Quote from Andura Guard for rendering/pointing

knowloads

NO wall coating costs £30k £21k or even £15k on an average semi. There are a growing number of 'specialists' offering exterior coatings of this nature and Andura offer nothing UnIQUE. They use acrylic based coatings that are available from the very companies that manufacture for them. Repairs to the walls aside, the coatings that are used are breathable, flexible and some offer the new nanotechnology energy saving properties now common in industrial sectors. The reason these companies use 'direct sales' teams is simple. door 2 door is still the most cost effective way to get business bar non. Unlike the 'Ormus like' followers of these threads, some of us have been involved in direct Sales, some ex-members of the DSA (Direct Sales Assoc). ALL staff are generally self employed, most on commission only. Canvassers get paid for 'sits' (appointments), no sits, no money. Salemen earn big bucks (£50-120k a year) , No sales, no money. The Managers get a cut, the fitters on a square meter rate, and the profit margins HUGE. All this standing, the prices are crazy and the sales methods WRONG. Starting with a £30,ooo price makes far to many customers think they are getting a real deal for £20,000 when in reality £10,000 would be plenty There is a trend in the UK that has been created by the ease at which companies can simply close down today, and start up again tomorrow with no follow up for ex-clients of the ltd company. 15 ltrs of the best external coating at the moment is around £120. The stuff these companies use. No gold plated tins, no wizards to spray it on, just hope the repairs are done correctly and pay around £30 square meter plus a bit extra for any major repair to render, pebbledash etc. Mid-Terrace House 70mtrs Semi , 125mtrs, detached 260mtrs do the maths. Sleep well.

smelter

I read the article on your readers that had a company called Andura come to their houses to assess the external house walls.I believe that Andura which are linked to Apex Direct Promotions were once operating under the name of Mosaic ERP Systems Ltd.They came to my house about 7years ago saying that they had men stood around with no work and could do work on my walls very cheap so as to give thier work team something to do.They assessed the walls and said they would chisel out all cracks, replace any damaged bricks etc and finish off with thier special coating (Texcote) which didn't let water through but allowed the walls to breath.To cut a long story short they did a rubbish job, i had to have them back a few times. I had a 5year guarantee and after that 5 years i took out another 5year guarantee with them and soon after found that the cracks that were supposed to be repaired were showing also the special coating coming off in areas,i tried to get in touch with them only to find that the had gone out of business but trading under another name Andura Guard.So now i have poor walls and no insurance it's about time companys were not allowed to go back into business under another name and all the customers under thier previous name being left high and dry. These people should be ashamed of themselves they are nothing but crooks.
Hope this is some help to people trying to decide what to do.

acegarp

apex direct promotions have turned up in bridgwater somerset doing cold calls now.

acegarp

apex direct are now phoning people withholding there phone number,
i thought this was made illegal.
can anybody tell me who i contact to report them.

Luckielorz2001

My other half and I have just had dealings with Andura Guard. A salesman came to our door and was offering a free survey on houses built around the 1930's in this area (same as others from 2 years ago so I can see from previous threads!) Our house was built around 1934 so of course we were asked if we would like this survey. Sorry to say I am a bit of a softie and the guy who came to the door was very shaky, a bit nervous and so I thought "what the hell, what harm can it do"

What a mistake.

He took my details and sure enough a day later Andura Guard rung. They arrange a date for that weekend (they arrived on the Friday night, saturday AM we had a call) We arranged a date for that sunday, so the next day!! Frankly I have never known a sales company work so fast before!!

My OH and I agreed that we would see what they had to say, as we were thinking of selling our house in a few years and thought it would be handy to know. In all honesty we didn't think there was anything wrong with the house.

Oh but they did. The first things that threw me off was that he actually wasn't the guy the office had told me was coming, he was someone different, and gave no reason as to why the designated person hadn't come. He was with us 2.5 hours, showed us the DVD, showed us water soaking into the bricks on the side of the house and came back with a whopping £14500 quote. :eek:

My partner and I agreed that we would not accept or even go near that sort of price. After a long period of "lip service" the guy left in his 2008 BMW (not relevant but that made me think he had obviously persuade some other poor sods to spend that kind of cash)

And then the doubt started. Over the next week or so my partner and I became increasingly aware of our outside walls, checking them, and others while we went to work, to try and see if we had anything different to any other house in the area, it got ridiculous. Then, just as we were beginning to forget about it they rung out the blue.

A "manager" of the logistics department had rung to say that they had "gaps" in between jobs in our area and that he could offer us a discounted price for the work in order to fill those gaps. He said that all he would ask in exchange was that any price quoted was not disclosed to other people. Immediately my OH and I smelt a rat. So we came on here, and found this forum and immediately me and my OH read EVERYTHING we could on these people. Forewarned is forearmed!

