How to find a good builder

Very unlikely you'd get a council to recommend a contractor. But I did get my house insurance company to recommend one recently, with good results. No insurance claim was involved.

I've heard it said that council-approved contractors can be a good choice. If they get regular work from the council it will be well paid and they wouldn't want to lose it by getting a bad reputation. I have no idea if this is true!

Al

On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 13:19:43 +0100, "Al Reynolds" strung together this:

You've obviously never contracted to a council then and seen these builders first hand? ;-) The only way to find a good builder is by asking friends and neighbours and looking for work that they've previously done. After contracting to several councils myself I wouldn't trust anything they said as I never met anyone who had any idea what they were doing!

In message , snipped-for-privacy@spam.spam writes

'Phone round and get references. If they are any good they will have customers who will provide references. If they aren't; they won't. :)

Council's have a different set of criteria for hiring builders to your average householder.........

Some district councils have lists of recommended contractors. In my experience this list has been compiled by conservation officers who don't want to see cowboys ruining their listed buildings. Other councils (more cautious about their legal position perhaps?) hold lists of names but with no recommendation attached though I have found that the tone of voice of the conservation officer is helpful ;-) I've heard that some district councils don't employ conservation officers so I expect the situation varies quite a lot

Anna ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation and lime plaster repair / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

Insurance companies are very exact about what they want done and how, so builders that do insurance work will come with quite a good level of knowledge and the abililty to do precisely whats wanted. Naturally you pay more for that kind of service.

Regards, NT

A long time ago I was asking about getting a repair grant for my recently purchased house - it was in an improvement area and I did end up getting a grant for part of the work required.

The nice chap from the council came round and after I'd made him a cup of tea and we'd chatted about the procedures, and the likelihood, etc., I said to him "I realise that you aren't able to recommend anyone to do this work, but if you were able to, what would be the firms you would suggest"?

He gave me the names of four or five firms and said "one of these will be the cheapest, and the best".

I got quotes from the ones he mentioned plus a couple of my own, and sure enough, one of his was both the most thorough when inspecting the work to be done, and the cheapest. I engaged then and was very happy with the results.

If you can find the right person then I reckon an approach like this is worth trying.

Jon N

Once you find a good builder, ask him to suggest good electricians, plumbers etc.

He might not know much about the trade in question, but he'll know who is well thought of in the area and who the cowboys are.