The Gentleman Construction Company

[dsloane]

Dear All

I couldn't find the thread that was warning of working with The Gentleman's Construction Company TGCC, so please merge if it's a repeat.

So just wanted to add my voice to the many others - please do not use them.

They did not complete the work on time going far beyond the deadline.

They did not complete the work to specifications - eg fixture on the wrong wall.

They did not dispose of waste materials properly - but I was still charged for that.

They made a terrible mess which I had to organise to get cleaned.

There was major fault that was promised to be fixed and wasn't even after months of communication.

Terrible, terrible, experience

I'm so sorry others have suffered the same.

[tetley08]

My experience of dealing with this company & the owner (Dominic Lewes) has been unsatisfactory and I would not recommend them.

[siousxiesue]

Is it possible to put in a joint complaint to Trading Standards? Surely he needs to be put out of business!

[Green soul]

Count me in...we have also been victim. DO NOT trust him, DO NOT USE HIM, Stay away from him. A proper Cowboy Builder.

[hairandeyes]

Oh that's a shame. I can only imagine how you feel. I had some bad work done by someone a few years ago! It's so horrible! I hope you are able to get it sorted.

I'm worried he might change his name. Do you have a photo of him?

[craigyboy71]

I fortunately pulled out before signing the contract as the references received were either poor or possibly false. Based on the feedback on this forum I am very relieved I did not proceed.

[Administrator]

I've had to remove some posts as they could be deemed defamatory or cause damage.

[craigyboy71]

I pulled out before signing the contract due to unsatisfactory references. I recommend anyone who uses builders always thoroughly check references and previous work. Sorry to hear what has happened to you all.

[SunrayDan]

On behalf of me and my family I would like to add our voice behind the many others who appear to have had very negative experiences with this company and its Manager, Dominic Lowes.

Our recent experience with this company has been completely unsatisfactory, and the issues listed in the initial post by dsloane, are echoed by our own experiences.

- The company did not complete the work on time going far beyond the initial deadline, and subsequent time extension.

- The Quality of work in many areas was not up to a standard expected of a competent builder, in many instances requiring later rectification.

- Damage was caused to owner supplied items, the property itself, and the neighbouring property during the course of construction, and in most cases were either not acknowledged and/or rectified.

- They did not dispose of waste materials on a regular basis creating an overload of waste, and when we asked them not to return to site, we had to then cover the overdue payments to the waste removal company.

We also had separate issues with the billing practices of TGCC.

Please DO NOT consider using this company under ANY circumstance.

We unfortunately did, and in our case it led to a trail of destruction that took months to recover from.

I will be happy to PM those who may be considering to use, or are currently using this building company with further details, examples and photos that support the summary of our unfortunate experience above.

[dsloane]

Dear All

Just for clarification as there seem to be slight variations in the name this thread is about The Gentleman Construction Company, sometimes abbreviated to TGCC.

Many thanks

[tetley08]

I have noticed quite a few posts recently asking for builder recommendations and I wanted to bring people's attention to this thread as I am aware that this individual (Dominic Lowes) is still working in the area.

Please read these comments before employing this man to do any work. Feel free to pm me if you would like further clarification or details.

[Harryv]

Hello everyone,

I just want to reiterate and emphasise, please DO NOT use this company. I am shocked that he is still in business and working, after what we experienced. We endured six months of hell for a 5-week job, that to this day is still not complete. The work done was substandard and of poor quality - our property was also damaged, as well as our new kitchen.The company still owes us compensation for damaged property, and we will be taking this further.

If anyone wants to message me privately, please do. I would be interested to hear from others who were unfortunate enough to have dealt with these incompetent crowd of chancers.

[Harryv]

Hello again - I'd also like to hear from anyone who has taken further action against this company, or is thinking about pursuing it.

Best

[SunrayDan]

Hi Harry. I have PM'ed you. There are a fair few of us who have befallen a similar fate as your own, and presumably a number of others out there we are not aware of. Let's hope there's a way to an end of this inflicted cycle of destruction.

[BrockleyBob]

Recently had a nightmare experience with using Dominic Lowes and the Gentleman Construction Company - AVOID.

Sounds very similar to other's experiences:

A 10-12 week kitchen extension took six months - and was left incomplete.

Poor workmanship in almost every aspect of the build.

Left us with a shocking mess (2 skips worth) to clean up.

Awful customer service - rude and patronising, and a constant battle against Mr Lowes' opaque billing practices.

If anyone wants any further details please PM me. Would also be very interested to hear from anyone pursuing Mr Lowes for refund/compensation - as I've considered doing the same but I'm unsure how best to proceed.

[Jayboy17]

Hello everyone I worked for Dominic lowes for about 6weeks 1 week he did not pay me claiming to customer at the time didn't pay him which is a lie I would like to make people aware not to work for this thief. Nasty person.

Regards jay

[tetley08]

Hello Jay, I'm sorry to hear about your experience working with Mr Lowes, it must have been incredibly frustrating to lose a weeks wages through no fault of your own. Having dealt with Mr Lowes myself and having heard other peoples experiences, unfortunately it does not surprise me that he treats his employees this way.

[Bluetwo]

i to have worked for Dominic Lowes and during that time I also experienced some problems, I may have even worked on some of your projects, just to clarify, if there was a delay in any of your projects, the workers are not to blame, every single aspect of the work that may or may not have been done, we were under instruction from Dominic, I noticed brockleybob said that there was poor workmanship in every aspect of the build, I'm sorry to hear that I worked along side some extremely good workers who put a lot of effort into trying to complete projects however the projects still failed I don't believe the problem is the workers I believe it is Dominic Lowes

[Jayboy17]

Bluetwo I agree with what you have said any work that was not complete was 100% down to dominic lowes, making 300 trips to travis Perkins or too his storage slowed down every job. All workers who I had worked with most the time were frustrated specially seeing how no projects were getting completed.