Don't-move-extend Lofts & extension company

[KateR3]

Hi considering using don't-move- extend loft & extension company

Just wondered if anyone on here has used them and if they would recommend?

Thanks
Kate

Hi JRS71.
My neighbour's got 2 quotes for their loft. From L&E and Thames Design.
www.thamesdesignandbuild.com/
I think Rob of Thames Design is a very sound chap who builds well.
I haven't used him but I have chatted to him and recommended tradesman to him if they have done a good job for me - I am happy to try to help good tradesmen get work. I know a good plasterer and a good tiler.

The Thames Design quote was c£10k more than L&E. But with Thames Design the front and back roofs would have tiles which all have the same colour. The L&E chap bought his from Selco and they are now 2 different colours.

When I look at his roof it depresses me and I don't own the house.

Tori

Another picture of an L&E roof - the finest that Selco sell.
It is not the builders fault as they have to buy the cheapest materials. It is the fault of the con men who ran L&E (the company has now been disolved). They used to take 20% of the cost of the job out of the job on day one leaving insufficient money to allow the builder to buy good materials

Tori

I want to bump this just so it is fresh in everyone's mind. Don't use Gus Grewal for anything. He is not to be trusted. He has ripped of many people for many years. You have been warned!

I noticed today all the 5 star reviews on Houzz, but as you say some cannot have been by Go Building, as they did not exist at the dates of the reviews. I am sure if the reviewer was researched more details would come to light. We had problems with a skip company called Punjab skips, when I saw the reviews and researched them I discovered many were friends and relatives and lived 200 miles from the company in Old Windsor. Sadly reviews can't always be trusted!. I also happen to know that GGs previous home, extended by his team, has had to have many issues put right by the new owners, including plumbing issues and peeling paintwork.

@FEB15 - Funny that, I had to have an Emergency Plumber out at the weekend to sort out my dodgy L&E Loft Bathroom plumbing. The ceiling below is ruined.
Peeling paintwork? It took a team of professional decorators 2 weeks to rub down my L&E plasterwork and rectify the "free mist coat". Who has ever heard of new plasterwork needing to be sanded down because the finish is so poor?!? Who knew a "mist coat" could be applied so badly?!?

I am also curious about payment methods. How many customers were asked to make a number of substantial cash payments for the work.

Hi all - thanks so much for the heads up on this!

I wanted to ask if anybody knows if ... Go Building (London) Limited is related to the companies mentioned here?

Company number: 11772406
Registered office address: 23 Blacklands Drive, Hayes, Middlesex, United Kingdom, UB4 8EU
The main director is: Gurpreet Singh

I have a quote from Go-building for a wrap around extension and I am wondering if this is an unfortunate coincidence or another shell?

Thanks so much in advance.

They are shell companies. Don't go near them.

Any further feedback on Go building. A friend is using them and they are having a really bad experience.

Just wondering how anyone got on chasing up Gus Grewal. He seems to have a consultancy business now and his wife an interior design business, which is weird because I know the interior design business that did all her interiors on one home because quote ‘it’s not something I know much about’. Still living in large now extended detached near the station …. Not sure if Gus is still dying his hair though. With multiple dissolved companies and name changes and unfilled accounts on one I am sure they both are on watch list of sorts. HMRC have as long as they want to pursue and investigate suspicious activities.

Don't go anywhere near Go Building London. They are scammers‼

SCAM SCAM SCAM
CON CON CON

Words cannot describe the horrors that these people will unleash on your home.
They have effectively made me, my husband and two children homeless.

The relevant people within this scam network are:
Gupret Singh (find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/iMQR8W_eBArfSGcwDGvEii50rw4/appointments)
Mikael Hyde - based in the Twickenham area
Harjinder Singh SANGHERA (find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/IxmqEaP8wIAjCyPTom6gzYlEMrI/appointments)
Sukinder Nandhwa
Gus Grewal

For a complete history of what these guys do: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw9eIjLkRqMCW9PSHdWP2q2EsRzopcQqT

Most notably is the maciciously dangerous work in this video:

These people WILL put you and your family in real DANGER.
BEWARE!

Harjinder Singh SANGHERA

The working links for the above post
Gupreet SINGH

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/IxmqEaP8wIAjCyPTom6gzYlEMrI/appointments

How are these guys still trading?? How have HMRC not caught up with them?!?

HMRC are very slow, they can take all the time they need to put a good case together so let's hope that is what they are doing. I wonder if any of their companies claimed furlough or other covid help? Paying anyone cash without a receipt means harder to take them to court, but another useful piece of information to let HMRC know about. Can't get the video to work crystalhkS, but hope you are doing all you can legally to get compensation.

I also can't believe these people are still getting away with this. Gus Grewal and Harjinder Singh Sanghera have been allowed to con people for years and yet Trading Standards/HMRC/who have both been approached seem to be uninterested. Perhaps a class action against them would work?

