A nightmare renovation: unprofessional, careless and unacceptable
I’m not surprised to see other 1 star reviews here. This matches my experience.
I hired Elevations Ltd for a flat renovation that was meant to take 3 to 4 months. Instead it dragged on for 8 months and quickly became an ordeal. Early on they caused two separate and entirely avoidable leaks into the flats below, which set the tone for everything that followed. Despite paying the full contract value, I was left with serious defects and unresolved issues.
The flooring was required by both the contract and the manufacturer to be glued down for the underfloor heating system. Elevations failed to follow their own contract and instead installed a floating floor. It is unstable, far less efficient for underfloor heating and a permanent, costly mistake I now have to live with.
They never sought my approval for the wardrobes even though the contract required it. Instead they installed units I had never agreed to and tried to push their own internal layout on me. Their proposed compromise was small alterations, but these were carried out crudely. The wardrobes were left incomplete and damaged, with rough cuts and drill holes visible throughout.
In another self serving reinterpretation of the contract, I was told only after the fact that the entire budget, which clearly covered the bedroom wardrobes and the living room wall unit, had been spent on the bedrooms alone. Had this been communicated honestly, I could have used another supplier and stayed within budget. Instead this was withheld until it was too late and I was told I had no option but to accept the result.
The windows were left unpainted, causing the putty to deteriorate. Although the contract specified 4 new windows, Elevations later changed the scope via a vague email. What they described as a “complete overhaul” kept the old frames, replaced perfectly good double glazing and failed to improve thermal performance. They never addressed the gaps between the old frames and new sashes, which became worse after the timber was broken open to force the replacements in. I was left with damaged frames, increased draughts and cheap fittings with peeling latches and faulty spring mechanisms that cut into the wood. I was charged £3,250 plus VAT per window. Two independent window specialists later described both the workmanship and the price as shockingly poor and significantly overpriced.
The carelessness ran through the whole project. Damaged sections of my kitchen were crudely welded rather than replaced. Switches and sockets were never covered during strip out or general works, leading to visible damage and several no longer functioning due to dirt entering them. Each time I raised concerns, I was met with denial and claims that I could not prove the damage had not existed before they started.
The director’s conduct was volatile throughout. His emails included insults and repeated demands to be excluded from correspondence and for me to deal only with the project manager. Each demand lasted only days before he inserted himself back into the project. These abrupt reversals made the renovation chaotic.
After I was handed back the keys, the project manager issued the final bill. When I questioned unapproved cost variations and listed defects, the director came to my property. He said he had fired the project manager over this job. Instead of taking responsibility, he blamed me and left in an abrupt strop.
He then sent an aggressive email dismissing every concern I raised and suddenly added further cost variations that had never been approved. These added a further 20% on top of the final bill. Several related to work he claimed had been carried out months earlier. The timing was telling. These charges appeared more than a month after his final bill and only after I challenged the quality of his work and how badly he’d managed the project. To me, it was a clear attempt to shut down criticism, pressure me to pay more and present himself as the victim if I didn’t pay.
He then threatened to report me to the Financial Conduct Authority for refusing to pay these disputed charges, despite the fact I had already paid more than the contract value while the contractually agreed works had not been delivered.
The matter is ongoing. Based on my experience, I strongly advise anyone to avoid Elevations Ltd. This renovation has been exhausting, stressful and extremely costly. Their claim to “transform older properties into high end residences and to deliver on time, within budget and to a luxury standard” is, in my experience, a complete lie. In my experience they are overpriced, their workmanship is poor, they were repeatedly dishonest, clueless about managing timelines and budgets, and played manipulation games rather than dealing with issues openly and professionally.
January 3, 2026
Unprompted review
