Abbey Lofts
Loft and Property Converters in Potters Bar
Coopers Lane
Northaw
Potters Bar
Hertfordshire
EN6 4PS
Contact Numbers
Landline: 0796603... 07966031748
Alternative Telephone Number: 7966031... 7966031748
Social
Opening hours
Monday to Friday: 9am - 5pm
Saturday to Sunday: Closed
Key Services
About
Locations Served
London, Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex
Business Description
Abbey Lofts have over 14 years' experience in building loft conversions and extensions that we can feel proud of, and our customers can enjoy for generations. We are not a high-volume loft conversion company, but instead take time to really listen to what it is that our customers want, and continue to work with them very closely as the project evolves.
Trading Since
2000
Reviews
Bad Experience
I am a bit tired of reading some of the over positive reviews on Abbey Partnership (or Abbey Group as they sometimes call themselves) on the internet and a significant amount of people contacting me because of problems with this so-called building company. Several thousand people have now read my previous review but the facts are that currently Abbey Partnership previously called Abbey Lofts Limited had the same MD and the same corresponding office address. Any customers of this company should know they may not be covered by the so called '10-year insurance guarantee' if Abbey liquidate their company again and start up with a new name. Project management was non-existent. Builders hadn't a clue how big the door opening should be, and could not even build symmetrical parallel walls - out by 3-4 cm at widest point (slight problem for floor tiler!) The Lintel for rear dorma was left dangerous and undone. MDs Guy and Fred were constantly demanding money even when next stage of contract had not been completed (in this case, stairs needed to be completed for next payment). They wanted every payment in cash. Two surveyors brought in told us that before stairs were in, the whole loft extension should have had a water tight roof and insulated walls before stair installation. This a standard regulation in the industry which should have been implemented here before installation and the menacing demanding of money. An enormous amount of rubbish was left on the scaaffolding and yet they refused to get a skip claiming they hadn't got enough money for a skip or materials. Rubble subsequently fell from the scaffolding and was left in our drriveway. Contractors were constantly complaining of not getting paid. I even had to pay one of the contractors directly and deduct from the total amount owed to Abbey, this can be proven with signed receipts from the contractor concerned. A really bad experience was Abbey Lofts.
Nathan Walsh - 11/12/2021 | report this review
Abbey Lofts Wrecked Our House
Please do not entertain contracting with this company for your loft conversion, it will mean no end of stress, poor project management, poor communication, downright rudeness and they are the most unprofessional organisation I have ever experienced. They will deny responsibility, deny the facts to their own trade body federation and even deny ever knowing you. They use different company names. If you do entertain contracting with this company for your loft conversion, ask them, do you deny using the name of your previously dissolved company? abbeyloftconversionslimi… datalog.co.uk/browse/det… Do you deny changing your identity but still using the same prohibited company name? mariobarba.co.uk/portfol… Do you deny threatening your clients who complain to your trade body or write bad reviews, I have read over 70 bad reviews on this company They threatened me and my son also. Do you deny using different company names? Abbey Partnership, The Abbey Group, A Lofts or of course Abbey Lofts Ltd We contacted Abbey Lofts after seeing many good reviews. The initial meeting left a good impression we were promised outstanding service with no hassle. Their marketing and website looked impressive, promising exceptional build quality and customer service but we discovered the reality was different with most of the reviews on their website being just made up. We had a very negative and disappointing experience. To their credit, the team turned up every day in all weathers and seemed pleasant. One day there was an enormous bang and when we investigated, there was a big crack in our ceiling and cornice. They were hammering the steel beam in and knocked it into our neighbour's property. We alerted the builders who came and had a look and although apologetic, they said the damage was minor and they would fix it. We were worried about the damage this may have caused and wanted a surveyor to check it, but Abbey Lofts wouldn't agree to pay for an independent surveyor. I contacted Freddy and was told that the project manager for this job would sort out the problem, but he never did. The builders "repaired" the damage, but it was a pretty shoddy repair. Worrying cracks then started appearing all over our house. When I raised this with Abbey Lofts, they simply ignored my calls and messages. The Abbey Partnership took all of their payment from us up front before work started. We then had to pay each of the trades people directly for their work. We were never given a schedule for completion of work and expected payment dates. We were told that inspections of the quality of work completed would take place before payment would be authorised but most payments were demanded without any inspection taking place and on 2 occasions, they emailed us demanding payment for work that had not yet been carried out. We paid them money for the work that they did not finish. Freddy promised to come back, we paid him and never came back. Another grave problem was that my loft wet room was leaking and considerable damage to the bedrooms below the loft was also caused. So many other problems with The Abbey Group too many to list here. They didn't respond to any of our phone calls. In the end we had to pay for someone to correct all the issues. Please stay away from them
Wendy Piggot - 14/09/2021 | report this review
Nightmare Experience
Worst decision we ever made was using the Abbey Lofts Partnership. Their workers are a group of subcontractors and it's the luck of the draw who you get. Project managers and directors are some of the worst people I have ever met. We paid them £70k for work mostly in cash as their director requested but the building control has confirmed that they cannot sign off on the work as it's not in compliance with the regulations. Our bedroom ceiling fell in due to them not sealing the loft bathroom correctly which caused a leak. They put cement all over the driveway and promised to sort it out but never did. I am prepared to show photos of our driveway to anyone thinking of using this partnership. Do so at your peril.
