ABSOLUTE Lofts Good? Bad? Ugly?

[SunsetSilver123]

Hey fellow Mums. My family are planning on converting the loft into a 1 bed and 1 shower room. We have had many quotes from different specialists and they are all in the same ballpark. So after looking at reviews and their website, we have decided that Absolute Lofts are the best company for us.
:evil:
Has anyone had done work from this company? If so, how was it? Would you recommend them or not?

I would hugely appreciate if anyone could highlight any vital steps I should take in order to have a successful and stress free loft conversion.

Thank you :D

[eternalessence]

Please dont use them. we have had a nightmare with our conversion which they did last year, repeated leaks and issues. happy to discuss more if that helps

[lucy333]

Hi,

Know this is an older thread but I am hoping you haven't yet signed a contract with Absolute lofts. We had an absolute nightmare with them that still continues. My dad has been in the building industry for 50 years and has never known such an awful company. They caused extensive damage to our property, failed to protect it from leaks, put steels in the wrong positions and took over eight weeks to get less than halfway through a project which we had been told would take eight weeks at the outside. They tried intimidating us and reported us to the planning department at the council for not building in accordance with our LDC which they were aware of before they signed the contract, all in an effort to evade the contract. They then abandoned the job whilst we were not water tight over last Christmas. We had to get another firm to complete and we are still battling them for the money. An unscrupulous firm who sees each job as a chance to make as much money as possible. I could go on with more problems and have an email from the Managing director, [edited by MNHQ], which sums up how much respect they have for their customers! Avoid at all costs!!

[Steve1970]

Its foolish to go against planning permission or building regulations. Im a surveyor and have designed many loft conversions myself. They can be one of the trickiest forms of building work you can do to your property and you should never risk it by going against the council. You will almost certainly not win.

[AmyGMumsnet]

Hi all,

Absolute Lofts have asked us to post up a statement on their behalf:

"Lucy whilst you are entitled to place reviews on an open forum we also have the right of reply:
As is sometimes the situation things are not always as they seem. The complaints and accusations that Lucy makes are also not as she portrays them. For instance we terminated the contract Christmas 2015 some 14 months ago and not last Christmas (2016)

Lucy omits to say that although her father worked in the Building Industry for 50 years, he is an Architect who designed the loft. The loft was NOT designed by Absolute Lofts. Lucy via her father sought to make changes to the design of the loft that would have made the loft UNLAWFUL. As a responsible contractor Absolute Lofts made Lucy aware that the late changes to the design would make the project UNLAWFUL. They chose to ignore our concerns, even after we contacted the local council with the same concerns. We were told “you are only the builder and planning issues have nothing to do with you" and to carry on. We were not prepared to build UNLAWFULLY and had no other option than to terminate the contract. The development has now been completed (by another loft conversion company NOT by Absolute Lofts). The completed loft was rejected by the Local Council as NOT being a lawful development. Lucy still dismissed the Council decision and went through the appeals process. The appeal decision found in favour of the Council and Lucy now has no other option other than to DEMOLISH THE UNLAWFUL structure.

Regretfully, Lucy still seeks to make her exaggerated and sweeping statements and unsubstantiated derogatory comments which misrepresent what actually happened. Absolute Lofts asked Lucy to delay posting any comments until the issues had been independently adjudicated upon. Regretfully, for her own reasons, she has declined to do so. Absolute Lofts has offered to engage in mediation, but Lucy has declined. Lucy then threatened to commence arbitration and then proceedings in Court. But rather than have an independent tribunal determine matters Lucy prefers to place blogs on-line, seemingly, in the hope of doing damage to the Company.

Absolute Lofts’ has 20 years experience of designing and building loft extensions. We are happy to provide references to any prospective customers."

[lucy333]

Not that it is of importance but I said last Christmas when Christmas 2016 had just gone but not sure what difference that makes?!

My dad designed the loft and the requirements were set out prior to the work commencing and Absolute lofts were well aware the design was not that which had been granted a lawful development certificate some years previously. They were aware of the size of the loft and the requirement to remove volume and signed a contract based on all these requirements some months before commencing work. No changes were made to the requirements after the contract had been signed as absolute lofts have implied. I have all the signed contract drawings which prove this. The only reason the work was found to not be permitted development was due to the order in which absolute lofts chose to carry out the work. Hence they appear to have managed to build something which could have been lawfully built in an unlawful manner. Anyone wishing to use Absolute lofts may wish to contact Fair trades in order to find out whether their explanation in relation to this matter was considered acceptable or whether it has been considered that their actions in relation to this matter has been deemed to be a valid concern recorded against them.

