GritGit

The leak is round the back of the chimney, which you cant even see from the velux. I'm not going to try and convince my neighbour to go in on 2.5k with me to remove a chimney, which is causing no problem for them, on the strength of a diagnosis that was made without actually looking at the roof. Fair enough if you get on a set of ladders and say that's what needs doing but do you really expect a 30 second gander out a window at the general state of a chimney to convince someone that they need significant roofing work undertaking?

Of course, I forgot you can only be good at a job if it's in the town you were born in.

I wouldn't dismiss their diagnosis if they actually looked at it. Would you listen to a doctor who told you you needed surgery without conducting any tests?

There's a lot of 'he/she' 'her/him' going on in this thread (along with quite a lot of trans-bashing and 'you're the gender which I choose to assign you' rubbish). I'd just like to point out that it's very easy to avoid this altogether by using 'they/them'. Got into the habit of it working with a lot of international students when I wasn't sure from their name what their gender would be. Good luck to Eddie - I'm sure they will do a good job. And can you blame labour? If the recent political past has proven anything, it's that people will vote for a character rather than a party or what they stand for (Boris, Donald, etc.). At least Eddie has a shred of decency, empathy and honesty; something that someone cut from the Eton political cloth has often been found lacking. And they're bloody smart as well. Intelligent and decent and yet people are criticizing them? Can't help thinking that's more to do with them choosing to wear a dress and how that makes you uncomfortable rather than whether they will do a decent job or not.

My guess would be consecutive tory governments underfunding and a certain vote making European dentists feel unwelcome. I dread the day when I have a problem with my teeth because I've no idea what I'll do.

Any recommendations for a roofer to look at a small leak? Likely caused by a couple of cracked slates that need replacing but ideally looking for someone who will get up on ladder and have a look. Dalton looked out my velux and said I need my chimney taking down, which I'm fairly sure is not the case (at least if it is the case, it's not something you can decide by not getting within 15ft of the problem). Ideally an established outfit rather than a sole trader, or at least one with an good reputation that they care about. I've been stung before by a small roofing firm who did a crab job and had no interest in correcting it.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to rip it out yourself, if you're able. It will save you a pretty penny and you can usually shift the old suite on freecycle. I paid about £1200 for having a shower, toilet and heated towel rail fitted and the shower tiled and it took 2 men 3 days (though they were occasionally just 1 man as they were on another job nearby and would have got in eachothers way for some elements) . That was only fitting cost and everything was already where it needed to be plumbing-wise.

If anyone has any recommendations for someone to fit a drain/do a bit of soil-pipe work, please let me know! Experiences of various trades on a house renovation in the past 6 months; mostly very good: General Building - can really recommend Joynes Entire Building Solutions. Nigel & Owen rebuilt my bay window and bathroom floor, along with some plastering & tiling, and fitted my bathroom suite. Top work. Newish father/son outfit but lots of experience working for another firm. Honest and reliable and attention to detail is excellent. They will do a lot of work themselves (e.g. plumbing in a bathroom) so you can avoid having to get lots of different trades in. Any minor snagging things and they're right back to make sure you're happy. Their leadwork on my bay roof was particularly impressive, especially given some of the cowboy jobs you see about! Windows - Sheffield Window Centre replaced 3 UPV windows and an old wooden door with a new composite one and toplight. Price was reasonable and fitters were excellent. Chimneys/Stove works - Aizlewood Chimney Services cleaned 3 chimneys, installed cowls, lined a flue and are coming back to fit a stove in a couple of weeks. Job not finished yet but excellent so far. Central Heating - Brookhouse Gas installed all new rads and a new boiler in my terrace. Excellent service from quote to completion. Fitters again were excellent and ran everything past me to make sure it was exactly how I wanted before carrying the work out. Electrician - NLS Electrical (https://www.nlselectrical.com/) installed a load of new sockets and wired in a couple of extractors. Absolutely rapid and left hardly any mess at all. Absolutely no messing and left everything pristine. Had a mixed experience with Sheffield Gutter Services replacing some corbels. The first job they did was absolutely abysmal, almost to a comedic level (they screwed random bits of wood to the existing ones and painted them using a tin of interior gloss paint they found in my garden(!), which was nothing like the colour requested). This was having quoted to replace them all like-for-like and colour-match them to the rest of the house. They did come back and sort it to be fair (I think the chap who'd quoted it was a bit embarrassed in the job his lads had done), but did damage some internal plaster (possibly unavoidable) and didn't re-point around the new corbels, which I'd thought should have been part-and-parcel really. Not terrible but the initial experience meant I would think twice about using them again.

Thanks all. My main consideration now is what to do next. As they clearly have no intentions of putting the job right, I will be inviting them to court. The question is: do I leave the work 'as-is' and try and reclaim some/all of my money for the original job, or get someone else to put the job right and try and reclaim the cost of that work?

Yes

After a bit of advice really, from anyone who's been in a similar position. Had someone out in April (good reviews, recommendations etc.) to do some roofing work. Not extensive, we're talking around the £1k mark. They did a pretty shoddy job, left a load of mess and some things need putting right (tiles they broke, gaps left in pointing, etc.). Since then I've been trying to no avail to get them to come and put the work right. They've promised numerous times they will (and have admitted the job is not up-to-scratch) but it's one excuse after another and it's clear they have no intention of sorting it. I have a record of all communication and before & after photos. I've sent them a template letter from citizens advice saying they've breached the contract and gave them an ultimatum and timeframe to sort it and that's gone no where. Before anyone says, yes I should have withheld the payment but I was away at the time and paid in good faith; lessons learned. Has anyone had any luck recovering payment in similar situations? I'm at a point now where I'm just going to get someone else to do the work and run this companies name into the ground as best I can for the stress and rigmarole they've put me through over the past months (and to stop anyone else having to deal with them) but I don't want to shell out hand over fist when I've paid someone else to do a job that they haven't. Thanks for any advice.