Terry Wild - 23/11/2019 | report this review
Stressful Experience
We had a loft conversion completed by Abbey Partnership in June 2019. The whole process was extremely stressful and I cannot recommend that anybody use this company. Construction proceeded in a haphazard and disorganised manner. The project manager was rarely to be seen. We were told that he would be managing the project but we saw little evidence of this. Crucial information was not passed between the office girl, the joiners, plumbers and electricians. For example, the plumbers had to keep coming back to us for the design of the bathroom despite us having submitted it to the company on a previous occasion. We also tried to get in an alternative bathroom fitter, because we were concerned about the ability of Abbey Partnership to organise the bathroom installation, but our selected fitter was unable to get hold of the joiner to arrange the installation. Their subcontractors were messy, leaving teabags and dirty mugs around the house, and bottles, food cartons and cigarette butts all over the garden. Our patio was covered in an untidy mess of waste materials for the entire duration of the project. Due to the disorganised nature of the construction and the lack of project management, the joiners built the loft around our boiler flue resulting in the boiler pumping poisonous gases into our loft space. When I questioned this, I was advised to open a window. I pressed this further with Guy, and eventually the plumber was sent round. He immediately told us to stop using the boiler because "we could all die". He arranged a prompt re-routing of the flue, working late into the night, to make sure that we were left with a safe boiler. Unfortunately, he fitted the flue with a missing terminating cap, which has since resulted in British Gas issuing us with an "at risk notice" advising us to not use the system. The architect was uncommunicative over design details. The sales rep told us we needed a hip-to-gable conversion which required full planning permission but did not explain why despite being asked numerous times. We asked whether a scaled-down design could be made, which would fall under permitted development rights, but our questions were ignored. In the end we decided to go ahead with the planning application purely because Abbey Lofts had taken our deposit and ignored our suggestion that it be returned. The time from our initial approach to submitting the planning application took six months. This delay was largely down to the sales rep and the architect ignoring questions. Also, documents were "lost in the post", or at one point left on somebody's desk for a fortnight while they were on holiday further delaying the planning application process. The time from submitting the planning application to getting it approved took nine months, largely due to delays in getting the correct documentation to the council, and because I had to perform all the negotiations myself without any assistance from Abbey Partnership. The coordination was all very, very poor and caused huge and intense stress. We were also left with a leak and water penetrating to the bedrooms below the loft.
simon hazelhurst - 19/10/2019 | report this review
disappearing bad reviews
After reading the other really bad reviews on here for this company, I must say my experience was exactly the same, if not worse. If I could have given zero stars I would but I was obliged to give a least one. Do not trust this company! Abbey Partnership previously named Abbey Lofts went into voluntary liquidation, leaving the bank unpaid and pocketing thousands of pounds from clients without any work done; (see details of this company insolvency at company house on line records) It is a disaster of a company from start to finish and they lie all the time to their clients. I posted some photos of their shoddy work on Twitter and the company director threatened me and told me that I shouldn't make any further public comments about his company. I reported this to the police. The company's negative reviews are prone to disappearing from the internet something I wish I had known about before using this company. I've noted many negative comments about Abbey that have since disappeared and other people before me have noted the same with reviews from years ago. The Abbey Partnership doesn't use its own builders, you find out a few days before the build starts that you actually have to sign a contract with a third-party company. When I complained to the appropriate regulatory body about the conduct of the builders, Abbey Partnership hid behind the defense that it wasn't responsible for the work it was just the middle-man who found us the builders. These builders disappeared for almost a month, working on another job Abbey had on the go. I was promised before I signed the contract that the works would take 8 weeks. But this was a nonsense, it was more like 8 months. Untrustworthy, they are abusive on phone and dishonest. We have been left with a leaking loft and damaged fabrics, as soon as you make the second, payment the customer service completely changes, it was a masterclass in how to do as little for as much money as possible. My advice to any member of the public is the same as many on here have given, avoid at all cost.
