When tradespeople carry out work on your house then it can go one of three ways: better than expected, neither good nor bad, or a nightmare. Hopefully the following tips will avoid the nightmare.
Over the years we have gathered lots of experience of tradespeople carrying out work which has ranged from emergency plumbing to house extensions. Sometimes the job goes better than expected and gets a tick in the “good job well done” box. At other times the job doesn’t quite meet expectations and then it falls into the “okay” box. But there is the job that starts on the wrong foot: a delay to its start, the quality of work is poor or they are messy. At each step the problems get worse and blood pressure screams off the scale.
The following tips have been gathered over many years of work being done our house and should help avoid the nightmare job.
Clarity is Everything
Be clear about the work that you want to be done. If it is wallpapering then make sure that you have selected the wallpaper samples, worked out the area and selected the paint colour for the woodwork. For a house extension then draw out on the ground the space that you are looking at and then where the doors and windows should go and check the direction of sunlight before moving onto the next stage of finding an architect. The more information that you can pin down about the work that you want doing then the easier it is to describe it to the tradespeople.
The Rule of Three
The “Rule of Three” - get at least three quotes. When selecting the tradespeople ask for recommendations from anybody that you know who have had similar work carried out by them. But make sure that you know why they are being recommended. If there is nobody that you can ask then check them out on the web but be careful. If a company has one or two bad reviews then see how the company responded to them. Nothing in life goes smoothly and if there was an unavoidable problem which was handled fairly then they could still be added to your list for a quote.
When they view the job ask them lots of questions. How they would do the work? What problems do they see? Have they any ideas about making the final work look better? and so on. Do they come across as people who are passionate about their work? One clear example we have is when we replaced our garage doors. We applied the “Rule of Three” but the one that stood out, and eventually got the job, was very passionate about garage doors and their installation. The company that didn’t get the job just took a look at the old doors, which took all of 5 minutes, then submitted a quote that clearly showed that they didn’t understand the job that we wanted.
When the three or more quotes roll in, make sure that when you compare them they are quoting for what you have asked. If you are unsure about anything then phone them up and discuss the areas that are not clear.
The Green Light
We always try and keep most of the communication written, mainly emails, so that we have a record of who said what and when. Let the the winner know and book a date for the work to begin. Be prepared to pay a deposit. Let those who were unsuccessful know. If they want to know why they are not doing the work explain that you found somebody that meets your needs. It can be difficult to say why they didn’t win the work but it is best to be honest whether it is price, timescales or they didn’t specify the work that you wanted them to do. It may help the future of their business.
Tea and Biscuits
When supplying the regular tea and biscuits ( we found chocolate hob knobs go down well ) then it is an opportunity to ask how the work is going. If there is anything that you are unsure about then ask. Some people may think that it can be prying but it shows that you are interested in the work after all you are gong to live with it when it is finished. As the job progresses then you may want to make changes. Discuss it with the tradespeople and get an estimate of cost and additional time before agreeing for it to go ahead. Unseen problems can crop up therefore check the impact of any changes on the price and timescales.
Thanks
If you are happy with the work then follow up with a written thank you. For a nightmare job then silence is the best response. If somebody asks you about the job then describe what went well and how some activities could have gone better.
Following the steps above will not guarantee that the work will go well but they should reduce the chances of it going wrong and in particularly avoiding the nightmare job ( our worst nightmare job was scheduled to last 2 days but took over 60! ).