Not your average handyman service

Many people who use our London handyman service for the first time are pleasantly surprised when a well spoken, polite and neatly turned out person turns up to tackle their 'to do' list.

All of our handymen come from professional backgrounds: Don is an Oxford graduate, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force, a government liaison in China, Chairman of a Charity and also has a honours degree in french studies. He picked up most of his handyman knowledge and skills while renovating his own and friends properties. Don has been working as a professional handyman for six years now and is attracted to this job because no two days are the same. Nick graduated from Brunel University with an engineering degree, he worked for KPMG for twenty years as a management consultant, is an avid yachtsman and skippers commercially owned yachts in his spare time. Nick describes himself as semi-retired even though he works a full five day week. The aspect of this job he likes the best is meeting new and interesting people everyday. Robin has been in the building trade working as a Quantity Surveyor for over twenty years, he is an advanced motorcyclists and often takes groups of motorcyclists on guided trips to Europe. His depth of building and technical knowledge is massive and he pursues carpentry projects as a hobby.

It should be obvious from the profiles above that we are no ordinary handyman service, when you book a Silver Saints handyman, you are getting someone who can communicate well, is used to working in high pressure environments, has excellent problem solving skills and have chosen to do this job because they understand the importance of customer service and love DIY. All our handymen have had successful professional careers but have left the confinement of the office behind to pursue a flexible, fun and rewarding career as a mobile professional London handyman.

Draught proofing and chimney balloon for a greener home

It is no secret that having an energy efficient home can save you money and at the moment I don't think there are many people that aren't fans of saving money.

In fact more and more people are looking for ways to make their homes more energy efficient spaces. You don't have to look any further than Silver Saints - London's professional handyman service, we offer a highly effective (both in purpose and cost) sash window draught proofing service that not only keeps the chilling draft out and the warmth in but also vastly improves the operation of your sash window.

We offer a fixed price of £95+vat per window so it wont cost you the earth either.

The second energy efficiency product we offer is the supply and installation of chimney balloons. A chimney balloon is a bed pillow size (and shape) balloon that you inflate inside the chimney flu of fire places that are not in use and it seals them up effectively and neatly.

Chimney balloons are a bit of a novice and simple idea but the most the effective idea's usually are. They come in a variety of sizes and prices so give us a call or visit our website for more info.

Galvanised wire rope sash cords

One of our handymen is replacing sash cords for a customer in N4 today. Changing sash cords is a basic task for a Silver Saint and probably not blog worthy but today's job is replacing sash cords on some of the heaviest sash windows we have encountered, so heavy that even the thickest sash cord breaks after 3 months under the windows weight.

The solution is to replace the sash cords with galvanized wire rope. Much thinner than sash cord but much stronger and it also gives the sash window a surprisingly luxurious feel when they are opened and closed. Originally we did this job about 9 months for customer that was so impressed he recommended us to all of his neighbours who have the same windows and thus the same problem and one of those neighbours has booked us in for today.

What better time than the start of summer to have your sash windows working as they should.

For most other windows normal sash cords will suffice and we offer a fixed price for replacing sash cords:

Replace one inner sash window cord - £65+VAT
Replace one outer sash window cord - £75+VAT
Replace both inner sash window cords - £75+VAT
Replace both outer sash window cords - £95+VAT

Silver Saints - Driveway, patio and deck cleaning - **Coming soon**

Silver Saints - London handyman service took delivery of our new and extremely cool power washer last week and spent some of Friday afternoon testing it out on the driveway of the office. I am please to report the the driveway got blasted clean and we are well impressed with the new washer and are just about ready to start offering its services as one of the specialist tasks our Silver Saint London handymen can take on.

Now that summer is well and truly on the way there surely can be a better time to have the garden deck or patio cleaned with a high pressure washer. Nothing will get you patio, deck, walk way, drive way or conservatory roof cleaner than our machine in the hands on one of expert handymen.

We are in the process of putting together a pricing structure for patio cleaning, deck cleaning and driveway cleaning. Give us a call on 02070999199 or visit our website and be one the first to take advantage of our new pressure washer service.

Shed re-felting

If your garden shed roof is looking a bit tatty and weather beaten there is no better time than the beginning of Summer to have the felt replaced.

The roof felt forms a waterproof layer that stops water penetrating the roof and leaking onto the stuff you keep in the shed but it also keeps the shed roof timber in good nick and ensures it lasts through the seasons.

Re-felting a shed roof is a job that any of our handymen can do so why not give us a call to get an idea of what costs are involved.

