Pay part of the deposit by credit card
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes the card provider jointly liable with us for the whole contract value, on anything between £100 and £30,000. We will actively encourage you to do it.
How it works
Twelve weeks, including the ones you will not enjoy.
The trade quotes six to eight weeks and takes ten to fourteen, and the overrun always lands in snagging — which is exactly where the relationship breaks down. We would rather show you the hard weeks now.
The twelve-week phase breakdown
-
BEHIND THE SCENES · BEFORE WEEK 1
Survey and design
Measured survey, feasibility, drawings, structural calculations.
Living with it: Two visits, both under two hours. Nothing changes in your house.Disruption: none -
BEHIND THE SCENES · BEFORE WEEK 1
Consents
Planning or lawful development certificate, building control, party wall notices.
Living with it: The two-month party wall notice runs here — the stage everyone underestimates.Disruption: none -
WEEKS 1–2
Scaffold and strip out
Scaffold up, roof opened, old structure removed.
Living with it: Genuinely easy — everything happens outside and above you.Disruption: barely -
WEEKS 2–4
Steels and floor
Structural beams craned in, new floor joists, deck laid.
Living with it: The noisiest fortnight of the whole job. Drilling into masonry directly over your bedroom ceiling.Disruption: loud -
WEEKS 4–5
Dormer and weathertight
Dormer framed, roofed, leaded and glazed. The building is closed again.
Living with it: Quieter, and the first week the thing looks like a room from the garden.Disruption: noticeable -
WEEK 5–6
The staircase
Landing opened up, staircase manufactured and fitted.
Living with it: The hard week. Your house is now open to the loft and dust reaches rooms you did not expect. Lasts about five working days.Disruption: hard -
WEEKS 6–9
First fix and plaster
Electrics, plumbing, insulation, fire linings, boarding and skim.
Living with it: Dusty rather than loud. Plastering weeks are wet — the house feels cold for a few days while it dries.Disruption: loud -
WEEKS 9–11
Second fix and finishes
En-suite fitted, doors hung, joinery, decoration.
Living with it: Back to normal noise. This is the week it starts being enjoyable.Disruption: noticeable -
WEEKS 11–12
Snagging and sign-off
Final building control inspection, snagging list, completion certificate, handover folder.
Living with it: The stage where the rest of the trade disappears. We book it as a fixed week with named people on site.Disruption: barely
Money
You pay for work that has already happened.
A large deposit is the clearest warning sign in this trade. Citizens Advice say never agree more than 25%. We cap ours at 15% and take everything else against completed stages you have walked on.
- 15%
On signing
Capped at 15%. Citizens Advice advise never agreeing more than 25%, and we think even that is high.
- 25%
Steels in, floor down
Paid after the stage is complete and you have walked on it. Never before.
- 25%
Weathertight
Dormer roofed, leaded and glazed. The building is closed.
- 20%
Plastered
First fix signed off by building control, walls and ceilings finished.
- 10%
Practical completion
Everything finished and working, snagging list agreed.
- 5%
Retention
Released when building control issues the completion certificate. Held for up to eight weeks.
An insurance-backed guarantee in your name
A separate policy from an insurer that responds if we cease to trade. You get the certificate with your name on it, not a badge on a website.
Proof of insurance before we start
Public liability, employer's liability, professional indemnity, and contractors' all-risk covering the works while they are half-built.
A written contract that names dates
Start date, finish date, working hours, who supplies what, and the payment schedule above. Fourteen-day cooling-off, because we sign it at your kitchen table.
Start with the survey.
Ninety minutes, no cost, no obligation, and an honest answer on the day.