Loft Conversion - Builder - Benchmark Lofts

[alexjj80]

This is a recommendation for Benchmark Lofts, who work in and around the Dulwich area.

They started our project at the end of July and we were completely finished at the end of September (it was just over 8 weeks), which included: the loft conversion with a built in wardrobe, exposed brick wall and ensuite bathroom, completely re-doing an existing bathroom and painting the hallway from top of the house all the way down. This also included an initial delay due to a hold up with the party wall agreement, which was the fault of the owner of the property on one side of our terraced house. They worked fast, but without cutting corners. I was on site most of the time, so I could see how the work was developing.

So, here's some of the things I liked about them:

- all of the people who work for Benchmark are incredibly nice and polite, which makes a difference when you have them in your house all the time (probably not such an issue for people working away from home)

- Tom has very good ideas about what works and what doesn't and is creative when it comes to finding solutions to challenges that will inevitably come up

- all of the people that work for Benchmark are directly employed by Tom, which clearly makes a difference

- the quality of the various tradesmen was excellent and it is clear Tom holds them to high standards

- they work fast

- they are very trustworthy; we provided keys and very quickly I felt comfortable with them letting themselves in and out of my house

If there's anything I would do differently, it would be:

- Perhaps a bit more hand holding at times would've helped. They're pros and have been in the business for a long time whereas we were novices, so we perhaps needed to be more clued up on the whole process (e.g. the party wall agreement delay may have been avoided had we started sooner)

- Communication: knowing what items were needed when at the beginning of the project would've been helpful. I gather Tom has done this previously and people often don't listen, but I'm female and I'm an OCD planner :) I sometimes found myself having to ask for things to be moved as they had put something in the normal/logical place, but I wanted something different. So again, communication before doing something is key.

A word of advice to people embarking on a project:

- Have a clear timeline of what needs to happen when e.g. planning permission, party wall agreements etc the groundwork needs to start way before the building work

- Think about everything you will need to buy from a materials perspective ahead of time because delivery in the building trade is unreliable at best!

- Think about exactly how you want things early on if possible e.g. where will the radiator be positioned and communicate this to the builder (things can sometimes be changed, but that adds a time delay to the project)

In summary, definitely go ahead and book in your loft conversion with Benchmark Lofts, you won't be disappointed. I would happily work with Tom and the team again, whether they would be willing to deal with my husband is another matter! ;)

[HK2016]

Hi, I would also vouch for Benchmark Lofts who did our loft conversion earlier this year. Again, they completed the work in about two months to a great standard, finishing by the end of August.

For us, I think communication throughout the whole process was very good. I felt Tom gave us the right amount of notice to think about and source materials to keep the project ticking over efficiently. I was at home throughout much of the build which probably helped with that too.

If ever we had any questions or faced the odd hitch, Tom and the team were on hand very quickly to sort things out.

Would highly recommend!

[PoisonIvy]

Thank you for posting photos, it looks beautiful. What kind of conversion did you have? Was it a dormer/mansard/etc? Did you need to lower your ceilings in the floor below?

I love the floor tiles in the bathroom btw. And the wall tiles too.

[alexjj80]

PoisonIvy Wrote:

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> Thank you for posting photos, it looks beautiful.

> What kind of conversion did you have? Was it a

> dormer/mansard/etc? Did you need to lower your

> ceilings in the floor below?

>

> I love the floor tiles in the bathroom btw. And

> the wall tiles too.

Hi I?m so sorry I?ve only seen this now!

It was a dormer. We did NOT have to drop the ceiling below. The guys did a good job of maintaining height, but we did have quite a lot of height to play with.

If you?d like the link to where the tiles are from please drop me a message and I can send you the details. Cheers.

[megmj]

Another recommendation for Benchmark. We had our loft done in 2016 so have already posted about them but have recently worked with them again due to issues with next door's roof causing leaks in our loft. Tom was on holiday but was quick to respond and his team were over to ours straight away to sort it out. Jamie and James were fantastic and great at communicating the issue so we could relay to the neighbour. In short, they actually care about your loft even after it is completed which makes us even happier that we chose them.

Happy to provide more recommendations on the loft itself if anyone wants them.

[peachey]

Thanks both for the recommendation. We're currently looking for a loft company and are finding it SO hard! Is there anything else you can tell me about Benchmark? Are they in Camden? Would also be interested in how their quotes compared to other companies. Any more info you can give would be massively appreciated! :)

[peachey]

Benchmark don't seem to answer emails. Tried twice in the past 2 weeks to get a quote but no reply :-(

Very disappointed!

[KatieJ]

Tom and his team at Benchmark are currently midway through my loft conversion. Tom is on site most of the time and is very hands on unlike quite a few other owners of loft companies which is a real bonus.

We chose Benchmark after getting quotes from 3 other companies and going to see 4 lofts in the area that Tom and his team had done and every client spoke incredibly highly of both Benchmark and the work that they did. They are reassuringly busy and well worth waiting for.

Tom mentioned that his website is currently being updated and so he is not getting all enquiries through as he should be through the site but this is being rectified this week . It?s worth waiting for the right company..

[alexjj80]

Well that's certainly not my experience - there may have been technical issues for all you know or something happened. There's normally a very good explanation for these things and if it was urgent, perhaps it may have been an idea to pick up the phone and call them. Just saying.

peachey Wrote:

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> Benchmark don't seem to answer emails. Tried twice

> in the past 2 weeks to get a quote but no reply

> :-(

> Very disappointed!