But, still morbid curiosity made us agree to seeing them once more, with a view to being able to compile our own "report". Hence this post. So he arranged a time and date for someone to see us, gave me the name and time and sure enough the next day, as arranged the guy arrived. Only same as before, this guy wasnt the guy they told me was coming. Second to that when he shook my hand he was very limp wristed, harldy shook it at all. Again, that rat was near and I could smell it.

He talked to us and I laid it down on the lines, he was here to satisfy my curiostiy, nothing more. He seemed undeterred by this.

I am a naturally honest person and sometime I think it works against me, but I can't be rude to people without giving them a "reason" why first! :rotfl:

He went outside on his own, did what he had to and then came back in. His first words to us were "I fear for you" My god how dramatic! He sat down and then reeled off a whole lot of different issues, and missed out one major one the other guy said needed doing!! Im sat there with a grin on my face and my OH is in the kitchen trying not to laugh. He goes on about how important it is for us to have it done, that he fears for us and that he is surprised we have no damp (we dont, BTW) My honesty then came out and I listed all the commitments we had at the moment so that even if this were "dire" it wasn't on our priority list at the moment. He used one of them against us to spread fear. I told him we were thinking of selling the house and he said that if we didnt get it done, there was a distinct chance that we wouldn't be able to sell the hosue and that we would "end up paying for it anyway"

Charming, use fear to get money out of me. That just makes me angry.

So anyway, this carried on for about 10 minutes, and then its mentioned that we are getting married. He then tries to use THIS against us (honeslty I never knew people could sink so low) He then said that we were to watch out for damp and that if we did get any then we would have to worry and it would be worth "cancelling your wedding for"

Im sorry but you can go boil your head if you think my walls are going to stop me from getting married. Clearly, saying this to a woman, the guy had a death wish. My OH, funnily enough, was surprisingly quiet through all of this :rotfl:

Anyway, he came back with a reduced price of £3552.
I nearly went into hysterics. So after saying that all the house needed doing for £14,500, now only the bottom half needed it (the major discrepancy mentioned above) and you can do all that for £11,000 LESS than what you quoted me.

Er, I think not. We told him no and sent him packing. :T

My advice, these people are cons artist and use fear to get you to part with your money, do not touch them with a barge pole! They lie, cheat and deceive to try and make a sale, and from what I read on here, they do a lot worse too!

Dont get me wrong they have made me more aware of this, as its something you dont consider when you buy a house, at least not a t first, but I am getting a builder in to take a look, and see what they say.

polomint_2

I just had a cold call from Apex Direct promotions ltd (operating in the west sussex area at the moment)...gave me the speal...thrust a pink card at me with a free phone number on the bottom.....He said......Said most people in the road where taking up this wonderful free offer..asked me for my phone number so someone could ring me..I said i dont give out my number. ...he started to get pushy that they where bound by the data protection act...blah blah blah...your code is...he spouted whats the rest...I again repeated i dont give out my number and have you a number i can ring.,...Like the one on the bottome of this card....oh you wont be able to talk to anyone on the number....so why is it there???....I said well your not having my number ok....He put out his hand to me...(i thought he wanted to shake it....LMAO so shook his hand) OH no i want the card back he said....Ill keep that i said ....and shut the door....

Dodgyrender

This week these clowns are appearing in Northants

I got quoted £9746 to repoint the rear wall of my terrace and repair a render crack in the kitchen wall...............but if I only wanted the pointing doing it would be £3600 or if I agree to have it all done within a month it would be £6700 ish

Theres no point in getting a builder to repoint because it wont last and in 4 years it will need doing again that why their 25yr guarenteed product is the beez kneez.......apparently

I could have paid for it with a barclays home improvemt loan at £140 a month for 120 months apparently

The meeting took two and a half hours..............i was not told that by the initial door sellar and i wasnt told the guy would need to come in and use the dvd to show me how lovely it all was..Michael Fish how much is your cut eh ?

Im e mailing my local trading standards folk and asking a builder exactly how much is it to repoint a wall

Dodgy

darren_smith_2

i used to work for this company 3 years ago doing specialist wall coatings (specialist wall coating is a longer lasting alternative to a standard paint which is designed to eliminate damp, prevents any growth of algae, helps retain heat within the home and is also designed to be maintenance free, it does also transform the look of your home) all over the country. I have since left this company to set up my own business. A typical three bed semi (3 sides) would cost £3,000 - £4,000 (not £10k plus) for a full renovation using specialist wall coating!! If you want any more information i have a website or call me on 07971 957 852 if you think you have been over quoted.

darren_smith_2

Luckielorz2001 wrote: »

My other half and I have just had dealings with Andura Guard. A salesman came to our door and was offering a free survey on houses built around the 1930's in this area (same as others from 2 years ago so I can see from previous threads!) Our house was built around 1934 so of course we were asked if we would like this survey. Sorry to say I am a bit of a softie and the guy who came to the door was very shaky, a bit nervous and so I thought "what the hell, what harm can it do"

What a mistake.

