Jeff Howell 6 - Building Survey Quote

Jeff Howell taught and lectured for ten years (most of which he enjoyed) but he decided it was time to move onto a writing career. Some of Jeff Howell's articles were for The Independent on Sunday where he gained a weekly column which led to his first book Struck Off, which came about because his weekly column was called Doctor on the House. Jeff explains, “My research into dampness in buildings had not gone down too well with the damp-proofing industry, which orchestrated a letter-writing campaign to the Independent on Sunday. Most of the letters were so badly written that they were unreadable. But one chap managed to string a few sentences together, and said “This Doctor should be struck off”. It gave me the idea for the book title. This was followed by the book The Builders' White Boots and Other Stories which was a further compilation of Jeff's Independent on Sunday columns.

The switch was made to The Sunday Telegraph

Jeff Howell made the switch to The Sunday Telegraph in 1999 and has been writing his Ask Jeff column ever since. Mostly he feels very sorry for the customers who in many instances are being sold things that they do not need or quite simply the wrong product and often fitted by poorly skilled people. He said that he gets dozens of letters from readers who are mis-sold new condensing boilers, for example. “It is a myth that replacing an existing gas or oil-fired boiler with a new condensing model will save you money”, he explains.

“In the first place the alleged improvements in combustion efficiency are based solely on the manufacturers' own ideal-case laboratory scenarios, and are grossly exaggerated. And secondly, what improvements there are are due largely to complicated electronic sensing and control circuitry, which has a finite life-span. So you might save thirty quid a year in gas, but after three years you have to pay 150 quid for a new electronic ignition system – where's the saving in that?”

Please see following articles on party walls which may be of interest to you:

Party Wall Basics

Party Wall Who's Who

Party Wall Surveyors Being Unreasonable

Party Walls Look Like This

Jeff Howell of course has limited time due to other commitments and we will arrange another surveyor with your approval if he is not available.

Please see following relevant articles:

French Drains

Dampness in Buildings, The Basics

Dampness, a Different View

Damp Walls

Condensation and Cold Bridging

Independent surveyors

If you truly do want an independent expert opinion from a surveyor with regard to building surveys, structural surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, specific defects report, dilapidations or any other property matters please contact via our website 1stAssociated.co.uk or telephone us on 0800 298 5424 for a surveyor to give you a call back.

We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

The contents of the website are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision.

All rights are reserved the contents of the website are not to be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the express written permission of buildingsurveyquote.co.uk

Free Phone 0800 298 5424

Jeff Howell, the writing career begins