When companies design a Google adwords campaign they spend a lot of time trying to think up all the words and terms their potential customers will be typing into Google. Competition on generic terms like 'plumber' or 'handyman' is fierce. So the idea is to try and think of more specific terms that describe your service or product more precisely. Sophisticated search engine users know this so when looking for a specific product they will be very specific in their search terms and almost always find exactly what they are looking almost immediately. The problem is however that there are millions of searchers out there who aren't searching specifically and therefore might not be finding exactly what they are looking for at the best price. In the past people used directory publications, like the Yellow Pages, to find services they needed. But to find a service they would need to know what category that service would fall under in that specific directory. Many people still search for services in this way. But if they are more specific about searching for the exact service or product they are looking for they will find companies offering exactly what they want. Here are two examples: One of our customers used our service recently to unblock her toilet. Once the job was done the handyman asked her how she found Silver Saints. She told him how she had initially searched on Google for a 'plumber'. Of course she got thousands of results so she refined her search to 'London plumber' and called three of the companies she found. They all told her a similar story, it will cost her minimum of £100 for one of their plumbers to come out and investigate her blocked toilet. Unsatisfied with this she refined her search even further to 'unblock toilet London' and found our web page dedicated specifically to our unblocking toilets service for which we charge a fixed price of £70+VAT. The second example relates to Electric showers. If you ask 10 people who they would call if their electric shower stopped working. Five of them would say a plumber and the other five would say an electrician. But the beauty of Google is that you don't need to think, they will do it for you. If you need an electric shower repaired all you need to do is search for ' electric shower repairs' and you will find numerous companies specialising in electric shower repairs.
When I first moved to London seven years ago Foxtons were operating at full tilt. They seamed to be the agents for almost every rental property we looked at. I remember been flabbergasted that they could get away with charging prospective tenants to find a property as well as the landlords to full their properties. Foxtons seemed to treat everyone like they were idiots looking to be squeezed for cash. After two years of working for London's biggest handyman service we were approached by Foxtons to undertake maintenance jobs in the properties they managed on behalf of landlords. They dictated to us what our hourly charge should be, which was almost the same as we were charging anyway, but then deducted 20% as a commission after the landlord had paid the full invoice amount for themselves. They would also charge the landlords a fee for managing their properties for them. Once again they were using their market position to squeeze anyone they could. So when I read this article, Foxtons stuck in housing market slump, I felt a great sense of satisfaction, as if justice had been served. I'm sure there are thousands of Londoners out there who would be happy to see Foxtons fall on their faces. Like gluttons they grabbed as much as they could in the boom and now many will be smirking as they suffer in the gloom. I am a firm believer in market karma or economic justice. If you treat your customers badly or turn your back on business ethics the market will one day exact its revenge. The founder of Foxtons, John Hunt, obviously saw this moment of reckoning coming and just like a Banana Republic Dictator he escaped just in time with all the loot before the whole thing collapsed. I'm just glad I'm not trying to sell a mini motorcar, because the second hand market is about to be flooded with them. 
One of our handymen had an interesting job last week. We were called by a housing charity to unblock a small hand basin in one of their properties. The house had a number of bedrooms all with their own hand basins in one corner. This particular basin was the only one blocked in the property, so we knew the blockage had to be local to the basin and not a problem with the main down pipe. The handyman unscrewed the u-bend to inspect it for any sign of a blockage. He found that the whole u-bend and waste pipe were completely blocked with what seemed to be cement. After a quick call to one of the senior handymen the cause of the blockage became clear. The cement like substance was actually limescale which had been encouraged to grow so aggressively due to the constant presence of uric salts and bacteria found in urine. The tenant had obviously been using the basin as a urinal for some time which had resulted in the u-bend and waste pipe becoming the ideal environment for limescale to build up quickly until the basin waste pipe was solidly blocked.  Once we knew that the problem was limescale we were able to treat it with an acidic solution known as 'Spirit of Salts' which over time will dissolve the limescale. Using this acidic solution combined with 60 minutes of traditional roding we were able to clear the blocked waste pipe. We fitted a new u-bend and instructed the tenant that he should not pee in the sink.
A strange job, but an interesting one among handymen and plumbers who deal with blockages.
 We received a call from an office manager just before the new year asking us to repair a faulty toilet flush. The cause of the fault surprised us all.
The inner workings of the toilet concerned were concealed behind a decorative panel. All that was visible on the panel was the pneumatic flush button. These buttons work by compressing air within a rubber tube the increased pressure is enough to operate the flush valve and the toilet flushes. In this case the rubber hose had become disconnected from the button and as a result the toilet was not flushing when the button was pushed.
On closer inspection the handyman noted that the end of the rubber tube was jagged as if a rodent had been chewing on it. He cut off a bit of the tube and refitted it to the flush button which restored the correct operation of the toilet. The whole process only took 20 minutes. A few days later we got a call from the same customer to say that the toilet was not working again. We sent the same handyman back to investigate. This time he found that most of the flush button had been eaten away by rodents. The extent of the damage to the button can be seen in the photo. It emerged when discussing the problem with the customer that they had come back from the Christmas break to find that rats had run riot through their offices chewing on anything from computer cables to coffee cups.
The rats were using the toilet cisterns as their water supply and once they had had a drink were pausing to nibble on a bit of rubber to pass the time.
The answer was to prevent the rats from getting into the toilet cisterns and this meant removing the decorative panel, filling all access holes with steel will and expanding foam and then reinstating everything. This was done in conjunction with an exterminator laying poison and traps throughout the office.
We completed the work and are confident that the rats won't gain access to the men's toilet again. However we got a call this morning to say that the woman's toilet now won't flush. I believe politicians call this phenomenon 'crime displacement'.
In conversation with one of our London handymen recently, he pointed out how common it is to stumble upon a loose set of taps while doing work at customer's properties. Normally these are monobloc kitchen sink taps which require a special box spanner to fit or tighten. Not the kind of tool an average household would have in their B&Q toolbox. The problem is that most people don't think it is worth paying a plumber the best part of £100 to tighten a loose tap and therefore just live with the problem. What they don't realise is that you don't need a plumber to undertake most plumbing jobs within a property. A professional handyman can do almost all of them for you at about 50% of the cost. All our handymen fit taps and therefore carry a full set of box spanners with them. It only takes a few minutes to tighten a loose tap if you have the correct tool. It's the kind of job that a customer should just tag onto their 'to-do' list when they have a handyman round to take care of all those niggly jobs. However if a loose tap is really getting on your nerves we don't mind coming out for any on small job and our minimum charge is only £40+VAT.
Hanging an LCD TV or Plasma screen is one of those jobs that most people would prefer to have a professional do for them.
How much?
Any screen up 42” in size - £80+VAT
Any screen larger than 42” - £95+VAT
How long?
Exactly how long fitting a LCD TV or Plasma screen takes depends mainly on the size of the LCD screen (generally the bigger the screen the longer it takes to install) and the type of wall on which the bracket will be fitted (fitting a screen on a plasterboard wall takes a bit more preparation and care)
Who brings what?
All you need to have on site is a suitable bracket and the LCD screen. if unsure, call us for advice on choosing a suitable bracket. (Try http://www.dekomount.co.uk/ for good bracket deals online)
We will supply all the tools, fixings and screws needed to install your TV screen securely and professionally.
Hiding cables?
.jpg) Some customers do want to have the cables and wires hidden within surface mounted trunking or actually into a wall or chimney breast. Although cable management is not part of the standard LCD installation; it is a service we offer.
If anyone has seen the movie 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' they will remember the ongoing gag throughout the film where the brides father believes that windolene is the cure for almost anything. Including the pimple she gets on her wedding day.
Well for me my windolene is silicone grease also known as plumbers grease. It properties are magical and its uses are endless. Its intended use is on rubber plumbing seals such as push fit connections or o-ring seals but as a London Handyman who takes on a lot more than just plumbing I use it on any rubber, plastic, metal connection that comes in contact with water or needs a good seal. I also use it on sticking sash windows in order to get them to slide freely as well as on the tip of self tapper or wood screws just before I drive them into position. It’s lesser known lubricating uses incl ude:
- Stiff Locks
- Sticking flush valves
- Bicycle chains
- Rusty bolts
- Drill chucks
- Pretty much anything that suffers from friction or needs protection from damp.
