Wendie and Ben Corris had a simple plan – move one of the walls in their Ealing home to create a bigger family bathroom for them and their two young boys. They hired a building firm and left them to get on with the work. ‘The next thing we knew, they’d completely gutted the whole place,’ said Wendie. ‘They’d taken all the ceilings and flooring out. They’d even ripped out the original Edwardian fireplaces. It was hideous.’
The couple was understandably devastated, having lost time, money and their faith in the redevelopment process. Their neighbours weren’t happy either, but one of them recommended a company they thought could handle the work. ‘They told us about Kantec,’ said Wendie. ‘They saved us.’
Director Suk Grewal, met with the couple and suggested they hire an architect to produce a detailed brief of everything that needed to be done to the property. After all the new plans were in place, which included a spacious loft conversion and a full renovation of the entire property, we talked Wendie and Ben through our step-by-step project management process.
Finally, they could see the light at the end of the tunnel. ‘One of the biggest challenges was gaining the Corris’s, and their neighbours’, trust, as the previous builder had left the house and the family in a lot of mess,’ said Project Manager Mac Sulewski. ‘All the existing work had to be demolished and rebuilt from scratch.’
We set a time frame of 18 weeks, with clearly defined targets along the way, so they could see how the money would be spent and when. The importance of the schedule was increased by the fact the family were in rented accommodation and had a firm moving date. ‘Mac was an amazing project manager,’ said Wendie. ‘As we couldn’t live at the property, he came to see us regularly and explained what was happening and where the project was at. The communication was excellent.’
Once Kantec got involved, the stalled project picked up pace. We converted the loft, which included installing an en suite, and created their dream family bathroom. The house received new carpentry on all doors, skirting and wooden floors in the loft and ground-floor rooms. We also put in a brand new kitchen, transforming the downstairs space. Inside, the entire property was decorated, while outside we rebuilt the porch roof and paved the front garden.
The finished house is unrecognisable from the building site that greeted us on day one, and the family couldn’t be happier with their bright and airy home. ‘Everything was completed in the time-scale,’ said Wendie. ‘It literally took the time they said it would take. The house is perfect. The bathroom is my favourite room and the loft is great too. I can’t pick anything that I don’t like.’
The couple have been passing on that life-saving neighbourly gesture by recommending Kantec to all their friends. ‘We’ve told everyone we know to go with them,’ said Wendie. ‘We were going to do a kitchen extension too, but didn’t have the budget to complete it because of what happened. Hopefully one day we can get Kantec to come back and do it for us. I couldn’t dream of going with anyone else.’
