Anyone used Econoloft?

[InmyheadIminParis]

We're going to convert our loft early next year and we've asked a nation-wide company called Econoloft to prepare a quote.

Has anyone used this company? I'd love to hear how it worked out.

That's so nice to hear, Tracy. They've just started ours... slightly daunting...

Hi TracyGriffin, really pleased you had a good experience with Econoloft as they're currently at the top of our list - trying to get a loft conversion done before 2nd baby arrives in July! We don't live far from Beckenham, would be really helpful to have a look at their work if the offer still stands and you haven't been inundated!

Hello ? We have just had a loft conversion done by Econoloft on our maisonette and are thrilled with it. Our initial contact with Paul who came round on numerous occasions to go through ideas and plans was great and we never felt like he was giving us the hard sell. Adam and Jim were our head joiners and were very professional throughout keeping us updated with all aspects. Despite having the worst weather possible during the majority of the build it only overran by a couple of weeks and this included having a new roof which we hadn?t asked for at the start. As we only had the shell done Adam was great in giving us advice on how to complete it, which we are currently doing. We would be more than happy to use Econoloft again if we ever had to do another conversion.

I was looking at "Advanced Search" and am puzzled that there are people on this thread who never seem to have posted anything else. Am I searching wrong, or is there some reason why a person might join a forum, recommend a loft company, then never be seen again?

"I was looking at "Advanced Search" and am puzzled that there are people on this thread who never seem to have posted anything else. Am I searching wrong, or is there some reason why a person might join a forum, recommend a loft company, then never be seen again?"

Funny you should say that! Econoloft is an old thorn in our side and I came across this thread causing my jaw to gape open and my eyebrows to collide with the ceiling. Very painful. I can point anyone towards several people of my immediate aquaintance whose experience of Weconalot is less than positive. Generally the finish on the work is appalling, and they never actually finished the job. I completed wiring, plumbing and an outside contractor finished plastering. Doors did not fit, they sawed a 100year old teak banister 2inches short, securing it to the new stairs with a cheap metal angle bracket. Tasteful.
I knew what I was in for when the first delivery arrived. The doorbell rang and a large scruffy man without a hello or any pleasantry, turning away from me holding upa sheet of paper said "this is what you gotta pay". Apparently he was the company boss.
The workers were rude and very aggressive and demanded large payments in advance. Work was exceptionally slow, the weather got into the rest of the house damaging ceilings. This was never repaired. Using ECONOLOFT was one of the worst experiences of our lives.
Really.

Headofdiy, very interested to know more about other issues you had with this company. We are thinking to get quotes for a loft conversion too.

A friend of mine is thinking of using central London lofts ltd but the comany is listed as dormant ? is this a problem?

I just wanted to get on here to describe my experience with Econoloft as the positive reviews on MN were the main reason we chose to use them, i bitterly regret this in hindsight and I'm glad that PigletJohn and others have drawn attention to the other side.

Work started on Jan 17th 2013 and as of today it hasn't finished! We were told at the start it would take 4 weeks as no one was living in the property. We are now in month 8! All econoloft do is subcontract your job out to someone else and it's pot luck whether you get a reliable team or a totally unreliable one, as in our case. The head joiner's initial are DM and from start to finish there has been very poor communication, and total unreliablity on the part of the workers, apart from when they want money and have they have no qualms about asking for that.

I haven't got the strength to go into all the issues we had but here are a few:

They removed an old water tank from the loft but forgot to close the pipes properly and water dripped throughout the celings. They reassured us that it was nothing serious and would dry, but 2 months after we moved in the ground floor ceiling in the dining room (nothing to do with the loft conversion) came crashing down!! And even then econoloft were in no rush to recyify it. Thank God we were out of the house at the time.

They smoked all over house (we were not living in the property at the time) and left cigarette butts everywhere, despite them knowing we were planning to move in with a newborn baby and a toddler a few weeks later. They Treated the house like a dumping ground - the skip didn't arrive when they started work so they dumped all the rubble (from lowering our first floor ceilings) in the living room, on the carpet, with no protection!

We were told on umpteen occasions that work would be continuing on our property, my husband would take the day off work (for which he didn't get paid) and no one would show up. This happened repeatedly. Materials that my husband had bought were stolen and when confronted, the culprit tried to pin it on another labourer!

The quality of the work is dubious as it was evident to us that corners were cut and my husband had to specifically ask for jobs to be done again when he noticed, but as they worked unsupervised most of the time, we have little confidence in the workmanship. We also received a phone call several months down the line in the middle of the night from one of the labourers telling us that all sorts of shortcuts had been taken by the joiner and that we should get the work checked!

