"Building a cellar from scratch"

I had a small space under the house that was once used for storing coal. Donald & Redek worked out the best way to turn it into a useful storage space for me.
They were efficient and on time throughout and did a fantastic job on budget. Extremely professional and polite and with a quality team I’d recommend them to anyone.

"Kitchen and bathroom refurbishment"

We could not be happier that we chose to go with W Design and Build and are recommending them to everyone we know. They are professional, reliable, and well priced. The standard of finish is exceptional. On top of this they are a pleasure to have in the house.

We needed a kitchen/dining room conversion and full bathroom refit. This involved structural work, removing a chimney breast and wall, replacing a boiler, new electrics, moving the bathroom suite around, fitting a new kitchen, floor, windows and bi-fold doors. As well as plastering all the walls, fitting new skirting around some tricky curves and tiling splash backs in the kitchen and the shower and bath.

They take a lot of pride in the final outcome of the work and their attention to detail is fantastic. Our house is wonky and has a few quirks which they offered suggestions and design ideas to deal with these, but ultimately took our decision on what we wanted. This was not something we felt from others who quoted, who seemed more ‘their way or nothing’ or conversely like they would blindly follow our direction regardless of whether it made sense. A great example of this was their suggestion to add a door to some redundant space and then boxed in kitchen corner space to add additional storage. While you wouldn't consider this transformational it just highlights the lengths they go to.

We found the work great value for money, they were neither the cheapest nor the most expensive quote we received. However there were no hidden costs, which is rarely the case with these projects. Often we asked for higher standard finishes expecting this to be extra, but to be pleasantly surprised that this was already accounted for within the original quote. For example, asking for radiator pipework to be within the walls rather than up from the floor. They also worked with us to bring items in budget where possible and set realistic expectations on time and costs from day one.

Given we are currently working from home the thought of having more people in the house felt like it might be a bit much but the guys were so easy going and friendly it was no issue having them share our space for the duration of the work. To the point that Radek brought us Christmas presents (vodka for me and chocolates for my daughter and pregnant partner). All in all I couldn’t recommend them enough. Good tradespeople are hard to come by but I know that any future work I need doing the first call I’ll be making is to Donald and Radek

"Well disserve 5 stars!!!!"

The project
The idea was to bring a three bedroom two storey cottage house into a 5-bedroom with a lateral extension on both floors, changing the whole roof and extend back kitchen wall increasing its size and living room. House went from 90 m2 into 145 m2. The project was planned to last between 5 to 6 month. Due to the works, we were not living at the house. It involved structural engineer, architect, council approval, plumbing, electricity and building controls. It wasn’t conservation area.

Quoting process
We have around three reviews, it involved some optional items. All the quotes were presented on time and fast. They quote by item (e.g. toilet, family bathroom, master bedroom, structural work, roof, etc.) and there was a previous discussion of the finishing and amount of work required for the job for each item. We always brought a drawing for discussion and quotes were based on these drawings and the feedback given by us. They thoroughly check what you want and they cross check this. This was fundamental for the success of the project and the control of future unexpected additional.

Price Level
We asked 7 quotes. They ended up being within the two most competitive. We chose them because of availability they didn’t have parallel projects. The majority of the other quotes have many projects ongoing and you didn’t know which priority you are for them. Is a relief knowing you will have them on site all the time.

General Quality
From the start of the foundation work you noticed that they didn’t rush things. The materials they use were of expected quality but were always agreed and according to drawing. The approached the structural work with thorough execution, always according to structural engineering and with deep understanding of what they were doing.
I had the chance of visiting the site regularly and every answer denoted knowledge and reasoning behind.

Finishing
Everything in life is about the team you can join! The painter and the tiler are superb!!! Excellent!

Purchasing
The project was executed along the pandemic and many of the materials both sides had to supply were in shortage (i.e. windows). They offered me very good and on time alternatives which they were not necessarily entitled to do (e.g. windows, granite, etc.). In the case of their shortages we worked as a team and not as contractor and client. They were very flexible of assigning work in order to do not stop the works and searching literally everywhere what was missing (i.e. plaster).
They material requirement was advised with the necessary time I didn’t have to rush.
They even phoned my suppliers in order to confirm and get the material on time. They did thorough incoming inspection of everything I bought and cross check with me if I agreed with the quality.
10 points in this!!!

Additional work
In a project like this there will always be additional work. Mainly because you discover that you have chance to do things along the way or improve the original drawing (e.g. add a velux window where you didn’t plan, finish the roof with a slope which is nicer, etc.)
Even in things that I didn’t correctly planned and were evidently our mistake, they always quoted fast and at an affordable price; always trying to help. You didn’t feel they were taking advantage of the situation, all the prices were reasonable.
All the quotes were presented fast so we could take the best decision of go or no go to a possible solution (e.g. lowering 30 cm the roofs of two bedrooms).

