TimbaCare

Lifetime Guarantee on timber windows and doors

You have invested a considerable amount of money on high quality timber windows and doors in your home. There were other options on the market, but you have selected timber because of the beautiful appearance and the value that it adds to your home. To get the maximum value from these products they will require regular maintenance and upkeep.

From speaking to hundreds of customers over the years, we understand that the biggest concern regarding timber products is this ongoing maintenance requirement. Despite the fact that our products require the lowest upkeep in the market, we still appreciate that you do not want to be up a ladder repainting windows every 5-10 years. This is why we have developed a fully serviced maintenance programme.

Under this maintenance programme, Gowercroft Joinery will charge a small yearly fee to attend site and do a full assessment of the products. This includes periodic recoating, ensuring smooth operation and replacement of any failed parts. This is the best way of ensuring that your products will look as good as the day they were installed well into the future.

The programme can be cancelled at any point by the customer, without detriment.

What does the service include?

The service will include one visit to site every year. Two weeks prior to the visit, we will call you to ask whether there is any significant damage to the products which will need to be attended to. This call helps to ensure that we have a full understanding and can order necessary parts to complete the works during the visit. We will also confirm arrival times for the visit with you and ensure it is convenient.

On the day of the visit, the attending employee will arrive at approximately 9am and begin by talking to you about the products and their performance over the previous year. He will then check all of the products and make a full assessment of their condition and functionality of each product against our 10-point checklist.

He will carry out maintenance, adjustment and cleaning with a specialist detergent to ensure that the products perform perfectly until the next visit. Depending on the year of the cycle, he may either wipe the products with a revitalising coating to improve the lustre or do a full repaint of the external face of the windows.

The exact cycles will vary between if you have external paint finish, external stain finish, or an external finish that is highly susceptible to U.V. damage.

What doesn’t the service include?

In many ways, it is easier to list the items that are not included in the programme:

• Internal painting and painting of internal linings, architraves and window boards. The paint coating can be susceptible over time to U.V. light and weathering, but this is only generally seen externally. Further to this, customers will typically redecorate internally alongside overall room redecoration. For these reasons, we only redecorate externally.
• Glass unit breakdown is covered under our guarantee for the first 10-years of service. If a glass unit breaks down after 10-years, but you have the maintenance programme already in place, then we will replace the unit free of labour. However, there will be a charge of cost plus £20 handling fee for the materials (glass unit and glazing materials).
• Standard ironmongery is covered under our guarantee for the first 10-years of service. If a handle, locking bar or hinge breaks down after 10-years, but you have the maintenance programme already in place, then we will replace the parts free of labour. However, there will be a charge of cost plus £20 handling fee for the materials.
• Excessive damage, not a result of wear and tear. It is your responsibility to ensure that the products are looked after between services. If damage occurs  cidental damage, then we reserve the right to charge for rectification both in terms of labour and materials. This cost will always be discussed with you and outlined prior to commencing the works. If damage is very excessive, then we may choose to cancel the maintenance programme going forward, as we will not be able to guarantee the ongoing performance.

How does the pricing work?

Pricing is very simple. If you are interested in this programme, then we will provide you with a quotation. This will outline a yearly fee, which will be set for 25 years. This will be consistent regardless on the year of the cycle, so you can clearly plan the figure into your budget. The yearly fee itself will vary based on location, site access, product type and finish type.

Please note that we have had to assume a reasonable rate of inflation for the duration of the programme; if the inflation rate rises above historic averages for the modern economy, then we reserve the right to account for this and adjust fees accordingly.

After the initial 25 year period, we will propose a new price for continuing the maintenance programme. Of course you have no obligation to accept this price.

Is this a good deal for me?

If you bought a new Porsche, you’d insure it and have it serviced regularly by experts. TimbaCare offers the same approach for your windows and doors.

For a large, self built family home with a windows and doors contract worth £60,000 the cost would be around 2 p.a. to provide all the care necessary for all of your quality products. So as the years roll by you will not only have peace of mind, but also see the value of your windows and doors increase as part of your home. Indeed you will also have a valuable policy that increases in value as time passes and that you can sell on to the new owner if you ever decide to move on. If you want to change your external colour scheme we can incorporate that in the regular cycle, which allows you to keep the property in keeping with current trends (there may be a one off charge depending on your specific requirements).

At current rates, you’d be likely to pay a good decorator more than twice our annual charge just to recoat the product, and have no guarantees on its effectiveness or the general performance of the products.
It’s not just homeowners who can benefit from the scheme. If you are a developer with one or more properties the scheme provides a way to ensure a hand over of the product in good condition, which allows you to pass on an additional guarantee to your end buyer. The end buyer would benefit from the established fixed rate when it’s taken over as long as they keep the contract going. Normally our standard guarantee given after sale will not automatically transfer to the next owner, as we have the right to ensure that the product has been properly maintained. Under this scheme the inspection is included in the first annual maintenance run so now it’s guaranteed at a modest price.

If you’d like to discuss the costs for your property or would like further information on TimbaCare and how it could work for you, then please get in touch.