tradesmen and you-does it mostly end in bad feeling?

hollydays

Pennywise wrote: »

You could try www.ahoythere.com which puts service providers and consumers in touch with eachother and includes a feedback system (like ebay) to get opinions from previous customers.

You can't read the feedback instantly on that site though,can you.

Duffers4768

I had double glazing installed by a local company last year. I had them back to rectify / adjust parts of the installation several times. I recently had another tradesman round who noticed that they had also installed normal glass into an area which needed toughened glass, this is against building regulations and could result in a big fine. It shows that some will do anything to save a bit of money and cut corners.

umami

Yes same here.
Garage door put up fine but given me a metal one that is begining to rust within weeks of being installed and patronised me when I complained about it.Nowt done about it, as the door hasn't fallen down he said.

ebaybaby

Tina92, it is such a shame you have had a bad experience. My OH is a Joiner and never needs to advertise. All his work comes from recommendations. Maybe thats the way to go in future, ask friends, friends of friends etc.

Duffers4768

Ebaybaby
My Double Glazing installation was done by a company which had been recommended. Although I believe the problem with Double Glazing is that most companies use self-employed installers and so they will use several different teams based upon who is available and it is pot luck whether you get a good job or not.

swake

A little about me first.

Im 30 and have "Risen" through the construction ranks so to speak. I completed A levels and went on to do carpentry and joinery nvqs at night school while doing an apprentiship with a high end hotel refurbishment company. I then completed a construction management degree while i began to project manage (small 100k+) new build and refurb sites. I now run my own construction company with 3 projects at the moment all £1 million+.

Every day i continue to become more disappointed with the level/quality of my younger/newer employees as they do not appear to have either the training or the enthusiasm for what my company is attempting to achieve.

While i know there are a few decent contractors out there that "go round the houses" as opposed to site work operatives. I can tell you that the majority of the kind of guys being described will nearly allways fall short of your expectations and for a number of reasons.

90 percent of what i would describe as competent workers, work exclusively on new build/housing sites. The money has steadily risen over the last 10 years and they either dont want the aggrevation of pursuing "bits" of work from door to door or the hassle (and believe me there is such a thing as dodgy clients also) of dealing with difficult private clients.

The kind of guys who do troll around the private construction market ARE doing so because they cant get the legitimate contracts. These kind of operators infuriate the 90 percent of us who are responsible for some of the most dynamic building projects that we have seen in the last few years.

There are a few things you can do as a responsible client to ensure your building work goes as smoothly as possible.

most important is get a good recomendation from someone you trust. If you dont have someone you can rely on there are contractors you can get through the master craftsman association. Any contractor affiliated with these kind of reputable organisations will have no problem providing you with a list of previous clients and a portfolio of recent work.

Once you have decided on a contractor make sure you CLEARLY define in writing what you need them to do.A massive problem the builders face is when the client changes the details/design/specification of the project and expect to not incur additional costs.Once you have a concise idea between you and the builder on paper the costs involved become far more transparent at a later date.

Once they have provided you with a clear breakdown of costs and schedule of works take some time to review there trade per hour costs and what they are charging for materials if it appears consistant with online sources then its down to you to make the decision. If for any reason they attempt to squirm out of any of these very basic pre requisites then you can be pretty sure you will encounter problems with them later on in your project.

Billing payment and retention.

When you both are happy about the work involved and agreed on in my opinion it is not unacceptable for them to ask for a minimal advancebut definetly no more than around 5-10 % especially if they are a smaller contractor. The important part to mange is the stage payments and final account throughout the project. You should include in the schedule of works a payment schedule that ties your payments directly into definative percentage of the job completion. Also as a client i would insist on a retention that you can withhold on agreement it will be released when you are completely satified that everything is finished to your standards.

My last piece of advise would be that ALL good builders are very busy.
If someone tells you they can start in 2 weeks there full of !!!!. If you have to wait 3-4 momnths for the work to start then wait its not like its life threatening to get your conservatory done in the next 3 weeks.

Once your happy take photographs and provide statements for your builder and recommend him and i would ask him for discounts on future works for yourself if you start doing referalls.

Good luck

olly300

swake wrote: »

most important is get a good recomendation from someone you trust. If you dont have someone you can rely on there are contractors you can get through the master craftsman association. Any contractor affiliated with these kind of reputable organisations will have no problem providing you with a list of previous clients and a portfolio of recent work.

As long as it's not the federation of master builders as seen on Watchdog

ebaybaby

Duffers4768 wrote: »

Ebaybaby
My Double Glazing installation was done by a company which had been recommended. Although I believe the problem with Double Glazing is that most companies use self-employed installers and so they will use several different teams based upon who is available and it is pot luck whether you get a good job or not.

You are exactly right.
Most DG companies subby out the work. But then dont get me started on DG companies my OH cant stand them! He says a monkey can fit the units, and they have a bit of a cheek calling themselves joiners!
My OH doesnt tend to do a lot of PVC work, he is a traditional joiner who likes to work with wood!

sashman

Duffers4768 wrote: »

Ebaybaby
My Double Glazing installation was done by a company which had been recommended. Although I believe the problem with Double Glazing is that most companies use self-employed installers and so they will use several different teams based upon who is available and it is pot luck whether you get a good job or not.

larger companies tend to use subbies (easy to cut overheads when not busy) however thats why smaller family businesses are more expensive , they tend to employ their fitters, that normally means they will take a bit more care as theres less rush to get the job finished quickly

look for GGF or trustmark they should be good fitters

sashman