Roofers / Gutter repairs and builders

After a terrible experience with a contractor I came into contact with via “bark” and was falsely reassured after also seeing on “checkatrade”…

If you need any home repairs or just want improvement work - beware!

Please be careful. Even checkatrade is not foolproof. If you don’t know someone or have a personal recommendation the the only places to trust are “which” (consumer magazine with verification of reviews process) and NFRC/CORC (national)confederation of roofing contractors. 

The way checkatrade,  my builder.com, and “rated people” etc… operate is, unfortunately, open to abuse.

I have been both unlucky and foolish and don’t want to frighten anyone just be aware if you’re not a builder or confident to do work at height yourself. Do not be reassured by those who give an office/warehouse address and office/landline phone number in addition to the mobile number. I was given a fake (but legit seeming) address and they had a landline set up too. Do not even be reassured it they show you a public liability insurance certificate. Apparently these are not that difficult to obtain.

All decent traders are busy. Many are quite small operators so won’t be found on companies house website or be VAT registered. Many don’t have websites (or have very clunky websites!) as they have plenty work already just from personal recommendations.

But if you’re looking from scratch don’t trust anyone off “bark” even if they’re on “checkatrade” without doing much more background research. 

Many roofing companies have similar names. This is not an accident! There are imitating companies using similar names to decent contractors everywhere. Just look at Horncastle and Sons (reputable Tottenham company) for their dire warnings of similarly named rivals who are likely complete cowboys.

Proline, Acorn, Weathershield and “Advanced roofing and building” are all names that could be legit but to be wary of just from my quick online searches.

Most traders are good and honest but some are criminal -  not just lazy or overcharging or incompetent The police told me and my husband that what was done to us is fraud. The threats were too ambiguous to be an “arrest-able offence” but it was correct to report as extortion/threats on the none emergency service (I was worried of wasting police time - don’t be similarly intimidated!) but police have limited resources to go after the perpetrators and the banks say it’s all a civil matter/ buyer and seller dispute despite the crime reference number. 

In short beware! Don’t be intimidated and always get multiple quotes even if the job grows/changes