Silver Saints - London handyman service. 0207 0999 199

Change sash cords for the summer

What better time to have a fully functioning, easy to use Sash Window than in summer. It is a time when you want to be opening your windows to let the summery sun and light breeze in without having to battle with a sash window new or old that has a broken sash cord and is not running smoothly.

Silver Saints - London handyman service are pro's at changing sash cords. In fact we are so confident in our ability to quickly and efficiently change sash window cords that we offer a fixed labour price.

Replace one inner sash window cord - £65+VAT
Replace one outer sash window cord - £75+VAT
Replace both inner sash window cords - £75+VAT
Replace both outer sash window cords - £95+VAT

The above charges don't include the the new cord but sash cord very rarely costs more than five to eight pounds per window.

Why not also take advantage of our draught proofing service in preparation for next winter. Seal the draught and cold out and the heat in for an extra £60+vat per window if done at the same time as changing your cords. (Normally £95+vat per window if done on its own).

We hope this summer lives up to expectations and there is good reason for you to want your sash windows working properly.

Silver Saints - London's handyman service - 02070999199.

Toilet repairs

Toilet repairs is one of Silver Saints - London handyman service's specialities. We have repaired almost every conceivable make of toilet and doubt there is a toilet issue we can't solve.

Just recently we came across a toilet made by Possi Genori that had a faulty filling valve and flush valve. Filling and flush valves are very rarely repairable and 9/10 times need replacing, having done this a hundred times we know that we it comes to filling and flush valves that are not operating as they should be, unless the repair is completely obvious, replacing them should be the first course of action.

Spares for possi Genori toilets aren't available from your local plumbers merchants and if not one the of the current ranges of Possi Genori toilets the spares have to imported from Italy at unbelievable prices and take about 6 weeks to arrive. Most people don't have 6 weeks to wait for their toilet to be repaired so instead we sent Silver Saint Don to the property armed with a description of what was required and few standard parts to see what could be done. 2 hours later the toilet was fully functional with a brand new filling and and flush valve.

If you are having a problem with your toilet give us a call on 02070999199 mention this blog and you will receive a 10% discount off your toilet repairs. Don't forget we also unblock toilets.

Electric shower repairs

Silver Saints - London's professional handyman service are specialists for repairing and replacing electric showers. There is literally no shower we cant repair or replace.

Its important to remember that if you have an old shower the parts may no longer be available in which case we will be able to supply a modern replacement suitable for you current plumbing and electrical connections.

How to book:

If you would like your shower repaired it has to be done over two visits - the 1st to run some tests on the shower to find out what is wrong with it and what requires replacing. We can then get a price on the parts and order them in which normally take a day or two to arrive and we can then fit them on a second visit. Both visits should only last half an hour which is £40+vat per visit. If we arrive and find the shower is not repairable we will advise you of this and provide and cost for a replacement unit which we can then order in for you and fit a second visit. Installing a replacement electric shower normally takes 1 - 2 hours (£60 - £100+vat).

Call Londons handyman service for all electric shower repairs. 0207 0999 199.

Should we do the tiling?

Last week we were called in to replace an electric shower by a customer that had a 15 year old electric shower that had finally given up the ghost. She was a little upset that her trusty shower had broken but realized that due to its age it was probably time for a replacement. Shower repairs and shower replacement is something we do on a regular basis so I explained we could replace the shower and would only need one visit if she could give me the details of her current shower, which she did.

I searched the Internet for details of the old shower so I could check what power rating and what plumbing and electrical connections it had so I could get the closest match that would not require too much adjustment of the current plumbing or electrics. Eventually I found the details and a diagram of her current shower which as it turns out was a shower cross mirrored vanity unit that fitted to the wall. I had not seen anything like it before and the site I was looking at confirmed its age and also that there were no spares available for it. The diagram showed the size of shower which was far bigger than any modern shower which means that a newer smaller shower might expose some of the wall behind the old shower depending on weather the tiles have been laid up to the shower or behind the shower. The customer was confident the tiles ran all the way behind the shower.

I found a suitable electric shower that had similar connections and the identical power rating and the job was booked in. The handyman arrived and proceeded to fit the shower but when he removed the old shower he found that the tiles protuded only marginally behind the shower and there was a mainly just bear wall behind the old shower at which point he though it best to confer with the customer and explain there will need to be some tiling done as the new shower would not cover up the exposed wall. The customer understood the what was required but asked the handyman to continue to fit the new shower and she would do the necessary tiles herself. The handyman continued.

