K Design and Build Ltd Reviews 3

I contacted the company and Kevin Scotter (owner) gave me a quote to build my wardrobe doors (frames only) so that they could then be taken to be wrapped in leather by another company. The quote wasn't cheap but as the leather company put his details forward, I decided to go with it. I had to push him to commit to coming to my place to take measurements and talk final details of the job. He kept insisting that I pay at least 50% (over £6,000) deposit before he even came to visit and measure up. He said that he would come on a Friday morning at 10am so I took the day off from work. When he didn't show, I called him and he said that he had a hospital appointment! Miraculously he was able to get one within a few days and also didn't bother to let me know. His tone was dismissive, arrogant and rude on the phone. His interest and tone changed when I said that I had never been asked to put down a deposit with any company before I at least met the person and they did a visit. I didn't know him so he was basically a stranger at this point demanding that I pay a fair load of money upfront. What a cheek! Kevin then refused to answer my messages and didn't contact me again. Maybe that was a blessing as I wouldn't want to do business with such a person as he who shows his true colours when it comes to money. The fake charm he initially showed quickly faded so he only 'talks the talk' but doesn't 'walk the walk' obviously. This person should not be in business. Do yourself a favour and deal with a pleasant, helpful person who is customer service orientated and from a professional company instead of this person who is clueless when it comes to professionalism and customer services!!

Renovating your house can be, at the best of times, a tricky and rather stressful experience, but doing so during a global pandemic and the aftermath of Brexit is a whole different story! However, the team at K Design & Build guided us through our renovations amazingly well and the end result is magnificent.

We decided that we wanted to make the most of the space in our 1960s home by knocking through from the very small kitchen to the disproportionately large dining room to create an open space for cooking, entertaining and spending family time together. We also wanted to convert our garage into a rather more practical utility room and freshen up the front of the house by fitting a new front door and cladding.

Having seen the exquisite work of K Design & Build on a close friend’s property, we approached them to quote for the changes we wanted. Darren came out to have a look and discuss our ideas, and very soon we had a quote in our hands and a date for commencement! K Design & Build were very accommodating and managed to squeeze us in between two of their larger jobs.

Needless to say, a couple of rather large unexpected issues cropped up, but we were in constant contact with Shane the project manager and Darren, who did their utmost to keep the project running smoothly. In their words, we probably had some of the worst luck during our renovations, but no problem was too much for them to handle! Although things took longer than all of us would have liked, the end result was most definitely worth the wait. Attention to detail in all aspects of the work was fantastic and they were able to offer their advice and opinions throughout. The team who worked on our property were extremely diligent, turning up early each day and leaving the place tidy for us every evening after they had finished. Shane in particular wanted to ensure that the renovations were completed in time for Christmas and he worked so hard to make that happen, all hands were on deck right up until the last minute on December 23rd!

We are absolutely over the moon with the standard of work carried out and the finish, and have had so many compliments from friends and family on how amazing the house now looks. It has made our life so much easier and more pleasant now that we have a beautiful kitchen to come down to every morning - and the pup is delighted with ‘her’ new utility room! We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Karl and the team for transforming our home and would not hesitate to use them again for our future projects, or recommend K Design & Build to anyone who is looking for a reputable builder.

Sadly this really wasn't the exciting project I was hoping it would be and the nightmare continues even after this company has left.

To be honest we already had a lovely house but we wanted to extend it and make it better. I now wish we had never started as we are living in a building site as we try and put right the mess that has been created.

All projects have issues, there's no getting away from that, and at the start we accepted the things that went wrong, but the majority of the ones we have experienced could have been prevented.

At the very start the wrong bricks were ordered and when they arrived were clearly very different. The "right" bricks then arrived that still didn't match the samples we had. The right bricks finally did arrive but by then at a much higher cost and only after being sourced by my husband.

We had issues with plumbing work that's included water pouring through ceilings, hot and cold feeds mixed up, the boiler incorrectly wired, plus two gas leaks.

With regards to ceilings, not only have we had water coming through them, we've also had holes drilled "accidentally" through ceilings not in the new extension.

We were told we needed fire windows put in the loft roof. These were initially put in the wrong place and then when they were in the right place we were told we actually didn't need fire windows after all, so they were a waste of money.

There were other windows that didn't line up, a bathroom window with no privacy glass, and outside double doors that open the wrong way and new ones at our own cost will have to be ordered to replace them.

When the loft was being cleared, all the old blanket insulation was put in the skip on the windiest day in 10 years and was not covered. I had to go down the road and pick all the insulation out of my neighbours gardens and apologise for the mess.

When the new insulation boards went into the loft, they were not secured properly and would continually fall out in the middle of the night which went on for days.

The wrong timber was used for the roof rafters and the building inspector refused to sign it off.

The new main bedroom got as far as being plaster boarded. By chance when cutting a hole for lighting we managed to see some large gaps in the insulation behind the boards. We obviously needed to check the rest of the ceiling and so all the brand new plasterboard and insulation has had to be ripped out and skipped. We discovered large gaps across the whole ceiling. The insulation boards were nailed rather than screwed and in places were not even attached to joists. We are now thousands of pounds out of pocket trying to sort this out.

I always felt that there should have been a detailed project plan with costs and associated timescales - along the lines of a GANT chart. What we had was a payment plan showing high level milestones. What was missing was something showing when things would be expected to start and finish and what was included or not included so that there were no unexpected surprises.

My understanding is that when given a quote, that is what you expect it to cost to do the job. What we didn't expect was to find so many unforeseen elements such as: moving the boiler; Realising late on that a staircase in the drawings would only work if we built a dormer involving extra planning permission and thousands of pounds of additional expense.

I felt I went above and beyond to make the team feel welcomed and treated well despite all the issues and I feel like I have been taken for an idiot given the amount of money we spent.

We parted company with K Design and Build before the end of the project as we could not continue with spiralling costs and so many problems at every turn. Unfortunately we are still living in a building site and it will take us months to finish.