how to find a good builder?

picnic

after some very good news from HSBC were getting a nice little refund from some ppi and would like to get some work done on the house.. mainly in the kitchen & living room...
I would like part of the chimney breast in the kitchen removed so that a cooker can be fitted into it, the walls and ceiling need to be skimmed / plastered(?) and then I am going to get some new units

all that needs doing in the living room is the walls & ceiling stripping and skimmed over to make them nice again...

I have tried posting the jobs on a few job websites with no luck....

how do people find tradesmen.. without getting a cowboy????

Leif

Not easy. Personal recommendation from someone you trust is the best route. Ask family, friends and neighbours. If you use a local kitchen shop for the kitchen units, they may have builders that they use, and hence can recommend. However, be wary of kickbacks i.e. someone being paid a lump sum to pass on a recommendation. I got a tiler via the kitchen company I dealt with, and he was good. A colleague got a painter via the good joiner he used, and he was bad, and the collegue had to sand down the woodwork, and repaint it. They recommended each other! Trading Standards have a Buy With Confidence scheme. However, the cowboys that destroyed my bathroom leaving me thousands of pounds out of pocket were on that scheme! The one advantage of BWC is that Trading Standards will intervene if there is a problem, which has indeed happened with me.

fluffpot

I don't work for which? (or am even a member) but you could join to get access to which?local which is a database (by postcode) of tradesmen tried and tested by which members - who tend to be pretty discerning...