What's Actually Included in Fulham Building Maintenance (And What Usually Isn't)

Fulham building maintenance contracts use the same language everywhere and mean wildly different things. Before you sign one, you need to know what's genuinely in scope, what's billable extra, and where the sneaky exclusions usually hide. Here's the map, from 20+ years of running maintenance for Fulham landlords, managing agents, and homeowners.

What's usually included in Fulham building maintenance

A reasonable monthly or annual contract should cover:

• Scheduled inspections — quarterly is normal for a residential property, monthly for commercial.
• Minor reactive repairs within an agreed response time. Blown light fittings, stuck windows, running taps, loose handles, small plaster patches.
• Gutter clearance once or twice a year depending on tree cover.
• External visual checks — roof from ground level, pointing condition, drainage, external lights.
• Communal-area upkeep on block or mansion flats — bulbs, door closers, entry phone basics.
• Callout response within stated hours. Out-of-hours usually at a premium.
• Reporting — written records of what was done, photographs where relevant.

What usually isn't included (but tenants and owners assume is)

This is where disputes happen. Most standard contracts exclude:

• Parts over a stated threshold written into the contract. New door lock? In. New boiler part? Out.
• Specialist work — Gas Safe boiler servicing, electrical testing/EICR, roof work requiring scaffolding.
• Decoration. Painting is nearly always a separate job.
• Drainage beyond a plunger-level fix. Anything requiring jetting or a drain camera is billed.
• Anything caused by tenant misuse. Kid flushes a toy, that's billable.
• Emergency out-of-hours callouts on weekends and bank holidays — often a surcharge even if labour is in scope.

If a Fulham building maintenance contract is pitched suspiciously cheap, the value is usually in what's excluded.

What we include in a Fulham BM maintenance agreement

We structure maintenance per property. A standard Fulham residential agreement with us covers:

• Quarterly walkround inspection with photo report.
• Reactive callout within 24 hours for non-urgent, 4 hours for emergencies.
• All labour in the first hour of every callout included.
• Materials at cost, not marked up.
• Gutter clear twice a year (autumn and spring).
• External inspection from ground level at each visit; drone footage available for roof on request.
• Written report after every visit — kept in a shared folder the owner or managing agent can access.

What we don't include: anything requiring scaffold, Gas Safe servicing (we can arrange, not in scope), decorating beyond snag-size patches, drain jetting. We quote these transparently when needed.

How to evaluate a maintenance contract before you sign

1. What's the parts threshold? If it's not in the contract in writing, assume you'll pay for everything.
2. Who does the work — employees or subcontractors? Subs mean you're dealing with whoever turned up today. Affects consistency.
3. What's the response time guarantee, in hours? "Prompt" isn't a guarantee.
4. How do they bill extras? Hourly, day rate, or per job? Day-rate billing on a 20-minute job is how maintenance bills get ugly.
5. Is there a cancellation clause? Some firms lock in 12 months with 3 months' notice.

What Fulham buildings actually need

The local stock — Victorian terraces, Edwardian mansion blocks, 1930s riverside conversions — has predictable problems. A maintenance plan should be built for them, not imported from a generic template.

The biggest things we see ignored on Fulham properties until they become expensive:

• Lead flashing on chimney stacks (cracks invisibly, leaks suddenly).
• Valley gutters between terraces (silt up, back up, leak onto bedroom ceilings).
• Shared soil stacks in conversion flats (shift, leak into the flat below).
• Parapet cracks on top-floor mansion flats (cause ceiling damp in winter rain).

A proper inspection visit catches these early. A small repointing job caught in time can prevent a major ceiling repair.

Contact Fulham BM for a fixed-price maintenance quote — 20+ years in Fulham, FMB and Chas accredited, no subcontractors.