Great job done by Isla

Julian delivered exactly what we asked for - a utility space we could be proud of. Very grateful for his work, while he was also a pleasure to deal with throughout the whole process. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Isla Design & Build to anyone. Simply put, they nailed it! :)

Julian went above and beyond for me. I was very impressed with his professionalism and clear/concise communication on things that needed to be done. He completed some groundwork for my new outhouse, to connect waste from the toilet to the manhole in my garden. He also completed some work to bring in water from my property into the outhouse. I will most definitely be partnering with Julian again on future work and would highly recommend to all.

Luke has been brilliant. He was punctual and made sure the tasks were completed on time. I would definitely recommend Luke for building related work.

Brilliant service. Would highly recommend!

Professional, job completed to perfect standart happy to recommend

Good communication and end result. Thank you

Julian was great. His communication was great and the level of his work was brilliant and we are very happy with the panelling he has done for the spare bedroom. We would highly recommend Julian and will look to use him for future work.

This review is tempered by the fact that Julian did actually do an okay job on our kitchen in the beginning. He is definitely a fast paced and diligent worker. This can’t be taken away from him. There were one or two items remaining with the kitchen that he did not address and these are bullet pointed below, with caveats and explanations for fairness. - Kick boards not installed (in fairness, he was waiting for us to do the flooring before he could return and finish these) - The island was a little misaligned and in fact came off at the edge (in fairness, he was returning to align this and put some more bonding glue to hold down the top to the side) - The cabinet trims at the top were not fastened down (in fairness, he was returning to address these also) - The square cut out at the base of the larder to access an electric point was messy (we were going to get him to put a plastic cover (like switch box) around this to make it look flush). Despite the snags, which we considered very trivial, we were actually happy with Julian and what he achieved with our kitchen in such a small space of time. In fact, we were so happy with Julian’s work that we employed him to do our bathroom next and subsequently referred him to our family members (my wife’s aunty and my mother-in-law were two jobs I had lined up for him next after he had completed our bathroom.) Unfortunately, this is where things went wrong and oddly and strangely awry. On the first day of the bathroom work Julian expressed unhappiness that he could not do anything and that we caused a delay because we didn’t agree on him purchasing premium materials to do some of the work the same day and that the skip we hired had not arrived. I explained to Julian that I could not approve the purchasing of materials at premium price when I could get those materials from a local timber merchant for half the price. In fact, that very same day I sourced the materials Julian needed from our local timber merchant, arranged a next delivery and physically took delivery of the heavy materials myself (Julian was indisposed as he had to do a site visit for another job.) I also explained that we had discussed hiring of the skip (during the planning phase of the project) and he advised that we should do this to which we did. However, the delay in the skip arriving was not down to us - this was down to the fact that the Council required a week’s notice to issue the road permit and we had trouble contacting them over the Christmas period. In any case, I explained to Julian that the delay did was minuscule (less than 24 hours) and did not make any material difference as the skip would nevertheless be here during the week he would be working at our site. Nevertheless, Julian became quite cantankerous and unreasonably annoyed. He developed an attitude problem saying that he had now lost a day because we declined the purchase of building materials at premium price and the skip not arriving meant he could not dispose of the rubbish. I really couldn’t fathom the issue as not only were we paying Julian for the full day’s work regardless, but also, he had not advised that these materials would be needed beforehand, so the mere fact that I sourced and purchased them at a fraction of the cost and took delivery myself at such short notice was really of no material loss or inconvenience to Julian. In any case, we ignored Julian’s poor attitude and continued to press on with stating some of the extra things we required in the bathroom. Julian provided a revised quote for some of the extra things we wanted done in the bathroom and advised that we would be responsible for disposing of the waste from the works. We disagreed with Julian on this very point as not only had we agreed at the planning stages of the works (a month or so back) that he would arrange disposal of the waste, but, we had hired the skip (which was delayed) for this very reason i.e. to assist him. Again, Julian became oddly and unexpectedly annoyed and blankly refused to agree to this term of disposing of the waste. Julian’s argument was that if he had removed the waste from the bathroom to the front garden once, it would be unreasonable for us to expect him to place it in the skip thereafter. I explained to Julian that this is exactly what we expected under the confines of the contract and is part of the service for which we were paying. Unfortunately, we could not agree on this very small term and the contract both us and Julian became frustrated. Therefore, we parted ways by mutual consent. It is unfortunate that Julian chose this very small waste issue as the hill to die on, however, he was under the misconception that he was doing us a favour when we were in fact paying above market rate for his services. I still find it incredulous that Julian refused to agree disposing of the waste he was going to be making during the course of our bathroom renovation despite providing him with the means and capabilities to do so. As stated at the top of this review, Julian is a fast paced worker and he definitely has good expertise, so he has that going for him. But to hire Julian is to deal with his egotistical delusions of grandeur when you are in fact paying for his services. He will do well to remember that he is the worker and he cannot dictate to his clients, especially over something so minuscule. Because of what appears to be misplaced pride, ego or vanity, not only has Julian lost us as clients, but also, the two family members business which I had lined up for him - one of which he was on course to provide a quote and the many more business we would have brought him. Such is life I suppose.

The work was very well done and will be using him again