Silicone grease has in the past been very difficult to get hold of. It's not the kind of thing that B&Q or Homebase will stock in their plumbing section. In fact most plumber’s merchants in London don't even stock it, which in itself has become an indicator for me on how good a plumbers merchant is. If they have silicone grease on the shelves, by default they must be good.
I'll have to keep you all posted on the additional uses I find for silicone grease, at the moment I'm testing it as a sun screen.
Draught Proofing Sash WindowsSilver Saints London Handyman Service offers an effective, great value sash window draught proofing service.
The procedure we follow is to remove the lower sash, replace the two existing parting beads with ones that contain a draught proofing pile. We fit draught proofing rubber strip on the top face of the upper sash rail where it meets the head jam and another strip on the bottom face of the lower sash rail where it meets the window sill. We then use a router to cut an 8mm channel into the meeting rail of the bottom sash and insert another pile type draught sealing strip. The window is then reassembled rattle and draught free.
The cost to draught proof a sash window is £90+VAT, inclusive of both labour and materials.
Repairing uPVC windows.
One of our motivating beliefs at Silver Saints is that if something is repairable we should be able to repair it. Our handymen have decades of experience between them in almost every trade area, there really aren't many jobs they can't do. If there is a gap in any one of the handyman's know how it doesn't take long for him to pick up the information he needs from one of our other handymen who has the necessary experience in that particular task.
But every once and a while there is a job that pops up that just stumps all of us and it normally has something to do with a new product or an imported technology that we have not seen before. Lately we have seen a big increase in the amount of people asking us to repair faulty uPVC windows. These are fairly new to the UK but have been widely used throughout the rest of Europe for many years because of their sound and insulating properties. They are normally double or triple glazed, have multiple seals and manufactured to fine tolerances. These modern uPVC windows also have ingenious opening and locking mechanisms which make them both very secure and capable of opening in multiple orientations. Any mechanical engineer would tell you that these windows are excellently designed.
The problem is however that we in the UK just aren't used to these windows yet and unfortunately the full set of operating instructions they are supplied with don't seem to be passed on from the installer to the user and so most people are forced to figure out their correct workings by themselves. It's often like watching a baby girl discover that the square shaped toy does not fit into the oval shaped whole. But after a few attempts they discover that the square toy into the square hole fits just fine. However little boys aren't so quick off the ball, they will pick up the square toy, try and insert it into the oval hole and on finding it does not fit will persist until the square toy becomes oval. Unfortunately when this principle of stubborn determination is applied to very heavy finely engineered windows the result is normally the failure of the window mechanism, which in the end results in a window that either does not open or does not close properly.
In the past we have always advised customers with faulty uPVC windows to contact the manufacturers or the company who installed the windows to repair them. This solution however easy to say was becoming a very unsatisfactory response to both the office staff and the handymen, who all like to solve any and all problems that they are presented with, or at least give it a go. So on our latest desperate request from a customer in Battersea we decided it was time to dive in head first to try and repair a triple glazed uPVC window that was not closing properly. We gave the customer a 'no win, no fee' offer, so if we did not fix the window we would not charge her for our time. We set aside a few hours and assigned two handymen to the task, knowing that the window would need to come off the hinges and would be very heavy.
It was clear as soon as the window was taken down that the window had been swung open rapidly, probably blown open by a strong wind, which had completely bent the top hinge by more than 90 degrees. The window was never going to close without us changing the hinge. As a temporary measure we removed the top hinge altogether and secured the window in place.
That same day we called the window manufacturers in Italy and they gave us the contact details of their agents in the UK. The agents promised to send us a replacement hinge in the post and we will return to reinstate the window fully as soon as it arrives.
It's good to know that the next time a customer calls to enquire about the repair of a faulty uPVC window we will be able to offer assistance.
Silver Saints employs a team of the most experienced handymen in London. But with experience and knowledge comes the ability to quickly spot shoddy workmanship done by other tradesman or handymen. The difficulty is pointing out to the customer that things are not right without sounding like a salesman trying to build up a job.
We went out to draught proof sash windows in a West London last week. When we arrived we found four of the biggest sash windows I have ever seen. On inspection we found that they were under weighted and as a consequence they did not stay open. The sash cords were also way to thin for the weight of the window. It was clear that the person who had last worked on these windows tried to save on materials costs and as a result had left the customer with very poorly functioning sash windows.
The temptation is always to demonstrate your knowledge to the customer by pointing out all the things that the other tradesman had done wrong. But this doesn't really help anyone. Instead we opted for a direct approach. We simply told the customer that the windows were not functioning very well and asked if she wanted us to sort them out and then draught proof them or if she just wanted us to do the draught proofing. We then gave her a price for both options.
She chose to have the repairs carried out to the windows as well as the draught proofing. In the end everyone was happy and we didn't have to slag off any other tradesman.
We attended a job in Islington last week to measure up for replacement spiral balances on four double glazed aluminium windows. The tenant told us that we where the sixth company to take measurements. For some reason all the other tradesmen had turned the job down.
We returned to the property yesterday, armed with 8 pairs of replacement balances and had them all fitted in four hours. The job did need two handymen, due to the shear weight of the windows, but the job could not have gone smoother.
In the end we left a very happy landlord and a relieved flat of tenants who had been complaining about the windows not working since the summer.
It felt good to succeed where five others had failed to even try......now that's Silver Service.
I took a call on Tuesday last week and immediately recognised the caller as David Guest, the wacky yank from last years series of 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here'. I personally find him hilarious. His relationship with the other celebrities and his crazy stories had me in stitches every evening the show was on.
The job we were asked our handyman to do was to hang 300 framed gold 45s on a wall. They all had to be in perfectly aligned rows and columns. There is no getting away from the tediousness of this type of job but using a laser level to mark out a grid does make life allot easier for the handyman.
David was so impressed with the results that he has asked us to come back for a few more hours next week. Hopefully he passes our business card around the celebrity circuit.
It would be nice to be the London handyman service to the stars.
We had a sash window draught proofing job on Saturday. The tenant let us in and showed us the troublesome windows. She had been complaining to the landlord for weeks that cold draught was whistling through the windows and that the flat was impossible to keep warm.
On inspection we found multiple problems with the windows, in fact the top sashes were painted shut and hadn't moved in decades. We called the landlord and explained that we could just do our normal draught proofing service, which would cure the draught problem, or we could carry out additional repairs to get all the sash windows operating as well as draught proof.
His response was clear. 'I just want the complaining to stop, so just do the draught proofing'.
So this is what we did. Five hours later all three sash windows had been thoroughly draught proofed. The tenant was happy and the landlord was happy.
I took a call last week from a gentleman who wanted his 50" LCD screen hung on a chimney breast. Normally this is a very simple job, in fact installing LCD TVs is one of our most common tasks. But in this case the customer had a cantilever style bracket and he lived in Clapham. Both of these facts set alarm bells ringing.
The cantilever style brackets undergo allot more bending and twisting forces than a flat or tilting bracket would ever have to deal with. These forces are transferred to the wall and fixings. Therefore to hang an LCD TV of that size on the bracket he had there would have to be no doubt to the structural integrity of the walls.
It is however our experience of many years of hanging pictures, LCDs and curtain rails that it is often the case that the old brick that holds up our homes simply crumble away when drilled into. This is particularly true for houses in the Clapham area of London and was the case with this customers chimney breast.
As temperatures fall and wind speeds rise along with the price of fuel, it's time to consider plugging those gaps which are so often a feature of London's millions of sash windows.
Silver Saints Handymen have years of experience in maintaining sash windows and draught proofing is one of the services we offer to keep your home or office snug this winter.
London has many companies specialising in sash window restoration but you will usually be asked to part with several hundreds of pounds per window for their services. If your window is basically sound but rattles a bit in the wind and lets in draughts, then Silver Saints offers a unique value-for-money draught proofing service.
We will professionally draught-proof your sash windows for an all-in price of only £95+vat per window. What is more, if any of your sash cords needs replacing, we can do this at the same time for only £8+vat per cord.