Early the next morning I received an email with pictures attached from the customer who was very upset with the condition of her wall and level of finish of the installation. She was right the finish was not great but not surprising either as the handyman had fully explained the situation and she literally told him that she only wanted to pay him for the shower installation and that she would do the tiles herself. This is an incredibly frustrating situation for us as we had tried to explain that this issue would arise but to avoid leaving one of our customers unsatisfied we are going back to the property to re tile the wall as necessary at our own expense. Sometimes it is impossible to do everything right but it is mostly the way you handle the complaint when things do go wrong that people will remember you for.

Snowed in?

While most of London had the day off on Monday courtesy of mother nature some of our handymen were still hard at work. All of our handymen travel around on either large motorbikes or bicycles so they are really exposed to the elements and far more adversely affected by the snow than your average tradesman in a van but this did not stop some of handymen getting on with their working day.

Most of our handymen live in suburban London and understandably were unable to make it into work on Monday and Tuesday but one or two of our guys refused to let a little bit of snow ruin the start to their working week and managed to walk to some of their jobs. Now that's what I call dedication and its what you can expect every time you use London's premier handyman service - Silver Saints.

Extreme handymaning

A few weeks back I posted a blog entry on a job that required us to abseil from the 3rd floor balcony of a customers house. The job was to fit pigeon spikes to the horizontal pipes that feed into each floor of the property. The customer, as with most of her neighbours had built a conservatory onto the back of her property that covered most of the garden. This caused two problems, the first was that pipes provided the perfect place for pigeons to perch out of the wind over night, this meant that every time one of the pigeons relieved itself it relieved itself onto the glass conservatory roof. The second was that because the conservatory covered most of the back yard we could not use a ladder to gain access to the pipes or to clean the conservatory roof. The only way to clean the roof and gain access to the pipes was from above, so we bounced the problem around the office and came up with a plan.

A few months back a friend got me interested in the sport of climbing and after a few trips to the Castle indoor climbing centre in north London I was hooked. I kitted myself out with all the necessary harness, belay devices, etc so felt confident the best way to tackle the problem was to set up a rig from the third floor balcony and abseil one of my handymen (Manfred) down to the pipes.

After waiting for all the materials to arrive in our office and favourable weather the job eventually went ahead last week Friday and was a huge success. We set up an extremely safe rig and abseiled Manfred down all 3 floors several times. We even landed up washing the conservatory roof with a pressure washer which we suspend from a rope.

Another job well done which virtually no other handyman service would take on.

Is it really the time of year?

Silver Saints - London handyman service. We have noticed a change in routine of late, usually Monday is our busiest day on the phones and as a result we take more bookings on a Monday than any other day. But Monday bookings have slowed down and every other day of the week has picked up.

Having been in the pro handyman industry for 5 years I have witnessed the continuous trend of high bookings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then a decrease in bookings on Thursday and Friday but something has happened that has turned this ever reliable routine on its head and we seem to be taking far higher bookings towards the end of the week than ever before. We originally thought it was the time of year that was having the affect and things were generally slowing down as everyone recovers from the financial hang over from December but this does not add up as the average bookings taken Monday to Friday has not gone down it just been reversed. We have a few theories on this but none of them are certain and I wonder what has changed that has made a consistent trend that makes perfect sense change completely.

Abseiling handymen

One of our handymen was recently asked by a customer to find a way to stop pigeons from landing on the external pipe work on the third floor of her triple story house. This is quite a common problem and is usually solved by fitting bird proofing or pigeon spikes to the pipes. The only problem was that the customer had built a large conservatory onto the back of the property preventing us from using ladders to get up to the 3rd floor so we had put our thinking caps on to find an alternative solution.

Having done a bit of amature indoor climbing recently and with help of our experienced climber and handyman Manfred we were able to come up with a rather unusual solution to abseil from the 3rd floor balcony down to the pipes that require bird proofing.

This is just another example of how everyone here at Silver Saints - London's premier handyman service take pride in thinking outside of the box to come up with solutions that allow us to take on jobs that no other handyman service in London will touch.

Draught Proofing

Silver Saints offer a comprehensive and effective draught proofing service. I know that I have definitely felt the chill set in in London over the past couple of weeks and doom and gloom weather reports confirm this. That's why I think there is probably not a better time to get your windows draught proofed. Its is also a good way of giving new life to your old rattly sash windows at a reasonable price.

We offer a fixed price of £95+vat per window which includes all the labour and materials and if needed we will also change your sash cords in the process for an extra £8+vat per window.

If you would like to know more about what our draught proofing service involves give us a call on 0207 0999 199 or visit our London handyman service website.