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Posts Tagged ‘guarantee<’
Did you know that by using a well-positioned skylight you could benefit from as much as 40% more light than from conventional windows? Mr-Skill advises that this is one project best left to the experts, because you don’t want to risk fiddling around on your roof unless you really know what you are doing. The good news is that we have several pre-screened experts at your service, so you can find a roofing specialist right here on Mr-Skill.
Whether it’s a loft conversion you are considering, or just more sun and daylight you want to enjoy indoors, there are many designs for roof windows – or skylights as some call them. Let’s have a look at some of the more popular options and then you can get a roofing quote from one of our experienced members: 
Velux Roof Windows – Installing this popular product on your roof can transform an otherwise dark area, fit only for growing mushrooms, into a space flooded with natural light. You also get the benefit of better ventilation throughout your home if you open the roof window, but don’t forget to close it when the weather turns.
Flat Roof Windows – Designed for modern flat roofs, they certainly bring the day in from outside.
Cabrio Balconies – What a transformation you will experience when you use your roof window to make an instant balcony without having to re-build the entire house.
Sun Tunnels – Perfect in passageways where you want to bring in more light. If you think about it, it’s the only way you can install windows in this area.
Certification and Guarantees 
Before appointing your roofing contractor, ask to see their certification of competency, and make sure they still have current registration with the relevant association too. And as Mr-Skill always insists, any job is only as good as its guarantee – be sure to ask about this, and remember to get it in writing as well.
All Said and Done
One of our regular London roofing experts advises that, while you may consider installing roof windows yourself, keep in mind that this is one of those precise jobs that requires specialist knowledge. He goes on to say, “ think of the safety risks you are taking while you work on your roof, and how sure are you that you will seal properly to avoid wind and water leaks?”. Water has an unforgiving habit of finding its way through any weak spot, so don’t be caught short.
Tags: balcony, cabrio balcony, certification, find a roofing specialist, guarantee, home, indoor, knowledge, loft conversion, london roofing expert, natural light, roofing quote, roofwindow, skylights, sun, sun tunnel, transformation, ventilation, weather, windows
Posted in Roofing, Gutters & Drainage, Roofing, Gutters & Drainage | Comments Off
A beautiful modern bathroom is not only pleasant on the eye – it’s going to add real value to your home too. Experts say that when it comes to selling property quickly, buyers put new bathrooms and kitchens at the top of their wish lists. The Mr-Skill website is a good place to find a bathroom fitter, because we screen all our members before we accept them.
Here then, are four easy steps to getting your bathroom upgraded:
Why not check with Mr-Skill before you accept a quotation – our members are offering incredible bargains right now, and you could save up to 25% on normal prices! 
Firstly – Measure your existing bathroom and record the layout on a sketch. Of course, you don’t have to follow the existing set-up with your new bathroom. However it is important to understand the existing piping arrangements, as it can save pounds if you don’t need a major refit of the plumbing too.
Take your plan with you when you visit bathroom-fitting shops in your area. The purpose of this is to get ideas in terms of what would look nice for you, and how much it would cost. Good bathroom-fitting shops will be only too pleased to help with free designs. Remember to ask your supplier if their tradespersons are criminal records bureau checked, and that they are registered and qualified and gas safe accredited too.
Secondly – A home survey is next on the list, and it will enable your preferred supplier to fully discuss and understand your requirements. From the survey, you will receive a bathroom fitting quotation, which you need to review carefully before signing agreement. Remember to request any changes in writing. One of our regular London bathroom fitters advises you to ask about special offers before finally accepting.
Thirdly – Stripping out your old bathroom and installing your new one requires a little forward planning. How long will it take? Do you have a second bathroom to use during renovations? Who’s responsible for rubble removal, and for the final clean up too?
Finally – Assuming that everything goes to plan, you need to know about the guarantee for the workmanship and the bathroom fittings as well. Don’t be shy to ask, because the completed job needs to be just like your hard earned money – and that’s perfect!
Tags: bathroom design, bathroom fitting quote, bathroom fittings, bathroom ideas, bathroom renovation, find a bathroom fitter, fittings, guarantee, london bathroom fitter, measurements, modern bathroom, new bathroom, piping, plan, Plumbing, sketch, tradesmen
Posted in Plumbing, Heating & Gas | Comments Off
About the only way to save money on plumbers is not to have a need for their services in the first place. We are of course talking about those easy DIY jobs such as drain clearing and unblocking your loo. But there are some jobs that only a qualified plumber can attend to, and it’s for these kinds of jobs that we are offering free advice on how to go about choosing one.
The Seven Most Important Considerations
When requesting plumbing services, don’t be shy to ask these important questions before selecting them: 
- Are they qualified and currently registered?
- Do they come across as professional on the ‘phone?
- Are they willing to reveal their charges once they know what needs doing?
