EXETER, UK. September 2nd, 2026 – Homeowners comparing bathroom installation quotes in Exeter may find that apparently like-for-like prices are based on very different amounts of work, according to a local installer that examines competing quotations during its survey process.

Luxury Bathrooms Exeter says it regularly meets homeowners holding three quotes for what they believe is one identical job, separated by thousands of pounds. A customer in Pinhoe earlier this year had been quoted £11,400, £14,800 and £17,900 for the same room. None of the three firms had done anything wrong. They had priced three different specifications. One allowed £400 for taps and shower valves where another allowed £1,640, and only one had priced the floor preparation at all.

The company estimates around one in four quote comparisons brought to it at survey stage has the same fault underneath it: the totals differ because the scope differs, not because one firm is charging more for the same work.

For homeowners, the risk is that the cheapest quote is often the least complete. Allowances for items the customer has not yet chosen, known in the trade as prime cost sums, can be set low enough to make a total look competitive, then climb sharply once real tiles and brassware are picked. Work nobody can price until the old bathroom comes out, such as floor decking, joists and the plaster behind forty-year-old tiles, may appear as a provisional sum in one document and go unmentioned in the next.

“A quote that lists what it cannot yet price usually lands closer to the final bill than one that reads clean,” said Ross of Luxury Bathrooms Exeter. “If nobody has mentioned the floor, nobody has looked at it.”

Exeter’s housing stock sharpens the point. Much of the city’s Victorian and Edwardian terracing, along with its older semis, sits on suspended timber floors that cannot be assessed until the existing covering comes up. A price given without a site visit has no basis for that work at all.

The firm has published guidance on lining competing quotes up on equal terms. Its central recommendation is to ask every firm for an itemised specification, with each product named or given a supply budget, each area of tiling measured and each trade listed, then to test those allowances against what the homeowner actually intends to buy rather than against each other. It also suggests adding up every provisional sum in each document, noting what each one stays quiet about, and confirming whether VAT is included, which on its own moves a total by a fifth.

“Nobody should be picking a fitter on a single number,” Ross added. “Ask for the breakdown before you ask for the price. Any firm worth hiring already has one.”

SOUTHPORT, UK. September 2nd, 2026 – The Met Office has unveiled its list of named storms for the 2026/27 season, with Storm Austen first on the list. A Southport roofing company is urging homeowners to use the period before the first major Atlantic storm arrives to check the less visible parts of their roofs, warning that fixings and metalwork can deteriorate long before the slates themselves show obvious signs of failure.

Roof Repairs Southport, which has carried out more than 1,000 repairs across Southport, Sefton and West Lancashire, says the area’s reputation for harsh weather can lead homeowners to focus too heavily on rainfall when assessing the condition of their roofs.

Rainfall itself is not necessarily the main concern. Crosby has the closest long-running weather record for this section of the coast, with its Met Office 1991-2020 average at around 824mm per year. That is below Manchester’s figure and considerably lower than Cumbria. In terms of rainfall alone, Southport is relatively unremarkable.

Its exposed coastal position is a different matter. With little higher ground between the town and the Irish Sea apart from the dunes, Atlantic depressions can reach the coast with considerable force while carrying salt-laden air. Merseyside was placed under an amber wind warning during Storm Éowyn on 24 January 2025, described by the Met Office as one of the strongest storms to affect the UK in more than a decade. Storm Amy produced gusts exceeding 92mph across the north west last season.

“Salt does almost nothing to a slate,” said Dave of Roof Repairs Southport. “It is relentless on everything holding the slate on. We take roofs off in Birkdale and Ainsdale where the covering is in good order and the nails have simply rusted away underneath it. The same roof six miles inland at Ormskirk would have years left in it. People look up, see intact slates, assume they are fine. Then one gust off the estuary takes a row of them off in a night.”

There is another local issue that roofing contractors from further inland may not immediately consider. The substantial dune system stretching behind Southport, Birkdale, Ainsdale and Formby can become a source of fine windblown sand. Westerly winds carry this material beyond the beach and into gutters, roof valleys and flat-roof outlets. Normally, it would simply wash away. Combined with moss and leaves, however, it can form a dense blockage that prevents water from draining properly.

Roof valleys can be particularly vulnerable. When drainage becomes restricted, water can be driven beneath slates on both sides of the valley. The company says staining appearing on two separate ceilings during the same period of wet weather is a familiar sign and can easily be mistaken for two unrelated leaks.

