William Bain & Sons Ltd

"Used to replace a small section of water damaged ceiling. Initial communications (Brian) were polite and respectful; estimate for £441.60 incl. VAT issued clearly stating ‘remove section of plasterboard, re-plaster with correct thickness’ (of plasterboard). Unfortunately the job was given to Jamie, whom I found plastering directly over the temporary board as a short cut instead of removing and replacing it. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but it meant the spotlights were all bunched together on the temporary board rather than evenly spaced: it looked terrible and left the back of the bathroom in darkness. When I pointed this out, Jamie became visibly irritated, citing he couldn’t do it without an electrician, then he couldn’t do it without a joiner etc... These were not legitimate excuses. There was no electrical or joinery work involved: it was simply placing the already working spotlights within a new piece of plasterboard. They even have a whole page dedicated to ceiling repairs on their website. I eventually managed to get him to replace the temporary board as outlined in the estimate. His attitude was rude, aggressive and completely unprofessional. He eventually replaced the board (strangely, no electrician or joiner required) but would only grunt belligerently when I asked him how it was going. His co-worker was equally rude, and the whole atmosphere was just incredibly awkward. To be fair, the plastering job was fine, but the spotlights weren't lying flush against the ceiling. I wrote a polite email to Brian to thank him for the work and ask whether it would be possible to pop out and straighten the lights. To his credit he did send someone: unfortunately it was Jamie. Cue another tirade of sarcastic comments trying to shame me about making him come out again. I have no idea why he had to be like this: I was being perfectly reasonable in asking for the lights to be made flush after paying almost £450 for the work, and had done this respectfully, yet was treated like a demanding ‘Karen.’ As a woman it can be hard to be assertive with tradesmen, but I tried to keep the tone light and professional. The end result was ok in the end, but I found the whole experience very uncomfortable. These two workers who visited my property should develop some maturity and respect. To summarise: they were caught taking a shortcut and, when found out, treated me with disdain. To think this kind of behaviour adheres to the Federation of Master Builders codes of conduct is laughable."

"Contacted Bains about a pebbles dashed job as well as a roof job. From start to finish they turned up when they said they would and carried out a first class job that we are very happy about. Would not hesitate to recommend Brian and his team."

"I would like to thank Brian and his team at William Bain and sons. We had a water damage problem with dampness and rain coming from outside of our house and crearing dampness inside. Brian came out and done a survey and identified the problem. The next week his team came out and fixed some tiles on the roof and repaired the brittle Harling at the front of house. Great job done professionally and efficiently and a decent cost. Will use gain for sure. Rgds Mike"

"After 18 months of phoning round a load of other companies to try and get a small but tricky exterior building job done - and waiting in for people that didn’t turn up and/or were never seen again - I found Wm Bain. Total breath of fresh air. Came out when they said they would to give me a quote, gave me a date for doing the work and again turned up bang on the dot. All really nice guys, and did a good professional job. Can’t recommend them highly enough. For anyone else who’s been through the “trying to get someone reliable” to come out to you saga in Edinburgh, Wm Bain is your answer!"

"I hired William Bain and Sons to fix my grandmothers roof on one of her garages in Barnton Court. They did such a god job the surrounding owners of the garages asked for their number, William Bains and Sons were happy to help her neighbours and got the job done efficiently and professionally. I would highly recommend this company for roofing. I was surprised and happy how professional this company was with my grandmother and her neighbours. I would highly recommend them."