For housing associations
Sealant work across a whole series, every home the same
Project sealant work for new build, home renovation and planned maintenance. We take on complete series of homes: bathrooms, kitchens, floors, window frames and facade joints, built up the same way at every address.
Since 1959
Experience and craftsmanship from Utrecht
Clear communication
Short lines, clear agreements
100% satisfaction
We only leave once you are satisfied
Lasting quality
Top-quality materials for a long-lasting result
Why series go wrong
It is not the metres that cost money, it is the differences
Planned maintenance runs across hundreds of homes at a time. The sealant work itself is half a day per address. What blows up the budget is that address 1 is done differently from address 200: a different sealant, a different joint width, backing rod in one and none in the next.
Then there is the coordination. Every deviation is a phone call, and every phone call is a supervisor who is not getting on with the job. So with a series the saving is in setting things out beforehand, not in haggling over the rate per metre.
We do the sealant work the same way across the whole series: the same build-up, the same sealant, the same check afterwards. Anything that differs we report before we carry on, not after.
Where we work in a home
- Bathrooms: bath, shower floor, basin and wall junctions
- Kitchens: worktop, sink and splashback
- Floor junctions and skirtings in wet rooms
- Window frames inside and out, plus glazing sealant
- Facade joints between concrete panels and brickwork
- Expansion joints in access galleries and stairwells
How a series runs
From sample survey to handover
Sample survey in a handful of homes
We look at a few addresses to see what is there and what condition it is in. That sample gives us the build-up for the whole series: which sealant, which backing rod, which preparation.
A specification you can put out to tender
You get it in writing: which joint gets which treatment. That is the document that makes every home the same, even if someone else joins the job later on.
Quotation with unit prices
A rate per metre for each joint type, with tiers based on the total for the series. That way a block of forty homes can be priced up without a new quotation.
Carried out block by block
We work per block or per stairwell, so residents know when we are where. Arrangements with residents go through your channels, not ours.
Check and video report
A check and a video report per home. Usable for your handover file and for whichever contractor comes in after us.
Questions we are often asked
Short answers
How many homes can you do in a day?
That depends on what needs doing per home and whether the home is empty. We measure it during the sample survey, and that gives a daily output we can actually deliver. Naming a figure before we have looked is guesswork, and that is no use to you in your planning.
What if there is asbestos in the sealant in older homes?
In buildings from before 1994 we allow for it. If we suspect asbestos-containing sealant we stop and report it. Survey and removal belong with a certified asbestos removal company; we cut nothing out that we are not sure about.
How does it work with residents still living there?
Then the order of work matters more than the speed. We finish one room at a time, so a resident is not without a shower or a kitchen all day, and we agree beforehand which room is done when. Tell us at the request stage whether the homes are occupied and we will say what is feasible.
When can a resident use the shower again?
Sealant cures at roughly two to three millimetres a day. So a sanitary joint six millimetres deep is properly hard after two days. We put that in the residents letter, because showering earlier means water in a joint that has not closed yet.
How does invoicing work?
As a subcontractor we invoice with VAT reverse-charged. The payment term is 14 days from the invoice date. On larger series we work in instalments; those are set out in the quotation.
Do you guarantee a whole series?
You get a 2-year guarantee on the work carried out. What is and is not covered is set out in our terms and conditions and in the quotation. Movement and working of the structure fall outside it; that is why we measure the joint width beforehand against the movement it has to take up.