Problem resolution
Excellent! 
Everything that came down the road was thoroughly analysed and they didn’t hide anything. If they saw a possible problem they will tell you way in advance (e.g. beam length, which we solve by tossing some solutions with the structural eng. And playing with some dimensions)

Timing
Perfect! Even during the pandemic.
10 points in this!!!

Closing, contract and warranty
Everything according to plan and there was a contract signed. Nothing really major in the closing period and they came when we ask. Everything was correctly finished so not much outstanding.

"We would unreservedly recommend WDesign and Build"

We would unreservedly recommend Donald and Radek and their team at Design and Build. Not only were they a pleasure to work with, but we are absolutely thrilled with the results.
From the offset, we were working against the clock with a baby due and so sticking to schedule was really important to us. Communication was excellent throughout and Donald was incredibly helpful re: ordering everything and ensuring we had everything we needed to keep things progressing one step ahead of time. Radek's attention to detail in the build itself has resulted in a beautiful loft extension and redecoration of our other bedroom and bathrooms. 
We cannot recommend these guys more highly.

"Very profesional team with competitive costs"

We had a fantastic experience with Donald, Radek and the team. We made extensive renovations that were accomplished in the agreed time and budget (before contracting them we had 7 other budgets and theirs was very competitive). Besides that, the communication was great and any issue was agreed very quickly. I can also comment on the level of detail and time they invest on the finishing of floors, tiles, paint, etc. Everything looked perfect, I believe is because they work with specialised staff that have been working with them for long time. Can’t recommend enough...

"I would give 6 stars if I could!"

First off I would give 6 stars if I could, fantastic technical delivery and a pleasure to work with!

The Job:
Dormer Loft Conversion over main roof and off shot plus kitchen side return extension.

Quote Process:
We spent a long-time gathering quotes and researching companies. Having done a number of extensions, renovations and conversions myself I am pretty experienced and knowledgeable so this was quite an involved process. My wife spent a lot of time on Mumsnet, NappyValley and other review sites checking company reputations.
W Design and Build were suggested through an old friend of my wife who did residential property development professionally; although he had never used them himself he had heard good things.

Radek was very astute during the quote process and asked all the right questions about techniques and preferences so that he could provide an accurate quote. I had a mix of 3 other types of companies who quoted: Type 1 were pretty superficial with the quote and gave the impression it would all be super straight forward and offered quite low prices. My wife’s research later revealed these companies would get the job started and then discover “complications” that hadn’t been factored in and jack up the price. Type 2 over-estimated the complexity and came in with very high quotes. Type 3, like W Design and Build, were the sensible ones with detailed quotes and reasonable prices.

Of the sensible quotes W Design was initially the second highest quote from the 5 on the shortlist (though they were all quite close). As we had a personal recommendation and I had a good feeling about the guys I went back to them and they shaved a bit off the price and included some extra finishes which were initially outside the spec. This made them very competitively priced and combined with the response from the two references we checked and how impressed I was with Radek’s knowledge and experience we agreed the job.

The Job:
All the work was done by Radek, Donald and their own team (except the skimming which is pretty standard to subcontract). Radek and Donald were on site every day working themselves as well as overseeing their team. They were reliable, punctual and polite (Donald’s soothing tones helped reassure our nervous party wall neighbour!) They adapted well to complications like the discovery of an unmapped sewer pipe that was unearthed during excavations and a significant miscalculation by the architect; quickly finding pragmatic solutions and not using it as an excuse to add costs or try to charge for lost time. They communicated well at the right times to ensure we were all on the same page about design decisions and were quick (and didn’t complain) to make small changes where we felt something wasn’t quite right. In the end we added a complete first floor bathroom strip out and remodelling because we were so impressed with them. We also asked them to lay a specialist vinyl flooring we had bought for the kitchen as the quote we had from the supplier seemed quite high. To their credit, they said they had not used this range of products and chemical adhesives before and would rather turn down the money than take on a job which they couldn’t guarantee would be perfect.

They finished the job ahead of schedule and to be honest exceeded their spec, such was their pride in what they were doing.

The work was always going to be messy, but they did their best to keep it contained and diligently cleaned up as best they could at the end of each day.

Payment:
We agreed to an initial sum for scaffolding and materials then 2 week increments with the final invoice due 14 days after completion (for snagging in case any leaks appeared, electrics stopped working, etc.) Which they never pressured us to accelerate.

All in all Donald and Radek provided a great experience and delivered a fantastic job. I remember early on in the job I said “Radek I think we have a problem” to which he replied cheerfully “One problem is no problem….10 problems, then we might have a problem!” Which I think summed up his ever positive and enthusiastic personality perfectly.