The start of storm season also brings another warning. Cold-call roof inspections following severe weather remain a longstanding doorstep scam, with Sefton often seeing renewed activity after major gales.

“Nobody legitimate finds your roof by knocking on your door the morning after you have experienced storm damage,” Dave said. “If someone tells you they have spotted damage from the pavement and can start today, that is the whole trick. Take the number, close the door, and ring somebody you chose yourself.”

Four things the company suggests homeowners check from ground level before the weather turns:

• Inspect the roof edges rather than concentrating on the centre. Wind tends to work beneath ridges, hips, verges and the first course above the gutter, while the middle of a slope is generally less exposed to lifting.
• Check the condition of metal components. On coastal properties, corroded gutter brackets and flashings can provide a better indication of roof age than the visible condition of the slates.
• Homes within two miles of the coast should consider clearing gutters twice annually rather than relying on the usual once-a-year routine.
• Pay particular attention to the seaward side of the property. West-facing roof pitches receive the greatest exposure to salt and wind-driven abrasion and can deteriorate faster than sheltered elevations.

Repairs on the Sefton coast typically start at around £150 for a single minor fault and can reach several thousand pounds where structural work is required. Full re-roofing projects are priced individually following a survey.

For Scott “Matchmaker” Michaels, the common thread between hair products, forgotten football brands, player transfers and a historic Los Angeles football club is not the industries themselves. It is the search for potential that has not yet been fully recognised. His journey from Hairbond to Stylo Matchmakers and now the Los Angeles Aztecs reflects a career built around spotting opportunities, connecting people and testing whether overlooked assets can be made commercially relevant.

Michaels’ business career began in a very different setting, working as a hairdresser in Lancashire rather than in an investment office.

Originally from Morecambe, Michaels worked as a stylist before running The Cutting Room in Lancaster. Regularly using professional hair products gave him an unusual form of consumer feedback. Customers would look at their finished hairstyle and ask what had been applied to their hair.

Those questions told Michaels something important. People were noticing the product, not simply the haircut.

In 2008, he turned that observation into Hairbond.

Building a Brand Through Professionals

Hairbond was positioned around hairdressers and barbers, with the professional environment placed ahead of traditional supermarket-led consumer marketing. The premise was that genuine professional endorsement could provide the credibility required to establish demand.

The broader men’s grooming sector was changing quickly. Euromonitor estimated the wider UK men’s grooming market at £2.3 billion in 2025, covering categories such as fragrances, shaving and toiletries, with value growth of 6% during the year. Hair styling accounts for only a portion of that figure, but Hairbond entered the market as men’s styling habits were evolving away from basic supermarket gels and towards clays, waxes, pomades and professional-grade products.

Hairbond says its products have now reached millions of sales worldwide. Its expansion moved the company far beyond its Lancashire origins, with international relationships including more than ten years of distribution in the Netherlands and sales across markets such as America.

Football and sport became increasingly important to the brand.

Hairbond was used and promoted by professional footballers and other athletes, strengthening the company’s association with football culture. England cricketer Jimmy Anderson became an ambassador, while professional footballers and stylists helped expose the products to dressing rooms, barbershops and entertainment audiences.

For Michaels, however, the principle has remained straightforward. A famous face can attract attention, but the product has to perform if customers are going to return.

That principle is now being tested again as Hairbond prepares its first significant styling-product launch in five years.

Drifter Professional Hair Crème, Forger Putty and Vector Hair Gum were developed over approximately two years. Rather than offering three near-identical products, Hairbond created each formulation around a different styling purpose.

Drifter focuses on softer control, movement and natural texture, including longer and curlier hairstyles. Forger is designed for stronger hold, matte texture and definition without the overly dry feel associated with many modern clays. Vector offers a contrasting finish, with glide, separation and natural shine aimed at longer or more polished looks.

The products are paraben-free and sulphate-free, with filling and final production handled by a UK supplier. That supports those specific formulation claims, although a wider statement that the products are entirely British manufactured would depend on the full supply chain.

Behind the launches is another reality of independent product development.

Successful formulas are not always easy to preserve. Ingredients can disappear from the market, suppliers can change and production requirements can shift. Hairbond has previously been forced to replace products when important raw materials became unavailable rather than compromise the formula while continuing under the old product name.

