subject: How To Avoid Choosing Cowboy Builders - 5 Simple Steps [print this page] Everywhere you go there seem to be stories about people being frustrated or in some situations conned, by cowboy building firms. Whether it's a loft conversion, renovation or house extension, for anybody contemplating building upgrades on their residence that will need a specialist firm to carry out the task, the process of selecting the most appropriate team of builders could be an extremely challenging one.
So can this process be made less complicated and are there some things you can do to give you assurance that you're making the best selection? Listed here are 5 straight forward points that should go a long way in making your choice simpler as in the end, most construction work runs in to a great deal of money so there is not any room for error here:
1. Your primary port of call is frequently the builders website and quite a lot of information can be had from this. Firstly, the overall appearance of the site speaks volumes about the firm as one which has been chucked together for next to no cost does not display significant amounts of professionalism. Of course there will be some lousy building firms with great websites, which means you are not able to rely on this on it's own.
2. The website ought to have some case studies and customer reviews from past jobs. You must also be able to telephone and plan a visit to several of their previous jobs to review their work in person. Use this time with the previous client to ask many significant questions about the builders you will be pondering. Are they nice people? Will they be reliable? Were they trustworthy? Did the project go over spending budget or take a lot longer than you would expect? And so forth.
3. The dealings you have with the construction firm from the moment you first make contact will speak volumes about them. Were they professional about supplying the quotation? Did they arrive for meetings with you punctually? Did you feel at ease and comfortable dealing with them? Each one of these pointers are very important when looking ahead at a practical working relationship.
4. Will the building contractors assist you through every step of the building process from design to planning and building? They certainly should!
5. Will they offer a contract with details of how the stage payments must be made together with fully itemised details of what exactly is included in the quote? Again they absolutely should.
So that's it. You'd be surprised how many people don't follow the basic steps above when hiring a building firm. Ensure you do as ultimately it may save you lots of money and grief.