We will dismantle your sash window and apply high quality draught-proofing materials to all surfaces which can admit draughts. We will then reassemble the window, make good and leave your window smart and draught-free.
How can we do this for such a low price?
At Silver Saints, we realised that companies offering sash window restoration were offering more than many of us needed, if all you need is draught proofing. So, we started experimenting on our own windows at home to find a cost-effective solution to draughts and have come up with an approach which offers unique value for money. There are no short-cuts. Every surface which can admit a draught is sealed with the highest quality materials. What we leave out is the wider restoration of the window which is what takes most time and is where most companies make their money. Because our Handymen have many years experience of working on sash windows, they are able to work quickly and effectively and so reduce labour costs. This is how we can offer the Silver Saints customer unrivalled value for money.
To enquire further or to book a handyman to draught proof your sash windows call us on 0207 0999 199 or send an email to fixit@silversaints.co.uk
If you glanced at our website, www.silversaints.com, and then at our main competitors, 0800handyman. You'd be forgiven for thinking that both our services are very similar. In fact a friend of mine passed a comment recently that all handyman services are the same. Oh, but how wrong he was and I took it upon myself to convince him other wise.
Comparing Silver Saints to 0800handyman is like comparing a Nissan Micra to a Aston Martin DB9. Sure they are both cars and they'll both get you from A to B. But one of them offers just the basics with questionable efficiency while the other comes with style, class and performance. In this analogy, Silver Saints Handyman Service is the Aston Martin and 0800handyman is the Nissan. Now imagine that you could get the Aston Martin for the same price as the Nissan, which one would you choose?
My friend chuckled. But anybody with knowledge of both handyman services knows this to be true.
When exchanging the small-talk when meeting someone for the first time it is often the "what do you do?" question that can move a conversation on quite zestfully. For over 20 years I had said always said Advertising knowing that this wasn't a very stimulating answer and I could then ask the same question in hope that they said something less boring.
It's a strange thing habit, my answer, Advertising, was meant to sound glamorous once in the hope that I could impress but as the years went by I dreaded the question but never got around to changing my script. Presented the same question at a film premier last week I found myself saying "I unblock toilets", for this is true, I packed in my stressful world last year and became a Handyman for Silver Saints, a unique handyman company employing the talents of like minded men in pursuit of a better life.
I thought was a good answer but no one seemed to believe me. I have to explain that through a family connection I had found myself rubbing shoulders with more than one film star and the elite of Hollywood's movie men. I quickly gauged that they thought I was comedian and I was about to seriously impress. I added that I had an agent, again this is true, but it only seemed to add substance to my new career in Hollywood. I was on a roll... But then I ruined it, I explained that I don't always unblock toilets, I sometimes unblock sinks! They started to believe me. As my audience dwindled to just one I found myself missing the best part of the evening talking to an art gallery owner who's urinals were periodically overflowing and wondered if I could offer any advice.
Following my impressive strike record of clearing blockages I seem to have become the specialist amongst the Silver Saints crew. Apart from the obvious unpleasantness, there really is something very rewarding in hearing the obstruction release itself followed by the gushing sound of water. For the client, yes I'm pleased, I've sorted their problem but more interestingly, I truly regard an unblocking like an instinctive pleasure. My Grandmother was obsessed with her drains and I sometimes wonder if one can inherit feelings like these genetically.
Without actually seeing what's causing the blockage or where it is along pipe's route, it is normally case of narrowing down just how bad the situation is. I should add that this isn't part of the pleasure especially when you have to climb inside an inspection chamber full of floaters. On the other hand this could bring high rewards later. Did you know, a backed up blockage from where your waste leaves your property can sometimes show the same symptoms as a mere clump of hair in u-bend under your bathroom sink?
I found this out on a job earlier this year... It was my first job of the day and booked in as just a blocked bathroom sink. After removing the wad of hair from the u-bend, I turned on the taps and all was well again. I started packing up and then noticed that the bath was filling from its plug hole. My cup of tea then arrived with the customer and I asked her when she last had a bath? I wasn't questioning a lack of hygiene, I was just trying to establish how much water could be standing in the pipes below the bathroom. Anyway, after laughing a little at my unfortunate remark she said "this morning"! I knew then that we were dealing with a major backed-up blockage and I could explain why. I suggested that the 'blocked sink' was only locally and probably not completely blocked and what I had done by running more water than usual down it on top of the emptied bath was not a typical morning for the bathrooms use. Furthermore, the waste trapped in pipes and the inspection chamber would very slowly drain away during the day making enough room for tomorrows bath water again. Bingo!
As it turned out this is exactly what was going on and by the appalling state of the inspection chamber at the front of the house, it had been for quite a while. What's needed at this stage is courage, a call to the office for moral support and an all-in-one suit. After emptying thirty five buckets of vile brown liquid from the chamber I revealed a rodding point and got going with the auger. The auger is basically a long flexible rod designed to dislodge blocked material. It gets round tight bends in the pipe with the assistance of being rotated.
On this particular occasion it glided in and its end proudly poked up at the base of the chamber, as I would expect it to. My problem was that it seemed to have made no difference to releasing the remaining waste in the chamber. After several attempts at withdrawing the auger and reinserting it, I started to push and pull the auger in a flossing action and then suddenly I had done it! A long stream of waste sitting on the pipe from the house was on its way and started to disappear down the hole.
The obstruction turned out to be a solidified cake of limescale and debris sitting in the base of the chamber's U-bend. I had obviously disturbed it with my flossing action and after bravely reaching down the hole, I pulled out two huge chunks to complete my job. Advertising was all about pushing product. I realise now that clearing drains is no different.
Electric Shower Repairs
We've had another flurry of electric shower repair jobs last week. It must have been something in the water, but they all seemed to be Triton electric showers and they all had solenoids which had failed.
Out of the eight electric showers we repaired last week, six were Triton showers, one was a New Team electric shower and one was a Mira electric shower. All six of the Triton showers needed replacement solenoids and three of them had internal leaks as well. It is quite often the case that the solenoid fails because water has been dripping onto it from a leaking joint somewhere else within the electric shower. As soon as we have replaced the solenoid and fired up the shower again the leak becomes evident. It is then just a case of repairing the leaking joints.
In the case of the Mira electric shower it was the PCB that had failed. The cost of which was almost the cost of a new shower. We gave the customer the option of just replacing the electric shower all together but he opted to go for the repair. In the end we had to take out almost every component to get the replacement PCB connected.
However with the New Team shower, the customer needed it repaired in a hurry as he had guests staying with him for the weekend. The quickest way to guarantee he would have a working shower was just to fit a like for like replacement electric shower. This only took 45 minutes in the end and the customer was very grateful even.
In fact it is often the case with things like electric showers and taps that the labour cost to repair them sometimes out weighs the replacement cost. Allot of electricians and plumbers therefore will only ever recommend replacing things. It's not that they are trying to rip customers off, they just think it is the most economical solution, because they can be sure at the end of their visit the customer will be left with a working shower that should last a few years before it needs any attention.
Grohe Toilet Repairs
One of the toilet flushes that stumps most plumbers is the Grohe or Grohedal concealed cistern with push button flush. These toilet cisterns are designed to be fitted behind tiled walls and panels. On first inspection all the working parts seem to be inaccessible without taking off at least a couple of tiles and most plumbers do just that.
The fact is that these toilets so well designed that all the inner working are maintainable through the push button panel.
We have become experts at dealing with Grohe toilet, shower and tap faults.
Unblocking Toilets
One of our handymen, Roger, had less luck when trying to clear a blocked toilet in Croydon recently. The customer had tried to flush an old rag down the toilet and it had become stuck in the soil stack. Roger had to use a 10m auger to pull the rag down the pipe to an access point where he could remove the rag by hand. Unfortunately, the rag was followed by everything that was backing up behind the blockage.
Electric Shower Repairs
The steady stream of shower repairs has continued this week. Mostly it seams to be electric showers that are developing faults.
We often find that the fault in an electric shower is a solonoid that has failed. But recently we've discovered that a failed solonoid is a syptom of another fault. In two cases last week we replaced faulty solonoid valves on electric showers to discover that the original solonoid had actually failed because a leak had developed within the shower.