That is the less visible work involved in building a brand over many years. Product development is an ongoing balance between quality, manufacturing realities and commercial viability.

Reviving a Lost Football Name

In 2017, Michaels began exploring a different category of opportunity.

Football had become a huge global business, but a number of historic British sporting brands had faded from view while major international manufacturers captured an increasingly large share of the market.

Stylo Matchmakers was one such name.

The brand had been worn or endorsed by major football figures including Pelé, George Best, Kevin Keegan, Billy Bremner, Bobby Moore and Denis Law.

George Best was particularly significant.

Best had achieved a rare combination of sporting fame, fashion influence, nightlife celebrity and cultural relevance before the modern machinery of personal branding existed. Stylo was genuinely part of that story. Best wore the company’s boots and appeared in its advertising.

Then the brand disappeared from mainstream football.

Michaels saw an opportunity in that disappearance. If Stylo had once been associated with players of such stature, could the name be given a new commercial life?

In 2017, he became involved in its revival.

Rather than limiting the project to retro clothing or nostalgia products, Michaels took the more difficult route of returning Stylo to football boots.

That involved factories, prototypes, tooling, soleplates, materials, packaging, trademarks, stock and distribution. The process required considerably more than reviving an old logo and a collection of archive photographs.

The resulting Heirship range was designed with several different approaches. The Heirship Seventeen used microfibre, the Sixty Eight adopted leather and referenced the George Best era, while the Seventy Four used a softer premium-leather construction.

Pricing was also intended to create distance from the most expensive elite boots on the market.

The Heirship Seventeen initially sold for £129, the Seventy Four for £109 and the Sixty Eight for £99. Stylo subsequently reduced the range to £59 direct to consumers, while premium products from major manufacturers can now sell for more than £200.

Michaels says professional footballers returned to the brand and that more than 10,000 pairs were sold during the revival.

The result demonstrated a key difference between having a famous history and having a functioning business.

Nostalgia can generate interest.

A product has to deliver the reason to buy.

Finding the Connection Behind the Deal

Michaels’ football career later moved into the transfer market.

He became an FA-registered football intermediary, working across players, clubs, agents and potential transfers.

He says that at one stage he held mandates representing more than $100 million in football talent, together with club-side mandates involving Boavista and Central Coast Mariners.

This work added another layer to his understanding of value.

The public usually experiences a transfer at its conclusion. A player signs, photographs are published, the fee becomes public and the deal appears straightforward.

The reality can involve months of discussions between agents, recruitment departments, managers, owners, families, competing clubs and others, with budgets, work permits and timing all affecting the outcome.

Talent alone is not enough.

A club’s need alone is not enough.

The transaction only comes together when the necessary interests and circumstances align.

That experience helped turn “Matchmaker” from a nickname into a description of the way Michaels approached business.

He began seeing a common pattern across different markets. Something can have real value without generating a commercial result when the people, rights, capital and opportunities required to unlock it remain disconnected.

Footballers offered one example.

Brands provided another.

Football clubs could offer a third.

The Los Angeles Aztecs Opportunity

That idea now underpins Michaels’ most ambitious project, the attempted revival of the Los Angeles Aztecs.

The original NASL team featured Johan Cruyff and George Best, creating a direct historical connection between Michaels’ work with Stylo and his current plans in Los Angeles.

The project is still at an early stage and is not currently an operating professional football club.

Its Wefunder campaign displays $8,850 against a $50,000 target. The stated investment structure is future equity with a $2 million valuation cap, while the first $100,000 is available on early-bird terms at a $1.5 million cap. The campaign identifies an initial event in 2027 and states an eventual ambition to generate $5 million in annual revenue.

Those figures show both the scale of the proposition and its current stage of development.

The Aztecs have not publicly confirmed a final professional league pathway. Crowdfunding does not secure entry into a league. A historic trademark does not solve the problem of finding a stadium. Nor does the involvement of a famous former player automatically produce a modern supporter base.

The Los Angeles sports market is also highly competitive.

MLS now has 30 clubs, including LA Galaxy and LAFC. MLS NEXT Pro has 30 teams in 2026, while USL is developing another interconnected professional pathway through USL Premier.

Professional football also operates under formal regulation. U.S. Soccer certifies professional leagues using standards that include ownership strength, stadium arrangements, market coverage, staffing and financial viability. Its policy framework requires men’s outdoor professional leagues to have at least eight certified professional teams.

