10 Tips To Find a Good Tradesman
- Ring around a few companies to get a range of rough quotes for the job. Be wary of any suspiciously low quotes, or any extremely high quotes. You may receive high or low quotes if the tradesmen are very busy or very quiet at that time, but always enquire to find out the reason why the quotes appear high or low.
- Ask the tradesmen how long they have been established. If they are well established it shows that they have worked hard to build a good reputation.
- Are the tradesmen members of any trade organisations. Some organisations provide protection to the public, so get the name of the organisation and give them a ring to check that the tradesmen are listed with them.
- Ask to see the tradesman’s liscence and take a note of the license number. Then, if there is any future dispute you will already have the relevant details that you may need to produce.
- Get at least three tradesmen to come and view the job and provide you with a written quote. Ask how long the quote is valid for. Make sure that each tradesman is providing a quote for exactly the same work to be carried out, or else you have an unfair range of quotes.
- Ask each builder for a few recent references of their past work. It would be beneficial if they had examples of work which was similar to the work that you want carried out. Or, if you are a member of the goose directory, you could email other local members who have used these tradesmen to gain feedback.
- Ask the tradesman what guarantees they can provide for the work. It is also good practice to ensure the tradesmen have public liability insurance before any work is carried out, to make sure any accidental damage to your property is covered for by the insurance.
- Once you have decided on a tradesman, ask what the payment terms will be for the job. Try not too pay to much money upfront. If it is a big job, you may have to pay installments throughout the project. If this is the case, make sure the installments reflect the amount of work that has already been completed.
- Once the work has started, keep a note of how the work is going and talk to your tradesmen if you have any concerns about the job. But remember that it may not be possible to complete every part of the job perfectly and that you will have to work with the tradesmen to find the best solution. Listen to the tradesmans advice and be realistic with what you are asking them to do.
- Lastly, if your project is quite a big job, you may find that certain parts of the job will have to be altered from the original plan, if any unforeseen circumstances arise, or you may wish to add certain things to the job. If this is the case, always get written quotes from the tradesmen to make sure both parties know the extra cost of these adjustments and this will prevent any dispute with the final bill.