Recommendation for Benchmark Lofts

[BeckyC]

We've recently completed a loft conversion with Benchmark Lofts and wanted to pop a note on EDF to recommend them.

Tom, Jamie & team were brilliant from start to finish. They were very open to our design ideas and had lots of great suggestions too. Everyone was polite and hard-working and the noise and disruption levels were kept to a minimum.

We're really happy with the finished product and to have had lots of compliments on the work.

[peachey]

Great to hear. We're in the middle of a conversion (with a different company) and they've badly marked the inside walls of our stairs and landings, even down to the plaster in places. They tell us this is completely normal (although they didn't mention this when they discussed the project with us). Did this happen to you? And if so did they put it right? This company are saying they won't redecorate.

[domcourage]

Hi All - Stay away from Benchmark Lofts. Following recommendations on this site and some excellent references that Tom provided we hired Benchmark to manage out loft conversion as a design and build. We were linked up with an "architect" who offered next to nothing in terms of design advice and after some significant delays submitted an application that was rejected. Throughout, Tom was defensive and not helpful so I had my suspicions. These were confirmed when I tried to contact him after the rejection and he was never heard from again. We were ?2000 down but overall it feels like we dodged a bullet on this one.

Best of luck everyone.

Dom

[M&s]

I absolutely agree re recommending Benchmark Lofts. Tom and his team were excellent. The design has worked extremely well with our space. The end result is first class, as was their attention to detail. We are really pleased and would 100% recommend them. Great team to have around too ... and the neighbours said the same as they were polite, friendly and considerate. Thank you!

[2019EDF]

I can?t recommend Benchmark lofts enough. They did a two bed, one bath dormer for us starting January 2020.

They came in on budget, completed the work even quicker than anticipated and to a great standard. The team were all very good, but most importantly Tom was very easy to work with and really on the case.

We chose Benchmark based on a personal recommendation and lots of positive feedback on various forums. As soon as we met Tom I had a much better feel than some as some of the other firms. It turns out that most of the companies you speak to sub-contract the work, which explains the very mixed reviews they have of quality. Tom is a one man band - he sold the project to us and managed it all himself.

Tom wasn?t the cheapest quote, but when I checked the detail the others who quoted cheaper didn?t include elements that he did so I?m not sure how much cheaper they were in reality. It is very hard at the quote stage to know exactly how many lights, plug sockets etc you want so I found this comparison tricky. In the end we wanted quite a few extras to what was on the quote e.g. shower cubby holes, extra cupboards etc and they were well priced with Tom, so I think overall we spent a similar amount.

He also had good design recommendations to get the most out of space and was very honest about ideas not being necessary (rather than doing them just to get the bill as high as possible).