- Are they loading the costs when it comes to replacing broken or worn parts?
- Do they come across as friendly?
- Ask if they clean up properly when finished.
- Do they offer a guarantee?
Let’s analyse the above in more detail before you go about selecting your preferred plumber. Remember that Mr-Skill has an impressive list of pre-screened professionals, so you could find a plumber right here without further ado!
Qualifications
Skills in the plumbing trade take several years to develop, starting with a proper apprenticeship under the experienced watch of a mentor. Skills alone are not sufficient, because plumber need to prove they have what it takes. This they do by studying and passing several exams set by City & Guilds. 
Responding to Your Call
If you have a concern after speaking to a plumber about your problem on the ‘phone, picture them in your house!
Charging
Plumbing is a highly competitive sector, and quoting should be straightforward and simple once they know what needs doing. Estimating time and materials is part of any plumber’s training. You could easily compare by getting a plumbers quote right here on Mr-Skill.
Parts and Spares
Ask your plumber if he has a problem with you shopping around for the parts he thinks you need. If he’s cagey, then the chances are that he is loading prices.
One of our London plumbers wraps up with this advice. Any well turned out plumber should clean up nicely when he’s finished as part of the service. It’s a simple matter of being proud of what they do and how they do it, and don’t forget to ask about guarantees too.
Tags: apprenticeship, City & Guilds, cleaning up, DIY plumbing, experience, find a plumbing-heating-and-gas expert, friendly plumber, guarantee, knowledge, london plumber, plumber, plumbing-heating-and-gas quote, professional plumber, qualified plumber, quote, training
Posted in Plumbing, Heating & Gas | Comments Off
Misting or fogging in double-glazed windows is quite common in older homes where the guarantee has expired. Owners often put up this, because it is a cosmetic problem that they feel is not worth the money to repair. As a London Window Fitting Expert I’m often asked what causes this irritating problem, and I thought others might like to know why too.
 Some condensation is natural in the space between two glass panes, because of the difference between outdoor and indoor temperatures. In earlier days this drained naturally away. These days another plan is put in place in the interests of thermal efficiency.
- The moisture-absorption material used instead is known an silica – that’s the same stuff as the tiny white balls found in little bags and shipped with electronic goods.
- This silica is in the separation bars that keep the double-glazing panes apart. You’ll find them right up against the inner window frame. The idea is that the silica absorbs the moisture in winter months, and dries out again in summer.
- Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and sometimes the silica becomes water-logged in less
 than five years. Most double-glazing is guaranteed for ten years though. If you are lucky enough to have the original warranty then you may have a claim.
If you are unable to prove the claim and want your unsightly problem solved, then I suggest you Find a Window Fitter to do this for you. Many people prefer to have a drain hole inserted instead, because this is half the price of a complete Replacement Window Fitting Quote.
The window fitter who contributed this advice is listed on Mr-Skill. Like our other skilled artisans in all UK trades, he has a reputation that goes back for years, and he is registered as required by law too. Please contact us in the event that you require Professional Window Fitting Quotes.
Tags: absorb, cause, claim, condensation, cosmetic, double glazing, find a window fitter, fog, frame, glass, guarantee, hole, home, indoor, insert, log, london window fitting, mist, moisture, money, old, outdoor, pane, price, repair, silica, spacer, summer, temperature, thermal, warranty, waterlog, window, window fitting quote, winter
Posted in Window & Door Fitting | Comments Off
Moving between homes is traumatic enough without being involved in a moving scam too. The difficulty is that most us move seldom and have little experience. Follow these suggestions and increase your prospects of a seamless move. Find a Mover on Mr-Skill and you virtually guarantee it.
•  Don’t choose the first person who walks in through your front door, and be put off, not impressed by a smooth act. Start by asking standard questions on the phone about professional registration and how many years in service. There’s a lot more to a successful move that accepting the cheapest Removal Quote.
• Your next step is to pay a visit to your shortlisted moving firms at their local offices. No Local offices? We suggest you move on because buying local means getting local support in time of trouble too. There’s little point in dealing with a London Moving Firm unless you live in London or are moving there.
Look out for the following warning signs as you make your visits:
• Shoddy premises and dirty vans and trucks
• Phones ringing unanswered off the hook
•  No decent reception and waiting area
• No license displayed and no advice about insurance
• A firm that offers to quote without visiting, on the basis of the number of rooms involved
When the representative comes round to quote ask detailed questions about what exactly is included. Do they supply packing materials and what exactly do they pack? Do they load your goods into their vehicle, and do they deliver them and unpack them at the other end in the right rooms? You’ll soon find out why removal quotes vary so much.
When you have chosen your removal firm (and we have many good ones listed here), our advice is to leave them to get on with it, and to try to stay out their way. Leave one member of the family to answer any questions they may have. The rest of the family should be elsewhere preparing their new home. That’s how you Find a Mover and have a successful move.