Jorg Hartmann - 08/10/2019 | report this review
The worst mistake of my life.
Choosing Abbey Partnership of 1 Whaley Road Potters Bar EN6 2RA was the worst mistake of my life. Avoid if you value your sanity. The experience throughout my build has been nothing short of a nightmare. I was fooled by the promises of quality. Don't make the same mistake, I’ve had every disaster you can think of and it has been a shambles from start to finish with every single element of the job needing to be done at least twice due to poor workmanship. A water pipe was cut at one point causing a flood in the kitchen below. There has been no project management and the level of incompetence of some tradespeople has been staggering. I have never had a response to my formal complaints from management. In fact, they point blank refused to talk to me. Things went from bad to worse in December when it seems Abbey Partnership stopped paying a number of their suppliers. I had the scaffold company visit me at home and threaten to remove the scaffold and then a week later our build team walked off site. And after 4 weeks not a word from management. They were aware that my property was unsecured and open to the elements and that my build was woefully delayed but didn’t care. Be warned and do not be taken in by their director’s claims of being caring for his clients, he is not. If that doesn’t discourage you, it gets worse; I know for certain I am not the only one. I am in active communication with 3 other customers who in turn are talking to 6 others and look at all the bad reviews on this site.
Madge Somerfield - 13/09/2019 | report this review
The good reviews are predominantly always displayed on Abbey's website
Its interesting to see such a variety of reviews on this site but comforting to note that we are not alone in our issues with The Abbey Partnership. Its also worthy of note that the good reviews are predominantly always displayed on Abbey's website. We were never allocated a project manager but left with the sales manager who made promises that he found hard to stick to and who left the company before our job was complete. Subsequent project managers did not respond and we had issues that took some considerable time to resolve. As others have commented, we too have had no response or poor responses and unkept promises. Most recently we alerted them to significantly cracking on our staircase, back many months now, which they never resolved and in the end we got fed up and fixed ourselves. The new project manager made several promises over several months to return to fix it but never bothered. Everyone we know has commented on how poor it has been that this company did not respond or return to rectify decoration faults, cracking etc. but once they have your money they are not interested. One of their contractors caused damage to the conservatory roof of ourselves and our neighbour and tried to cover it up so by the time it was discovered at the end of the job when scaffolding went we had water damage in our conservatory. It took weeks for Abbey Partnership to get someone back to sort and it also affected our neighbour, luckily, we have a very good relationship with them. They never offered to sort out the internal damage! Our job was finally completed in Oct/Nov having started on 2nd August, so rather than 6­-8 weeks wasmore like 16-­19, first fix was very fast but second fix very slow and issues hard to resolve. Some second fix contractors workmanship not great either. It seems Abbey took on too much work and had wholly inadequate project management to get things finalised and resolved but did nothing to take this pressure from their customers at all. The only time we heard from them was when their director wanted to very aggressively chase us for payments! In 12­-19 weeks he visited on day one and final snag day only. The rest of the time it was text/email and not very pleasant most of the time. Its a pity he wasn't so responsive when we had problems. All we got from him was that the project had cost him money, I very much doubt it given what we paid. I would not recommend Abbey Partnership, I am sure there are overall far better and more consistently efficient companies out there.
Robert De Lucas - 04/09/2019 | report this review
Our experience with Abbey Partnership was not a good one.
