In 2019, I employed iLoft to do a one bedroom/one bathroom loft conversion on my one bed flat in Hackney. To say it's been an incompetent disaster is an understatement. The last five years have been absolute hell. Not only has their shambolic work ruined my flat but it's cost me both mentally and financially (so far in excess of £10,000 to rectify the issues I've discovered). I have since discovered that their team (bar the electrician) have no actual qualifications either. I'm writing my review in case it helps anyone else avoid the utter distress we have and continue to go through.
The roof has leaked multiple times in multiple places. It's been no way to live and hugely distressing. The front half of the roof was tiled and the back half a flat roof, which has been the most problematic element. It was so bad iLoft eventually came back to 're do' it. But I have since discovered, having had to instruct a professional roofer to look at it, that it was put on back to front and part of it had collapsed, hence the continual leaks. It cost over £5,000 to rectify all the errors and replace the flat roof.
The Velux windows weren't sealed properly and we had multiple leaks around those, along with leaks around the Juliet balcony doors, which it turns out weren't installed properly and needed complete replacement.
The shower wasn’t sufficiently waterproofed on installation. When I instructed a professional builder to eventually come and fix the leak they discovered a scrap piece of waterproofing (ditra matt) on lifting the tiles (see picture). It’s mind-boggling. £1500 to get the shower fixed. After much wrangling, iLoft finally agreed to give me cash.
From the beginning, the toilet was faulty. First, it didn’t flush properly. Then we started getting terrible smells come from it and eventually drain flies. ILoft came back a few times to look at it but continually told me there was nothing wrong. As with the shower, we eventually ran out of warranty and just stopped using it. When our tenants moved in, the leaks and flies appeared within a week. I employed a drainage company to sort. They discovered numerous issues with the fitting, the most notable being that the pipe had been fitted on back to front, meaning nothing was draining away. Another £1500 to fix. Plus a further £400 to get a builder to replace the plasterboard that had to be removed in the loft to reach the pipe.
Considering this is the one tradesman they have that they tell me has an actual qualification, he managed to miss critical elements in fitting the electrics board. It had an open ring socket (which can lead to fires), the main power cable supply was without a gland and the main conductor copper was exposed. And it was missing a blank.
It’s been the most stressful and disappointing experience of my life. I employed Leo and his team in good faith and they’ve continually let me down.
We would like to take the time to accurately reflect what has happened on this project to date as we feel the above is an unfair representation of the facts so far. You have hired us back in 2019 to work on your loft conversion, from the begging you have made very difficult to work for our team.
After the project was completed, you have contended us in November 2020 for the double glazing door leak – we responded and that was sorted.
March 2021 – you have made contact regarding light switch (keep in mind this was not under the warranty) we have kindly send the electrician, no charge to you.
June 2021 – Contact was made regarding roof leak and requesting to replace the side window. All was responded and dealt with.
August 2021 – you have requested a meeting – Our project manager and roofer met you at your home address and from then the fun begin. Every time you have called us – we have come and tried to sort the issue; you have never been ignored by us.
Going back to the bathroom leak – we give only one year warranty for the pluming work; it’s a client responsibility to keep the bathroom up to standards and redo the silicon around when required.
You have decided to demolish the bathroom and then requested us to pay you £1536 - which we have paid as we have respected you and didn’t want to create a stressful situation to both parties.
The matt you were talking about, was for the tiling to prevent from cracking.
Roof leak – we have installed scaffolding. We have fixed the roof leak, repaired were required. Please note the lead sometimes can be moved by heavy winds. The pictures you have attached its previous pictures that you have sent to us before repairs was done.
You have been asking to pay you a ridiculous amount of money, if not paid - you have threatened us with legal action. Your solicitor got in touch, and we have responded and agreed to sit down and try to solve this. Our solicitor requested for the third party (professional independent roofer) to inspect the roof, but you didn't agree. So far you have only provided quotes, not an actual invoice.
Unfortunately, we have been subject to aggressive, threatening behaviour throughout the majority of this project despite us trying to find a way of working together for solutions. We have been called all the names you can think off and we never ever responded to you in any way that you have treated us.
The work was caried out and complied by building regulations and British standards. You have received an electrical certificate and building control report and our previous reviews speak louder about our quality and service we provide. We wish you all the best.
Kind regards - ILoft conversions ltd