience and job at the end of the day, for both parties, if you are some old moaning doris they will just want to get out asap, manners doesn't cost anything, plus if you're pleasant and get some rapport going with these lads I am sure the next job will be at a better rate and who knows they might even look at that loose guttering while they are up there.
99% of tradesmen are genuine and want to do a good job because they want your recommendation and their name is more important than making a few extra pounds by doing a cheap job.

 

How big is flat roof just out of interest

 

By replace a flat roof, what exactly do you mean?

 

Are you talking about a re-felt or completely re-building it with new joists and sheets?

 

I don't know how much a chemical DPC costs but re-felting an 8' x 8' flat roof takes what, 1 or 2 days and a couple of hundred quid for materials?

 

Read the op chippie there is other dp work to do

 

Read my post, I know that.

 

Keep your thong on mate.

Just pointing out it is more than an 8x8 roof 1or2 days work and couple hundred materials

 

So the rest is DPC for which the charge is £2,500 which is why I asked about the cost of chem damp proofing, it's a mid terrace house so front and back it's 60/100 feet.

 

You really need to find out what needs doing and why, or if you're happy to pay that I'll sort it out for £1,700.

 

Chippie - do you cover Sath London? (If he does, Baldgit, bite his hand off. After he finishes the job.)

Baldgit, what you've been told above is correct - you really should be ABSOLUTELY clear what work is going to be done here.

That you don't know means two things - (a) you haven't been told and (b) you don't have a detailed quote.

I haven't a clue what these guys you're considering employing are like - they could be angels or they could be cowboys. Or anything in between. I chust don't know. And nor does anyone else.

What I can say is that you would be taking a ridiculous risk employing them when you don't even know what they are going to do for you. Again, I'm not saying they're going to stitch you up - they might be a cracking bunch.

But - you should have had a full explanation from these guys, followed up by a detailed quote:

1) Strip off all existing roof material to expose joists. Check for rot, replace if necessary, treat remaining with XBR3FGX9 (er, I made that up...)
Rebuild roof with membrane this, and insulation that, followed by this that and t'other (er, I'm not a roofer...)

2) Damp in Lounge area: expose DPC level, remove plaster to height of 1.2m, inject blah blah blah, re-plaster using thingy with whatsit. Other damp areas: natter natter natter (er, I'm not a damp specialist either.)

Warranty (backed by indemnity insurance in case they go out of business): Roof 10 years, DPC 20 years.


Get the idea?

Do you have anything like that? No?

Jeepers. Sorry - you'd be nuts to go ahead without this.

How many quotes did you get? How did they compare? And how did their proposed solutions compare?

Roofing 'felt' is old hat. Today they should ideally use EPDM or fibreglass or something like that - almost permanent. And since most of the cost will be labour, it probably won't be much more than felt anyways.


Worse case scenario: they are cowboys who will strip the top layer of your roof off, find rotten ply and joist ends, will spray on a rot treatment and cover it over with new felt. The half-rotten roof will be fine for another 5 years. They'll then inject DPC into your walls possibly not following the correct procedures and timings. It'll be a half-job. They'll re-render with a nice dollop of waterproofer so no symptoms will show for a year or so.

I'm not saying that will happen. But if you don't have a detailed quote, what's to stop them saying "We only agreed to replace the felt, guv'"?

And, as also said above, the best recommendation is to see their last two jobs and talk to the customers.