The density here has one dominant practical effect: there is no room outside a building to work from. No ladder position, no scaffold, often not even standing room between two buildings. So every repair has to be achievable from inside the flat, and that rules some approaches out entirely.
Repairs that have to be done from inside
Where there is no external access, a window has to be serviceable from the room, which most sliding and casement windows are.
The panel comes out inward, the gaskets change from the inside, and the glass is replaced from the room side.
What cannot be done from inside is anything on the outer face of a fixed pane — an external seal, or cleaning an inaccessible outer surface. We are straightforward about that limit rather than improvising something unsafe from a window ledge.
Getting materials up a stair with no turning room
Staircases in these buildings are tight, and the landing at each floor is often too small to turn a long panel.
So the limit is not the stair width but whether there is room to swing at each half-landing.
We measure that, and where nothing adequate will pass, glass is made in sections and assembled in the flat. It is the same finished job. Finding out at survey rather than on the day is the whole point of asking.
Work that affects the building next door
When buildings are a metre apart, drilling an external wall, dropping anything, or working near the gap between them involves your neighbour whether or not anybody intended it.
So we tell the neighbouring property when work will affect the gap, and we never drop material into it.
The narrow space between two buildings collects everything that falls into it and is almost impossible to clear afterwards. Keeping it clean is easier than cleaning it, and it is the sort of thing that causes lasting bad feeling if it is got wrong.
How the job works
- Tell us about the jobSend a few photos, rough sizes and what you need. Use WhatsApp or the form. For a repair, a short video of the door moving helps a lot.
- We call you back in about 2 minutesWe confirm what you need and a time to visit. Where we can, we give you a rough price on the call.
- We come and measureWe measure the opening and check the walls, floor and ceiling around it. Anything made to size is made to these measurements, so they must be right.
- You get a written priceIt lists each item, with GST as its own line. If anything about the job changes, we tell you before we go ahead.
- We fit itYou approve the price and pay the advance. Our own team fits the work, checks that every door and window opens and closes properly, and clears up. Most jobs are done in 3 to 4 days.