Tags: cheap, choice, choose, deliver, difficulty, dirty, experience, find a mover, guarantee, home, insurance, licence, load, local, london moving firm, material, move, mover, moving, office, offload, pack, phone, prepare, professional, question, quote, reception, registration, removal quote, removalist, remover, scam, select, service, shortlist, suggestion, support, truck, van, visit
Posted in Moving Homes & Hauliers | Comments Off
The last components that are fitted when assembling modern baths are the front panels themselves. These clip easily into place, and clip out easily too in order to provide access to drains and pipes. Because bath sizes are standardised these days, it follows that it is equally easy to replace an existing panel on a modern bath.
 This represents a superbly simple way to add new panache and style and colour to existing bathrooms for a fraction of the cost of refits, and you don’t necessarily require Bathroom Fitting Quotes before you start. In fact, the biggest task is often selecting the right bath panel from the range of options.
We recommend that you resist the urge to install anything that is capable of absorbing water, whether this spills over the bath-rim, or is present in the form of humidity or steam. This puts paid to romantic ideas of natural wood unfortunately. Speak to any London Bathroom Fitter and you should always receive the same consistent message – stick to fibreglass or plastic, or there is no guarantee.
Fortunately these modern materials come in all kinds of finishes and colours, and being mouldable are available in different profiles too. You will have to shop around if buying directly from the manufacturers though.  Moulds are expensive meaning that each factory offers a strictly limited range.
As you shop around you are bound to be impressed by the huge variety of designs available, especially if searching on the internet. Mr-Skill’s advice is to keep things simple unless you have a farmhouse bathroom. Light colours and less intrusive designs work best in smaller spaces.
Although is possible to replace a bath panel yourself, you may prefer to Find a Bathroom Fitter on Mr-Skill instead. That’s because you could find it difficult working on your knees in cramped spaces, and you could also end up damaging the material as well. If you choose your panel wisely though, then you should inevitably be enthralled by the stunningly refreshed effect. Isn’t it nice to know that some home improvement projects are so easy?
Tags: absorb, access, bath, bathroom, bathroom fitting quotes, clip, colour, component, cost, cramp, damage, design, drain, fibreglass, find a bathroom fitter, finish, fit, guarantee, humidity, install, intrusive, light, london bathroom fitter, material, mould, option, panel, pipe, plastic, refit, replace, simple, size, spill, steam, style, variety, water, wood
Posted in Painting & Decorating | Comments Off
Posted in Handyman Services on Aug 22
Do you need to Find a Handyman in London, or in any other place whatsoever across the length and breadth of Britain? Then you need look no further than Mr-Skill, because we have a huge database of Handymen that you can access when you just click here. Of course you could also look for one yourself, although from what we know you’ll battle to find one yourself that’s  half as good, or at a better price than ours either.
Notwithstanding this, here are a few tips to get you started…
o Does the handyman in your sights have some form of technical qualification, best of all a trade of any kind? Alternatively, do they have some form of practical experience? If the answer is no on both counts, then they could be about to do their learner’s licence on your home! And don’t be afraid to ask for proof either. The ones who squeal the loudest are the ones to avoid the most.
o Take a good hard look at their business card. Is there enough information on it to track them down, assuming that the job does not turn out all that well? And while you’re at it ask them about their guarantees, and whether or not they are insured.
o  Make sure that all Handyman Quotes list materials and labour separately, and in terms of unit prices and actual hours provided for too. I’m not saying that they are not allowed to make a decent profit, just saying that an indecent profit is a bridge too far for me. And while you’re at it, make sure the information on their quote and business card is consistent. If it’s not, then find out why.
o I’ve always believed that the condition of the places where men store their things is an indication of the quality of their work. When you have a chance without being sneaky, take a look in the cab and load bay of their van.
Life is about choices, and if you need to Find a Handyman anywhere in England you could save yourself a load of trouble by doing so on Mr-Skill. We check all our tradesmen out on your behalf, and, in the event of an unlikely problem, we are as close as the other end of the telephone.
Tags: britain, business card, cab, choice, experience, find a handyman in London, good, guarantee, handyman, handyman in london, handyman quotes, handyperson, hour, information, insure, labour, load bay, material, price, problem, profit, proof, qualification, quotation, quote, save, technical, telephone, trouble, van
Posted in Handyman Services | Comments Off
Posted in Plastering & Drywall on Jul 13
 Ceiling boards or sheets are attached to strips of wood called lathes, which are in turn nailed to the rafters above them. These sheets may be left in their raw state, painted, or even plastered over. While this method of attachment could last indefinitely, it does sometimes fail for one of two reasons. The inevitable result is a sagging ceiling threatening to come crashing down. London Plasterers are especially adept at solving this, on account of the age of many City buildings, and the vibration of traffic rumbling past outside.
o If the lathes have rotted, it could be worth a try replacing them with new wood, although I doubt you’d Find a Plasterer willing to attempt this with a fully comprehensive guarantee. This method nvolves strapping fresh lathes underneath the joists (between the old ones) and carefully screwing the ceiling panels to these while holding them in place
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o If the lathes have just worked loose, you could call for Plastering Quotes on Mr-Skill to strap them back into position again. I have found the nylon straps they use these days to close packing cases especially effective for doing this, and you should be able to borrow the tensioning device from your local removal firm for a few hours, or hire one instead.
