Company Origin and bio

I've worked as an acoustic sound tester since 2008. Since that time, along side the testing I gained more and more knowledge and confidence in my building skills.

I often get calls asking, ' Can you sound proof something?' and my response would be, 'No, I can tell you what to do, but you need a builder.' Often the client couldn't find a competent builder and came to a dead end.

On the other end of the spectrum when I did a pre completion sound test as an employee of www.sound-acoustics.co.uk (who are ANC registered ), sometimes the test would fail and it would be because the builder hadn't understood the nuances of the passage of sound and had used the wrong screws or cut a hole in the wall.

I'd also see examples of customers being sold proprietary, expensive acoustic systems that didn't perform as well as they claim in the real world. When companies design a product they test it in a laboratory and base the results on that. Once you bring that product into the real world it rarely performs as well as supposed to. For this reason I use off the shelf, cheaper and more traditional building materials readily available from builders merchants like Travis Perkins, Jewson and Selco.

More recently I've had some interesting experiences with tradespeople on my own house. I've found it's ridiculously hard to find a good, professional and responsive tradesperson. When I trained and practiced as a Teacher this taught me a new level of professionalism that often people don't seem to have. I've found that tradespeople often don't seem interested in sorting out any issues you have once they have your money and it's a nightmare getting them to come back out to resolve issues. They also don't take constructive criticism very well and are very reluctant to offer any form of refund. This viewpoint has also been re-enforced by friends who are business owners and family. It's so hard to find someone good and when you do they are worth their weight in gold. I've also found that websites like checkatrade aren't that reliable. My first, and one and only experience was of a 'roofer' who charged me £300 for £15 minutes work and said, 'my price is my price.' I tried to put the moral point across but he wasn't interested.

So I decided to start Quiet Life with the standards that I expect.

• To quote and charge no more if the work takes longer and to charge less if it doesn't take as long.

• Arrive on time on the date agreed and if you can't let the customer know in advance.

• To be responsive to clients needs and that includes fixing any issues post completion quickly - not in 6 weeks or to never return.

• To be honest, straight forward, understanding and accept constructive criticism.

• Treat the customer how I would expect to be treated myself.

• Provide a one stop service so you don't have to find other tradespersons like Plasterers and Decorators.