Given the cost of the replacement parts for electric showers compared the actual cost of the shower, it is often more economical to replace the shower with a similar unit. Often these days it's the labour cost that is the deciding factor between repair of replacement. A like for like shower replacement can normally be done in 60 minutes. Whereas fault finding, ordering parts and fitting them does often take allot longer than this.
If you have a shower that needs repairs, don't hesitate to contact us on 0207 0999 199 or send an email to fixit@silversaints.co.uk
We have had a series of jobs recently were we have been called in to redo plumbing that was done by amateur DIYer's. Normally when this happens its because the dodgy plumbing has failed and resulted in a persistent or catastrophic leak.
One of the jobs we were called to last week was because a downstairs neighbour had complained of a leak through their ceiling. It turned out that our customer had recently purchased the house not realising that all the kitchen plumbing had been done by the previous owner himself. What we found was that all the waste pipes were actually running up hill which had resulted in a blockage and the waste water from the dishwasher flowing back up the stand pipe when the dishwasher drained.
In the end we had to pull out all the kitchen cabinets and redo all the kitchen waste plumbing. A full day of work and certainly not what the customer wanted to find out about her new flat.
One of the more specialist tasks Silver Saints Handyman Service undertakes is the unblocking of sinks and toilets. Usually this is a straight forward task, but we have had our share of difficult and messy jobs over the past week.
One of our handymen, Richard, was asked to replace a sani-flo unit in a basement toilet last week. He arrived to find that the customer had already purchased a replacement unit and just required us to fit it. It all seemed straight forward. But when Richard proceeded to dismantle the old unit he found that it had obviously failed sometime before the customer had stopped using the toilet and both the waste pipe and old sani-flo unit were completely blocked. It was a smelly and messy job to get the pipe work clear enough to fit the new sani-flo. Once the old unit was un-installed and emptied it was clear that the cause of the failure was that the customer had flushed bits of carpet thread down the toilet which had become entangled in the sani-flo's motor. Resulting in it burning out.
The second, out of the ordinary unblocking job also took place in a basement. We were called out to unblock a bathroom basin, but when we arrived we found that the basin, shower and toilet were blocked. After about 3 hours of roding we managed to break off a piece of limescale about the size of a coke can, which had obviously been building up over many years.
Sash Window Repairs - London
One of the most common of the more specialist jobs we undertake is the repair and replacement of sash window cords and sash balances.
We recently had a request to replace sash chains. Although sash chain is readily available from architectural iron mongers. Its very rare to find sash windows which use chains instead of normal sash cord. This is because the cost of the chain is about four times that of nylon cord with no additional benefit other than been out of the ordinary.
Unfortunately for our customer only one chain needed replacing and the shortest chain we could purchase was a 50ft reel at a cost of £90.
At least they'll have plenty of chain at hand if any of the other chains need replacing in the near future.
Shower Repairs - London
I've had a theory for some time now that shower faults occur in batches. This is reflected in the fact that we will not have a shower repair job for weeks and then all of a sudden we'll get 6 faulty shower repairs in one week.
This week has been one of those weeks.
Yesterday we had a successfully completed the installation of a replacement thermostatic shower valve.
On Monday one of or handymen repaired an exotic shower divertor which two specialist plumbers had failed to repair.
On Tuesday we replaced an electric shower, replaced parts in another and did two estimates to supply and fit shower pumps to cure low pressure problems.
Our operations department have become experts at identifying shower valves and sourcing replacement parts for even the rarest of showers.
There aren't many shower faults that silver saints cannot solve.
One of the more specialist jobs our London Handymen take on is the clearing of blocked toilets, blocked sinks and blocked urinals. We have specialist equipment for dealing with blockages which means that 90% of blocked toilets, sinks and urinals can be cleared in 60 minutes.
We have had three unblocking jobs recently which deserve a mention.
The first was a blocked toilet for a regular customer. He had gone away on a business trip and left his two sons, who are 18 and 17 years old respectively, to look after themselves at home as they themselves were on school holidays. Just like you would expect any self respecting teenagers to do when their parents have left them alone for an extended period of time......they through a house party! It was three days later that the housekeeper discovered the guest toilet was blocked. Not a pleasant job to go to but we managed to unblock the toilet before the father returned home.
The second job was a bit more pleasant. A young mother had called us to unblock a toilet which had a history of becoming blocked. Unfortunately despite prior instruction, their housekeeper had flushed kitchen towel down the loo which resulted in the toilet becoming blocked. It was an easy job to clear the blockage, but it was also easy to see why the problem was occurring. The toilet was offset from the waste pipe. In order to overcome this problem, the bathroom fitters had cobbled together two 35 degree pan connectors. Unfortunately this was resulting in the waste having to make to fairly sharp turns through the pan connector before it entered the waste pipe and hence the frequent occurrence of blockages.
The third job was a blocked sink which also had a history of frequent blockages. Because the homeowner had been ripped off by a specialist drain clearing company a few months ago he was hesitant to call any other professional sink unblocking service and instead attempted to clear the blockage himself using various DIY plungers, rods and chemicals. Having been unsuccessful in his attempts he left on honeymoon, choosing to deal with the blocked sink on his return. By the time he called Silver Saints the blockage had been sitting undisturbed for three weeks. We managed to clear the blocked sink in about 45 minutes using an array of specialist drain clearing tools. But the smell that wafted from the drain pipe when we removed the u-bend will haunt my dreams for eternity.
Suspended Ceiling Repairs (05/08/2008)
Silver Saints prides itself on been able to solve almost any problem around homes of offices. Often the most important ingredients are experienced handymen and a flexible approach. But some problems also require a bit of research to get right.
We were asked by one of our commercial customers to repair a two large holes in their suspended ceiling having had two air conditioning units removed.
It might have looked like a simple job to them. But suspended ceilings come in a wide variety of styles which are not compatible with each other.
We sent a handyman to site armed with a catalogue showing all the possible varieties of grids and tiles. He has able to match the exact system they had and we ordered the parts we needed.
Once the parts arrived, we were able to completely restore the suspended ceiling in a matter of hours.
Office Maintenance London Handy Man (17/07/08)
About 45% of the work we do is for offices. The most common jobs we do for commercial customers include:
Really Really OldSash Windows (14/07/08)
The reason is that the counter weights on either side of the window are not heavy enough to keep the window up. The answer is to add an extra lead weight, called a make weight, to the current window weights.
Our handy man Don, undertook just this job for a media company in Covent Garden last week. The interesting part of this job was that they had a dozen windows which seemed to be over a hundred years old, which still had the original Victorian 2mm thick glass in them. As a result Don had to be extremely careful in the way he handled the windows.
It was amazing to see young creatives sitting at ikea desks with multiple flat screens using the latest the Apple software to edit films and documentaries while starring out a window that is 150 years old.
Wobbly Washing Machines (08/07/08)
A landlord asked us to attend one of his properties last week. The tenants had reported that their newly installed under counter washing machine was vibrating violently when it reached the spin cycle. The shaking was so violent that the downstairs neighbours had complained that a picture had fallen off their wall as a result.
New washing machines almost all arrive with long bolts, called transit brackets, which secure the drum in place during transit and delivery. They normally have big orange or yellow arrows pointing at them telling the installer to remove them when fitting the machine. You'll be surprised how many experienced installers forget this vital step. The result of not removing the transit brackets is obvious when you try and run the machine for the first time. The machine attempts to shake the transit brackets loose itself by bouncing across the room.
So when the landlord described the problem, we thought we knew the answer straight away. The installer (not Silver Saints) had left the transit brackets in. But alas, when our handyman arrived and inspected the machine he found that the transit brackets had been removed and the violent shaking was as a result of something else.
On further investigation it became clear that the problem was been caused by the fact that the washing machine was resting on top of floorboards which were not level or very stiff. This meant that the washing machine was constantly fighting against the eccentric forces caused by the weight of the spinning load of washing. The reasons a washing machine should be level are the same reasons your car wheels need to be balanced. Out of balance centrifugal forces cause vibrations. (Read more about cetrifugal forces)
The cure to this particular problem was to fit a piece of 18mm ply wood across the floorboards as a stable surface for the washing machine to sit on. The handyman then spent some time adjusting the feet of the machine to make sure it was perfectly level. He then attached the feet of the machine to the ply wood with screws drilled through each foot of the machine (this particular machine did have pre-drilled holes in each foot for this purpose, however I'm not sure if all machines have these)
The end result spoke for itself. Amazed tenants watched on as the machine smoothly went through it's spin cycle. A very satisfying job all round.