I only wish to warn others of our experience so you can hopefully find a builder /loft company who will make your experience as pain free as possible. Good luck!

[dingit]

Just like to add this old thread. We had no end of trouble with this company, I will not list them here, but if anyone wants to pm me I will tell them, as the md appears to get a bit upset.
The work was done 10 years ago, so what could possibly wrong now? Well we have just had our ensuite bathroom ripped out due to a cracked shower tray. The workmanship underneath needs to be seen to be believed. The plasterboard behind the shower is held up by one screw. How the lot hasn't come down, I don't know.
Also a year ago we had our chimney stack re rendered, and the tradesman had to carry out remedial work to the roof absolute lofts had installed.
I hope this makes people aware of employing rogue builders in future.

[dingit]

Oh, and if this is disputed, I still have the email trail of the six month distressing saga

[lucy333]

I would also be happy to be contacted by anyone considering using them. I also have email chains showing their poor treatment of their clients. You may also want to contact TrustMark as they are currently suspended, but still display the logo on their website, due to a number of complaints!

[dingit]

Oh the power of the internet. I wish I had found this back then.

[Clareedee]

Found this thread when searching if anyone else had bad experiences with this company. Seems they did. I also don't recommend using them and wish I'd found this earlier!
Main advice is - it's always down to the team you get allocated and not so much the loft company. AL take their 10% then you don't hear much from them and the project is managed by the team leader - who I didn't chose (and never would have).
Better off using a small independent I'd say.

[Intelinside57]

Oh, thank you! This is very timely for us!

[Sunpie]

Thanks so much for your advice. Will take note of all u have said. I am hoping to go with a local builder for my loft conversion who has done work for a neighbour but he needs me to get all plans and drawings for him to work from. Alternatively there are other companies that do a turnkey operation. I’m just not sure about that as then you can’t pick and choose the builder if the same company do the plans.
Any advice welcome

[lucy333]

If I was doing this again, I would go with a builder I trusted. If your neighbour's house is similar ask to look at their plans if you want something similar done as this might help reduce costs /time explaining what you want. Then find an architect to do your drawings to your requirements. What we noticed from looking at drawings done by absolute lofts architects (who we didn't use) was that they didn't maximise ceiling height so the client ended up with much lower ceilings than they could have had. This is because it makes the build easier. They also don't specify things like treated wood which you think would be a given. Our plans did but absolute lofts still turned up with untreated wood but we told them to change this. If you use an architect you will get what you want and they will have your interests at the forefront rather than an off the shelf thing the company is Used to building. There are apparently some good companies out there but I think a builder you trust is safer. Be wary of reviews even on sites which are supposed to protect the customer. We reported absolute lofts to FMB and Trust Mark and tried to leave a review. FMB didn't ask me for any documentation but took letters from their solicitors which were based only on absolute lofts' instructions, which didn't state the true position, as evidence. They therefore decided in absolute lofts favour - maybe not a surprise as absolute lofts pay a members fee. Then the review site used this as a basis not to put up the review. Just be clear at the beginning what the requirements are with the builder and keep an eye on things as they go.
Good luck!

[Sunpie]

Thanks some much Lucy for your advice. All noted. Still on the process of getting quotes. Will definitely get own architect and I hope they will have a structural engineer to do structure work. May have to call on you for further advice.

[lucy333]

No problem. Happy to help!

[Sunpie]

Has anyone heard of a loft company called simply lofts construction groups. They convert lofts and do different kinds of home extensions. I am getting a quote from them. Just wanted to know if anyone has used them.

[Marmaduked]

Hi, just checking if anyone who used Absolute Lofts was told ‘in the unlikely event they stopped trading’ (which turns out to be likely because they fold & reboot with a slightly different name not infrequently it seems) - that they were insured with a company called IWA. It’s on their website & in our contract. We are leaking (from problems that were present when they completed in 2017 & they didn’t properly resolve) & when we phone them they just say ‘absolute lofts south london is no longer trading’ and hang up the phone quickly. The insurance company we were ‘definitely insured with for ten years’ said they never issued a certificate. If you’re in any doubt about whether to use this company call their number & say you’re from college place & the loft they built you in 2017 is leaking & you’ll see that they just hang up. They have the same website, staff, management, emails & phone number but claim not to be trading. Their website says ‘trading for 35 years’ & they claim to have built 4500 lofts. I guess mine is one of them... So they’re trading on my loft but refuse to take responsibility for it under the terms of their ten year guarantee. Anyone else had them behave this way? Anyone else tried to use the insurance promised in their contract? Anyone else had to take them to small claims court?