Charles Grosvenor Blog

Mrs Bartlett, Amersham

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:13:11 +0000

I want to tell you how thrilled we are with our room, its so much better than we ever thought it could be! Everyone we had dealings with from your company were absolutely fantastic and the roofer who came also did a great job, thanks for organising that too. Thanks again so much to all of you, as you know, we would have no hesitation in recommending your work. Hope our paths may cross again in the future!

Solar panel tariff appeal loss for government

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:31:28 +0000

The government has failed to get permission to appeal to the Supreme Court over its plan to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes.

Read the full story at – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17490096

What will this mean: Anybody who had a domestic solar scheme finished before 12 December 2011 gets the old rate of 43.3p per kilowatt hour for the full 25 years of the scheme. That was not at issue in this case.
Now that the government has lost its appeal, anyone who had a scheme finished between 12 December 2011 and 2 March 2012 will also still get the full 43.3p/kwh for the whole 25 years of their scheme.
Installations finished between 3 March and 31 March temporarily get the old higher rate until 1 April when it is reduced to 21p/kwh.
Schemes finished after 1 April will only get the reduced rate of 21p/ kwh.

Please contact our offices and speak to a representative if you have any queries relating to this.

Seek advice regarding planning permission and permitted development rights before building a loft conversion or you could end up in situation like this…..

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 09:40:48 +0000

A gentleman in Berkhamsted installed dormer windows as part of his £30,000 loft conversion without the relevant planning permission and has now been ordered to remove them by council officials. In order to meet the councils requirements, he will have to spend £10,000.The council have subsequently warned others to apply for planning permission before changing their homes.

To read the full article visit http://www.berkhamstedtoday.co.uk/news/planning-error-in-loft-conversion-costs-berkhamsted-man-10k-1-3670342

Charles Grosvenor would urge all those having a loft conversion to make sure they have the correct permission. Please feel free to contact our office if you have any queries regarding planning permission and permitted development right, whether you are having a loft conversion by Charles Grosvenor Ltd or another firm we would be happy to offer the advice and direction that you need.

Councils are set to ease over-crowding in homes by building loft conversions

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:20:14 +0000

Sandwell Council have launched a pilot scheme to ease overcrowding in council homes by converting lofts into bedrooms.

Simon Hackett, Sandwell Council’s member for housing said: “Overcrowding and under occupancy are serious problems in Sandwell which we are determined to tackle to give people a decent home to live in. This pilot scheme shows the real value of our partnership with Riverside and puts us both in an ideal position to work on other schemes in the future.I have also asked Riverside to look at converting one bedroom bungalows to two bedrooms to free up under occupied family homes elsewhere within the PFI area.”

Paul Jones, Riverside Midlands assistant director of operations, said: “The council’s view is to look at increasing the capacity of some properties through the conversion of loft spaces into additional bedrooms. Working in partnership we have identified which properties are suitable for loft conversions and we have committed to cover the capital costs for the first conversion at Wolseley Road.”

Lets hope Sandwell are the first of many other council’s to launch this pilot scheme, for more information please visit http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/repairs/landlord-tackles-crowding-with-loft-conversions/6521097.article

Thank you for visiting our stand at the Home Building & Renovating Show held at the NEC last week!

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:09:03 +0000

Thank you for visiting our stand at the Home Building & Renovating Show held at the NEC last week! We had a great response and took many enquiries for quotations and surveys. If you left your details with us but are yet to hear from our surveyor then please rest assured that he will contact you soon, the number of leads we recieved may have lead to a slight delay.

If you visited our stand and went away with some details and would now like to make an appontment with our surveyor for a FREE no obligation feasibility survey and quote then please contact us and we would be happy to arrange this for you.

If you have any feedback for us following your visit to the NEC and our stand then please also let us know, we would be grateful for any feedback in order to improve the service we provide at the next show.