Leaking Silicone Sealant - A Cultural Problem
One of the most common jobs our London handymen undertake is the resealing of baths and shower cubicles. People sometimes just want the old sealant replaced because it has become discoloured or mouldy, but mostly it is because signs of a leak have appeared on the ceiling below the bath or shower.
It must be said, it is not always the silicone, in some cases there are cracks in the grout or water is making its way behind a valve or tap. However nine times out of ten there is a gap or hole in the sealant. The cure is often simple, scrape out all the old silicone and replace it.
Leaking sealant is a very common problem in the UK. If you visit your local B&Q or Homebase you'll find a whole aisle dedicated to different kinds of sealants, sealing strips and sealing tapes. All offering new and improved ways to seal your bath or shower. But why are there so many baths and showers that leak, is it the sealant?
I spent the first 24 years of my life in South Africa and I had never seen a tube of silicone, a silicone gun or heard anyone complain about a leak due to a hole in their bath or shower sealant until I moved to London. I realise now when I go back to South Africa on holiday that all baths and showers are sealed with silicone exactly the same way they are in the UK. So why is leaking silicone sealant such a problem here and not in South Africa.
As with most blog articles, I pose the question just so I can answer it myself. So here goes.
I believe the answer lies in space, or lack there of. The UK, or London in particular, has a lack of space. Houses are split into halves, quarters, basements and lofts. Flats are shared, even rooms are shared. Everybody lives either on top of or underneath someone else.
If you have ever lived in a flat or house share you will know that the efficient scheduling of shower/bathroom facilities is the cornerstone of any successful house share. The shower is in almost constant use. Some flatmates shower in the morning, some in the evening, some in the morning and evening. My point is the average London shower cubicle sees a lot of action and a lot of water. If there is even the slightest hole in the silicone with a constant stream of water flowing over it day in day out. Of course there is going to be a problem.
I propose that even the best silicone job is susceptible to wear and tear and a shower or bath that sees constant use day in day out will need to be resealed every couple of years to ensure a permanent and good seal.
Good Neighbours (02/07/2008)
One of the jobs we are doing today has an interesting story behind it that I thought I would blog about.
We took a call last week from a gentleman who wanted to know what the cost and availability was for Silver Saints to supply and fit a replacement front door. He attached a photo of the current door and wanted a like for like replacement. After a bit of research we found the same door was available from Wicks in SW19. Having given him a fixed price for the supply, delivery and fitment of the new door. He agreed to go ahead with the work and asked us to contact someone else to gain access to the property as the person who lived at the address where the door was to be fitted was in hospital.
It turns out that the door had been kicked in by paramedics who needed to gain access to the property because the elderly gentleman that lived there had fallen ill and was unable to let them in.
The gentleman who had contacted us was one of his neighbours who had volunteered to arrange and pay for the replacement of the door and the person who was going to give us access to the property was yet another neighbour. They wanted to ensure that the property was secure and that the elderly resident would not have to worry about having the door replaced when he returned from hospital later in the week
Its good to know that people still go out of their way to help each other out and that a sense of community still exists within a very complex city like London.
A job we come across regularly is changing sash or spiral balances. A sash balance is a modern alternative to a sash cord and made up of a spring inside of a thin pvc tube that is set to a certain tension when fitted to take the weight of the window.
I quite like spiral balances as an alternative to sash cords mainly because once you have fitted sash balances for the first time it becomes a doddle and having sash balances also means that when it comes time to change them it is much quicker, simpler job because you don't have to dismantle the window as much.
Don't get me wrong sash cords are a tried, trusted and effective technology and all of our London handymen can change both sash cords and sash balances.
I'm of the opinion that someone who can change sash cords should also be able to change sash balances. It is generally a very straight forward job and there are even a few video tutorials available on the web that demonstrate how to change sash balances but because they are less common than their sash cord cousins, people (Even some handymen I have heard of) tend to shy away from them and would rather get someone else to do it.
It appears Silver Saints handymen have become somewhat renowned for changing sash balances, just today I had a call from a property renovations company that have never spoken to or used us before that would like us to change the sash balances on three windows at property they are renovating. It turns out we were recommended to them by another company that had heard about us through the web and used us for much the same thing.
I think the only down fall to having sash balances is that they are made to size for each window which means they are not something you can easily source off the shelf. You have to take some measurements of the window and identify what type of glazing the window has and then order the balances online. This means it is two visit job, one to take the measurements and order the sash balances and another to fit the balances. Our handymen have done this many times and can take the measurements and identify the glazing for numerous windows in a matter of minutes so you are normally only looking at paying our minimum half hour charge of £40+vat. Most customers usually get us to do something else while we are there to fill the half hour and once we have the price of the replacement balances we can usually give you fixed price for the job of fitting them.
If you know you have sash balances or even if you are unsure but know your sash window is not working the way it should be why not give us a call on 0207 0999 199 and one of our friendly and experienced operation team member will advise on what is required to repair your windows.
Leaky taps are our bread and butter. Solving a dripping tap is the type of job we love and it’s also one of the most common jobs we do. Most taps still operate on a rubber washer system and changing the washer will 9/10 times solve the leak. All of our handymen carry tap washers with them and it normally only takes 20-30min to change the washers on a set of taps (Providing we can easily turn the water off).
There are some more modern taps that we call quarter turn taps which have replaced rubber washer inserts with something called a ceramic disk. In principal these ceramic disks are meant to last much longer than tap washers which in most cases they do but, and there is a big but, they don’t last forever and when they do eventually go they are far harder to replace than your average tap washer. The action of actually changing them if very straight forward, it is the sourcing of the correct ceramic disk that is the hard part. There are literally 1000’s of different size ceramic valves out there and just going to a local plumbers merchants won’t do the trick any more.
Luckily, here at Silver Saints – London’s premier Handyman Service, we have become specialist at sourcing replacement valves for quarter turn taps. Most other plumbing services would suggest replacing the tap entirely but most times this is not necessary. There are two ways we can solve the drip for you, one way is to send us a picture of the tap via email or mobile phone and we can identify the manufacturers of the tap and get a price on replacement ceramic disks from them (We do this for free) or the other way, if you are not confident taking the pics, is we can send one of our friendly and experienced handymen out to have a look at the tap, see if he can identify it and if he can’t then he will send the details and pics of the tap to us here in the office and we can source the parts. This visit will incur our minimum charge of £40+vat for the first half hour.
Ceramic valves usually cost between £20 and £30 per pair depending on the tap and take about 2-3 days to arrive at our office. Once they are here we will give you a call to book in one of our handymen to fit the replacement disks and presto your leaky tap problems are solved.
Leaky taps is not the only plumbing job we do, we also repair leaking showers, faulty electric showers, plumb in washing machines, dishwashers, repair leaky pipes... the list is endless. Why not visit our website and see if the jobs you need doing are something we can do. I can almost guarantee that they are!
Do free estimates really exist? I tend not to think so. Many services these days offer free estimates and quotes as a way of getting their foot in the door with potential customers and I can understand why a customer would want more than one quote from a few different service providers but let’s be honest, anyone giving a free quote is always going to factor the cost of that quote into his final quoted price. Sure he may not ultimately get the job but just because you have not paid for his time to quote you does not mean that no one will.
I like the idea of a local tradesman giving free quotes to the area he either lives or trades in because that area is his main source of business and if he provides a good enough service at a reasonable rate and people are serious about getting the work done then free quotes won’t be all that necessary because he is more than likely assured of getting the work.
I think what worries me is larger firms offering free quotes because firstly they can afford it more and that it has now become industry expectation to get a free quote for work meaning that allot of time is spent going out to peoples house or offices and giving free building advice as opposed to visiting a potential customer with a clear idea of what they want doing.
