By: A.C.
A problem that many people in Aberdeen have had in recent years is finding a decent tradesman, who will actually turn up for small jobs.
It has been my experience that tradesmen when contacted for an estimate either fails to turn up or just quotes ridiculous prices because they can’t be bothered with such piffling work as for example; a leaking stopcock.
Then I discovered a while back the excellent services of Aberdeen Care & Repair who offer exactly the service of repairing these smaller jobs that other tradesmen eschew, and at a reasonable rate.
If you do decide to use them, be aware that they can be busy.
They can help with:
- Plumbing
- Joinery
- Electrical
- Gutter Cleaning
- Grass Cutting (seasonal)
- Safety/Security Measures
- Household Cleaning
- Minor Adaptations
- Small Indoor and Outdoor Tasks
As regards the grass-cutting it would be prudent if you need that service to apply early March as it is a popular service that fills up quickly.
Their website states:
“All of our services are available to older and disabled people in Aberdeen City. Our Small Repairs, Technical Support and Adaptation Services are available to any resident within the city, irrespective of tenure or age, at the appropriate charge. Our status as a social enterprise means that anyone residing in Aberdeen City can use our services. The majority of our customers are over 60-years of age and/or living with a disability or long-term illness.
We assist owner-occupiers and tenants of private landlords. Tenants of social landlords can also use our services when the work required is not covered by their tenancy agreement”.
Aberdeen Care & Repair have several projects running for elderly, disabled or chronically ill. For bigger repairs and work on property you can view their Trusted Traders List here.
For Adaptations/Home Improvements follow this link. They also run an Affordable Warmth Project
Having booked a tradesman for some repair work, I was also visited by a representative from Aberdeen Care & Repair who gave my house a once over, free of charge for Home & Fire Safety. This extremely efficient and pleasant lady, noticed that we both needed a grab rail at the shower/bath, and I was visited within 48 hours by Aberdeen City’s Homecheck and that was sorted in minutes, at no cost to me.
So what is Homecheck?
“Homecheck’s purpose is to provide basic home safety advice and to carry out simple tasks to make the home a safer place for the occupants. Our services are available to everyone living within the Aberdeen City catchment area and we respond to invitations from people to visit them in their own home. We find our time is divided largely between the very young and the rather more elderly. We do help those in the middle range who perhaps have some form of disability, but we don’t try to replace properly trained health professionals.
We offer safety advice to parents of young children and are able to provide safety gates, professionally fitted through Care and Repair, free of charge, where there are children up to the age of 24 months.
My wife and I were also assessed for the Community Alarm Scheme as well, through the Homecheck scheme, and it is something we will have to consider as our age advances.