So you think you know builders?
By far the vast majority of builders are friendly, honest, dependable blokes who want to do a good job they can walk away from with no recriminations. Some even manage to do a job they are actually proud of, (now and again).
What they won’t be though is business school trained. Most builders simply started working for themselves when they were in their late 20’s and thought they had acquired most of the practical skills they needed. Their ability to organize their business is a different matter. That just sort of evolved as they went along and in many cases is still far from perfected.
If your builder is rubbish at phoning you and his quotation takes too long arriving, and if it reads like he wrote it at ten o’clock at night its because he probably did! It is very likely he begins his admin. in his back bedroom office after he’s had his tea and put his kids to bed and had a little snifter to make the days problems go away!
The right approach
So, how do you deal with this fault ridden but very necessary individual. Firstly don’t foul up before you even meet him.
It is very important indeed never to forget that he will be judging you and his impressions will be reflected in his price. That doesn’t mean he will reduce it if he likes you, that will never happen. However, if he perceives you to be trouble, he will increase it, often drastically and maybe, if you are a nightmare, he will just walk away.
Nightmare clients are ones who, before he has even quoted…
•Treat him like he’s primeval slime from the nasty working classes.
•Make unreasonable demands.
Questions to ask:
•Does he give a free written quotation (not an estimate)?
Make sure he gives a written fixed price. An estimate is something very different indeed!
If he tells you that this is impossible because of potential unforeseen problems, ask him to include these in his quotation with prices for each one should they occur. He can’t object, he brought it up!
If he can’t work out what they might be, then he doesn’t know his job.
•Can he give names of references?
•Does he have Public Liability insurance and will his quotation state this?
•Does he give a guarantee and what is its duration?
•Does he charge VAT, does his quotation state his VAT number?
•What will his projected start date be? Try and pin him down to a start date. Tell him he must phone you at least the day before, when he realises he won’t have a hope of keeping to it, which he won’t!
•Will his quotation state all the materials that are to be provided by him and separate those which may have been agreed to be supplied by you?
•Will his quotation state that all waste materials will be removed from site?
•Will his quotation state that he will leave the house tidy every evening? (Not spotless, obviously, he’s a bloke, but tools and materials moved out of the way etc.)
•Will his quotation state payment procedures? This is important, you both need to know and agree to, the progression of any interim payments and when final payment is expected.
•How long does he anticipate the job will take?
Trust you instincts
Right you’ve told him what you want and he’s gone away to prepare his quotation.
Price isn’t everything. Peace of mind is almost as important! What about the man himself?
Did he arrive on time, were his hands reassuringly mutilated through years of knocking chunks out of them, did he take time to advise you, had he a pencil behind his ear and a nose like blind cobblers thumb?
Or
Were his hands covered in gold sovereign rings, had he double parked his brand new 4x4 outside with his hard faced wife inside. Was he in a slick, snake oil salesman’s suite with gelled hair?
If the latter, we assume you gently prodded him out of your house with that barge pole you keep conveniently behind the front door.
Even for a small job you really want to know he’s established. If you have a written quote you will know he has commitment to his work, his address, his land line phone number, whether he charges VAT. Etc. All this will boost your confidence just that little bit!
The hard truth
Remember, the builder has seen it all before. If he tells you something you don’t want to hear, it’s not because he just can’t wait to have a shouting match in your kitchen, which results in you throwing him out half way through a job still owing him £500. It’s because it’s the truth!
More very usefull advices :
The Building Sheriff