I think at the beginning of this thread people were talking about highlighting them on Rogue Traders. If they are guilty of any sort of tax evasion they will be banned from Directorships, but Gus may put the next companies in his children's names. I have a relative who will soon be working at HMRC, not allowed to divulge information clearly, but I will remind them about GG. We are not an ex customer but I know several, including two who took legal action, I know enough about the company and the owners to know they are not nice people, they don't pay suppliers and others on time etc. and Gus is a bully, who changes his accent depending on whom he is with, from upper middle class to London builder in order to ingratiate himself. Money is all that matters, but upsetting customers, neighbours and loosing friends must eventually make life pretty horrid for him and his family.

Here's the video that didnt work

We are trying to take them to the small claims court but once we found out about how DANGEROUS the work was done, my husband and I want to let people to know to stay away from them. You'll understand if you watch the video.
We are lucky we stopped the project at the right time and told them to leave because our house would have inevitabley fallen down and potentially killed my family as the whole upper floor was not being supported by anything. Steel beams and joists were just 'floating'.

Sorry for the spam finally got the video working

Wow!
The builder for a friend of mine had a welder come on site to weld the steels together. Gluing on bolts is insane.

That is truly shocking, do they use a private Building inspector or local authority one. The building inspector is supposed to check just that sort of thing, might be worth getting them involved, it they failed to miss it their role as an inspector is at risk. We had build with similar type of set up where the holding company using teams, however, they send someone, called a surveyor or project manager, every week to check on work and have a steels guy visit the site and a private building inspector whom I made sure I met with. I took photos too. We still have an issue with render though on our project and likely need to remove the lot and start again. Sadly the teams are not always suitably qualified, I know for a fact that GG himself used a team that built his extension on his own home 1 foot taller than the planning permission and 2 foot longer. The council made him reduce the height, in effect rebuild the whole roof and lower it, but let him get away with extra long extension. Funny that a man that runs a company that specialises in extensions and calls himself a surveyor (he has no relevant qualifications hence cannot be MRICS), didn't notice the huge extension was taller than the plans...?? You need to time your court action before they dissolve the company and start all over again. I hope you get somewhere and that the word gets round. What areas are they working in now? I tell every builder or trade I come across never to work with them or for them.

The company run by Loft and Extensions is a sales only company. They convert the opportunities into sales and take the first payment of 20% of the contract price as their fee. The company they pass the job on to has to deliver the job for 80% of the price. The margins in building are less than 20% so they are on a loser. They pay cash for everything and use the cheapest materials. Check back earlier in this thread and you will find a picture of my neighboury roof which is now 2 colours. The tiles are the cheapest that Selco sell and they have faded.

if you are near Surbiton I suggest you check out Thames Design and Build. The owner Rob is a decent chap. He quoted c£8k more that L&E to build next doors loft conversion. if he had built it the roof would be 1 colour not 2 colours. The roof depresses me every time I see it and I’m only the neighbour. I have no relationship with Thames Design and Build. I am considering using them to build a loft shell.

Torri

Thank you, I know all their history, not sure if OP was still looking for a recommendation. This business model is used by others, it is not uncommon, but others are usually more hands on and above board, with proper payments, regular site visits and insurances.

My advice to anyone is never pay cash for any services, unless you get an invoice and a receipt for each payment. If GG and his lot get investigated for hiding income through cash payments, those paying cash for services where tax avoidance is involved could also find themselves in trouble for aiding tax avoidance. In essence bank payments and credit cards give protection and prevent tax cheats getting away with not paying their share. Not just to builders, anyone at all that provides a service.

Sorry you had such a horrid time, I have found other great builders, usually so good they don't advertise and you have to wait a year for them, even a good friend of ours can't do some work for us for a year! But I will wait for him because he is meticulous and completely trustworthy. I think all the false reviews and marketing blurb are an issue too. I know one photo they used was of an extension built 80% by a different builder, all L&E did was extend a small portion at one side, the blurb said it was a long narrow dark room, it wasn't it was a bright large room with glass doors onto a garden. I couldn't believe the new owners allowed the lies with their photo in saying how pleased they were...

We are also victims of Go Building. Please for anyone reading - do not use this company. They are dangerous and unskilled. We had the most horrendous and stressful experience. We had Foundations dug wrong, steels incorrectly installed, upper floors left unsupported, boundary walls even built in the wrong place. We lived with a gas leak for nearly a month due to a poorly relocated boiler by unqualified tradesmen - putting our family at risk. We had to completely re-do the work (find new builders) and lost so much money :(

Our main contacts were Mikael Hyde and Harj Singh.

Torri - you’ve mentioned cost previously. I must stress to you that L&E were not cheap and they were not the lowest quote I obtained. The issue is the quality of workmanship and this was caused by their desire to rip the maximum profit. If Gus could have charged more I’m sure he would have done, the quality of the build (or lack of) would have been exactly the same.