One thing people are more aware of these days are the number of tradesmen and builders who will not be up to standard and over charge, or not complete the job properly. All they are interested in is taking your money as quickly as possible whilst doing as little work as possible.
This being the case, how do you separate them from the many decent, honest tradesmen and builders who work hard every day to provide a service of high quality to their customers. What ways are there that you can make sure you will be safe and not lose out on your money. Hopefully this article will be able to provide some ideas and ways to make sure you do not get caught out by those rogue traders and cowboy builders.
Try and get an advantage before even getting in quotes, do some research on the works that you need online, this will hopefully give you a rough idea of the prices, standards of work required, and if others have had it done and how much it cost them. The Internet is a wonderful thing when it comes to finding out information and as it grows in age it will only get better and better having more and more information available to everyone.
When looking around, get a minimum of 3 quotes from local builders and tradesmen to see how they all compare. I would look online to see if I can find any information on each of them from many trusted sites which promote vetted and trusted tradesmen/builders.But do check these sites have a strict vetting procedures and that the tradesmen have public liability insurance as a basic check and what, if any, support they will give in the unlikely event of a problem occurring.
If you are unsure of some certain aspects of the quotes why not ask around online and see what others think as there are some great places you can ask for information and opinions online, mainly being forums specific to industry fields.
DO not be afraid to ask if they have recommendations and examples of their work, any proud workman will keep examples of his work for personal achievement and to show people the high quality they work to. That is my personal opinion anyway as it would be something I would make sure I would do.
Another thing to do is ask friends and family if they have any suggested people to use. It could be someone they have been using for years and have always had a very good personal level of service which is to the latest standards and of high quality. I have noticed that word of mouth is a great way for builders and tradesmen to get more work in as it is building that reputation any business would require.
Now that you have found the right man for the job, there is the problem of making sure your money is not going to go walkies in their back pocket without the work being completed or done properly. One thing to help with that is a new scheme called the Consumer Protection Guarantee. So long as your project is over £2,000 in value you are entitled to this new scheme which will help protect your money, make sure the work is completed, and that everyone gets paid and things do not end up going over budget. This is simply achieved by having a contract between you and the tradesmen/builder you choose with requirements and payments set out in advance so then at least you have a leg to fall back on so long as it has been signed and agreed on by both parties.