My Community Support service is designed to provide assistance to anybody in the local area who would have difficulty performing basic maintenance tasks such as changing light bulbs and smoke alarm batteries.
If you or someone you know lacks the mobility to be able to scurry up a ladder, as a neighbourly duty I'd be happy to provide assistance with no labour or call out charge.
There are a few common sense caveats, namely:
Although I won't charge for a call out or labour, where I am required to provide replacement materials, these would be chargable.
This service is for the replacement of basic consumables only, i.e. changing dead bulbs and batteries where no tools or particular expertise is needed. Where repair and/or faultfinding work is required, this would fall under the normal scope of chargeable works.
Although I would try to attend as quickly as possible, I may not be immediately available to assist. Requests that are close to home (Whitnash) can probably be attended to quite quickly, but for those further afield the time when I can attend really depends on when I'm next scheduled to be in that neck of the woods. If the diary suggests I can't get there in a reasonable time, then I'll inform you so alternative arrangements can be made.
Where I believe safety may be compromised in any way, I may refuse to attend site or to perform the requested work.
This service is provided for domestic installations only.
This service is provided for those who truly need it and is not designed to provide free labour to those who have the means to perform their own basic maintenance but are too lazy to do so, for example a landlord using me to change light bulbs for their able-bodied tenant to save themselves the effort, or someone with limited mobility who lives with an able bodied person who could have resolved the issue. If I feel my generosity is being abused, I reserve the right to refuse to assist or to answer/attend any subsequent requests.
Some examples:
Mrs D, an elderly lady in Barford, had attempted to replace a dead bulb in her cooker hood, but upon twisting it the glass came out and the metal screw cap was left stuck in the holder. As a non-urgent request it was two weeks before I could attend, but as she had a replacement lamp to hand, extracting the old screw cap and inserting the new lamp was done at no charge.
Mrs S, an elderly lady in Whitnash, was unable to replace the fluorescent tube in her kitchen light. Her daughter had attempted to assist but they had been unable to locate the tube into the batten. I stopped by the same day on my way home and correctly fitted the tube at no charge.
Mrs D, an elderly lady in Bridge End, had a smoke alarm that was beeping with a low battery. Upon finding it was a two year old Fire Angel model with a non-replaceable battery, I contacted Fire Angel and they sent a replacement out under warranty. I returned to site once the replacement had been received and fitted it at no charge.
Mr and Mrs C, an elderly couple from Sydenham, had problems with the filament lamps in their living room tripping a hard to reach circuit breaker every time a bulb blew. I replaced the filament lamps with good quality long life LED lamps which will last for years without troubling the breaker. They were charged only for the cost of the LED lamps.
Mrs D, an elderly lady in Whitnash, reported her outside floodlight not working. The height it was mounted at meant access was only possible via a long ladder, however I popped out on a quiet Sunday and replaced the lamp to bring it back into service. Although I supplied the replacement lamp, because it was a used bulb I happened to have on the van and no shops were open, no charge was levied.
If you or someone you know needs this kind of assistance then please contact me at the earliest opportunity.
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