Would IBU to knock on neighbour's door and ask them...

[DappledThings]

....about their builder?

We are going to be doing some pretty major renovation work in the new year. Really want to be sure of finding the right company. One lot who have been round and quoted have recently done a job for some people round the corner. I know because they had the company's van parked there every day for a few weeks.

Would it be weird to knock and ask if they were happy with their work and if they would recommend them?

It's the sort of thing I wouldn't think odd or intrusive at all if someone did it to me but MN has made me aware of all the people who hate anyone knocking on the door. I suppose someone might think it was nosy too.

What's the consensus?

I would think it a perfectly OK thing to do.

Not at all. My husband does renovations and gets most of his work off neighbours/friends of the last customer. It makes a huge difference if you can see the quality of work before you were to hire someone. Go for it!

Usually builders around here will quite often knock at the other houses on the road and introduce themselves to sekf advertise so to speak.

Id not think twice about knocking at neighbors to ask.

are you hoping to be invited in for a nosey? I wouldn't let some random in my house, but would chat on the doorstep

Oh no, not expecting to be invited in. Although if I was the one being asked I probably would invite in.

I have done this. We needed a plasterer and having seen a van at a neighbours for a few days, I called in to ask if the plasterer had been any good and would they recommend them. The neighbours even invited me in to look at his work, which they were very impressed with and how tidy he had left things! Having had a few cowboy tradespeople in the past, I only use recommended people now.

Warning: it could be the house that the builder lives in.

I have considered this. I don't think it is as the van was definitely only there for a few weeks. It was very noticeable as it made my turn out of the village really hard to see properly for a while!

Definitely not odd, had this a couple of times when had building work done, once I had the front door open as I washing the hall floor & a couple walking past, stopped & asked me where we got the tiles from & who laid them, I gave them the tilers contact details he was well chuffed that I had recommended him.

Excellent. I wouldn't have thought twice about it till I joined MN!

Not at all odd OP. I've done it, and our neighbour asked about our fitter when we were having the kitchen done. Mind you, that might have been because he (the fitter) was extremely easy on the eye and was cutting in our back garden without his shirt on when my neighbour "noticed" him over the fence!

In our village it is very commonplace to ask, and it's how we get to know tradesmen.

Absolutely - our neighbours did this. It's helped our relationship tbh as we have had a couple of disagreements about other things in the past.

DH is a builder most of his work comes from recommend, he is also happy to recommend other trades people to his customers.
He often does work in several different houses in one street so its obvious he has been recommended by the neighbours.

Another go for it.

How odd that you would need to ask.

Why wouldn't ?

How odd that you would need to ask.

Why wouldn't ?

Because MN seems to be full of people who would think it was a massive imposition and invasion of privacy. I've obviously read too many of those threads and started to doubt myself. I thought it was totally normal and not U. Glad people seem to agree!

Op there was a recent thread which may had given that impression but it was about unannounced meter readers often at night and with I’d which frankly anyone could run up in a jiffy. A lot of us probably sounded very much as though we never open the door BUT it was very specifically about those circs. Might be that thread which gave you that thought !

We had an extension built a few years ago We have had several people knocking to ask about the builder. Not weird at all, it’s quite nice.

Some years ago I had my roof re tiled. Someone I didn't know but who lived in the same street knocked on my door. He said he'd been impressed by the speed the roofers had worked at, and was I happy with the results as his son wanted his roof do ing. I was more than happy to tell him about our expert (all good) and pass on the roofers details. Go ask. All they can say is no, which is an answer in itself

Do it. This is how we found our builder. Recommendation is the best way of finding good people

We had a couple of people knock out door after our builders left, to ask if we were happy with their work and if we would recommend them. We invited one in as he lived locally and I'd see him around with his kids and wife. They did end up using them I think. We didn't invite the other one is as we didn't recognise him but we we were more than happy to chat about our experience.

We've had a large extension done this year and have had about 5 people knocking the door to ask who did it (builder doesn't advertise so no sign outside). I've been very happy to chat about it, show them round and I'm glad our builder will get more business as he was fab. Not weird at all!

Course not, when we were getting our bathroom done our neighbour knocked to see if they were any good, they nipped next door to give her a quote

When i was considering doing an extension i put a note through a neighbours door to ask if they minded having a chat about the extension they had done (exact same house too so pretty handy) and they were fine. Although when we asked another neighbour about their experience re planning permission for their conservatory the lady was extremely snotty with us. But the husband came round to apologise the next day :)

We used the builder our neighbours used. To be honest it was completely different job, he was ok but we had problems, wouldn't use him again and his recommended electrician was complete cowboy- think leaving live wires exposed

My husband is a decorator and gets loads of work from people recommending him to neighbours. Definitely ask.

This is how we found our builder! Okay, he wasn't working next door, but a few streets away. DH knocked and asked if they were happy with the work etc.

Go ahead and ask them! 😁