Wear and damage in a property rarely arrive one at a time. A door starts catching, a crack opens along the ceiling, sealant round the bath turns black and a section of skirting comes away from the wall. Property repair is about putting those things right properly, and about recognising when the visible damage is only the result of a problem somewhere else.
Voltify Contractors carries out repairs to homes, rented flats and commercial premises across East and South-East London, as part of our wider handyman and property maintenance work. This page covers the repairs that come up most, how to tell a surface problem from a symptom, and how repairs are usually grouped when a property needs several at once.
Property Repairs That Come Up Most Often
Most property repair work falls into a few groups:
- Walls and ceilings: cracks in plaster, holes left by old fixings, dents and damaged corners, and patches of blown plaster that sound hollow when tapped.
- Doors and windows: doors that stick or will not latch, loose or broken handles and hinges, window handles and restrictors that no longer work, and damaged frames or beading.
- Joinery and trim: skirting boards and architraves that have come loose or been damaged, and small sections of woodwork that need replacing.
- Floors: loose or squeaking boards, lifting laminate and damaged thresholds between rooms.
- Seals and finishes: failed silicone around baths, showers, basins and worktops, and grout that has cracked or discoloured.
The aim is a repair that lasts, which usually means dealing with the cause of the damage as well. Resealing a bath without removing all the old silicone and drying the joint, for example, tends to fail again quickly.
Surface Damage or a Sign of Something Else?
Some damage is exactly what it looks like: a hole where a picture hook was, a handle worn loose by years of use. Other damage is a symptom, and repairing only what you can see means it will come back. Before a repair is agreed, it is worth asking which it is.
| What you see | Often simple wear | May point to something else |
|---|---|---|
| Crack in a ceiling or wall | Fine cracks along plasterboard joints, or where old and new plaster meet | Cracks that keep widening, run diagonally from the corners of doors and windows, or reappear soon after filling |
| Stained or bubbling plaster | Old, dry staining from a problem already fixed | A leak from a pipe, bath or shower above, especially if the patch is damp or growing |
| Door that has started sticking | Paint build-up, loose hinges or seasonal swelling | Movement in the frame or floor, if other doors nearby have started sticking at the same time |
| Floor that has become soft or springy | A single loose board or fixing | Water getting under the floor, often from a nearby appliance or bathroom |
| Black mould on sealant or walls | Sealant that has reached the end of its life | Poor ventilation or condensation in the room |
Where damage looks like a symptom, the source is dealt with first. A damp patch caused by a leak above needs our leak detection and repair service before the ceiling is made good; otherwise the new plaster and paint will be stained again. Cracks that suggest movement in the building are outside handyman work and are a question for a surveyor or structural engineer.
Making Good After the Repair
A repair is not finished until it blends in. After a crack is filled or a hole patched, the area normally needs sanding, priming and painting to match. For a single patch this is part of the repair; if the whole wall or ceiling needs repainting to hide it, that can be arranged through our interior painting service.
Matching an existing finish is not always exact. Paint fades over time, and even the same colour from a new tin can look slightly different on one patch of an older wall. It helps to know, before the work starts, whether you want a patch touched in or a full wall painted.
Repairs Between Tenancies and in Commercial Premises
For landlords and letting agents, repairs often come as a list after a tenancy ends: marks and holes in the walls, a broken blind, a damaged door, worn sealant in the bathroom. Sending the check-out report or a set of photos with the list allows the work to be planned so it fits the time before the next tenant moves in, and our landlord property maintenance page explains how tenant-reported repairs and void work are arranged. If the list mixes repairs with fitting jobs, such as new blinds, shelves or furniture assembly, our general handyman services page explains how a mixed list is put together for one visit.
Offices, shops and other commercial premises need the same kind of repairs but usually with more attention to timing, so the work does not interfere with trading or staff; see commercial property maintenance for how that work is planned. Standard working hours are 7am–5pm, Monday to Friday; if a repair needs to happen when the premises are closed, raise it at the quote stage.
Repairs That Need Another Trade
Property repair often sits next to work in other trades. A broken light switch or a damaged socket is a job for our electrical repairs service, and a dripping tap or a running toilet is covered by our plumbing repairs. Because Voltify Contractors carries out both, those items can be included in the same visit rather than booked with a separate firm, as long as they are on the list beforehand.
What Affects the Cost
The documented minimum call-out is £80 for the first hour, which covers a short repair or a few small ones. Larger lists are priced on the work involved. The main things that change the cost are how many repairs there are, whether materials such as replacement handles, boards, trim or sealant are needed, how much making good and painting is wanted afterwards, and access, such as high ceilings or stairwells. Repairs that turn out to be symptoms of a leak or other problem cannot be priced fully until the cause is known. Our guide to what a general property repairs callout typically covers explains how the first hour is used and why some repairs need a second visit.
Send a list of the repairs with photos of each, and contact Voltify Contractors to discuss what needs doing. You can also check the areas we cover.