There is also a difference between a builder giving you a quote to add and extension or even re-fit an entire bathroom and a handyman giving you a quote on changing a kitchen tap. Because there is this expectation of free quotes every now and then people question why it is not necessary to come out and see them to give a quote on changing a kitchen tap. After being in this industry for a few years and our handymen having the collective experience of nearly 3 lifetimes of home and office maintenance we can pretty much guarantee that 9 out of 10 times changing a kitchen tap will take no longer than 1 to 1 ½ hours. The key here is that Silver Saints London Handyman Service offer a service that we believe to be the most experienced, reliable and up-front in London so we want to be in a situation that our customers trust us enough to be happy that we are charging them fairly for work that is being done by someone who has done this sort of job many times and will not try and drag things out. Another important part of the service is that our handymen our experienced enough to recognise that if the tap or whatever job we are doing for some reason will not be completed in the time we have estimated over the phone he will tell you before the job goes ahead and you have option of sending him away without charge.
I appreciate there are some jobs that cannot be done without seeing and quoting on first and for this we offer a survey and estimate service which is charged at £35+vat. If you decide to go ahead with the estimate we have given, we will knock the £35+vat off the final invoice. This way you know exactly what you are in for those more complex jobs.
Silver Saints London Handyman Service is here to change your perception of the home and office maintenance industry. Why not give us a call on 0207 0999 199 or visit our website at www.silversaints.com There are not many jobs we can’t do!
Many Londoners have a love hate relationship with electric showers. Landlords and property developers love them, because the allow an additional shower at relatively low cost. While tenants hate them, because of their mediocre performance (especially in Winter).
Electric showers are fed cold water directly from the mains. The shower then 'instantaneously' heats the the incoming water to the desired temperature set by the user. In fact what is happening is the shower slows the flow of water down to give it enough time to heat the cold water. That is why in winter, when the incoming mains water is very cold, all you get is a trickle from the shower head.
The more powerful the rating of the shower (7.5Kw, 8.5 Kw, 9.5Kw or 10.5 Kw) the quicker it can heat up the water and the less it has to slow the flow down.
A lot of people have picked up on this fact and have opted to upgrade their poorly performing 7.5KW showers with a more powerful 10.5KW shower. Unfortunately, DIYers don't always understand the electrical implications of changing the rating of an electrical appliance to the rest of their wiring and protective devices (fuses, miniature circuit breakers). Simply, the amount of current that a cable can carry without overheating is limited mainly by the cross sectional area of the cable. Fuses and MCB are in place to protect the cable from overheating and therefore are rated to blow or trip before the electrical current gets to the cables failure current.
A 7,5 KW shower will draw a maximum current of 30Amps - 32 Amps. An installer would thus get away with a using a 32amp MCB and a 6 mm2 cable. A 10.5Kw shower would draw a maximum of 40-43 Amps and therefore would require a cable thickness of at least 10 mm2 which should be protected by a 45amp MCB. So if a person wishes to install a 10.5KW shower in place of a 7.5KW shower they should be confident that the electrical supply is capable of coping with such a change.
With a bit of domestic electrical knowledge and plumbing knowledge, upgrading an electric shower is a straight forward job. But without knowing what one is doing it can lead to a dangerous situation, mainly a fire risk.
So my advice is if you are adamant on doing the work yourself, get a competent person to check your electrics for you. Otherwise hire a professional handyman to do the whole install for you.
Classified Ads
We recently placed a string of classified ads on the internet and in local press. Look out for these:
Silver Saints London Handyman Service
Hire a London Handyman to take care or all your plumbing, electrical, fitting fixing and assembling jobs. Our professional and experienced London Handymen will get your ‘to-do’ list done with Silver Service.
Visit our website to read more about our London Handyman Service– www.silversaints.com.
To enquire further please email fixit@silversaints.co.uk or call us on 0207 0999 199
Fit LCD TV
Do you need your LCD TV professionally fitted?
We offer a fixed priced LCD TV installation. Our professional and insured London Handymen will secure your bracket to the wall and fit your LCD screen for a fixed price of £80+VAT for a screen up to 42” and just £95+VAT for any screen larger than 42”.
Silver Saints also offer a range of fixed prices for the concealing of the cables.
To find out more visit our LCD TV Installation website: www.silversaints.com/WhatJobsWeDo/FittingLCDScreens.aspx
To book an LCD fitting send an email to fixit@silversaints.co.uk or give us a call on 0207 0999 199.
Draught Proofing
Do you have draughty and rattly sash windows?
We offer a fixed priced Sash Window Draught Proofing Service. Our professional and experienced London Handymen will apply high quality seals and draught proofing brush pile to all surfaces of your sash windows that may admit draught. The end result is a draught free and rattle free window for an all in price of £95+VAT per window.
We also offer a range of fixed prices for replacing sash cords and balancing sash windows.
To find out more visit our sash window draught proofing website - www.silversaints.com/WhatJobsWeDo/DraughtProofingWindows.aspx
To book our draught proofing service send an email to fixit@silversaints.co.uk or call us on 0207 0999 199.
Toilet Unblocking
Do you have a blocked toilet?
Silver Saints offers a fixed price Toilet Unblocking Service. Our professional and experienced London Handymen will clear your blocked toilet for a fixed price of £60+VAT.
To find out more visit our Toilet Unblocking Website –www.silversaints.com/WhatJobsWeDo/ToiletAndSinkUnblocking.aspx
To book a London Handyman to clear your blocked toilet send an email to fixit@silversaints.co.uk or call us on 0207 0999 199.
Shower Repairs
Does your shower need a service?
Silver Saints offers a shower repair service. Our professional and experienced London Handymen specialize in repairing all makes, types and model showers.
If your electric shower, power shower, mixer shower or Thermostatic shower needs repairing Silver Saints can help.
To find out more visit our Shower Repairs website – www.silversaints.com/WhatJobsWeDo/FaultyShowerRepairs.aspx
To book a London Handyman to service your faulty shower send an email to fixit@silversaints.co.uk or give us a call on 0207 0999 199.
London Plumber
Do you need a London Plumber?
Silver Saints offers an extensive range of plumbing services. Our professional and insured London Handymen can take care of almost any plumbing job. We specialise in those small plumbing tasks like repairing faulty toilets, leaking taps, fitting taps, servicing faulty showers, installing washing machines and dishwashers, fixing leaks and drips.
To find out more visit our London Plumber website –www.silversaints.com/WhatJobsWeDo/LondonPlumber.aspx
To book a London Handyman to take care of your plumbing jobs send an email to fixit@silversaints.co.uk or call us on 0207 0999 199.
(10/06/08)
I was recently asked by a potential corporate customer to describe our handyman service and why it is better than any other London handyman service. I've been working in the handyman industry for the best part of a decade, all our London handymen have done literally thousands of jobs between them. But even though we are confident that we have the most experienced handymen in London the one thing that sets us apart from any other handyman service is our customer service.
Silver Saints is the company that the home maintenance industry has been waiting for. There are almost no jobs that our experienced handymen have not done before, be it plumbing, electrics, fitting, fixing, hanging or assembling. With a flexible approach to every job the handymen go out of their way to find solutions to even the most complex problems.
This combined with the dedicated attention each customer receives from our Operations Team makes Silver Saints the premier London handyman service.
So next time you type handyman London in to Google, make sure you click on Silver Saints. You will be very glad you did.
One of the more specialist job Silver Saints London Handyman Service undertakes is the replacing of broken sash cord or sash spiral balances. As we head into summer and the temperature rises many people are opening their sash windows again after the long winter. Only to realise that the sash windows won't stay up, this is normally due to one of two things. The sash cord has broken and so the window is no longer attached to the weight or the window has been re-glazed with a thicker glass than it was first installed with and the weights are no longer heavy enough to keep the sash from sliding closed under its own weight. Both these are problems our handymen can fix.
Arriving in London six years ago from South Africa, sash windows were very new to me. In fact the only example of a sash window I had seen before was in old colonial hotels which are still scattered around South Africa. But sash windows have been around for a very long time and their popularity today is probably as high as it has ever been. In a recent search for a particular nylon sash cord I came across a specialist Sash Window design company that had an extensive history of the sash window.
The origins of the vertical sliding sash window are still subject to speculation and debate, but it would appear that the design probably derived from the much simpler horizontal sliding sash commonly known as the 'Yorkshire Sash'.