A strong history, therefore, cannot substitute for the infrastructure required to operate a professional club.

That is the central test for the Aztecs.

The value of heritage is potentially different. It may help solve one of the hardest problems facing new sports properties: establishing an identity that people recognise and care about.

New clubs can spend heavily trying to create awareness, mythology and emotional connection. A historic name potentially starts with some of that equity already attached to it, assuming an audience still exists.

That is the opportunity and the risk.

A Consistent Philosophy Across Different Businesses

From the outside, Michaels’ career can look like a collection of unrelated projects.

Hair products.

Football boots.

Player representation.

Historic intellectual property.

Crowdfunding.

Club ownership.

Writing.

ScottMatchmaker.co.uk now brings those activities together as a central platform for his football, brand, ownership and business work.

The underlying philosophy is more consistent than the industries suggest.

Hairbond began with identifying demand that was already present but not fully developed.

Stylo demonstrated that a forgotten brand could retain commercial potential.

Football agency showed that value depends on connecting the right interests.

The Los Angeles Aztecs represent an attempt to apply the same thinking to a much larger sporting asset.

There is also an important distinction between Hairbond and the heritage projects.

Hairbond was created rather than revived.

That means Michaels’ approach has two sides.

One is identifying something valuable that others have overlooked.

The other is recognising an opportunity that does not yet exist in finished form and attempting to build it.

Both require judgement, and neither comes with a guarantee.

Some dormant brands remain dormant for good reasons. Some negotiations fail. Some consumers do not care about heritage. Some ambitious ventures never progress beyond the ambition stage.

That is why the evidence behind each project matters.

Hairbond has almost 20 years of trading history and says it has sold millions of products. Stylo brought a dormant football brand back into production and sold more than 10,000 pairs of boots. The Los Angeles Aztecs are at a much earlier stage, with major milestones still ahead.

Presenting those projects according to their actual stages makes the overall story more credible.

From a salon in Lancashire to football boots associated with George Best and a developing football proposition in Los Angeles, Michaels’ career keeps returning to the same question:

What valuable opportunity has been overlooked, disconnected or left undeveloped?

The philosophy behind “Matchmaker” provides his answer.

Spot the value.

Work out why it matters.

Bring the right pieces together.

Then attempt to turn the opportunity into something tangible.

More on Scott “Matchmaker” Michaels, his businesses, football projects and writing can be found at ScottMatchmaker.co.uk.

BRISTOL, UK. 1 September 2026 – Bristol homeowners could save thousands by addressing small roof problems now rather than waiting for winter storms to expose them, according to local roofing firm Bristol Roofing Pros. The company says September offers a limited opportunity to deal with minor defects before prolonged rain and colder weather turn inexpensive maintenance into major repairs.

Bristol Roofing Pros says the same handful of minor problems come back every autumn, and that the difference between fixing them in September and discovering them in January is measured in thousands of pounds rather than hundreds.

The firm publishes its repair prices openly. A leak investigation runs £80 to £200. Two or three slipped slates cost £100 to £300 to put back. Repointing crumbling mortar around a chimney flashing, one of the most common faults on a Bristol semi, is £150 to £350. Left through a wet winter, the same faults let water into roof timbers and ceilings, and the repair stops being a repair. A full re-roof on a typical Bristol terrace starts around £5,000.

“Nobody rings a roofer in September, because in September nothing is leaking,” said Charlie of Bristol Roofing Pros. “They ring in January, when it’s dark at four o’clock, everyone’s booked up, and the cheap version of the job stopped being available about eight weeks ago. The work itself hasn’t got harder. It’s just that the water has been in there since November.”

Bristol’s climate makes the city harder on roofs than much of the country. The city takes over 800mm of rain a year and stays mild and humid, close to ideal conditions for moss and algae. North-facing slopes that never dry out are worst affected, and the leafier suburbs, Bishopston, Redland and Stoke Bishop among them, collect extra shade and leaf debris from mature trees. Moss holds water against the tiles and blocks the gutters it eventually washes into.

The firm’s autumn advice is unglamorous and mostly free. Clear the gutters and downpipes before the leaves finish falling, because a blocked outlet pushes water back under the roofline where it does damage nobody sees for months. Look along the ridge from the pavement for gaps in the mortar. Check the roof after any windy night for slates that have moved, particularly on exposed ground on the western side of the city. And go up into the loft on a bright day, because daylight coming through, or a damp patch on a rafter, will show up there long before a stain appears on a bedroom ceiling.