Unfortunately, after we signed the contract, our experience with Abbey Partnership was not a good one. The people in their office appear to know practically nothing about converting a loft, and pass all queries on to the builders that they subcontract. There are days of delays when providing basic answers, and then going back for clarifications. Abbey Lofts market their service as though they'll help you with architectural drawings, structural drawings, interior design and the build with a project manager helping you through the process and a site engineer that you're allowed to meet and decide upon prior to the build. This was quite different from the real world by this I mean our experiences. Our experience was that an architect drew up an architectural drawing but offered no options or explanations. Luckily, we knew a builder who looked at the drawings and pointed out problems with them so that we were able to get them revised before they were sent to the Council for approval. There was no assistance with interior design. Our request for a technically competent site manager was met with a joiner who couldn't answer basic joinery questions let alone any electrical or plumbing questions that we asked him. When we rejected him, we were told that we should find our own builder. Guy refused to provide a copy of the professional indemnity insurance despite a claim by the company that they'd be pleased to provide such a copy in their pre-contract literature. Abbey Partnership Lofts was good at trying to find every opportunity to add overpriced costs to the original quote whilst claiming that any work that wasn't required in the original quote would have been done for free by the builder. We were very disappointed in a company that heavily advertises expertise and who we put our trust in.
Auberon Baumer - 03/09/2019 | report this review
Doing it with abbey has been a big headache
We have been embroiled in a legal battle with this abbey partnership for almost 2 years because the roofing work was so badly executed that the roof leaked constantly and needed to be replaced after only 15 months. During all this time we've had constant leeks and so lots of water damage to have put right including the loss of irreplaceable items ruined. Things were so wet that we moved out for a while. Doing it with abbey has been a big headache, costing thousands to put right. They sent us untrained builders who were unskilled and it took far longer than we expected from start to finish, 9 months in total and now 30 months later we have a leak, cracks everywhere and the balcony doors are not installed properly. The sales rep wasn't straight up with us and the job cost £10,800 more than he promised and unfortunately, this director owner of the business gets much of the money upfront in cash then does not give 2 hoots thereafter. We tried to get the various matters resolved with an arbitrator but these people lie about everything to everyone, it seems to be their strong point so unfortunately, we had to move to the high court. You could save yourselves much aggravation by checking out your loft company before parting with any cash. I know this now and wish I would have done likewise. Beware of this disgusting company.
Jane Lyle - 12/07/2019 | report this review
Really poor customer service
Really poor customer service, rude and aggressive. Not surprised they have been expelled from their trade association last year. Should be avoided as rogue traders. The managing director who came around seemed genuine but when I paid the deposit all in cash, he then completely handed the job over to another building company, After parting with such a big amount of money, I was treated with no respect with a lot of rudeness with the managing director often shouting at me. From the beginning all the way through to 6 months later, the tradesmen did not attend my property more than three days in any given week. The project manager was almost impossible to get hold of and without doubt this company has the most shockingly bad customer service we have ever encountered. We had water pouring in during several wekks as they don't secure water protection covering. We where left with everthing below the loft soaked in water and many items were damaged it seems the more you pay, the less they care, by the time we had paid 70 percent they seemed to ignore us completely. I have been in touch with other dissatisfied customers of this company and there are many to observe for anyone doing online searches Don't be taken in by promises and over the top references, try someone without so many bad reviews. We made a bad mistake with this company I hope anyone reading this will not make the same mistake.Please look elsewhere.
Kate Hardman - 08/07/2019 | report this review
To be avoided like the plague
We just had a dreadful experience having The Abbey Partnership undertake construction of our loft conversion. Apart from the bad workmanship completed by their subcontractors (we had continual problems with water ingression causing leaks into the bedrooms below the loft), these workmen were very thuggish and threatened my teenage son. They also deliberately damaged the family car on the driveway, this after repeated arguments about the scheduled payments. The salesman was the only competent member of the company though we subsequently learnt that much of what he told us was dubious. For example, he said the company had been trading for 16 years but when we checked out the company records, we discovered that the Abbey Partnership was only established on 27th November 2013 so this was an untruth. The company is operated from the same offices as their other company, the previously dissolved Abbey Lofts. Another questionable piece of information for all to see on this company's website is that they call themselves, "Abbey Partnership, part of the Abbey Group". Well, there isn't any group that I've been able to find and Abbey Lofts was dissolved in 2016. The company owner has written that "he cares greatly about clients". I didn't find this to be true either. My complaints were met with insults and vulgarity. The worst company that I have ever known and dealt with, definitely to be avoided like the plague.
Dr. Laura Williams - 20/06/2019 | report this review
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