Suffolk Carpentry Services Reviews 5

As the other lady has said think twice! Absolutely awful workmanship. In the words of a profesional carpenter "Daniel is no carpenter nor a mastic man!" It has cost us so much more to put right Daniel shoddy work. There is no way I'd have Daniel back in my house. Does not do what you ask and bodges work. Electrician also said the same! Definately not reccommended. Paid over £3k for bodged work.

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan but when it doesn’t you expect it to be put right. After a recent kitchen installation some snagging and concerns were raised with Dan. From damage to flooring, chips on cupboards, poor tiling, soft close concerns and poorly fitted blinds. Unfortunately I paid Dan in good faith after he promised to come back but my numerous messages have been read and ignored. So far I have paid out to have the flooring and blinds put right, £200 - I asked Dan to be recompensed but was ignored, not too much to ask in the grand scheme of things! I’ll leave you to look at the photos on Google reviews and let you decide whether you engage Dan. Would love Dan to get in touch and do the right thing, a lot of inconvenience to go to the small claims court. Over to you Dan!

Dan is a pleasure to have in your home. He is both friendly and professional.
You can rely on Dan to communicate well and turn up when he says he’s going to.
Thanks Dan, we love the new utility!

Fantastic carpenter, I would go further to say project manager - Dan has done various work for me over the past few years including full kitchen renovation, panelling, flooring, doors, porch and outdoor kitchen.

Dan took away the stress for me in my new home, project managing my house renovations from start to finish, managing the individual trades to ensure work was carried out to schedule.

I can’t recommend enough please don’t hesitate to reach out and get a quote to see his professionalism and knowledge. He helped with a lot of advise to ensure I got the finish I wanted, he’s clearly got a wealth of experience.

I can’t wait to use him in my new project in a few months time.

Thank you so much, it’s been a pleasure working with you.

We booked Daniel under his then trading name of BF Carpentry to refit our kitchen, utility room, and cloakroom back in April 2024. Initially, he visited to assess the job and provided a detailed quote. His quote was comparable to others, so we asked for references. This should have been our first red flag: he claimed he couldn’t provide references due to GDPR laws, stating instead that all his work could be viewed on Instagram. When he asked us if the lack of references was a dealbreaker, we should have trusted our gut and declined his services. A reputable tradesperson would be happy to ask their customers for permission to provide references and ensure this is done in a GDPR-compliant manner.

When the work commenced, things initially went well, but we soon lost confidence in Daniel’s abilities, particularly in his role as the principal project manager. He seemed intent on rushing through the job and did not adhere to the agreed schedule of works. The situation came to a head when his subcontracted tiler came to fit the tiles. The floor had not been prepared as per the agreed schedule of works and was uneven. The sub-contracted tiler therefore walked off the job, stating he would return once the floor was prepared. We respected this decision, but Daniel disputed that the floor needed to be prepared, despite the tiler showing us with a spirit level that the floor was uneven. Reluctantly, Daniel prepared the floor, and we asked him via messages when the original tiler would return.

The following week, Daniel supposedly arranged for a new professional tiler to fit the tiles. He assured us of the competence of the replacement tiler. However, the tiling and grouting were very poor. It seemed like Daniel had called on a mate from the pub to help complete the job. We should have questioned this, as a good tradesperson would be booked up for weeks in advance. The grouting had pockmarks, missing sections, and excess grout ingrained into the kitchen unit plinths, which should have been fitted after the tiles were installed. We also specifically asked that end panels for the kitchen units be installed after the floor tiles were fitted, but these were fitted first, and the floor tiles were cut around them, resulting in an untidy appearance. In the cloakroom, tiles behind the sink splashback were poorly fitted, and the tile edging was not mitred, leaving exposed jagged edges. We had to remove these and the excess tile adhesive from the cloakroom vanity unit.

Overall, the tiling is very poor, and the tiler did not account for a slightly uneven wall, failing to compensate for this when deciding where to start tiling. As a result, the tiles are misaligned when viewed against the straight line of the kitchen plinths.

We’re really disappointed with the tiling and have considered taking legal action to recover our costs. We also found out from the original tiler that Daniel had told him we had arranged an alternative tiler, which was not true.

Due to the delay in tiling and waiting for some items to be fitted, other work that was booked as part of the job had to be deferred. Daniel wanted most of the balance of the remaining payment upfront, but we pushed back because we’d heard from a previous customer that he hadn’t returned to complete a job. We agreed on a lower payment to protect ourselves.

In the end, we’ve decided not to invite Daniel to return to complete the job, as we don’t have any confidence in his work. He tried to cut corners, fitted things poorly including bot scribing the walls to make adjustments for non- plumb walls, lied to us, and had no respect for our property, such as damaging our living room door when moving the kitchen units downstairs.

To cap it all off, I noticed on his Instagram stories that he had added a picture of tiling from our en-suite, which another quality tradesperson had completed for us. He tagged this as his own work, which is plagiarism and deceptive. He has subsequently blocked me from his Instagram and has now changed the name of his business.

Please be very careful when selecting tradespeople. Always ask for references and seek recommendations from friends and family, so you can verify the quality of the work yourself. Also, don’t believe everything you see on social media. All lessons learnt for the future, but at the time it was very stressful and I wouldn’t recommend Daniel.

Daniel has now changed the name of his company from BF Carpentry to Suffolk Carpentry Services. His new website looks very slick, but please see beyond this and do your research and ask for references.