Most of us have seen the horror stories on TV or heard about them from friends and family. Contractors who don’t turn up, leave halfway through a project or whose work is of a poor standard.

The golden rules for finding good contractors are fairly straightforward. Below are some of the rules we use in finding contractors for our clients. Adhering to these rules will help reduce the risk of employing a rogue contractor on your project.

Trade Body Membership
One of the most useful resources for finding contractors is via trade body websites. These trade bodies usually have membership criteria such as the number of years in business, qualifications (very important for controlled trades such as electricians and gas fitters), insurance and references.

One important thing to note is that if you find a contractor who claims to be a member of a trade body, then check that this is in fact the case before engaging them. Some trade bodies also can provide guarantees for the work and arbitration services if there is a dispute.

Some of the most important trade bodies are :-

Federation of Master Builders (www.fmb.org.uk) – building contractors

TrustMark (www.trustmark.org.uk) – general government run registration scheme for trades.

NICEIC (www.niceic.org.uk) – electricians

CORGI (www.trustcorgi.com) – gas fitters. Note that Corgi has now changed its name to the Gas Safety Trust.

Dulux (www.dulux.co.uk) – Dulux have a find a decorator service which is a very useful start in finding a decorator and they don’t necessarily need to use Dulux products. However if they do then Dulux will guarantee the work for up to 24 months.

Guild of Master Craftsmen (www.guildmc.com) – general tradesmen register

Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineers (www.iphe.org.uk) – heating & plumbing engineers

The British Wood Flooring Association (www.bwfa.co.uk) – wood flooring specialists.

UK Based Company
Where you are employing a company to undertake the work it is essential to only engage ones who are fully and permanently based in the UK usually in the form of a UK limited company. This gives you confidence that the firm you are engaging is registered with the Inland Revenue, adheres to UK building regulations and employment practices and will not simply disappear if the going gets tough.

Insurance
All contractors who you employ should have appropriate insurance in particular employee’s liability and third party liability. You should always ask them to show you their insurance certificate prior to starting work.

Premises
Never employ a contractor who only gives a mobile phone number as a contact. They have a tendency to disappear! Reputable contractors will either give their home phone number and address (if they are self employed) or will have an office with someone to answer calls. This is essential as contractors are frequently unavailable when on site, so it is very useful to have a number you can call.

References
Always asks contractors for references and follow them up. For building firms, it is important to ask them to take you to one of their current or previous projects.

Payment Terms
Good contractors will have reasonable payment terms which don’t entail you paying large sums of money up front. They will also accept a decent sized final payment that is subject to the works being completed to your satisfaction. This demonstrates their confidence in being able to complete the job to a high standard and receive their final payment.

Contractual Agreements
While this is not applicable in all circumstances, where you are having a large job done you should always insist on a formal contract for the works. These can be either Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) contracts which are widely used by architects. They have suitable contracts for most projects.

The Federation of Master Builders have a simple plain English contract that can be downloaded from their website which can also be used. In either case, asking for a contract to be used usually will put off most  rogue contractors.

Communication
When you initially make contact with the company pay close attention to how they treat you. If they are unhelpful, incoherent, rude, inattentive or anything but helpful then they are not for you. Quickly terminate the call and move on. If they are not helpful at this stage then what will they be like when you start working with them?

If you follow these simple rules you will significantly reduce the risk of employing a rogue contractor.