Claude's Tradesmen

Bathroom Specialists Aberdeen

Building Warrant – Frequently asked questions

Are the prices negotiable?

No, we won’t be able to negotiate. We understand how costly these projects can be, but we would rather not do a project, rather than do it at a loss or a very low margin.

How long does the project takes?

We try as much as possible to minimise the time to completion. For residential it’s very important to finish as soon as possible.

In most cases, conversions take 6-8 weeks in total and extensions around 8-12 weeks. The size of the project will influence the total time, but having most of the trades in house means that everything is done quicker.

Can you cover all the trades?

When considering a project like this, we would offer you a quote for everything involved in the work. If there are elements we are not able to undertake, these will be subcontracted to other parties, but these instances are very rare.

What projects can you undertake?

We consider those projects that help us improve our portfolio and, at the same time, we’re confident we can do a profit with them.

It’s important to emphasise that these projects are not very profitable for us, we’re better off doing something else (like bathrooms or kitchens). Most building warrant projects are stressful, involve a lot of paperwork and are considerably less profitable than other projects, despite being very costly to you.

So why are we still doing this kind of projects? Because they help us pave the way for commercial projects, something that we plan to start undertaking in the coming years. Those are the truly profitable projects in the construction industry and these building warrant projects (like extensions and conversions) are small scale versions of what happens on commercial sites.

Why are these projects so expensive?

There’s a lot of building regulations that a building warrant has to take into account. Whether the total cost would be expensive or not is generally a matter of postcode. In expensive postcodes the costs of a large extension/conversion can be a small fraction of the total property value, whether in a less expensive postcode an extension/conversion can sometimes exceed the property value.

Are your prices fixed?

Yes, the prices are always fixed with us. You’ll get a quote and you won’t have to pay anything extra at the end of the job.
This shouldn’t really be a frequently asked question, but it seems that many tradesmen add extra costs at the end of the job. We will never do this.

I changed my mind. Can I make modification to the design/quote?

Of course, you do these sort of projects a few times in life only. It makes sense to keep looking for the right balance between aspect, quality and affordability.

These sort of projects are by no means cheap. It’s not like you’re going to the supermarket and buy a more expensive product without thinking too much. While we try to make them as affordable as possible, we are always open to making changes so the project is compatible with your bank account or preferences.

If you read the pages in this website, you’ll see that we focus a lot on value for money. We fully understand that some of you don’t really care about how much you spend, but we do (on a business level and personal level).
This is why we try to respect how hard you saved for those money, we know it’s hard to save enough for a home improvement after so many bills. This means that we’ll try to make sure you get the most of your purchase with us.

How long would the project take?

Most projects are completed in 5–8 working days. Tiling and extensive plastering can create some issues sometimes, since they’re wet trades and we need to wait for them to dry (and no bathroom is the same, some dry much faster than others).

But again, having all the trades in-house mean that the duration of the project is kept at a minimum.

Are the prices negotiable?

We negotiate most of our prices with our suppliers, so we don’t mind if you ask us this. The worst case scenario we say no.

Our prices are already the result of a very efficient team, so we’d be surprised anyone to offer better prices locally. You could get cheaper but at the expense of a worse service or warranty.

But a bit of advice: the best negotiating method is by asking some extra stuff in the same money, rather than a discount. We’re more likely to say yes to extra items in the same money, rather than a discount on the project.

What's your waiting time?

We use a 50-70-90 rule in order to avoid overbooking, but still being booked enough. It’s like personal life, most likely you’ll know your plans for tomorrow or a week ahead, but the more time it passes, the less likely to know your plans.

We will book for a period of:
-4 to 5 months at 50% of our capacity. 4-5 months it’s a long time, but in any circumstance, we should be able to do half of our usual number of jobs.
-2 to 3 months at 70% of our capacity. 2-3 times it’s not so much in the future, so we can be surer that we have no unexpected staff holidays or delayed projects
-2 to 3 weeks at 90-95% of our capacity. 2-3 weeks are very manageable and we know quite well how many projects we can take

Based on this, you should expect larger projects to take more to book in our calendar, but we should fit small jobs on relatively short notice (by small we understand most projects under £10 000 total value)

Are you a registered contractor?

Yes, we’re a registered CIS contractor.

Are you VAT registered?

Yes, we are VAT registered. In the UK, all sole traders or companies that have a turnover larger than £85 000, have to register for VAT. If a business is under this threshold, they have either just started either they have a really poor performance.

Theoretically a VAT price means that there’s an extra 20% on labour that goes to the tax authorities. But it’s usually not as straightforward as this, we are generally so efficient that even non-VAT businesses struggle to compete with us.

