OT: Very OT! Finding a builder you can trust.
I need a builder in the middle of Wales - Llandrindod Wells. I live quite a few hours drive away, so I need somebody trustworthy and reliable who can be left to get on with the work. Probably worth his weight in gold, but how do you find somebody good? And preferably not too dear.
Unfortunately the vast majority of builders in that area are likely to be Welsh.
Bill
Builder - very very difficult IME. Specialist trades seem to be easier to find someone good.
Word of mouth really is the only way.
This.
Everybody local will know who to avoid and who to call.
So not cowboys then...
And as an outsider which category will the locals recommend? You need to be on good drinking terms in the local pub to get the grass roots local knowledge. If it goes quiet and they then start talking in Welsh when you come in, perhaps don't take the advice offered :)
Andrew
#and they might be related to the Welsh aerial rigger who installed the half dozen outlets in the BBC pavilion at the Royal Welsh Showground. In a ring with the inputs coming from a 2 outlet splitter.
Also, if he's any good, he'll be booked up best part of a year in advance, whereas if he isn't, he can probably start immediately.
If they're speaking Welsh in Llandod, they're probably not locals...
You could try the local(ist) town online forum - I've found some decent people through there. It has the advantage of reviews, and traders that post.
Also look out for any recent local building work and knock on the householder's door, maybe.
I think the point is "everybody" wont
only about 10% will have used a builder and of these a good percentage will probably have formed an incorrect impression,
perhaps overrating a shoddy builder because he actually turned up
or
downgrading a competent one because he didn't wash up the cups after he made himself a cup of tea
tim
Could you perhaps ask a builder to do a small and not very important job first? See what happens sort-of-thing?
I once had an American come into my workshop to have me make an adjustment to his banjo. Satisfied with that, he went back to his home in Nevada and brought back the pre-war Martin guitar which was the job he really wanted me to do. But he needed to know he could trust me first.
Nick
When the BBC were setting up the giant screen in Rotherham they asked us to quote for an aerial. Since reception isn't good in the town centre I climbed up to the proposed aerial location, checked it out, and quoted. My quote was rejected and the local cowboy was employed to install a contract ten element. That's why the BBC gets s**te jobs done.
Bill
Out of interest ... when you have done such research, do you put the 'background reasoning' in the quote:
" signal strength measured at XXX ... therefore in order to achieve a S/N of YYY, equipment with a gain of ZZZ will be necessary...
1 off: aerial gain ZZZ ... £££etc. "
or just quote for the work/equipment you have determined to be needed? Thanks J^n
Also accept its fairly likely you wont find such. Theyre out there of course, but often busy
NT
If there's a local community site e.g. Streetlife, it's worth a try. Ours is fairly active and people are always inquiring about builders
Which leads on to the question how many bad builders are clever enough to get their family and friends to reply to questions on community sites?
Cynical? Moi?
Well, the issue would be that when they don't do a good job, they'd get negative feedback on the forum. Although I'd appreciate that not everyone wants to cross swords with the average rogue builder. So in that sense no feedback is bad feedback.
True. One builder was recommended to us very enthusistically by some friends of SWMBO. She went around to look at the work and it was dreadful.
And when we last employed a builder he did an excellent job so we got him back to do another, which was not done well.
We will have another job to do soon and I've no idea who to employ - we've run out of options.
In article , Mark scribeth thus
I think the term "Builder" needs a bit of clarifying nowadays. From what I've seen if it more often than not the "builder" is someone directing a load of subbies more than a firm that employs them directly so the build quality can go down as well as up;!!...
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