Patrick Parle Property Maintenance 4 July 2012 at 2:18PM in Wales 1 reply 1.8K views

Christabel

My son is renovating his terraced house in Cardiff and the man above has put a card through his door. My son is tempted to use him but I am wary of using someone whose work you don't know.

Has anyone used him please or know of him or his reputation?

Thanks.

wriggly

Generally a card through the door means they're not very busy. They may be new in the area, but it may also mean they don't get a lot of repeat customers.

The best builders are a pain to get a hold of, and inflexible about when they can do the job.

My advice:

1. Get quotes from at least two builders, and define carefully what is and is not included in the quote.
2. Start with a small job, where there is not a huge loss if the work is shoddy.