Do you cover all trades?

Yes, we are the main contractor and we can deal with all trades for your project. A multi-trade project is what suits our team best.

Bathrooms are the perfect example where you need a multiskilled team.

Do I have to dispose the waste myself?

No, we will take care of this for you. We’re registered waste carriers meaning that we can legally dispose of the waste from your project.

We have so many projects that it actually made sense to invest in a specialist tipper van that we use mainly for disposing of waste. This cuts in half the costs with disposing of waste for us compared to the standard skip that most tradesmen use.
Also, this means that we can dispose of the waste much faster than with a skip (skips are usually kept in your driveway for one week). Generally the first or second day all the waste is removed from your property.

Can I use the bathroom while it gets refurbished?

If it’s the only toilet in the house, we’ll make sure to keep the toilet functional at all times. You won’t be able to use the shower/bathtub, but you’ll be able to use the toilet.

Do you do partial refurbishments only?

Yes, we can do partial refurbishments.
These can include a variety of things, but we usually can do most of the partial refurbishments in a bathroom.

Do you supply & fit only or I can bring my own products?

We can accommodate some customer-supplied products by prior agreement, but generally prefer to supply the majority of products. This helps us check compatibility, coordinate deliveries and provide aftercare. Customer-supplied products are not covered by our product warranty, and labour to remove or refit a faulty customer-supplied product is not covered.

How much is the deposit?

We do not charge deposits. Each room is treated as a separate project and invoiced once that room is complete.

Are the quotes free?

Yes, they are completely free and you’re under no obligation to go ahead. No hard feelings here, we want the market to be as efficient as possible.

What payment methods do you accept?

We are usually getting paid by bank transfers. It’s a really easy payment method, you can either use online banking, either go to one of your bank’s branches with our invoice and pay it there.

Do you offer design service?

Not in the traditional way. We’re contractors and we can offer you guidance on what’s possible to do in your bathroom, but don’t expect us to be a design company with 3D drawings.

How can I take a quote?

There’s a calendar on our website where you can choose a free slot for a visit. It’s really the easiest way to book an appointment, since we can’t miss those as they go directly into our phone calendars.
The second best option would be to send us an email detailing what you need done.

How long is a quote valid for?

We will consider an old quote for as long as it is still profitable for us. But the more you wait until you give us a response, the more likely for us to say no.

How long is the warranty?

Your warranty covers our workmanship and the products we supply and install, subject to the terms and maintenance requirements. The period depends on your package: Value — 1 year; Balanced — 3 years; Premium — 5 years. Choosing a standard or premium product does not by itself change the package warranty.

Do I get a better price as a past customer?

Our past customers and the referrals from them are probably the most important part of our business. It’s much easier to work with a past customer or referral since both parties trust each other.
This means that we’ll try to make everything we can to keep those past customers returning to us or recommending us to friends/family.

But if you don’t have a referral or you’re not a past customer, don’t worry. We’ll do our best to offer you a quote hard to say no to; also, we will do our job in such a way that you recommend us to friends/family, since this is the ultimate goal for us.

Do you have a showroom?

No, you will never get such good prices with a business that has a showroom. We feel sorry for the businesses that still use the showroom model, they can’t compete on price since their prices will always be higher compared to of teams like us. Hopefully, for them, there’s still a generation that prefers brick and mortar stores, but even those tend to be incentivized by saving of a few hundred or thousands.

Even big bathroom places, they have just a few exposed bathrooms. The rest comes in the form of brochures and samples, which is pretty much what we do.

Do you offer interest free finance?

No, we prefer not to pursue this path.

There’s almost never such a thing as interest free finance for products or services. The only difference is that the supplier pays for the fees/interest and include that in your cost.

The best way to maximise what you get is by getting a few quotes and then, if you can’t afford them, you can shop around for different lenders.

I haven't received a quote. When do you expect to send the quote?

If you still expect our quote, contact us asap. For a variety of reasons our quotes don’t get to our customers once in a while (misspelling email addresses, our quotes getting in the spam/junk folders and so on).

An email means that we can easily reply to you with your quote.

Where can I leave a review?

We appreciate that you want to help us with reviews, but these don’t usually help us that much. We work locally and our bread and butter are the recommendations by word of mouth.

It would help us much more if you’d send us a short email with honest feedback. We try to be as good as possible, but sometimes we need to be pointed in the right direction.

If you want to leave a negative review, then you can find a variety of online sources to do this. But contact us first, we know that we can’t satisfy everyone 100%, but we can try to improve your experience.