Advice

How to find a good builder

With a little more knowledge and advice, we can show you how to go about avoiding the unscrupulous cowboy builders and find yourself a true construction professional.

Find good builders working in your area
Those programs do their best to unnerve us but good trades people dislike these cowboys as much as anyone else, as the shadow they cast is long and dark, bringing the general public’s perception of the industry as a whole to an unfair and uncomfortably low level. Those of ill repute are bringing the construction industry into disrepute.

Reputation is the currency every good contractor or builder has plenty of, and we can show you how to find the builder for you.

Get Looking

With a little more knowledge and advice, we can show you how to go about avoiding the unscrupulous cowboy builders and find yourself a true construction professional.

Look out for builders working in your area, skips on driveways, scaffold and sign boards outside are obvious giveaways. Talk to the homeowner and the contractor if you can. Walk up the driveway, introduce yourself and be brave. But remember this is currently an unfinished job.

Good builders love to showcase their workmanship, so ask if you can come back as the work nears completion, or better still upon completion. Upon a projects completion some builders and clients may have a “topping out” party, so ask the builder for an invite. Make sure you ask for other references too.

When you talk to the homeowner upon completion, refer to our helpful and free guide on how to take a builder’s references.

Get Asking

A number of builders undertaking extensions and loft conversions are reliant only on trade developed by word of mouth. So ask your neighbours, friends and family how they got on. If they have done a good job for someone you know, then you may have some faith in them doing a good job for you.

Top Tip. You can look online for free at your local authorities planning register to see if any of your neighbours have had a similar project built. Then knock their door, or write a nice polite letter informing them you wish to undertake a similar project, and will be looking for a capable builder.

Good builders can stay busy on recommendations, so will do a good and fair job continuously in order to protect their business’ reputation, and the new business it is generating them. They would not like bad press reaching the ears of people who have been happy to recommend them previously.

What to ask when taking a builder’s references

References are a cowboy’s biggest nemesis. Follow up references when provided, and ask if the referee wouldn’t mind you popping around to take a look and have a chat. Do not just call telephone numbers especially mobiles given to you, please physically take a look at the workmanship you are hoping to receive.

Remember the size of investment you are about to make, and take a few extra steps to ensure who your money will be best spent with.

Top Tip. When gaining references from your builder firstly ask the contractor how many extensions, newbuilds or loft conversions etc he has done last year, and the previous year. If it’s a large number, then you may hope for a large number of references right?

Then ask if you can go see them or have some contact details for them. More recent references will show your builder’s current form, and provide evidence of the size of his current team and their abilities.

If references are a few years old, enquire as to why.

Key questions to ask are:

How did the contractor do against the initial budget?
Did the builder charge for additional items? What were they and were they fair in your mind?
Did they finish on time or within reason?
Did they concentrate on your project, or spread themselves thinly over many sites?
Was your builder reliable, punctual, and professional?
Was the quality of workmanship up to standard?
Did they offer you and your family the courtesy you would expect within your own home?
Did they keep you informed, and manage your expectations well during the build?

Do they keep a clean, safe and tidy site?
How long did they take to finish any snagging identified?
Is the project now fully signed off by Building Control?
How did they work with other construction professionals such as the architect or building control?
How did the builder’s payment structure work?
Any issues? Were they professional in their dealings with these issues?
Was the overall project managed well?
How long ago was this built?
Would you recommend this builder?

How to spot false references.

Most people looking to employ a builder will ask for references. But for most people, this will simply involve ringing a few people provided by the builder for a chat. This is insufficient due diligence, and the cowboys know it and will exploit this. Always know the following:
1) How do I know any work has taken place?
2) How do I know my builder has built it?
3) How do I know I am getting an appraisal from the real homeowner?
By simply asking the referee and the builder if you can go visit, you will satisfy yourself to a much greater degree.

You should also go and take a look at the workmanship you are likely to receive before you employ the contractor.

If all you have is a couple of telephone numbers and addresses of supposed clients who will not let you go and see the builders work, begin to wonder why.

Consider employing a contractor that can give you much more peace of mind.

If you want to investigate telephone references however, a greater degree of due diligence is needed.

In this instance firstly verify the following:

1. That the name and address of the referee tally with public info, such as www.192.com and the land registry etc. See our top tip below too.
2. Drive past and make sure work was undertaken there.

Once you are happy that the person is real and had work done then verify that it is your builder that undertook the work, and still ask for pictures of the workmanship and a full reference. (See What to ask when taking a builders references)

• Ask the builder for photos and plans of the project. Plans will normally contain the name and address of the real client.
• Consider writing to the address, or posting a letter through the letterbox yourself when you drive past, asking for a reference. If the builder is pretending to have built something actually built by someone else, this may be the only means of really knowing you have contacted the real homeowner.
• Ask for landline numbers as well as mobiles. Landlines are area specific, and can show you the locality they belong to.
• If the person on the end of the phone doesn’t want visitors, ask them to forward photos and plans. You can then check them against the contractors and against the planning authorities. See our top tip below.

Top Tip.Double check the details given as referees with planning applications at those addresses. This is easy work, done online for free in around ten minutes and will satisfy your doubts.

Go online to your local authorities planning portal, to see if and when planning was applied for at the addresses given to you, and if so who was the homeowner at the time of application.

This is free open source public information, and will even detail the works undertaken. Most large works require planning permission unless they are small enough to be built under permitted development.

Further checks include double checking the name and address on the electoral role. You can perform a free basic search to street level at www.searchelectoralroll.co.uk.
Other services are available both free and paid.