Guide to hiring contractor/template for contract

IM

Morning all,

You may notice this question as an add-on to a thread I have going below, but I thought it might justify a thread of its own.

Obviously, there is a great deal of fear and trepidation when it comes to employing a tradesman to come in to your house - especially if you don't have the advantage of recommendations, and have to take a punt on the local paper.

Can anyone recommend any websites/articles to guide you through the process -and/or standard templates for drawing up a schedule of works/contract.

Thanks in advance.

owls

go onto federation of master builders website they do a template contract that you can down load and copy
[and no i dont work them or have any association with them,just found the website very useful]

IM

owls wrote: »

go onto federation of master builders website they do a template contract that you can down load and copy
[and no i dont work them or have any association with them,just found the website very useful]

Thanks - don't suppose you have a link?

Since posting my original question, I found this template for a contract with an electrician.

http://www.esc.org.uk/pdfs/find-an-electrician/ESC_Consumer1.pdf

Now to find one specific to a plumber and I'll have the full set....

IM

Found it!

http://www.fmb.org.uk/find-a-builder/free-contracts/

IM

I'm just knocking up a quote request for a re-wire, and wondered what the consensus is in terms of what to pay, when.

I'm thinking 10% deposit on acceptance of quote, 70% on completion of work (and provision of installation certificate) and the remaining 20% on provision of Part P certification (in case anything crops up whilst this is being done).

Does that sound reasonable?

baldelectrician

I take a third up front (pays for materials) and balance on completion (on jobs longer than normal I get staged payments every friday)

IM

baldelectrician wrote: »

I take a third up front (pays for materials) and balance on completion (on jobs longer than normal I get staged payments every friday)

Thanks for that. I'll change the percentage split to have more up-front.

IM

Had an electrician around at the weekend to quote for a re-wire, and it clearly frazzled his head that I had thought through what I wanted - let alone going to the extent of typing up a formal quote request.

Maybe it's because I'm a project manager - so thinking in terms of detailed work breakdown plans and contractual terminology is second nature - but it seems an obvious thing to do. Especially given all the "all tradesmen are evil" type programmes all over the TV.

I got the impression the guy's standard usual approach was to walk around the house, scribbling notes to himself - he just kept shaking his head when every time he asked a question, I told him it was on the piece of paper he was carrying.

What is the experience of contractors out there? Do you normally have formal a contract with a customer (as websites like MSE would always advocate), and if you do, how detailed is it typically?

shimmershelly

In reply to the last question...We always provide a written estimate (not quote) for every job we price. This is broken down into bullet points of each part of the job. We give estimates rather than quotes as customers requirements can change, and it's a guide price rather than a final price. 9 times out of 10 thats the price they pay though because we are ace at pricing jobs lol!

IM

As a follow up on this...

I sent the guy a copy of the quote (you're right shimmershelly, it ought to say 'estimate') request in the post, so that he had a 'clean' one to go with the one he'd scribbled on - I asked him to return it to me with the various blanks filled in.

Yesterday I had a call saying that he'd just had notice of a contract for the next 4 months, so wouldn't be able to do the work for me.

The cynic in me thinks I may have scared him off...