First-time house renovation

dottiepeas

andrew-b wrote: »

Thames water covers alot of kent hence confusion ..i forget the thames goes all the way to oxford!

No worries!..it's good to get recommendations!.and.someone else on here might well be looking for a plumber in the kent area, so it all helps!!

Latecomer- totally know what you mean! It also takes up alot time to meet up with all the tradespeople to get these quotes, so was hoping if one or 2 of them came back with a fair quote we could pick one, as that would be easier and less time consuming than having to meet say 10 plumbers and explaining the same thing over and over again. I don't understand why they wouldn't even come back with a quote when they make the effort to come out though!?...maybe they just pick their jobs- so if there was a bigger project worth more money, then they just forget about the smaller jobs!? Might have to get back to the old yellow pages and start looking for afew more plumbers!....now I can see why on programmes like Property ladder, that projects get delayed!.....all that time waiting on trade quotes!! heehee!

dottiepeas

andrew-b wrote: »

Probably is..but that doesn't make it ok to take longer than they say they will.
As latecomer says once they've not bothered to quote they go on the "don't bother with again list"..sooner or later things will change and they will no longer be able to cherry pick their jobs. One company i had out before for a new boiler quote and was impressed...quickly returned quote..big folder of references and pictures etc. They were beaten on price and didn't fit my preferred boiler but I kept their business card and 2 years later phoned for a bathroom quote. Guy came out looked around made lots of notes and said would get back to me...never heard anything since! I guess he didn't fancy the job so his card went in the bin.

Yep!..I think I will have to start making an "Avoid List" too!!....but will be nice and give them a couple more days to get a quote back!....then dismiss them!! Ha!

Canucklehead

dottiepeas wrote: »

Also met up with afew plumbers to get quotes for installing central heating with combi boiler, but they all seem to be really slow in getting quotes back! It's been over a week, and still no quotes back!?...do they usually take long!? I would have thought they do these things quite regularly and could quote quite quickly!?....

Good evening: just as consumers decide not to engage the services of a particular tradesperson, trades also choose not to provide a service to a particular customer. I can't speculate on the reasons why the RGIs haven't given you quotes. Are you paying for this service? If you have requested a full specification, written quotation this can take a great deal of time (quite often in the evenings after a 12 hour day during the busiest time of a RGI's year, the heating season). Many RGIs are now charging for written quotations, the cost of which is deducted from the final bill if the customers proceeds with the quote. Estimates take less time, are free but not legally binding and lacking in detail.

Chase it up and if no result, move on

Canucklehead

dottiepeas

Canucklehead wrote: »

Good evening: just as consumers decide not to engage the services of a particular tradesperson, trades also choose not to provide a service to a particular customer. I can't speculate on the reasons why the RGIs haven't given you quotes. Are you paying for this service? If you have requested a full specification, written quotation this can take a great deal of time (quite often in the evenings after a 12 hour day during the busiest time of a RGI's year, the heating season). Many RGIs are now charging for written quotations, the cost of which is deducted from the final bill if the customers proceeds with the quote. Estimates take less time, are free but not legally binding and lacking in detail.

Chase it up and if no result, move on

Canucklehead

Thanks Canucklhead! Maybe it is because it's the winter season, and they are all busy! I have now got a quote back of £4650.00 Exc Vat. (for a 2bed bungalow!)...which i think seems abit high?! Though have got nothing to compare this with, until I get another back......

Isn't charging for a written quote abit unfair??...as you would then lose the money should you decide not to choose them for the job? I personally wouldn't choose a tradesperson or company for a quote, if I had to pay for a quote! As they could come back with a ridiculously high one on purpose? I called a glazer yesterday to get a quote for 1 x pane of replacement double glazing, and they said there would be a visit charge of £50. (Though redeemable if you went ahead with them) I even had the glass measurements for them too, but they still wanted to charge for coming out. I did call another company, who were happy to quote without a chargeable visit!....

Canucklehead

dottiepeas wrote: »

Thanks Canucklhead! Maybe it is because it's the winter season, and they are all busy! I have now got a quote back of £4650.00 Exc Vat. (for a 2bed bungalow!)...which i think seems abit high?! Though have got nothing to compare this with, until I get another back......