Econoloft's current management seem to be wholly unqualified for the job and I have never experienced such poor customer service as I did when speaking to this company director. You may as well complain to your dog for all the sympathy you'll get. Week in, week out we phone econoloft to get them to finish th job, but here we are, still waiting for it to be signed off. We have had no offers of compensation and I find it hard to believe that anyone in that organisation will ever step up and take responsibility for the utter shambles that is our loft conversion. I seriously would not recommend them to anyone.

We used econoloft twice. The first time went well. The second was a nightmare. Cut ceiling and wall joists to rooms below which they tried to hide. We had to take down walls and ceilings to make safe, we had unbolted steels it was so bad we had to get our builders to finish the job.

The customer service was abysmal, the plumber Duane and Plasterer were great but the rest I could only describe as cowboys. If you use them make sure you get a recommendation for a good joiner. Our first conversion was fine, the second from hell. I could go on but our experience including the smoking! We're similar to Misstrust.

I'm surprised by the first few glowing reviews too

We had our loft converted by econoloft in 2006. They turned up on a Thursday, no notice, worked for 4 days straight and then no show for a few days. This carried on thru the job. Joinery was good enough but plumbing was awful. Drainage from shower was left going up rather than down. Luckily my DH is very handy and after we fired plumbers he finished it off.

The plan and layout was good, joiners ok, everything else fairly ropey. If I was to do it again I'd pay more for a reliable local builder with a good local reputation.

We have just had the loft converted. Found Econoloft to be a great company who were very easy to deal with. They were also the most competitively priced and on budget! Our joiner (Greg) was just excellent. He has a real eye for detail and his team were great. Their professionalism made the conversion what it is! Would very much recommend them.

No no nooooooo! I wouldn't recommend them to anyone, we had a horrible experience with them!

They had a good sales patter, seemed to know what they were doing to start off with, and their quote was £10k lower than the other company we asked. They took our initial £1500 deposit, after which we agreed that they would start the second week in September.

The start date came and went. Since then, we have chased them numerous times, both by phone email etc and the few times that they actually answered the phone they have been rude, saying things like: I'll speak to the managers when i've got some time. We finally stopped chasing them in October and now it's December and still no word from them! We are now thinking of suing them to get our deposit back.

We had a very bad experience with Absolute lofts, from the planning stages, builders not turning up, botch jobs and damage, and the worse, a brand new roof that leaked like a sieve. A 6 week job took 6 months. Luckily I was a sahm, and when I realised what they were like, I was project managing it myself.

The problem with the larger companies, as previous posters have stated, is that they subcontract, and you just get a team that is available and it's potluck. If I did it again I would research an independent builder, with references, and inspect previous projects myself.

just found some useful reviews about econoloft in rated people and yell, According to those Econoloft is poor in work quality as well as customer care. Please consider those reviews before selecting Econoloft for loft conversion

Just started a loft using econoloft. 2 days in and already a little ahead of schedule. My team are outside in the van at 7.15, they start at 7.30 and leave at 3.30. They never leave the loft for more than 20min afaik, they are clean, polite and have kept me informed without having to ask for updates. I will update as we go along. have 2 comments at the moment:

1. party wall agreements: loft conversions are a big undertaking, not just slapping down some chipboard and crossing your fingers. As a neighbour, I would never sign away without seeing plans etc. we spent approx £3k with 2 party wall specialists to make sure everything is water tight legally. Pain in the a but glad we did it now.
2. standard of work. How come the building inspector hasn't got involved. Ours has to do 3 site visits to sign off work as it goes along. Surely if the work was that bad they wouldn't allow the project to proceed without correction? Finally,We have received 3 sets of plans during the design stage to sign and correct. If you see something you don't like, say so. We have a direct number to the office manager and planning and have found them really pleasant to deal with. As I said, only the first week and I will give updates.

Re building inspectors - with us they only visited once and they didn't stay for that long. It's not their job to comment on the quality of work, just to make sure that it meets the regulations in particular regarding safety. They'll care if you haven't got fire doors in place but won't be interested if your skirting boards have been put on upside down.

Regarding the plans - as I detailed above the drawing office ignored all our requests for information about the plans, giving us the impression that it was "like it or lump it". Also, from the plan we could not see the positioning of the chimney breast and so we're not aware it was an issue until construction. The only reason we stuck with them once planning permission was granted was because they had our deposit, which they seemed to be clinging onto like grim death, and they also had ownership of the plans - so to switch company at that stage would have required employing a second architect and then paying another planning fee.

Ok.1 week in. 1st building inspection done. Floor laid, dormer frame up. 1st fix wiring done so we have little tails thru the ceiling on 1st floor for smoke? Detectors. Team still very punctual, explain what they are going to do and when.i had an issue with velox positions & they gave me options quite happily. I am very impressed thus far