Finding good reliable tradesmen

missjy

I know that word-of-mouth is the best recommendation but not having much luck with that!
I have registered and posted on mybuilder.com as they have customer feedback which I think is a good idea. I was wondering what other methods would be useful?

davsidipp

mybuilder.com well where do i start dont touch with a barge pole we used them several times and got dodgy work done word of mouth is best but we have gone with a local guy pleased with one job his done now having another one done he gave us previous customers to contact and full insurance to photocopy so really shop around first and any builder who wont give you previous customers to contact dont touch as we have learnt by our expensive mistakes some of them of mybuilder.

sonastin

I think in the end it is all a bit hit-and-miss unless you know the guy personally. My mother seems to be having really bad luck with tradesmen. First one she got in was recommended by my uncle - did work on his house and two of his kids' houses and all 3 were happy with him. Gets to my mum's house and barely works 4 hours each day, leaves the place a mess, really sloppy job, had to be put right by someone else later. Lately she's had some landscaping done. Got a recommendation, checked his handiwork on another job, found he did a half-a$$ed job and then tried to charge her for putting right the shoddy workmanship. He reckoned the reason the patio wasn't flat was because the paving slabs weren't the same thickness!

But the kid she taught in school (who's now in his 40's!), my fiance, friend of my dad's - all of them have done a darn fine job for her.


Not very reassuring I know - sorry! But just letting you know that if it does go wrong, its not for the want of trying!

paddyrg

Do you have a local, real hardware shop you could ask for suggestions?

Have any of your neighbours had any work done recently who you could ask about their builder?

lincroft1710

Have to agree with Sonastin, Tradesman A could do a really good job for X, Y and Z, but not such a good job for you. Conversely Tradesman B could do 3 good jobs for you and make a mess with the 4th.

Even if a tradesman has done a good job for me I won't "recommend" them, I just say "the job they did for me was OK, but can't guarantee they'd do a good job for you.

BTW have found even the most conscientious tradesmen are messy!

gemmalouanna

I have used my hammer website with great success - found a guy for my old house and now I have recommended him and he has done my friends extension.

Found another guy since I have moved and really happy with him - plan to use him a lot again in the future, just check out feedback carefully as it gives a good indication.

Bigmoney2

Ive had two jobs done via ratedpeople.com, plumbing and joinery, both quite small jobs and both with good results

_Andy_

Usually look for one on checkatrade