Home / Guarantees & FAQs
The promises behind the price.
What we guarantee, how it's insured, who we're accountable to, and straight answers to the questions every client asks. Everything on this page is marked as an example, because Garside & Sons is a fictional business.
Guarantees & warranties
Six things we put in writing.
In a real firm, each of these would link to the policy document or the contract clause. Here they are plain-text examples.
10-year insurance-backed warranty
Structural work on extensions and lofts is registered with an insurance-backed warranty. If we ever ceased trading, the insurer would pay to put defects right. Transfers to the next owner.
Covers: structure, roof, damp-proofing2-year workmanship guarantee
Anything we built that fails through poor workmanship in the first two years, we fix at no cost, from cracked tiles to sticking doors.
Covers: all our own workDeposit & stage-payment protection
No more than 10% up front. Each stage payment follows finished, inspected work, and your deposit is protected by the warranty scheme until we start.
Covers: money paid in advanceFixed price, written changes
The contract price only changes if you change the design or we hit something listed as a provisional sum. Every change is priced and approved in writing first.
Covers: the contract sumProgramme promise
If we finish more than two weeks late for reasons within our control, we refund the cost of your temporary kitchen or storage for those weeks.
Covers: delays we causeTidy-site promise
Floors, stairs and doors protected; dust screens; swept every evening; skips covered; neighbours told about noisy days in advance.
Covers: your home and streetInsurance & accreditations
Who we answer to.
Example accreditations, shown as plain text with no membership numbers, as you might find on a real family builder's site.
- FMB-style master builderMember of a builders' trade body: vetted on joining, inspected, and bound by its code of practice and complaints process. Example.
- TrustMark-style endorsementGovernment-endorsed quality scheme for work in the home. Example.
- Checkatrade-style vetted memberIdentity, insurance and references checked; reviews from verified customers. Example.
- £5m public liability insuranceCovers damage to your property, your neighbours' and the public during the works. Example.
- £10m employer's liabilityCovers everyone on our payroll on your site. Example.
- Registered partnersAll gas work by a Gas Safe registered engineer; all electrical work by an NICEIC-registered contractor with Part P certificates. Example.
FAQs
Questions we're asked at every survey.
Our example terms are 5% to book a start date, never more than 10%. After that you pay in stages, each one only after the stage is finished and you've seen it.
Yes, once drawings and the engineer's design are approved. The only things that can move it are changes you ask for, and provisional sums we list clearly in the quote (such as moving a drain we can't see until we dig).
Every price on this site includes VAT at 20%. Quotes show both figures so you can compare like for like with builders who quote ex. VAT.
Often not. Many single-storey rear extensions on houses fall under permitted development, within size limits. Flats, maisonettes, listed buildings and some conservation areas are different. We recommend a lawful development certificate either way.
If you build on or near a shared wall or boundary, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 means you must serve notice on your neighbours. If they don't consent, surveyors agree an award that sets out how the work is done. We build the timing into the programme.
We do. Your site manager books every inspection, from foundations to the final visit, and hands you the completion certificate at the end.
For most extensions and lofts, yes. We put up a dust screen and you'll be without a kitchen for a few weeks; we can set up a temporary one. Whole-house renovations are usually easier and quicker if you move out.
8:00 to 17:00 on weekdays and 8:00 to 13:00 on Saturdays for quiet work only, in line with typical council guidance. Noisy days are scheduled and shared with neighbours in advance.
Yes. Your site manager, usually Danny or Tom Garside, runs the job from start to finish and is on site every day. You'll have their mobile and your progress portal.
Typically 8 to 12 weeks on site for a rear dormer. Most of the work is done from the scaffold, so disruption inside the house is limited until the stair goes in.
Design, planning and building control fees, party wall surveyors (shown as a separate line), kitchen units unless we supply them, and sanitaryware above the stated allowance. All listed in plain English on page one.
No questions match. Try another word, or call us on 020 7946 0731.