Isn't charging for a written quote abit unfair??...as you would then lose the money should you decide not to choose them for the job? I personally wouldn't choose a tradesperson or company for a quote, if I had to pay for a quote! As they could come back with a ridiculously high one on purpose? I called a glazer yesterday to get a quote for 1 x pane of replacement double glazing, and they said there would be a visit charge of £50. (Though redeemable if you went ahead with them) I even had the glass measurements for them too, but they still wanted to charge for coming out. I did call another company, who were happy to quote without a chargeable visit!....

Good morning: you are paying for their time. The OH no longer gives free quotes to the unknowns i.e. people not recommended to him by other customers etc. If £25 for a full specification/written quotation after conducting a site survey and discussing the customer's heating and hot water requirements deters the 'timewasters' then so be it...only so many hours in the day and business overheads to meet.

HTH

Canucklehead

latecomer

I have to say that £25 is probably reasonable for a detailed quote but for that I would expect the tradesperson to have a good look at the job and provide a detailed quote.
If someone same out and spent 5 mins looking at it then provided a 2 line hand writte quote I would be very unhappy.about being charged.

wallbash

.i'm more determined than ever to stick to and promote DIY!

DIY the only true way to go.

Canucklehead

latecomer wrote: »

I have to say that £25 is probably reasonable for a detailed quote but for that I would expect the tradesperson to have a good look at the job and provide a detailed quote.
If someone same out and spent 5 mins looking at it then provided a 2 line hand writte quote I would be very unhappy.about being charged.

Good afternoon: I hope that anyone who is thinking of contracting the services of a RGI (or any other trade) who spends such a miniscule amount of time 'looking' at a job and provides a 2 sentence quote on the back of a fag packet (less likely this days with the decline in smoking;)) thinks twice but we've seen many examples where attention to detail is absent on both sides. A thorough site survey is a must... the time the OH spends looking at a job and formulating the quote varies with size and complexity of the job.

Bottom line...always try to use the services of trades recommended to you by a source you trust and recommend those trades on to your friends, family, colleagues etc.

If someone doesn't want to pay for a quote for whatever reason it is his/her prerogative as is the motivation of honest trades to charge for the service.

Caveat emptor. Caveat venditor.:think:

HTH

Canucklehead

helping_hubby

Hello, I'm back for a whinge and for some advice...

Last week we got a letter saying that the alleyway at the end of our garden was going to be cleared and tidied up. Didn't think much of it until today I woke up to find the view at the bottom of my garden completely transformed for the worse.

They have cut down all the trees And my OH who is at home this morning says they are hacking more trees down.

I know the trees are on council land and they can do what they like but I'm gutted that they didn't even ask our opinion about it.

The view is absolutely horrid now. We can see barbed wire that surrounds the Kia garage which before you would never even know it was there. We've got a view of graffitti on someones shed. We can now see the house opposite us and they have for some strange reason a fence made of scaffold!

I've spoken to the council lady who told me they will be planting bulbs where the trees were! LOL I won't be able to see the bulbs!

She's coming round Friday 8am to have a look from my garden and to see if she can come up with a compromise.

So I'm wondering what I can do to improve my view that's legal...she tells me I can only have a 6 foot fence, which I assume is what I have already, although it might be 5 foot. Will check in the morning.

Can I put trellis on top? I'm thinking of planting Leylandii trees I am that desperate, but our garden is quite small.

http://thehouserenovationinsurrey.blogspot.com/2009/04/garden-update.html
If you look at the 2 pictures at the bottom there, they've basically chopped down the trees to the right of the wendy house up to the shed in the pic on the right. And it sounds like they are going to cut all the trees to the right of that too.

I'm thinking of putting a tree of somesort infront of my shed on the right (bet the neighbours won't like that cos it'll shade their garden). And trees along the bottom fence. There's not much I can do near the gate though

Any help appreciated.

TomsMom

Oh dear Sam, I'd be gutted too. It was lovely to see the trees before and it makes you wonder why the council found it necessary to be so brutal, could they not have just pruned them????????

I think you need some sort of screen at the bottom of your garden to hide what is now a poor view. If your fence is already 6' I'm not sure you can put trellis on top as that would then make it about 7'. Trees on your side seem the obvious solution but do be wary of Leylandii, they can grown at an alarming rate (which is good to screen the view) but can also grow to an alarming height :eek: . If you've not already done so, take a look at this site dedicated to Leylandii. Also check out if there are any other trees that might be suitable. I'm not an tree expert so cannot recommend any - maybe you could ask on the green fingered forum.