How to find good tradespeople?!

[Missnearlyvintage]

Hi everyone,

We seem to have been very unlucky with tradespeople since moving into our house, and we are now at a point where we need lots of work doing quite urgently, (plastering, woodwork, plumbing etc), but we've completely lost confidence in hiring tradespeople so the projects are stalling and it's all becoming stressful.

We've used tradespeople before who have been recommended personally through friends/family or other tradespeople and have still almost always ended up with rogues and very poor workmanship/defects.

At this point I've exhausted the recommendations of friends and family so how should I go about finding tradespeople to complete these jobs please?

thanks!

Following for tips

I found a good plumber/boiler engineer through a local forum with a board specifically for recommendations, if you have something like that in your area?
A friend of mine who's a highly qualified engineer always tells me to use Checkatrade.com. (I don't know why I think the fact that he's an engineer means he'll be right, but he comes with a sort of air of competence.)

This is my biggest nightmare.

In the eight years I have been renovating my property I have had numerous negative experiences.

By far the worst have been plumbers. They are like gold dust round here, promising to come and just not turning up or even worse, coming and messing up the work.

I have also reluctantly decided that my Painter has to go. He was really good when he first started working on the house, but has recently botched the external painting of my sash windows and left me with a mess that will take a lot of money and time to resolve.

I do however, have a fab builder and electrician.

I now ask everyone I know who is renovating or otherwise involved in Property, for recommendations. If the same name comes up twice it goes in my black book.

What is needed is a reliable website where we can all leave reviews for tradespeople. IMO Checkatrade just doesn't work because there are so few reviews on there.

Should say that while the Builder and Electrician were found by word of mouth, both are extremely expensive !!

I have Renovated a house and it’s not or will never be easy to find trustworthy tradesmen. The following tips have helped me:
Facebook: the area I live in has a local community page and I have asked for recommendations on there. The tradesmen are always likely to live local (people never rip you off if you know where they live or how you can find them), you have a recommendation and if they do a rubbish job they risk public shaming.
Friends in the trade have helped us
I have failed here, I have got so many different tradesmen to do different jobs. I have used 3 different electricians etc as one may have been busy. Don’t do this! If you only used one person from the trade you know who is liable.
Think about getting a contractor (I think that’s what they call them) for example our kitchen fitter had a load of traders who worked for him. I wish I gave him a one off payment to arrange all the work; I think this may have reduced cost, been more organised and save time.
Ask traders for recommendations for people they have worked and can vouch for
Always get the full name or traders and areas they live in. Search for them on public forums, Get a sense of who they are.
Try to find all traders in one go. I wish I had done this and then called a ‘meeting’ so all traders can speak to each other and know who is doing the work (this may seem crazy but I do wish I had done this).
Never get anyone you find intimidating, arrogant or far too charming. Go with your gut. Find someone you find likeable or passionate.
If you use someone in the past who has done good work always use them again.
Manage the project like a pro: at the beginning I was always timid around tradesmen and left a lot of the talking to dh. Now I tell them exactly what I want or don’t want and my expectations. I let them know quickly when I am not happy or don’t like something. I discuss money ASAP and ask them for a breakdown, they respect this. Check for regular updates throughout the job. Ask for a date they will be finished by.
I have the best relationship with my plumber. I found him when I was fed up and feeling low about the renovations and I told him this. I told him that I was fed up with unreliable tradesmen and I need someone I can trust who was gonna make life easy. I told him I suffer with anxiety 🙄. He reassured me he was honest and trustworthy and msde a promise rage he will do a good job. He has never let me down. This has taught me so much about being open
Try to get a good working relationship and build rapport with them. This is easier for everyone.

I can’t think of anything else for now

Checkatrade.com

We've used it for all sorts and have never been let down.

Gonna chuck this out there. It depends on where you live. My dmum has a parish magazine through the door. All the local trades who have been there years are in there. Very useful.

Trustatrader.com make sure you read the reviews. Post on your Local Facebook page asking for recommendations for the types of work you require.

Good luck

John Lewis do something called Home Solutions, I have never used them but would be glad to hear if anyone has. There is often a discount on my John Lewis card for them and sometime I want some non urgent electrical work doing and have the usual worry of which electrician to get.

There used to be a local forum in my area which often had recommendations on but unfortunately that closed down, maybe something like that in your area.

Local Facebook groups, for all the reasons mentioned above. Just make sure that people are being recommended consistently and not just by the same person!

All mine are personal recommendations through good friends and family, I wouldn't trust a recommendation from another tradesman.

I don't trust checkatrade as I've left a couple of reviews and no one from checkatrade has checked with me that I'm a genuine customer not the tradesman's mum/dp!!

Local FB groups or area forums (nextdoor.co.uk) my builder has been ok. Checkatrade=waste of time (too easy for them to lie/hide bad reviews).

Which Trusted Traders - had a great carpenter from there to do our wardrobes. Also a good electrician.

Go with your gut feeling about them and insist that they come round to quote so you can meet them. We had a plasterer who came round to quote and smelt of alcohol mid-afternoon.

The old theory that the longer waiting list they have, the better they are, had been true in my experience.

I actually disagree with a PP about local tradesmen not wanting to screw you over. 2 tradesmen in our village have an appalling service simply because they thought they had a monopoly on all the business here and I hate seeing them when we go to the pub etc.

Thanks everyone, it's really good to hear all your recommendations.

We must be really unlucky at least 2 tradespeople found by friends and family recommendation have been awful, and at least 2 recommended by tradespeople we trust have been terrible as well. Along with one chap who I thought was great but turned out to be awful from a local facebook group where I asked for recommendations...

I have had basically all of the tradespeople that our neighbours have recommended over to quote at various times, and to be honest my gut has said 'do not trust these people with your house' on most occasions which is a shame.

We seem to have tradespeople around as well that will do one job ok, and then wreck the next job, or not turn up for anymore work?!

Thanks all, the hunt goes on... I did spy a company doing some work around the road to me today, so I might pop around and try to casually see what they are doing and if they're doing a good enough job!

John Lewis Home solutions. 12 month guarantee on work. Also check your council's approved tradespeople.

Mybuilder.com has been useful for us

Missnearlyvintage I could have written your post. I have been severely let down by a builder and a plumber, with poor work which is costing £ 1000s to fix. Sheer luck of the draw I have found a good and trustworthy electrician, I think through Which ? Trusted traders. However the bad builder was also found through the WHich site. On the whole I do not rate forums and I know at least some of the good reviews on Checkatrade are fictional.
I have finally found a good, albeit expensive and booked up plumber, through a recommendation by someone I trust.

I should add I’m about to do an Introduction to plumbing course so I can gain skills to tackle smaller problems myself.