We had no choice but to use the Bell Group as our freeholder had them as a preferred supplier, however I know that we were not the only case of poor workmanship in the London area and they are no longer being used. There were problems from day 1. The surfaces were not prep'ed. This is essential for paint adhering particularly in urban areas. Then when the job did start, workpeople turned up for a max. couple of hours each day. The workmanship was appalling, over painting historic features and over painting the glazing on the windows. At one point we came back to a kicked over paint pot on the pavement with it also splattered on the house wall where it had obviously fell from a height. I raised my concerns with the foreman immediately and was palmed off with comments like " we really don't want to be here. We have a house we are working on in Muswell Hill!" as well as being very aggressive and confrontational. In the end they got 4 people on the job (including 2 apprentices) and completed it in 3 days at a cost of £10K! They also spent 1 day scrapping all the paint off the glazing. To add insult to injury, when they removed the scaffolding, they broke a tile and water leaked into my kitchen. Within months, the paintwork started to bubble and flake. We got an independent survey done who confirmed that the work was substandard. We appealed to our Freeholder and got our money back into the sinking fund eventually, but that was only when there had been investigations and it transpired we were not alone. There were several properties which Bell had worked on in the London area which had substandard decoration. 1 year and a half later the work is still evidently bad with overpainted historic features which will never be the same. The flaking and bubbling paintwork will hopefully be corrected in due course by another contractor. Avoid this company, they are rude and obviously cut corners with poorly qualified employees/ sub contractors.