Katalimaq

I just wanted to post a quick recommendation for Ben and the team at Rock Dove Renovation .https://www.rockdoverenovation.com/. They have recently finished renovating our kitchen and the results are absolutely stunning. Ben was quick to respond, thorough and approachable. He listened to what was important to us and listened to me (sadly still not the case for a lot of contractors these days, who often defer to my husband despite the fact that I'm the one who works in the built environment). He communicated well and would always get in touch if there were delays. We both have jobs that require us to be in the office regularly, and we totally trusted the whole team to be in the house while we were not. The team was absolutely lovely - special shout outs to Ben, Paulo, Grant, Jake, Abraham and Ricky - and were positive, talented people who took care to keep the site clean as they went. Aside from being good practice, it also meant that we could continue to live in our flat during the works. The work itself was really well executed with beautiful detailing. Ben's attention to detail and high standards for his team meant that we had very little snagging required after the fact. We still marvel each day that we get to live with this kitchen. In short, we would highly recommend the team, and are now turning our eye to when we might be able to afford to redo the bathroom. (Pictures attached)

Cannot recommend Billy highly enough. We called him on Monday as discovered late on Sunday night that our heating wasn't working (isn't it always the way that it stops on the coldest days?). He arranged to come at 9am and was incredibly prompt - a text message from him at 8:55 to say he would be there in 5 minutes. He fixed our boiler, which turned out to be a relatively simple fix, and then proceeded to complete a service of the boiler, since we needed that done anyway. Whilst he was servicing the boiler, I was chatting about the issues we were having with the shower upstairs and the water pressure - since we had the shower installed two years ago, we have not been able to run the tap or flush the downstairs toilet whilst the shower is on, as it causes the shower to lose all pressure. I asked if he might be able to quote for the work, and he indicated that we would need to know where the bathroom was isolated from. He went hunting around and found the pipes in the bathroom -- and discovered that the issue had been that the original plumber never fully turned the water to the bathroom back on! He solved a problem that has been plaguing us for almost 2 years in a matter of minutes, because he was interested in solving the problem and thorough in understanding the problem prior to providing a quote. As a result, we have saved a significant amount of money on a pump we didn't need. (We will now be taking the matter up with the original plumbing company...not impressed). I am ecstatic with the service - it's not everyday someone saves you from spending upwards of ?900, and gives you back your heating as well! Including their Checkatrade website here in case it's helpful: https://www.checkatrade.com/HunterHeatingSolutions/ Thank you Billy for your hard work, I am so relieved to be able to shower stress free again!

We live in Dawsons Heights and saw 4 police officers with guns run down our driveway, down Overhill Road and towards Lordship Lane. Anyone have any other details? Flatmates aren't home yet, I've told them to stay away for a while just in case.

I have to second Brother Seamus' concerns in relation to Richard and strongly recommend against using him. He is unreliable and unprofessional, and we had a very similar experience to the one above - we had a number of small things we wanted to complete as well as one larger job. Richard quoted and asked for some money to cover materials, which we provided. He did complete some of the smaller works, such as swapping single powerpoint sockets for doubles. However when it came to the larger job, Richard was impossible to get a hold of and the job was never finished. We heard many different excuses: he was unwell, he had a family emergency, he had to finish another job. But at a certain point when you have been chasing for 8 weeks you realise you've been had. It may be a coincidence but shortly after we had Richard around to deliver the smaller works, my flatmate's credit card had an attempted fraudulent charge on it for ?900 to pay for someone's rent. When we called the company who had made the charge, we were informed that person's boyfriend, whose name was Richard, was supposed to be paying for the rent and had provided those card details. The charge was reversed and while it may be a coincidence, we were unwilling to allow Richard back into our house, given his previous behaviour and the suspicious timing... Not that he would have shown up anyway. My recommendation is to avoid Richard Mitchell entirely. There are more reliable electricians out there - we since found Kris Electrical Services and Kris has been a breath of fresh air after our experience with Richard.

Would like to add another recommendation for Aria and Daniel at AFE Plumbing Services. They installed a dishwasher for us and, as it was an integrated dishwasher, arranged for another tradesman to come (Mick) and knock out existing cupboards prior to installation and attach the door to the dishwasher. The whole job turned out to be a slightly complicated process due to an issue with the size of the dishwasher that we had bought (it was too small for the space and Mick had to construct a box within the larger frame to secure it), but Mick, Aria and Daniel did a fantastic job. Attitude counts for a lot in my experience with tradesmen. Aria and Daniel were keen, interested and really invested in providing a great service. The work they did was top notch and their customer service was great. They responded quickly, showed up on time and also took the time to explain what they were doing, which was really helpful for a new homeowner. Will definitely be using them again.