Choosing a builder

Despite what you may think from the television etc the vast majority of tradesmen and women as well as larger companies are trustworthy, reliable and will give value for money.

With so many television programmes and newspapers carrying stories about negative experiences with builders, just how do you avoid the unscrupulous trader at a time when demand is out stretching the industries ability to meet it?

There is no sure way of avoiding the smart talking tradesman or professional who makes their way in life by preying on the unwary, any more than there is of making certain of not being struck by car when crossing the road. But just as you would employ certain questioning techniques to avoid stepping out in front of a car you can look left and right to avoid the “bogus builda”.

By following the suggestions below you can look left, look right and look left again and increase your chances of crossing to a safe builder.

Where to Look

For extensions and alteration work the chances are that you will have an architect or a design agent and they will be able to obtain process and advice on choosing your builder, however for smaller works this is not an option.

The best alternative way of finding any tradesperson or builder is by personal recommendation. Ask you family or friends, you may also find out who to avoid!

After this check the Yellow Pages and look for the block entries under The National Federation of Builders and Federation of Master Builders, or other trade groups. You can also search on line through various associations web pages as well.

Local authorities are not allowed to recommend builders, but building control departments may be prepared to offer some suggestions, dependant on the officer on the other end of the phone.

What to Look For.

You are about to entrust a person, or persons with the biggest investment you have made, your house, but more importantly, your home. If the works are of a substantial nature they will be around a lot more than children are these days a\nd know every detail of your daily life.

Meet them, look at the personality as well as the knowledge and skills etc. They have to be some one you can work with and should be a part of a team.

Some more focussed areas of questioning follow;

Pedigree. (No we don’t mean have they got a glossy coat and a wet nose!)

•What experience of similar projects have they?

•Ask to see letters of reference from recent clients.

•Try to talk to recent clients and in cases of large projects may be even ask if you can visit on going projects.

•Can they offer a guarantee such as the Government backed Buildmark Scheme or the Federation of Master Builders Warranty Scheme, and if they do, how does this work?

•Do they have a Construction Skills Certification Skills (CSCS) Card, this is like a credit card and records that they are trained and have attended a health and safety course.

•Ask to see copies of insurance certificates.

•What is the company structure, are they a cooperative of self employed people, do they have employees, or just project manage and bring in sub-contractor organisations. Each can be effective and neither is “wrong”, but it sends a message that you are looking for a credible organisation.

Further areas you can ask about if you feel uncertain are;

Do they carry out Training? (That’s of their staff, not their pets!)

If they say yes;

•Ask if they are CiTB (Construction Industry Training Board) Registered, if not ask why not.

•Ask if they belong to a Training Group or body. They may mention the Oxfordshire Construction Training Group as one example.)

•Ask what training they carry out, is it skills training, Health and Safety training or a mix of both.

•If they are training young people do they attend college and are they on a recognised NVQ course? If they are then the company should have been vetted for, and found compliant with basic Health and Safety procedures.

If they Say No:

•Ask how they keep up to date with changes in health and safety legislation and/or the requirements of the building regulations.

Are they members of a Trade Organisation?

If they say yes;

•Ask to see the membership certificate, or a copy, and check if it is current.

•Contact the Trade organisation and ask if they have any complaints on record.

Health & Safety.

•Do they have a formally qualified person in the company who monitors health and safety?

•Ask about their accident record and if concerned ask to see records.

•Ask if they have First Aid qualified staff to place on your project.

•Ask what arrangements they propose for Toileting and welfare during the works.

Do they use PAYE staff or Sub-contractors?

•General PAYE staff are under the full control of the builder, sub contractors are less so and may fail to turn up when arranged.

•What are the formal qualifications of the staff?

•What experiences of similar projects has the staff got?

Clarify the terms and condition under which the works are to be carried out.

Builders are usually under pressure all the time regarding cash flow, Banks press them

to take deposits and the Media say this is a ploy of rogue traders. Where a contract is used this will state the payment terms, where not, be wary of making payments in advance, always get a receipt in such cases.

However remember you would not drive away from the car showroom with £50,000 of Mercedes without having fully paid for it or financed it, so why should you expect your builder to wait for their money until after they hand over the works and you are effectively put several hundred miles on the clock.

Where possible use a formal contract, hopefully you will never need to enforce it, but it protects both parties. There are standard JCT Homeowners forms for building works available from W H Smith and places like Blackwells in Oxford

Try to defer the first payment until the builder has started on site and if possible until they have completed at least a week’s work on say a small domestic extension.

Don’t be a rogue client. (This only encourages bad practices.)

•Do not ask for a cash discount, or if the VAT can be avoided, if you do and you get a positive response beware!

•Do not impose un-realistic time scales on the builder, you will get additional stress and costs as a result.

•Compare estimates and quotations carefully, the lowest may not be the best value.

•Make sure you pay invoices promptly, you may have an agreed time delay between invoice and payment due, but try to settle sooner.

•If you want to change something put it in writing and state clearly if you think it is the designers or the builders fault or just a personal view. Remember the builder can, and should, charge for changes that are not as a result of their actions, i.e those due to you or the designer.

•Do not play the builder and the design agent against each other, you will loose out financially and also in terms of stress and time.

•Remember if you are using an architect they should be independent of you and the builder, they mediate between client and contractor, they do not take the clients side.

•If you have any queries/changes etc put them to the builder politely, verbally and always confirm then in writing.

If you are thinking that seems an awful lot of trouble to go to just for a builder, remember where we started, they are being entrusted with your greatest financial asset, your property, your investment for a secure future, your home, the place where your children grew up and your grand children may play with their friends, somewhere friends and relatives visit. By following the above guide you cannot guarantee you will not get a bad experience, but you significantly reduce the chances.