Before you decide to rush into a job like this yourself, consider whether you really do want to spend a sweaty weekend in a dusty ceiling, with the ever-present possibility of sticking a foot through it inadvertently and perhaps bringing the whole thing crashing down. You could simplify your life considerably by Finding a Plasterer on Mr Skill instead. How’s that for a really good suggestion?
Tags: board, borrow, ceiling, crash down, fall, find a plasterer, guarantee, hire, joist, lathe, london plasterer, loose, new, nylon, paint, plaster, plastering quote(s), replace, rot, sag, screw, sheet, strap, tension, wood
Posted in Plastering & Drywall | Comments Off
Posted in General Building on May 12
 Unfortunately cowboy builders keep on popping up under the guise of pretending to be handymen and women. The difficulty comes when they start fiddling with basics like roofs, windows, doors and even foundations. Newspaper reports across the UK every week attest to the foolishness of hiring the services of an unqualified, incompetent builder. Mr-Skill exists to help you Find a Builder you should be able to rely on.
My old friend Bill Sykes who is a venerable Builder in London with decades of experience just laughs when he reads these stories. “What fools they are”, he chortles. “Haven’t they heard about the NHBC?” In case you have not heard of it either,  The National House Building Council is the leading warranty, insurance and standard-setting provider in the UK building industry. They have been protecting the nation’s homeowners for over 75 years so something must be working well.
Their warranties (which naturally apply only to work done by builders in good standing with them) cover around 80% of new houses being built today, and all-in-all 1.7 million British homes are under current protection. This provides assurances against only major defects though, not cosmetic issues like plaster cracks.
After you receive your Building Quotes from Mr-Skill remember to ask “are you NHBC registered?” and to request to see a current paid-up certificate too. If you receive an excuse instead then we recommend you pass that builder over in favour of another. When the job is done, but before you pay them finally, please remember to insist that you receive your written NHBC Warranty.
Tags: assurance, builder, builder london, builder quote, building job london, building quotes, certificate, cowboy, crack, defect, difficulty, door, find a builder, find a tradesman, foundation, guarantee, incompetent, national house building council, nhbc, plaster, problem, protect, register, rely, roof, tradesman london, tradesman quote, trouble, trust, unqualified, unregistered, warranty, window
Posted in General Building | Comments Off
Posted in Locksmith on Dec 15
We all need a good locksmith from time to time, and are usually in a panic situation when we do. Thanks to the popular website known as Mr-Skill, it is not difficult to find a locksmith when troubles strike.  Despite all the assurances though, the nagging question remains of whether we can trust them with our security. I use the following thought process to help me decide.
o Is the firm registered with a professional body such as the Master Locksmiths Association or is it listed on the Locksmith Register? Is so this is a good start, and it is your guarantee that they are using skilled staff and have quality systems in place too. When a locksmith knows that you know how they are registered, you can be sure that they will not want you to register a complaint.
o Are the locksmith’s premises in your town or your part of the City? When considering locksmiths in London options you will find that they prefer to work in a particular area where they have many customers close by.
o Does the locksmith company have a 24 / 7 callout service? This will prove to be more important than you think when a job fails and you cannot lock up your home at night. Stay away from one who works from eight to five, five days a week because they are unable to provide a genuine locksmith service.
o What spares does the locksmith carry, and how well equipped is their service vehicle? Avoid a firm  that buys in what they need for each job just-in-time, because they may be unable to source urgent spares at night and over weekends.
o Finally, do you have a good feel about the firm, and the service person who calls? Mother Nature gave us a sixth sense, and we have every right to cancel an order if we are not entirely happy. If the firm insists on charging for a call out even after you explain, well, you have your answer, do you not?
When a locksmith passes my little test, and you found them on Mr-Skill too, it is highly likely that your can accept their locksmith quotes and get on with the repair. How is that for peace of mind?
Tags: 24/7, assurance, call out, callout, complaint, day, find a locksmith, guarantee, locksmith quotes, locksmith register, locksmiths london, master locksmiths association, night, panic, premises, quality, register, security, skill, spares, trouble, vehicle, weekend
Posted in Locksmith | Comments Off
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