'I've seen disastrous work from cowboy builders - here are the mistakes you must avoid'

Consumer rights adept Martyn James explains everything you should person acceptable up and successful spot earlier you manus implicit immoderate wealth to builders oregon tradespeople

Home is wherever the bosom is – which is wherefore we walk truthful overmuch wealth connected doing up (and propping up) the places wherever we live.

Yet each year, I’m contacted by readers who person recovered themselves trapped successful long, analyzable and often hostile disputes with builders, tradespeople and different location plan specialists. Builders get a atrocious rep. Many of the disputes I spot originate due to the fact that the homeowner has a imaginativeness successful their caput that they haven’t adequately explained – oregon their expectations are acold excessively high.

Let’s beryllium honorable though; determination are besides a batch of cowboy builders retired there. I’ve seen disastrously shoddy work, appalling corner-cutting, jobs that agelong retired acold beyond acceptable timescales and adjacent threatening behaviour. In addition, there’s been a emergence successful the fig of tradespeople who abruptly spell retired of business. So getting your wealth backmost erstwhile things spell incorrect is simply a captious origin to see erstwhile commissioning a location redesign. Here's my usher connected however to debar a builder breakdown.

Start with mounting retired a contract

Tempting arsenic it is to motorboat consecutive successful to a gathering task the infinitesimal you‘ve sketched retired your vision, don’t adjacent deliberation astir it until you’ve agreed a contract, written it up and each parties person signed it.

Here’s my checklist connected what the declaration should screen as a bare minimum . I enactment this unneurotic based connected the complaints I perceive astir each twelvemonth from readers. It’s not foolproof, but it’s besides a utile checklist for you, truthful you cognize what questions to inquire and what things you mightiness privation to consider. The declaration should include:

• Precisely what the enactment volition involve.
• Timescales for completion, including erstwhile payments are made.
• The plans and design.
• The last punctuation you’ve agreed.
• Working days and hours (in lawsuit the builder is moving connected aggregate jobs astatine the aforesaid time).
• Materials, wherever they person been sourced from and if they are successful stock.
• Clearing the tract and removing discarded connected completion and done the process.
• Payments and however they volition beryllium made.
• Insurance details and accusation astir the registration of the companies involved.

Payments

Can you deliberation of immoderate different concern assemblage wherever you wage immense amounts of wealth currency successful manus to a stranger? Astoundingly countless numbers of radical inactive wage for gathering and commercialized enactment disconnected the books. This is bonkers. Don’t adjacent deliberation astir paying for gathering enactment successful cash.

Any builder and contractor should judge debit oregon recognition paper payments. If they don’t, beryllium suspicious. How you wage straight affects your rights if there’s a quality oregon the concern goes bust. Starting with the champion method, wage by recognition paper if you can, adjacent if you are lone paying a deposit.

I often notation it successful this column, but conscionable to reiterate, if the goods oregon services aren’t provided, the declaration is not met oregon the concern goes bust, you could get the full magnitude backmost from the recognition paper supplier nether the Consumer Rights Act. There is an precocious bounds of £30,000 though. Check retired my usher to this successful the Mirror.

Plastic makes perfect, due to the fact that if you wage by either debit oregon recognition paper and the goods oregon services aren’t provided, past you tin inquire the paper supplier to ‘charge back’ the wealth from the business. You’ll request to supply impervious of the occupation erstwhile making a chargeback assertion and paper providers won’t get progressive successful disputes implicit prime of work.

E-payment services similar PayPal person buyer/seller quality schemes of adaptable prime but you tin spell to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if they don’t uphold your complaint. Watch retired for PayPal’s ‘friends and family’ enactment which is lone for paying radical you cognize personally – not businesses. That’s due to the fact that it’s a slope transportation – which you can’t callback erstwhile it’s gone. Any different method of payment, similar cheques, slope transfers oregon currency can’t usually beryllium recalled erstwhile paid oregon cleared.

When to pay

For large jobs, you mightiness privation to hold to wage successful instalments astatine the completion of each signifier of the work. This is due to the fact that paying upfront leaves you astatine a disadvantage if you are unhappy with however things are going. Make definite this is each acceptable retired successful the contract.

The aforesaid goes for materials. You mightiness privation to spot if you tin wage nonstop for the materials utilized successful the build. This serves 2 purposes. Firstly, you tin woody with the shaper nonstop if there’s a problem. Secondly, you tin cheque to spot if the items are successful stock. Many a gathering task has been waylaid by a deficiency of materials.

Check retired the contractor

Do a spot of probe successful to the builder oregon contractor earlier committing. Most businesses person reviews online, but section forums and reappraisal websites tin springiness you a spot much accusation too. Ignore radical with evident grudges who sadly abound online.

Check Companies House to spot if the contractor is simply a registered business. This is not warrant of bully service. However, you tin find retired however agelong the concern has been operating, if it’s paying taxation and wherever the owners are registered. This is important if you request to instrumentality ineligible action.

There are loads of specializer commercialized and rank bodies retired determination covering builders and tradespeople. Again, portion not a warrant of quality, they volition corroborate that the concern has committed to definite standards and practices. Many of these organisations person mediation schemes which tin measurement successful to effort to enactment retired a solution if a ailment arises.

Don’t hide insurance!

Insurance is captious with gathering work. Not conscionable your policy, but that of the contractors too. It’s a ineligible request for tradespeople and anyone who contracts them to person employer’s liability insurance. This covers the workers if they get wounded connected the job. Without it you could find yourself having to wage retired successful the lawsuit of a claim.

I’d suggest asking astir nationalist liability security too. Any contractor with their brackish volition person this. This benignant of security covers things similar spot damage, including neighbouring properties, and ineligible liability for the harm oregon wounded to workers and you too. You tin bargain this yourself if necessary.

You tin besides instrumentality retired ‘all hazard cover’ which covers the galore things that aren’t covered by ineligible liability insurance. This includes harm arsenic a effect of accidents, storms, floods and explosions, nonaccomplishment of materials and different unforeseen circumstances.

Make definite you fto your insurer cognize astir the enactment you’ve commissioned. This tin assistance place imaginable problems with the gathering enactment you privation to undertake. There whitethorn beryllium an summation successful premiums to screen imaginable problems similar harm to the operation of the building. But it’s amended than being near without cover.

And finally…

Dream big, by each means, but don’t expect builders and contractors to beryllium caput readers. You mightiness consciousness similar you’re going connected with yourself a spot erstwhile arranging gathering work, but spot me, it’s worthy going successful to each past item to debar a disaster!

• Martyn James is simply a starring user rights campaigner, TV and vigor broadcaster and writer