Winter also costs more in a way homeowners rarely factor in. Same-day emergency call-outs run £150 to £400 on top of whatever the repair itself costs, and by midwinter the good contractors are working through a backlog, so the wait is longer as well as the bill.

“A roof gives you plenty of notice,” Charlie added. “It just gives it quietly, in September, in ways you have to actually go and look for. Ten minutes with a ladder and a torch in the loft is worth more than any amount of worrying about it in February.”

Bristol Roofing Pros carries out roof repairs in Bristol and across Bath, Portishead, Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare and the surrounding areas. Assessments are free and every job is quoted in writing before work starts.

YEOVIL, UK. August 27th, 2026 – Van Haven is set to showcase its latest generation of Volkswagen Transporter conversions at the Haynes Motor Museum this weekend, alongside the first public reveal of an ambitious limited-production Supervan powered by an Audi RS3 engine.

The range will be unveiled to invited guests and media at Haynes Motor Museum on 28 August before opening to customers and the public on 29–30 August, with motorsport engineering firm RML Group as headline sponsor.

Each vehicle requires around 120 hours of specialist work at Van Haven’s Shillingstone workshop. The line-up is as follows:

T7 Camper, The Hambledon: The conversion Van Haven built its name on, now on the new T7 platform. It features 62mm of insulation fitted by hand, stitched leather, colour-matched panels and the manufacturer’s warranty left intact.

T7 Sports, VH-PMV: The performance take on the platform, making its debut alongside the Camper.

T7 Swamper, VH-X: In development for next year, built for owners who want a T7 that can leave the road.

Parked beside them will be a £20 million line-up of Koenigsegg hypercars from Van Haven’s exhibiting partner, SuperVettura.

Alongside the T7 launch, Van Haven is also revealing a limited-production Supervan featuring the engine from an Audi RS3.

“Supervans have traditionally been one-offs, built once and never repeated,” said Paul Kilbride, Managing Director of Van Haven.

“Putting one into limited production means a customer can order one, and that’s the point. The engine will get the attention, but repeatability is the real breakthrough.

“This is a Van Haven programme from the first sketch to the finished vehicle: our concept, our production line and our name on every one that leaves it.

“At its core are two donors: a VW Transporter T6.1 and an Audi RS3, complete with its 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo engine. Both were chosen deliberately, not by chance, as the starting point for an ambitious limited-production engineering programme.”

For the engineering, Van Haven has partnered with RML Group, a Wellingborough-based engineering company founded by racer and engineer Ray Mallock in 1984. Four decades on, the company has built a reputation as one of the most capable technical operations in British motorsport and automotive engineering.

RML counts Aston Martin, McLaren Automotive, Bentley, Nissan, Lotus Cars and NIO among the manufacturers it has worked with on special projects, holds the contract as Official Parts Supplier to the British Touring Car Championship, and its own build sheet includes the McLaren Senna GTR, continuation Bizzarrini 5300 GTs, the Nissan Juke-R and its own RML Short Wheelbase and GT Hypercar programmes.

Paul Kilbride added: “Backed by fresh investment and a new leadership team as it enters its fifth decade, RML is exactly the kind of partner capable of taking on a programme of this ambition.

“We’re not detailing the engineering itself. It’s the part of this project we’re proudest of, and the full story will be told closer to launch.”

RML is running the Supervan through the same formal, gateway-based development process it uses on full OEM production programmes, such as benchmarking, simulation, prototype build and validation, with a route to type approval already being mapped out alongside UK homologation specialists. Every prototype is being rigorously tested, on track and on the road, before a single one reaches a customer.

James Nurse, Principal Engineer at RML Group, added: “Van Haven brought us a problem nobody in this industry has solved: how to make something as extreme as a Supervan repeatable, safe and homologated, without losing what makes it special. That’s a serious engineering challenge, and exactly the kind of project RML exists for.”

The Supervan is in development now and arrives next year, strictly limited to 30 examples, with customer ordering details to be announced in due course.

The invitation-only VIP day on Friday 28 August will close with a private dinner for 120 invited guests, a toast to Van Haven’s first ten years and a live set by Rick Parfitt Jnr & The RPJ Band to see the night out.

A documentary telling the full story of the event will follow in September.