For many years it was believed that the vertical design had originated in Holland, during the later part of the Seventeenth Century. Others claimed it to be of French origin, as the word 'sash' is derived from the French word 'chassis' , meaning frame. However the French sash had not yet developed counter-balancing and the sliding sash frame was held in place by a swivel block.
The earliest recorded account may be that of W.Horman who in his 1589 'Vulgaria' wrote-"Glasen wyndowis let in the lyght.....I have many prety wyndowes shette with levys goynge up and down".
Certainly toward the end of the Seventeenth Century, sash windows were apparent in England examples include Chatsworth House (c1676 - 1680), Kensington Palace and Hampton Court Palace. Sir Christopher Wrens master joiner, Thomas Kinward, recorded possibly the earliest specification of a fully developed sash window, whilst working at Whitehall Palace. With the royal patronage and adoption by Wren, wooden sash windows soon became a fashionable status symbol across Britain and the Colonies.
Many earlier casement windows were replaced and sliding sash windows were used almost exclusively in new buildings, from royal palaces to simple cottages the sash ruled supreme and remained popular until the earlier part of this century.The sash offered many advantages, including being better suited to the wet British climate, as it can be closed down to a narrow gap, allowing for good ventilation whilst reducing the chance of rain entering. Being contained within the box, the sashes are less susceptible to distortion and rot than a hinged casement adding greatly to their life span. Aesthetically the sash is constructed from delicate sections of wood, with large areas of glass that add a certain grace, even when open they do not detract from the facade, as an open casement does.
Georgian architecture embraced sash windows wholeheartedly, improving the design from a single moving sash, with the top being fixed, to the more familiar system of two moveable sashes. Oak was the common timber used for construction, with thick glazing bars to hold the small, valuable crown glass panes, made by blowing. The 'bulls eye' formed at the centre by this manufacturing technique was commonly used at the rear of buildings. As glass manufacture improved larger panes started to appear and the ‘classic’ Georgian design consisting of six over six panes, with narrow glazing bars became the norm.
For the Victorians, box sash windows were a central focus to the character of their buildings, inside and out they lavished ornamentation and decoration on their homes. Curved horns, multi-arched heads, intricate mouldings, leaded lights and latticework started to appear in the sashes, which were often grouped into impressive bays and offset with ornate stone reveals. Graduating the size of windows from the ground upwards not only improved the perspective but also increased the amount of light to the lower rooms.
By the turn of the century the sash was the most widely used window, but since the first world war their popularity has been in decline. This decline is probanly due to the labour costs involved in their manufacture when compared to the easily mass produced wooden or metal casement window.
Given the advances in glass manufacturing and the increased efficiency of sash windows I think sash window will be around for a very long time still.
Our handymen have been doing a lot of work for one particular London removal company lately. The typical jobs they ask us to do include: removing a sash window to allow access, taking down or putting up light fittings, dismantling & reassembling furniture, disconnecting dishwashers/washing machines, touching up scuff marks on walls and of course hanging pictures, paintings and mirrors.
I personally have never used a removals company, even though I've moved properties four times in the last five years. I've always opted for hiring a van and employing the help of a few friends, for a reasonable rate of a couple of beers. The only down side to this arrangement is that you will probably be called on to volunteer your own services when each of your mates move!
A quick search for removals companies in London returns pages and pages of competing companies, most offering an online quoting service. This suggests to me that it must be a fiercely competitive market. Having relationships with complimentary services must only be of benefit to a removals firm looking to get their muddy foot in the door. Moving is a traumatic experience for a lot of people and the idea of having the removals company manage every part of the move, including arranging a handyman to take things down or apart one side or put things up or together the other side must be a very attractive proposition to a potential customer.
The truth is all the removals company needs to do is pass their customers details on to us with a list of the work that needs doing at each property, we manage the whole process directly with their customer ourselves. It couldn't be a simpler service for them to offer as part of the moving package.
We hope to get a lot more work from removals firms as they struggle to out do their competitors in what promises to be a tough time ahead for any business relying on a booming property market.
Job described as 'Change washing machine connection'; arrived at the customer's address, a converted church hall; customer took me through a labrynth to reach his laundry room, on the way describing how his cleaner thought rats had chewed through the outlet duct from the tumble drier. As we neared the laundry room the smell started to hit us - seemed like an animal smell, and very strong.
In the laundry room, the tumble drier was stacked on a washing machine and the extract duct - a flexible plastic pipe - led through a couple of partitions then along a one of three shelves about 3 metres long. The shelves were stacked mainly with laundered towels and sheets, all in plastic bags. On the duct shelf some of these packages showed signs of rat droppings and damage caused by rats chewing them.
The customer said that he wanted the duct replaced with a metal one, and the area cleared out. So I started moving the laundry packages off the shelves and separating them into undamaged and damaged piles. Then - yuch, I found the body! A large rat, well decomposed, with maggots crawling over it, laying on the severely damaged duct under laundry packages.
It had obviously been living in the area (I later found the nest in the wall cavity where the duct led outside) and had died from the poison put down by the customer. The rat's body joined the pile of damaged (and badly contaminated) laundry in a couple of rubbish bags which ended up in the bins outside. The customer's vacuum cleaner then had a work out cleaning the remaining debris from the shelves, wall cavity and floor, before a new aluminium duct could be installed.
End result - cleaned out laundry area; new rat-proof duct but...still a very strong smell! I wonder how long it will take to disperse?
Show Jumping Drain Pipes? (29/05/08)
My jobs are advised to me by text and this one said 'change light bulbs and paint drainpipes'. The job was for a regular customer - Caroline - who lives with her family in a large town house in Kensington.
When I arrived the customer wasn't there but I was let in by the gardener; also in the house was a housekeeper and a cleaning woman. I started on changing the light bulbs and after a while Caroline arrived home. After letting her know that there were not enough of a special light bulb that she needed, I asked about which drainpipes needed painting (having earlier looked around the outside of the house to see if any looked in in need of painting and not found any). Caroline showed me some large black drainpipes poking out from under steps leading down to the under street level storage area at the front of the house. She said she wanted them painted, two in red and white stripes in a specific pattern, and two in brown - she explained that they were to be pony jump poles.
When I said that I would go down to bring the poles up to take to the garage for the painting Caroline said 'I'll need to help you as they are very heavy'. We went down the steps to the pipes and I then realised that the three metre long pipes, some 5 inches in diameter, were indeed very heavy as they were made of steel! Caroline then explained that she had lazy pony which she wanted to train to jump. With normal jump poles, the pony simply hit them and knocked them off rather than actually jumping a bit higher to clear them. The steel poles, being very much heavier, would 'encourage' the pony to make the extra effort! I was assured that the pony's legs would be suitably padded to ensure that it wasn't hurt during the training.
Two hours later for new jumping poles were painted and, when dry, ready to take to the stable (in Windsor) for the training to begin. I'm looking forward to an update of the training progress on my next visit
Hanging Plasma TV's is a job we do all the time, most times one handyman can manage on his own with a little help from the customer to offer the TV up to the bracket once it has been fitted to the wall. For someone with a good knowledge of the types of walls and the different fixings used for each wall hanging a plasma screen should be a simple DIY job but for most of our customers a lack of time and practical experience means they are far more comfortable getting one of our handymen to hang their screen professionally and neatly.
We normally estimate between 1 and 1.5 hours to hang a plasma screen (depending on the size of the screen, type of bracket and type of wall) although very large screens can sometimes take up to 2 hours so you should generally be looking at between £60 and £80 + vat. We offer a fixed price for those of our customers who prefer to have peace of mind that they will not be charge anymore than a certain amount.
Our fixed price for LCD screens up to 42" is £85+vat and for LCD larger than 42" we charge £100+vat.
If you have spent a fair amount on your new Plasma TV why not give us a call and get one of our handymen to hang it professionally and neatly.
The Oddest of Odd Jobs (23/05/08)
We had one of the strangest jobs we have had so far on Wednesday of this week. A customer wanted to hire a handyman to remove their bath panel because his pet Burmese Python had escaped from its cage and slithered under the bath. His hope was that our handyman would be able to remove the bath panel so that he could retrieve his snake.
Luckily, one of our handymen, Don, has had experience with snakes. His son used to have one as a pet! So he didn't mind offering his assistance in returning the serpent to its enclosure.
