We booked an extension build with Way…
We booked an extension build with Way Builders. Work was due to start in April but Gavin Way ( Owner ) kept delaying and eventually started work in October. I naively thought that after that length of delay, when he started the build he would commit to it….. how wrong I was! We went days without anyone showing up on site and when I called him on one occasion to ask why we had no one on site on a fine dry day I was told “ I have lots to worry about and I am sick of people like you phoning up and moaning at me!) At this stage I should have asked for my down payment back and walked away but I didn’t. The tiled roof that was fitted to the ground floor extension was never watertight from the day it was fitted. We had the subcontracted roofer back to look at it. He spent the morning stomping around on the roof and blaming the wood burner fitter for the leak. He broke that many tiles that we had to reorder more to replace them! Eventually the extension was supposedly finished but the leak in the roof continued. Gavin Way sent some of his guys around ( not roofers ) but they never managed to sort out the leak. Eventually, after contacting him for the umpteenth occasion he simply said, “ nothing to do with me, it’s out of its 6 month warranty” I tried to explain that the warranty didn’t apply as it had never been fit for purpose. I had various roofers come out to try and fix the problem but each time they came out they found another problem with the build of the roof. Eventually, after just 5 years I had to have the whole roof removed and rebuilt by a competent roofer. He discovered that plates to tie the roof to the walls had not been secured, the waterproof membrane had holes in it, the batons under the tiles were absolutely rotten where they had effectively been sitting in water and the ridge at the top of the tiles which is meant to stop water being blown back up and under the tile had been cut off in order to make them fit. The lead flashing did not extend to the side of the building and the lead flashing where it met the brickwork was wholly inadequate. In all it was a total botch job. What was most disappointing was that Gavin just washed his hands of it and refused to do anything. There are better building companies in and around Thame……I just wish I had used one of them. Avoid like the plague!