Just 2 days to go untill The Homebuilding & Renovating Show 2012 at the NEC, Birmingham

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:33:03 +0000

We have a few pointers for you if you are planning on visiting the Home Building & Renovating Show at the NEC, Birmingham in search of ideas for a loft conversion:

1. Firstly we would advise that you visit our stand JI55 where we can provide advice, ideas and costing where necessary and we can answer any queries and questions you may have.

2. We would also advise that you sit in on the following seminar “Top ten tips for a successful extension, or loft conversion”, this seminar will be held daily at 1pm in the home improvement theatre. We have exhibited at this show for many years and this seminar is definitely worth sitting in on and we are sure you will gain some helpful tips from Michael Holmes, Editor in Chief of the magazine.

3. If you are considering installing solar panels (whether it be solar thermal or heat pumps) we would also recommend the 1.45pm seminar held in the Eco Home Theatre. This seminar aims at providing you with all the facts you need to know about harnessing renewable energy and particularly in areas of cost and also to determine whether it will suitable for your home.

4. There are also various master classes throughout the show and we could highly recommend looking to see if you would benefit from any of these. All the master classes and seminars are free upon entry to the show so make the most of it where you can.

Mr & Mrs Griffiths, Harborne

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:00:33 +0000

We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone at Charles Grosvenor for the excellent job on our loft conversion, we are absolutely delighted with the result. The expertise and perfectionism of the whole building team was second to none and the communication and personal service from everyone in the office gave us reassurance all the way through, from design to completion. Undertaking any building work is hugely stressful but every single person involved has gone out of their way to make the job as seamless as possible, despite some pretty nasty weather and the challenges of our wonky walls!

It has been a great pleasure to work with a firm that champions such high standards of professionalism and service. We have huge respect for the dedication of the building team, the responsiveness of all the contractors, and the advice and support we received from Russell as project manager. We will have no hesitation in recommending your firm to anyone

Our best wishes

Lesley and James Griffiths

Can I see completed examples of your work?

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:58:44 +0000

Once we have completed the feasibility survey we can offer you a number of viewing addresses for loft conversions similar to your proposed works within your area. In Addition to this we have a loft conversion show room at our head office, please see our website for more details on this.

Rated People.com – Is it all it claims to be?

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:22:22 +0000

Various forums and website discussion boards are coming up with mixed opinions on the popular website www.ratedpeople.com which helps homeowners find local quality tradesmen, some builders are even going as far as claiming the website is a ‘scam’.
Charles Grosvenor Ltd are registered with the company and received various successful leads so we are happy…….however we would urge homeowners who use this way of finding their builder to be cautious as there is no filter to stop cowboy builders or conmen from being a legitimate tradesman on the website. This was bought to our attention when a homeowner lost thousands of pounds to a tradesman he found on rated people – let me first explain how the website works: As a homeowner looking for a local quality tradesman you would register your enquiry on the website and then simply wait for them to match your with a recommended tradesman. What you don’t know is that this is not how it really works, what actually happens is that your enquiry is sent to all the builders registered on the site (and as it stands any tradesman can register without being checked or rated) and they have the chance to buy the lead which can cost anything from £5.00 – £60.00. Therefore rated people are not actually matching you with anyone and do not ‘rate’ these builders at all, they are simply selling the lead and your details to anyone that wishes to buy it. So in effect any cowboy or cowman can buy the lead, i’m not suggesting this is happening all the time as there are genuine high quality tradesmen on the site such as ourselves but i am merely suggesting that this may be the case and warning users to be cautious. I am also not suggesting that homeowners stop using the site, i would just urge those not to appoint a builder purley on the basis of this website – make sure that you fully investigate them, ask for a credit report and most importantly please view completed projects and speak to references. If a builders cannot provide any of these things then that should immediately tell you something is not quite right.

Is building your own home the way forward? According to The Daily Express today it is!

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:32:51 +0000

Following on from yesterday’s blog, i found an article printed in The Daily Express regarding building your own home. It makes very interesting reading and you can see the full article by following the link below:

http://www.express.co.uk/money/view/307944/-Perfect-property-is-all-our-own-work-

Happy Building!