Unfortunately, when Don removed the bath panel the python was nowhere to be seen! It appeared as if it had crawled even further along the waste pipe than first thought and was probably behind the tiled-over mdf boxing that had been installed to hide the bathroom plumbing.
The customer then confessed that the snake had actually been AWOL for about a month and must by now be quiet hungry. Plan B was then to try entice the snake out from behind the boxing by dangling a fresh mouse in the proximity of the entrance to the boxing in the hope that he would show himself for long enough to be captured. Our handyman did not stick around for this part of the plan. He also didn't have the heart to tell the customer that one of the jobs we do quite a lot of in London, is mouse proofing, and that in our experience there is no shortage of rodents behind the pipe boxing in London flats. So he shouldn't be surprised if his 5ft pet snake isn't in fact starving but does actually emerge from his den as a 10ft well fed snake when he himself is good and ready!
I'm not sure what sort of licences a person needs to have a pet python in London or any other reptile for that matter. But both myself and the London mouse population would certainly be interested to know how many escape and are never seen again.
I leave you with this conundrum; if you were a tenant in a flat and your pet python escaped and you never saw him again. Would you warn the landlord and the new tenants about their co-inhabitor when you finally moved out or would you just say nothing and hope the snake has moved out as well.
Every so often we come across some amusing job requests and I love the fact that our customers are so confident in our service and so at ease with our handymen that they request us to do things like helping them when they have managed get their big toe stuck in the spout of their of bath tap or to open the sugar jar that has been closed too tightly. It is very rewarding to know that our customers rely on us for even the smallest/slightly embarrassing jobs.
Handymen are not without amusing moments themselves. I had a call from a customer who asked if I wouldn’t mind calling the handyman that was currently at her property to ask if he was ok and not injured in anyway. When I enquired if something had happened that he might injure himself the customer went on to explain that the handyman, who was there to fit a sash restrictor to a sash window, had been shown upstairs to the first floor where the sash window was located and then left to get on with the job. The customer went down stairs to find the handyman who she had just left upstairs letting himself in through the ground floor back door. As it turns out the handyman who had to stand on the window ledge to fit the restrictor had slipped, fallen out the window, rolled down the angled roof and landed in the flower bed in the back garden.
Thankfully it was not very high and the tightly packed flower bed provided a nice soft landing. In the end both I and the customer were in stitches when I called back to say that the handyman was perfectly fine aside from a bruised ego.
Putting Things Right (20/05/08)
There was an added difficulty on this job however, the shelving unit was almost 2m wide and 2m high and needed to be assembled on its side and then lifted in to position. Unfortunately there was not a 2mX2m clear space anywhere in the flat we were working in. The handyman decided to attempt to assemble the wardrobe with it in an upright position. This was going well, he managed to get the outer frame together, but as soon as he tried to move the bookcase in to a position where he could add the individual shelving units the frame colapsed, damaging the laminated chipboard wood it was made from beyond repair.
Knowing the difficult conditions we were working on, the customer was understanding, but did expect us to replace the bookcase and have it assembled by the next day. We tried to explain that the most logical way to deal with this situation was for him to order a new bookcase from Ikea, have it delivered and we would put it together for him and reimburse him the cost of the replacement bookcase. But he would not accept this solution and insisted that the bookcase be replaced and assembled the following day.
So two of us set off to Croydon Ikea at 19:30 that evening, we bought a replacement shelving unit, had a couple of hot dogs and drove across London to N16 to deliver the replacement unit.
The next day our handymen returned and assembled the shelving unit, this time disassembling the bed in the room to allow enough space for the unit to be assembled on its side.
With a four hour round trip to replace the bookcase, the £110 cost of the wardrobe and the extra 1.5 hours of labour we completed the job and charged the customer a grand total of £72+VAT. I don't need the Dragon's Den panel to tell me that this equation does not equal profit, but it did equal a satisfied customer. Which at this stage of our business is just as important!
One of the universal truths about men is they all love power tools! One thing you learn pretty quickly when you use power tools on a regular basis is that price and quality do count.
Given the size of jobs our handymen take on, most lasting between half an hour and half a day, the only power tool they are guaranteed to us on a daily basis is their cordless drills.
After many years of using the XRP Dewalt Cordless 14.4v , we experienced a string of product malfunctions when Dewalt redesigned it in 2007. So we moved to the Makita Lithium Ion 14.4V Combi-Drill, these are fantastic pieces of kit but at £320, these seemed a bit on the expensive side.
We are now moving towards the Makita BHR162RFE 14.4V Lithium-Ion SDS Drill , these aren't sold by screwfix but can be picked up online for around £230. So far we think they are great. Thanks to the Lithium Ion battery they only weigh 2kg and give consistent power throughout the day. Because of its an SDS drill it gets through even the hardest of walls. It is a bit heavy to use for driving in screws, so our handymen also carry a lightweight 9.6v cordless screwdriver.
So the next time your £25 drill you were over excited to get from Argos lets you down, you know what drill to upgrade to. But if you don't want to spend the best part of £250 on a top or the line drill, just give us a call and we'll drill the hole for you.
Many people who use our handyman service for the first time are pleasantly surprised when a well spoken, polite and well turned out person turns up to tackle their 'to do' list.
All of our handymen come from professional backgrounds:
Don is an Oxford graduate, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force, a government liaison in China, Chairman of a Charity and also has a honours degree in french studies. He picked up most of his handyman knowledge and skills while renovating his own and friends properties. Don has been working as a professional handyman for six years now and is attracted to this job because no two days are the same.
Nick graduated from Brunel University with an engineering degree, he worked for KPMG for twenty years as a management consultant, is an avid yachtsman and skippers commercially owned yachts in his spare time. Nick describes himself as semi-retired even though he works a full five day week. The aspect of this job he likes the best is meeting new and interesting people everyday.
Robin has been in the building trade working as a Quantity Surveyor for over twenty years, he is an advanced motorcyclists and often takes groups of motorcyclists on guided trips to Europe. His depth of building and technical knowledge is massive and he pursues carpentry projects as a hobby.
It should be obvious from the profiles above that we are no ordinary handyman service, when you book a Silver Saints handyman, you are getting someone who can communicate well, is used to working in high pressure environments, has excellent problem solving skills and have chosen to do this job because they understand the importance of customer service and love DIY.
All our handymen have had successful professional careers but have left the confinement of the office behind to pursue a flexible, fun and rewarding career as a mobile professional London handyman.
London Handymen, The Credit Crunch and Falling Property Prices (15/05/08)
It seems that you can’t watch the news or open a paper these days without hearing about the ‘credit crunch’ and the related fall in property prices. But are households feeling the pinch just yet or is it only mortgage lenders and estate agents who are struggling, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7385195.stm?
There is no doubt that when property prices are on the rise, homeowners, landlords and developers are all too happy to pour money into their properties. Most companies that are in the property or property services industry have benefitted from a decade of rising property prices and a long period of economic growth. But now that the boom appears to be turning to gloom will London homeowners begin to tighten their belts? Will they still be willing to fork out the best part of £100 an hour for a London plumber or electrician?
Well the answer is that they don’t have to and haven’t had to for about the last seven years. What a lot of people are starting to realise is that they don’t need a specialist plumber to fix a dripping tap or replace a toilet flush, it doesn’t take a qualified electrician to replace a light switch or ceiling rose, why get a carpenter to plane a door? All these small jobs, the kind a good DIY-er would tackle themselves, can be done by a specialist handyman. There are a number of London handyman services, most charge about half the hourly rate of a specialist tradesman.
The only worry about getting a handyman to do the work that is typically associated with specialist trades is over quality of workmanship. There are a lot of handyman services out there, but very few can offer consistently good handymen. Silver Saints only employ handymen with a professional background with a minimum of three years experience within the handyman industry. This means that they can guarantee you will get a handyman that is polite, communicates well and has a wide range of experience and knowledge every time you book.
So as the upside of owning a property becomes less of a sure thing, I think a lot of people are going to start realising the value of handyman services over specialist tradesmen to get all those small plumbing, electrical and carpentry jobs done.
London Handyman : London Handyman Service : Handyman London : Home Maintenance
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