Unexpected bills

The cost of any qualified trades person has increased dramatically in the past couple of years. In my area there seems to be quite a number of "handyman" services. Very recently I had a downlighter dangle from its socket. I tried to put it back in myself but failed to get it to stay up. On recommendation I contacted a handyman who put the light back in socket. He told me it didn't need replaced. Charged a £10. 5 days later light down again. Thinking the light must need replaced contacted an electrician. He took a bit longer, told me what to do should it pop out again, he charged me a £5. for his fuel costs. Light has stayed up for a month, had visitors staying and bathroom well used. Just shows depends on the tradesperson what kind of job you get and what they charge. Those handyman services can be a rip off.

For years I had an insurance with the water company and never had to call them out also I have paid house insurance for sixty years but the only time I made a claim for something to do with the roof found it wasn’t covered. Looking through the policies find that there are more things that are not covered than covered.
I am lucky that for small things like a tap washer my helps husband will do it.

Waiting for glaziers to come and repair a leak in roof, but they need dry weather before they can start, do not know where they are going to find dry days in all this rain.

Just a heads up to all those (including me) who pay a monthly fee for boiler cover. We had our yearly “service” in August and our boiler stopped working the next day.

Had to pay £50 call out and the engineer told us that the annual service isn’t really a service just a quick check to make sure there’s nothing dangerous going on! 😡😡 I don’t know if all companies work like this. We are with SSE. We shan’t be renewing with them.

Think we all need a little rainy day money. But I know its easier said than done for many people. Couple of months ago our emersion broke. We had to replace the system. Not cheap. We were fortunate we had the money. There always seems to be some unexpected expense.

I had a similar trickle in my downstairs loo a couple of years ago. It was no more than a faint hiss but the plumber put the light on and told me to look in the bowl. There was an almost imperceptible shimmer on the surface of the water. He changed the whole syphon assembly at a cost of £90 and my subsequent water bill (metered) dropped by £5 a month.

ten grand (£10,000)

Grannyseawood51 I will attest how expensive lifts in mult-occupied blocks of flats are to maintain.

This year alone we have paid out not far short of tn grand to keep our lift working. This is of great importance with a block of flats that has seven levels. I am fortunate, living on first floor, that I rarely use if. Obviously, any upkeep of any public facility in the flats the cost is shared between all of us - not on the amount of time we use something.

We (the Maintenance Company Committee) will need to propose an increase of something in the region of £200 per flat next year to cover these costs and also all other maintenance costs - all of which have risen sharply in the past year.

As we run our own voluntary maintenance company from people living here, we do not have to worry about paying salaries to this or money to shareholders. This does help to keep our Maintentance charge down below many other similar blocks of flats.

My soakaway clogged in the summer - that cost over £4000 to replace. Belts have had to be tightened!

Best to look on a local tradesmens lists as well if youve not got insurance or its decorating, chimney sweeping etc.They usually charge less than checkatrade etc.

You've got the right idea jocork! Always opt for insurance if you can.The lady on phone said even if its just the loo if we had needed to they would have put us up in alternative accomodation as well if they hadnt mended as quick as its our only toilet here.

The home emergency i have is with my esure contents cover- and they also use the British Gas workers- they were going to send them late at night (as other local plumber hadnt come in afternoon- was a sunday!) but in end i said im going to bed so Dynorod was sent next morning.

When i moved from housing association house to private renting in august i added home emergency services to my contents insurance- at an added cost of only £22.50- i figured it may come in handy in winter as landlord seems a bit stingy over getting jobs done- (he had had a new toilet put in though on advice of his usual plumber but had modified pipes due to victorian house) but this week toilet blocked and when my luigi plunger failed (usually so good!) I rang the home emergency line- and after paying a £25 excess and a bit of confusion over who they were sending(!) had it sorted by next morning in 2 minutes- Dynorod man even told me which rods/plunger set to get if wanted to do myself in future (£22) & where to buy them! (B&Q, Amazon, plumbers merchants etc) So as i always say to family- get the insurance!! Best money i ever spent.They would have sent same day if insurance werent confused over who was doing the job!)-and any extra costs would have been covered.

