Recommendation for LSK Building Services

[LisaSam]

LSK Building Services was recommended to me by Lynlea West, an interior designer I worked with who is based in East Dulwich (I've written a recommendation for her too on the forum). Lynlea has worked with Lionel, who runs LSK, on many projects for her clients and it's easy to understand why. Lionel and his team are incredibly professional and reliable, as well as doing top notch work without any complaints when presented with difficult issues.

For context, my partner and I bought a house, gutted it and did a complete refurb. I project managed myself and had different trades in rather than going with an all-in-one building service.

I called Lionel on Lynlea's recommendation when I was having trouble getting good advice about what would be possible in terms of kitchen design, and how to manage some issues around it (e.g. when the floor install should happen and where some pipes should run). We were 'designing' the kitchen ourselves, going with DIY Kitchens rather than Wren, Howdens, Magnet, etc (all of which did nothing but annoy us and didn't seem good value for money, not enough size options for the space and so on).

Other kitchen fitters seemed ill-equipped to give sound advice on our issues, and didn't think we'd manage to fit in certain units we wanted. Well, turns out they were all wrong. Lionel's team came in and just got on with it, managing a difficult fit for a L-shaped wall unit, troubleshooting plumbing issues, dealing with an uneven floor and all sorts. If only everything ran this smoothly!

Asides from the fantastic job on the kitchen fit, there are a couple more points that warrant special mentions. Some of the work occurred just into the lockdown period, but was able to continue because the property was unoccupied, i.e. a building site. Nonetheless, Jay, who led the install for us, arrived with a huge bottle of hand sanitiser and gloves, with strict instructions from Lionel on using both throughout. It was incredibly reassuring to see tradespeople taking the issue seriously.

Secondly, today... a Sunday. We've been in the house only since Wednesday and used the washer dryer for the first time last night. This morning we awoke to water damage to the floor in the dining area adjacent to the washer dryer. Some investigation later it turns out the hose connecting the water supply to the unit is leaking at a join (we had to use an extension to reach the unit as it's in a peninsula).

I message Lionel to say there has been a snag expecting to receive a call tomorrow (Monday) about when they are next in the neighbourhood so they can come have a look. None of that. Lionel calls me within 15-20min, as soon as he saw my message, to say he'll be over with Jay in 45min. I assumed that meant they were in the neighbourhood anyway. Nope. They dropped everything on their day off to head straight over from home.

When investigating the issue, it turns out it wasn't their fault. Jay had tested the water supply to every unit and it was fine. Then the floor fitter had to pull the unit out to fit the floor, and another person pushed it back into place. At one of those points, a washer in the connection bent, which loosened the seal on the extension for the water supply. I offered to pay a call-out fee because it wasn't their fault that it was broken (and they fixed it on the spot and tested it before leaving), but nope, Lionel wouldn't have any of it. No charge. For something that wasn't their fault at all. Just to keep their client happy.

So, lastly, to note: Lionel and his team do full build services, extensions, installs, entire refurbs, all sorts. I saw some lovely photos of their work on quite grand houses. But they also were willing to do our kitchen in a modest 1930s terrace over about a week and charge an amount that I thought was great value for money given the standard of work and professional approach.

I will be recommending Lionel and his team to any of my friends looking to do building work. It strikes me as a bit crazy that LSK doesn't already have a long list of recommendations on this forum. I guess they are a secret people want to keep!

Their website:

https://www.lskbuildingservices.co.uk/

Lionel's mobile is 07958412788. Best to call him or send an SMS and he'll call you back. Expect to interact more over the phone and not much by email, except for invoices. It is worth it to talk to him on the phone.

I've attached a photo of our kitchen. Having trouble posting more due to the file size limits. Happy to answer DMs if anyone has questions.