Our Guarantee

Our workmanship

We guarantee our own workmanship. If something we built fails because of the way we built it, we come back and put it right at our cost.

That covers the things a homeowner would reasonably expect: structure built to the engineer’s design, brickwork and blockwork laid properly, roofs and flashings that keep water out, plaster that does not fail, and services installed correctly.

The guarantee period that applies to your job is stated in your written quotation and confirmed on completion. Ask us before you sign if it is not clear, and it will be set out in writing rather than described in conversation.

Manufacturer warranties

Products carry their own warranties from the companies that made them, and these usually run longer than a workmanship guarantee. Windows and doors, roofing membranes, boilers, and glazing units are the common ones.

We register products where registration is required, and we hand over the paperwork at completion. Keep it with your Building Control completion certificate. If a product fails we will help you deal with the manufacturer even where the claim is theirs rather than ours.

Your Building Control completion certificate

This is the document that proves the work was inspected and signed off. We notify Colchester City Council Building Control, we arrange the inspections, and we make sure the certificate is issued at the end.

Keep it with your deeds. A buyer’s solicitor will ask for it, and an extension without one causes problems at sale years after everyone has forgotten the job.

What is not covered

A guarantee that claimed to cover everything would not be honest. The following are outside it:

• Fair wear and tear, and normal deterioration of finishes over time.
• Shrinkage cracking. New plaster and new structure dry out and move slightly in the first year. Fine hairline cracking at junctions is normal and is a decorating matter rather than a defect. Structural cracking is not, and we want to hear about it.
• Damage caused by someone else, including work carried out by others after we finished.
• Lack of maintenance. Gutters need clearing, sealant has a life, and flat roof outlets block. Failure caused by maintenance not being done is not a workmanship defect.
• Pre-existing defects in the original building that we did not create and were not contracted to fix.
• Alterations you or another contractor make to what we built.
• Storm, flood, impact and other insured events, which are matters for your buildings insurance.
• Movement caused by something outside our control, such as a neighbouring tree planted after completion or a change in ground conditions we could not have foreseen.

How to make a claim

Ring 07487 706530 or email Essexprobuild@outlook.com. Tell us the address, roughly when the work was done, and what has happened. Photographs help.

We will arrange to come and look, normally within ten working days. If it is our workmanship, we will tell you what we are going to do and when. If it is not, we will tell you that too, and explain why, and point you at whoever can help.

We would rather you rang us about something small than lived with it.

If we cannot agree

If you think something is a workmanship defect and we do not, follow our Complaints Procedure. It sets out how to escalate and what timescales apply. Your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are unaffected by anything on this page.

Transferring the guarantee

If you sell the property within the guarantee period, tell us and we will confirm the position in writing for the buyer where we reasonably can.

This page is a plain English summary drafted as a starting point. The terms that apply to your job are those in your written quotation, and this document should be reviewed by your own legal adviser before you rely on it.

Last reviewed July 2026.