If something is not right, tell us. We would far rather hear it from you than from anybody else, and most of what gets raised turns out to be something we can look at within a few days. This page sets out how to raise it, what happens after you do, how long each stage should take and what your options are if we cannot resolve it between us.
What counts as a complaint
Anything you are not happy with.
Workmanship, a leak, a finish, the way a job was run, a delay, an invoice, or how somebody spoke to you. There is no threshold below which we would rather not know.
How to raise one
Contact us directly, and in writing if you can.
Email is easiest because it creates a record for both of us, and the details are on the contact page.
What to include
Four things, and they speed everything up.
The address, roughly when the work was done, what the problem is, and photographs if it is something visible.
For anything involving water
Tell us when it appears. Whether water shows in cold weather with no rain, or during driving rain, is what separates the two commonest causes and it changes what we bring.
How to tell is on is it condensation or a leak.
What we do first
Acknowledge it. You will hear from us within a few working days confirming that we have it and telling you who is dealing with it and what happens next.
If it is urgent
Say so, and telephone as well. Water actively entering a property is dealt with as a priority, and a temporary covering can usually be arranged quickly while a proper repair is worked out.
The investigation
A visit, in most cases. Almost nothing about a roof can be settled from a description, so we come and look, and we test rather than assume.
How we test a leak
From the bottom of the detail upward.
Water is applied to the lowest part first and worked upward with time between stages, because wetting everything at once tells you nothing about where it entered.
The method is on why is water coming in around my rooflight.
Why that matters
Because the commonest reason a repair fails is a wrong diagnosis.
Repairing where water is showing rather than where it is entering is why leaks come back, and we would rather spend an hour finding it than a day fixing the wrong thing.
What it costs to investigate
Nothing, on work we carried out. A visit to look at our own work is part of the guarantee whether or not it turns out to be our responsibility.
Our response
In writing, with a plan. We tell you what we found, whether it is ours, what we propose to do about it and when, so there is a record of what was agreed.
The timescale we aim for
A substantive answer within two weeks. Where a visit or a manufacturer is involved that can take longer, and if it will, we tell you that rather than going quiet.
If it is our workmanship
We put it right at our cost.
That is the whole point of the guarantee, and it is not a negotiation.
What it covers is on the our guarantee page.
If it is a product fault
We pursue it with the manufacturer. A failed sealed unit or a defective component is a warranty matter, and we handle that rather than leaving a homeowner to make the claim.
If it is neither
We say so, and we say what it is.
A slipped tile above a rooflight, a blocked outlet or a fan venting into a loft are all real problems and none of them is the rooflight, and it is more useful to be told.
Where we disagree
Set out plainly rather than left vague.
If we do not accept that something is our responsibility, we explain why in writing and set out the evidence, so you can take a view on it.
If you are still not satisfied
Ask for it to be looked at again.
A second look by somebody who was not on the original job is a reasonable request and we will arrange it.
Your other options
Your legal rights are unaffected. Nothing in this procedure limits your rights as a consumer, including the right to seek independent advice or to pursue the matter through the courts.
Independent advice
Available and free. Citizens Advice provides free consumer advice and can explain your position independently of anything we tell you.
What we do with complaints afterwards
Look at why it happened.
A complaint that reveals something about how we work is worth more than the cost of putting it right, and it is discussed rather than filed.
What we ask of you
Tell us early.
A detail raised in its first winter is a straightforward repair, and the same detail left for three years has usually got into timber.
Complaints about a subcontractor
Come to us, not to them.
Where a specialist trade worked on your job under our contract, the responsibility is ours and the complaint is dealt with by us.
Records
Kept, and shared with you.
What was reported, what was found, what was agreed and what was done is recorded, and you receive the same account we hold.
Feedback that is not a complaint
Also welcome.
Something that went well, or a page on this site that was unclear, is worth an email and takes a minute.
Thinking about this job? We survey across Worthing, West Sussex and the South Downs and give you a fixed price before any work starts, with a 10-year workmanship guarantee.