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About Us
Anchor Staying Put Newcastle and Gateshead is a locally based and locally funded not-for-profit Home Improvement Agency run by Anchor Trust. We offer assistance to older and disabled homeowners to carry out repairs, improvements and adaptations to their properties.
We work in partnership with Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council, and the Quality of Life Partnership
The services we offer are:
- Homesure Service
- Small Repairs Service
- Trades Register
- Gardening Service
Office opening times
Mon-Fri 8.30am – 5.00pm
You can contact each service on the separate phone lines as detailed below, or phone the main office number 0191 4956177
Homesure Service
The Homesure Service aims to assist older owner-occupiers in the Newcastle and Gateshead areas with repairs, improvements and adaptations to your home ensuring it is safe, warm and watertight.
Some examples of the type of work we help with includes:
• Doors and windows repairs/replacement
• Roof replacement and repairs
• Gutters and rainwater goods
• Pathways
• Damp proof courses
• Electrical rewiring
As part of our service, you will be allocated a Caseworker who will be there to explain our services, provide you with information on how to obtain funding from a variety of sources and help you to complete the necessary paperwork.
We are aware that funding the repair work is a major source of concern for many older homeowners so we can explore a range of funding options depending on personal circumstances and the nature and cost of the work. These options may include local authority loans and grants, lifetime mortgages, private and charitable funding or a combination of these.
You will also be allocated a Technical Officer who will visit you in your home to discuss your requirements. We will carry out a technical assessment and aim to identify any other work we feel is necessary. We will draw up a schedule of works and once you have approved this, we will send this to at least two contractors who have been fully vetted to provide you with an estimate for the work.
Once you are ready to go ahead with the work, we will arrange a start date with the contractor which is suitable with you. We will oversee the work on site and carry out an inspection of the work when it is completed. Once you are happy, we will organise the payment paperwork and if the funding is coming from other sources, we will request payment on your behalf.
You will also receive a twelve month defects liability period on top of any guarantees offered by the contractor.
For the technical services we provide, a fee of 10% of the net cost of the work will be charged.
If you would like to speak to someone about our core service please call
0191 495 6177
For more information on:-
To view the Essential Renovation and Repair Loan document, click here .
To visit the Newcastle Building Society click here.
View the Homesure Service click here
Small Repairs
Service
The Small Repairs Service is for older
homeowners living in the Newcastle and Gateshead area. The service was set up four years ago because we could see that it is often difficult and expensive to call a contractor out for smaller jobs, like fitting a plug, hanging a curtain rail, fixing a tap or installing a grab rail.
One of our Small Repairs Technicians can visit you in your home and discuss the small jobs you need. They will explain the service in detail and let you know what work they can and cannot do.
Some of the types of work covered includes:
- Minor joinery work.
- Minor plumbing repairs.
- Fitting locks and security chains.
- Draught proofing.
- Door and window repairs and adjustments.
- Minor electrical work – generally restricted to wiring plugs, changing bulbs and similar tasks.
- Other small repairs will be considered on an individual basis.
But not
- Large-scale work that is above first floor level.
- Gas work.
- Electrical work (apart from plugs and fuses).
- Gardening work.
- Decorating.
- Any job that would take longer than two hours..
If you think your work would fit into this category, our Homesure Service would be more appropriate.
They will then provide you with a written quotation for the work as we charge a flat fee of £5 or £10 for each job (depending on the size of the job), plus the cost of any materials.
Once you are ready for the jobs to be done, we will arrange a suitable time and date and the Small Repairs Technician will buy all of the materials required so that you don’t need to worry.
For more information and contact details please view the Small Repairs PDF leaflet by clicking here
If you would like to speak to someone about our small repairs service please call 0191 495 6179.
Gardening Service
The Anchor Staying Put Gardening Service is for older homeowners living in Newcastle and Gateshead . It is aimed at people over 60 and disabled people over 50. If you are no longer able to maintain your garden, or if you would like to make improvements to it, our Gardening Service can help.
We have a friendly team of administrators who will arrange for one of our gardeners to visit you to go through what jobs you would like to have carried out in your garden. Our gardeners will give you an idea of how long the jobs will take.
We can help with:
- Grass cutting.
- Hedge trimming.
- Weeding.
- Planting.
- Cutting back shrubs and bushes.
- Installing paving, patios and decking.
- Gravelling areas of the garden.
- Landscaping.
You can arrange to have regular maintenance work at intervals to suit you or a one off tidy up or garden makeover. Our gardeners are also happy to offer advice and information when they visit to help you keep your garden looking its best.
The Gardening Service is a social enterprise which means that the money it receives from customers goes back into running the service and improving it. Anchor Staying Put does not make a profit and the cost is kept as low as possible to try to ensure that as many people as possible can afford to use it. Our Gardeners are assisted by supervised volunteers which further reduces the cost.
We will visit you to give you a free estimate for the total cost of the work.
If you would like to speak to someone about our gardening service please call 0191 495 6171.
Trades Register
The Trades Register is a list of reputable tradespeople who can complete a variety of jobs around your home. The service was set up in November 2005 for people in Newcastle upon Tyne who would like to organise repairs and maintenance to their home.
All of the tradespeople must agree to work to the Anchor Staying Put Code of Conduct and they must pass our vetting procedure. This includes providing two references, passing site visits to check the standard of their work, maintaining the correct liability insurance and have an enhanced criminal records bureau check.
We have two levels of service available to all owner-occupiers living in Newcastle who are over the age of 60.
Level One – Information Service
This service is free of charge. We will provide you with contact details for two or three reputable contractors. You can then contact them at your own convenience to arrange the necessary work.
We constantly monitor the quality and service provided by ourselves and the tradespeople, therefore, we will send you a questionnaire to get your feedback and see how satisfied you were with the service.
Level Two – Advisory Service
This service is aimed at people who prefer some help organising appointments and estimates but don’t need the full support of the Homesure Service.
Not only do we aim to provide two or three reputable contractors to help with work required in your home, but we will contact them on your behalf to make all of the necessary appointments for them to visit you in your home to provide an estimate for the work you require. The contractors will then send their estimates to us in writing and we will forward these on to you.
Once you have decided which contractor you want to complete the work, we will arrange the date and time you would like the contractor to start the work. We will stay in contact with you for the duration of the work and once it is finished we will ask you if you are satisfied. Once you are happy, we will ask you for payment, which we will pass on to the contractor. We will also send you a satisfaction survey to enable us to monitor the service more closely.
The fee for using this service is £25.
If you would like to speak to someone about the Trades Register or obtain contractor numbers please call 0191 495 6178