He took my details and sure enough a day later Andura Guard rung. They arrange a date for that weekend (they arrived on the Friday night, saturday AM we had a call) We arranged a date for that sunday, so the next day!! Frankly I have never known a sales company work so fast before!!

My OH and I agreed that we would see what they had to say, as we were thinking of selling our house in a few years and thought it would be handy to know. In all honesty we didn't think there was anything wrong with the house.

Oh but they did. The first things that threw me off was that he actually wasn't the guy the office had told me was coming, he was someone different, and gave no reason as to why the designated person hadn't come. He was with us 2.5 hours, showed us the DVD, showed us water soaking into the bricks on the side of the house and came back with a whopping £14500 quote. :eek:

My partner and I agreed that we would not accept or even go near that sort of price. After a long period of "lip service" the guy left in his 2008 BMW (not relevant but that made me think he had obviously persuade some other poor sods to spend that kind of cash)

And then the doubt started. Over the next week or so my partner and I became increasingly aware of our outside walls, checking them, and others while we went to work, to try and see if we had anything different to any other house in the area, it got ridiculous. Then, just as we were beginning to forget about it they rung out the blue.

A "manager" of the logistics department had rung to say that they had "gaps" in between jobs in our area and that he could offer us a discounted price for the work in order to fill those gaps. He said that all he would ask in exchange was that any price quoted was not disclosed to other people. Immediately my OH and I smelt a rat. So we came on here, and found this forum and immediately me and my OH read EVERYTHING we could on these people. Forewarned is forearmed!

But, still morbid curiosity made us agree to seeing them once more, with a view to being able to compile our own "report". Hence this post. So he arranged a time and date for someone to see us, gave me the name and time and sure enough the next day, as arranged the guy arrived. Only same as before, this guy wasnt the guy they told me was coming. Second to that when he shook my hand he was very limp wristed, harldy shook it at all. Again, that rat was near and I could smell it.

He talked to us and I laid it down on the lines, he was here to satisfy my curiostiy, nothing more. He seemed undeterred by this.

I am a naturally honest person and sometime I think it works against me, but I can't be rude to people without giving them a "reason" why first! :rotfl:

He went outside on his own, did what he had to and then came back in. His first words to us were "I fear for you" My god how dramatic! He sat down and then reeled off a whole lot of different issues, and missed out one major one the other guy said needed doing!! Im sat there with a grin on my face and my OH is in the kitchen trying not to laugh. He goes on about how important it is for us to have it done, that he fears for us and that he is surprised we have no damp (we dont, BTW) My honesty then came out and I listed all the commitments we had at the moment so that even if this were "dire" it wasn't on our priority list at the moment. He used one of them against us to spread fear. I told him we were thinking of selling the house and he said that if we didnt get it done, there was a distinct chance that we wouldn't be able to sell the hosue and that we would "end up paying for it anyway"

Charming, use fear to get money out of me. That just makes me angry.

So anyway, this carried on for about 10 minutes, and then its mentioned that we are getting married. He then tries to use THIS against us (honeslty I never knew people could sink so low) He then said that we were to watch out for damp and that if we did get any then we would have to worry and it would be worth "cancelling your wedding for"

Im sorry but you can go boil your head if you think my walls are going to stop me from getting married. Clearly, saying this to a woman, the guy had a death wish. My OH, funnily enough, was surprisingly quiet through all of this :rotfl:

Anyway, he came back with a reduced price of £3552.
I nearly went into hysterics. So after saying that all the house needed doing for £14,500, now only the bottom half needed it (the major discrepancy mentioned above) and you can do all that for £11,000 LESS than what you quoted me.

Er, I think not. We told him no and sent him packing. :T

My advice, these people are cons artist and use fear to get you to part with your money, do not touch them with a barge pole! They lie, cheat and deceive to try and make a sale, and from what I read on here, they do a lot worse too!

Dont get me wrong they have made me more aware of this, as its something you dont consider when you buy a house, at least not a t first, but I am getting a builder in to take a look, and see what they say.

hi if you are still interested in wall coating installation i have my own company and could give you an honest quote - 07971 957 852

ewcs

darren_smith wrote: »

i used to work for this company 3 years ago doing specialist wall coatings (specialist wall coating is a longer lasting alternative to a standard paint which is designed to eliminate damp, prevents any growth of algae, helps retain heat within the home and is also designed to be maintenance free, it does also transform the look of your home) all over the country. I have since left this company to set up my own business. A typical three bed semi (3 sides) would cost £3,000 - £4,000 (not £10k plus) for a full renovation using specialist wall coating!! If you want any more information i have a website or call me on 07971 957 852 if you think you have been over quoted.

Helps retain heat within the home? If an external wall has a crack letting in damp in can be repaired with traditional sand & cement, that would also help retain the heat within the home surely.