Talking of boilers, we had a new boiler fitted last Tuesday by British Gas. The new system works perfectly, hot water, hot radiators, even have a fancy Hive to use BUT it came with a price - not just the cost of a new boiler which needed scaffolding outside as an upward flue was needed - but the damage the two engineers did is unbelievable.
The one guy put his foot through the loft door and then damaged a radiator valve in the hall so that water spilled everywhere over the wooden floor. It is now warped and will require the whole area to be redone. The other man came back the next day with a piece of wood to replace the loft door, painted it with one coat of paint and said that would be ok. Well, actually, it's not OK. It just looks shoddy and, of course, when you don't want to look up to see the shoddy piece of work what do you do?
When I complained about the floor this same man told me I could claim on my house insurance and was very surprised when I said, no, I would be claiming from British Gas.
The scaffolding was removed quickly the next day but we are still left with the rubbish which was supposed to be collected by another company.
Sorry to go on. I've just looked at the original post about protecting oneself from workmen. By the time I'd finished, these two men were the ones wanting protection.