Annsixty, £60 for my flue sweeping plus stove check and £75 for gas stove service

I have an easy saver with shawbrook bank, looked yesterday and it is 2.3% interest, not brilliant so I opened their 120 day notice account at 3% and am in process of transferring some savings. I still need to keep some as easy access, just in case

I started online isas 3 years ago, yorks bs and they keep changing isa rates so I keep opening new isas with them and transfer the older isa. What a faff. Latest one is 4.4% (tax free)

Lloyds have a similar account if you already have a club account with them.
It pays 5.25% on a regular saver account .
You can put in up to £400 a month for 12 months at the end of which you get the total sum paid into something like an Easysaver and you can then open another account paying whatever is the going rate at that time.

Thankfully I have an insurance with my British Gas account fo electrical, plumbing etc. I pay a £60 fee if I claim and everything is then covered. I claimed for electrics last year and though I had to wait a while as covid was affecting staffing and I needed 2 people in order to move furniture it would have cost a fortune otherwise. This year I had to claim for a plumber. Normally you pay the £60 when booking but when I asked they said there wasn't a request for payment on their screen so not to worry. I thought they would bill me later but nothing came so I got it for free! I also claimed for a central heating leak a while ago. All in all it has been well worth having the cover as I live in an old property and it's a small monthly charge on my monthly bill so I don't really notice it.

Seabreeze

Karmalady. Are you sure about 4.5% at Halifax. I’ve just looked and 2% was the highest I could see. There are a couple at .45%
I got quite excited thinking I might be able to make a bit of money this year.

www.halifax.co.uk/savings/fixed-term/regular-saver.html

They all hide the best rates

Just checking back while I finish my coffee.
Been on the phone to a friend who has just had her chimney swept.
Her previous sweep charged £35 but has retired so she booked another one who came this week, £90, I don’t have a chimney but this does seem a lot.

People need to remember that trades people charge for the skill they need to identify and carry out work as much as the time it takes.
I agree that prices are eye watering though, and the leaky lavatory has made me think! There is a trickle leak behind the lavatory in my grandsons bathroom which I have not really paid much heed to, however the water meter comment made me reconsider!

Wait for this - £72 for changing a washer on my shower head - it took him literally 5 minutes 😡

They say things come in threes! The handyman put his foot through the wooden steps down from the garage, it seems a few treads are rotton. The storm we had last week took ridge tiles off the roof, and some numpty in a van backed into the garden wall, which the builder says is unsafe now and will have to come down. I asked him what was the best to do with the wall, his answer, take it down and put a fence there because some idiot will do it again! Oh well, there are no pockets in shrouds!

I can empathise with unexpected bills. We are lucky with a handyman who does lots of jobs here. He’s just painted my bedroom for £170 (I bought the paint). I really should start a personal maintenance fund. I live in a small block of 18 flats on 3 floors with a lift. Living on the ground floor I never need to use it. We have had our annual notification of the maintenance charge 😳 As to be expected there is the 8% increase but the lift needs refurbishing and theres not enough in the reserve fund with £65k required, to be collected over the next 2 years. My charge for 2023 has increased by £145.50 per month. It does go to a vote but being realistic voting ‘no’ is not really an option even if I don't use the lift. I’m still reeling with the shock.

I was shocked but not really surprised at how much I paid yesterday to have my new cooker fitted in for me.
The cost was £110 for fitting an electric double oven and the guy was here for 15mins he had a further 6 installations to do before he finished his work last night,his phone never stopped the whole time he was here booking in jobs to be done.
Luckily I put a set amount away every month for emergencies which needs topping up now.

Karmalady. Are you sure about 4.5% at Halifax. I’ve just looked and 2% was the highest I could see. There are a couple at .45%
I got quite excited thinking I might be able to make a bit of money this year.

I have to have 3 fillings next week. £360 thanks very much!