A good number of flats here are held rather than occupied, sometimes for years before anybody moves in. A flat standing empty needs almost the opposite of a lived-in one: nothing that needs regular attention, and everything that keeps it secure and dry while nobody is watching it.
Securing a flat nobody visits
An empty flat is at more risk than an occupied one and nobody notices if something happens.
So the useful work is on the accessible openings: a proper lock on the main door, and grilles or laminated glass on anything reachable from a corridor, a service balcony or an adjacent roof.
Laminated glass holds together and stays in the frame rather than leaving an open hole, and it retrofits into most existing frames. On a flat standing empty that is worth more than it would be on one you live in.
Keeping weather out over a long empty period
A flat left shut for a year deteriorates in predictable ways, and almost all of it comes through the windows.
A gap at a frame that would be trivial in an occupied flat becomes damp on a wall over a monsoon nobody was there for.
So the sealant line where the frames meet the wall is worth checking properly before the flat is left, along with the drainage slots in every sliding track. Both are cheap now and both are what cause the damage found on the next visit.
Fitting nothing that needs maintaining
In a flat that will stand empty, anything needing regular attention is the wrong choice.
So we would avoid mesh that clogs and cannot be reached, and fit robust simple items instead: a fixed grille rather than a sliding one, a mechanical lock rather than anything electronic, and nothing that depends on a seal staying supple through disuse.
When you do move in, the mesh and the rest can be added then. Fitting them now means finding them perished before anybody has used them.
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.
