Loft boarding with a side of sawdust
I had a mixed experience with CB Lofts.
On the positive side, communication from the office was good. The team was responsive and helpful throughout the planning and scheduling stages, which was a major reason I chose them over other companies. The loft boarding installation itself is acceptable and the finished work appears fine, although nothing particularly exceptional.
Unfortunately, the on-site experience was disappointing and fell below the standard I expected.
Before the work began, I had specifically discussed the importance of protecting my floors. However, the protection used was very thin, loose and hardly covered the full width of the hallway. During the installation, a metal pole was dropped and left a noticeable dent in my brand-new flooring. Given that floor protection had been raised in advance, this was particularly frustrating.
Communication during the installation was very poor. I was only told AFTER the job had been completed that part of the loft could not be boarded. Although the cost of that section was deducted, I would have expected to be informed as soon as the issue became apparent rather than at the end of the job, as we would have chosen to proceed differently based on this information.
There were also several other issues that contributed to the overall impression that insufficient care was being taken with my home. Sawdust from external cutting was brushed into my garden beds rather than cleared away, and the insulation left exposed in the loft was also left covered in sawdust. Upstairs doors that I had deliberately kept closed were repeatedly opened (not sure why), and the installation team also seem to have used all available toilets and sinks, which is OK in principle, although I would have expected a heads-up.
The lack of care for my property and the communication gaps during the work made the experience below par. I would have expected greater attention to detail and more respect for the customer’s home.
Update 29.09.2026: Response to CB Lofts’ Reply:
Thank you for responding. I’ll address the points briefly and clearly:
• The flooring: Your response appears to distance CB Lofts from the electrician. Yes, he was a separate contractor, but he was hired by CB Lofts and attended as part of the works you were carrying out on the same day, at the same time. More importantly, I am not blaming the electrician. He accidentally dropped a pole — accidents happen. My point is that protecting our flooring was CB Lofts’ responsibility, not the electrician’s. Had the floor been adequately protected, the accident should not have resulted in the damage it did. This is particularly disappointing because your reassurance that our floors would be protected was one of the reasons we chose CB Lofts in the first place.
• Why we didn’t pursue the flooring further: Your response at the time was essentially that you could put us in touch with the electrician. That completely missed our point. Our concern was with the inadequate floor protection, which was CB Lofts’ responsibility. Your communication gave us no indication that you intended to address that issue yourselves, so we saw little point in pursuing it further. I have the email exchanges from the time and am comfortable that they support what I have said.
• Sawdust: Of course we understand that loft work creates dust and sawdust. We never suggested otherwise. Our point was simply that sawdust could have been vacuumed or disposed of appropriately rather than brushed into our plants. Again, the response seems to deflect from the actual criticism being made.
• Additional boarding: We have never questioned whether the additional boarding was required for safety reasons. The issue was communication. This was explained at the end rather than beforehand. Had it been communicated before the work was done, we could have understood the implications and made an informed decision about how we wanted to proceed.
• Using our facilities: Again, this is being framed as though we objected to the team using our toilets or facilities. We did not. We understood that it was a hot day and had no problem in principle with people using the facilities. The issue is basic common courtesy: please ask before using facilities or entering rooms in someone’s home.
We had deliberately closed doors throughout the house to minimise dust spreading because we have a young toddler and my wife was pregnant. Those doors were repeatedly opened, and I had to go upstairs several times to close them again. The result was that we ultimately had to clean more rooms after the works than we had anticipated.
So please read my original review for what it actually says. I don’t intend to enter into a lengthy public debate. This is simply an honest account of our experience.
Antwort von CB Lofts & Construction
Hi James,
We are pleased to hear that you’re happy with the communication from our office and that you are happy with the completed loft boarding itself, as you have confirmed with me a few times since the work was completed.
We are therefore surprised by the overall rating and by some of the way the circumstances have been represented in your review. We feel it is important to provide some clarification for anyone reading it.
Regarding the flooring, the electrical work was carried out by a separate electrical contractor and not by the CB Lofts boarding team. The incident you refer to occurred during those electrical works. When you initially raised this with us, we asked you to provide photographs so we could discuss the matter with the electrician. However, you informed me that you did not wish for me to discuss the matter with him and that you did not wish us to pursue this further. We therefore do not feel it is fair for this to be presented as damage caused by the CB Lofts installation team.
Regarding the areas that could not be boarded, we were particularly surprised by the way this has been described. The areas were assessed by our experienced team and, where boarding was not appropriate, the work was not undertaken and the corresponding cost was removed from your final invoice. We accept that you would have preferred to have been informed as soon as this became apparent, and this is something we have taken on board. However, the decision not to proceed with boarding in those areas was made to ensure that unsuitable work was not carried out, as it was not safe to do so, rather than because we had simply failed to complete part of the agreed work. We believe this is an important distinction.
We would also like to put the comments regarding the use of toilets and sinks into some context. Your installation took place during exceptionally hot weather, with temperatures reaching approximately 38°C outside, with temperatures inside the loft considerably higher. Loft boarding is physically demanding work, particularly in those conditions, and our team understandably needed access to water and bathroom facilities during the day. We would not consider the reasonable use of a customer’s facilities in those circumstances to demonstrate a lack of care or respect for their home.
Similarly, this type of work involves the cutting and fitting of timber and boarding materials, so some sawdust is inevitably generated during the installation. Our teams make every effort to protect customers’ homes and to thoroughly clean and clear the areas in which they have been working once the installation is complete. We are sorry that you felt the standard of cleaning on this occasion fell below your expectations, and we have taken your comments on board. We do, however, feel that it is important to distinguish between the unavoidable dust and debris generated during this type of work and a lack of care for a customer’s home, which is certainly not how we approach our installations. The feedback we regularly receive from customers specifically comments on the cleanliness of our work.
We have always been happy to listen to genuine feedback, and we will always look at whether there are things we could do differently. However, we do feel that the overall impression given by this review does not fairly reflect the service provided. Your own comments confirm that you were happy with our office communication, our team’s responsiveness and helpfulness throughout, and with the completed loft boarding.
We take considerable pride in the work we carry out and in the care our teams take when working in customers’ homes. While we are sorry that your overall experience did not meet your expectations, we believe the above context is important so that prospective customers reading this review have a fair and accurate picture of what took place.
Regards,
Kayleigh
CB Lofts
