Trades and Building Supplies

Finding a builder can be stressful. And a rogue trader can leave you with a devastating financial loss. It’s not always easy to find your dream contractor in a largely unregulated market. With Citizens Advice seeing an 18 per cent rise in contractor complaints year-on-year, you need to be careful whom you hire.

That’s why, unless you get a good word of mouth referral, it’s best to use a service that lists qualified contractors. For example, the HomeOwners Alliance and the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) offer a Find a Builder website, which will help homeowners find qualified builders who have been properly inspected and vetted at www. hoa.org.uk/services/find-a-builder.

According to Citizens Advice, there are important steps you can take to avoid this headache.

Check them out

Get references and ask to see two or three examples of similar work. Ask to see copies of their qualifications, such as an NVQ in construction, and make sure they are members of a professional organisation. Interview potential contractors before you hire them. Ask lots of questions and take notes.

Get it in writing

Get quotes- in writing- preferably from three businesses, if possible. This should be a proper quote, not an estimate. If the contractors do the math right, they should not charge you more than the written quote, unless the scope of work goes beyond what you agreed, or material prices rise.

Protect yourself

Things do go awry, but help mitigate your loss. Make sure your contract is water tight and in writing. This includes a breakdown of the work and supplies, total price, time frame to complete the work and for how long the quote is valid from the date received. And while the builder, by law, is required to hold employer’s liability insurance, ensure there is also public liability insurance in place. If not, consider getting your own, in case someone else’s property is damaged during your build.

Bricks and mortar

There’s no dancing around the fact that the cost of materials have been rising at an alarming rate over the past few years. There are many reasons for this, mostly having to deal with shortages and supply chain issues. The bottom line is that we are seeing material prices approximately 25 per cent to 28 per cent higher than they would have been by equivalence in 2020. The cost for things such as screws, insulation and gravel has skyrocketed. Not to mention, there has been a long lead-time for ordering materials because of shortages.

However, the lead-time problem looks like it will ease somewhat in 2023, and some costs are actually easing off. Prices for wood, reinforcing concrete bars and particleboard, for example, are down over the

In the face of these challenges, we just have to be prepared. It’s always good to order materials as far ahead as possible, but now, it’s imperative. And keep an open line of communication with your contractors, who will know about upcoming price rises before you do.