How do you choose your tradespeople?

[Patnotpending]

I posted last week about needing to have a new bathroom installed pronto after a leak and in the last few days I've been talking to a number of recommended tradespeople about fixing the damage caused by the leak.

The plasterer is fine but the guy recommended by friends to do the carpentry/ joinery work comes over like an arrogant *astard: says things like, 'Look, dear, I'll tell you what you need, you don't have to worry' when I ask a few basic informed questions. He got quite shirty when I asked if he was insured. I've worked in the construction sector and I know how important insurance can be when things go wrong. I'm also amazed at the number of contractors who don't have any and for me it's a useful indicator of professionalism.

My (male) partner says not to worry about it and then says my problem is I'm too friendly when I first meet people and then they lose respect for me. My feeling is that I'm going to have to be the one spending days at a time with these blokes and if they're not being respectful and professional now, what chance will I have of being able to manage them (if I have to) when they're actually carrying out the work?

I get recommendations, but before making contact I check them out on Facebook. If they're posting crap about the Lisbon Treaty, anything Farage or Tommy Robinson related, you know they're going to be a dick so you can cross them off your list.

I use Mybuilder.com

Only those interested in doing the work apply for the job and you can collect quotes and pick from them. You can view/leave feedback too.

It’s really good and apart from a local plasterer all I use now.

I'm amazed. Not being funny, but My Builder has pretty dire reputation in my area. We tried them for a job a couple of years ago and had nothing but chancers: no insurance, couldn't show us pictures of previous jobs they'd worked on.

If you can't go by word of mouth Checkatrade seems more reliable. We used friends' recommendations for a couple of jobs last year and when they'd finished work we were contacted by Checkatrade and asked for an honest appraisal of their work, time-keeping and behaviour. We had no idea they were registered on Checkatrade when we engaged them.

Virtually always by recommendation. DP is an electrician so knows most trades which helps. I've always found plasterers difficult, I've had several let me down and the ones that did my kitchen I was terrified of and just wanted out of the house.
My friend has had a bad experience from Facebook recommendations (with good reviews) so I definitely wouldn't bother with that.

Electricians and gas engineers are easy – just contact NICEIC or Gas Safe. It's the unregulated trades that seem to be so difficult. And if I'm going to have someone working in my home for a few days I really don't want to have someone who talks to me as if I'm stupid or as if my opinion doesn't count. I used to work in a company that was active in the construction sector doing specialist work. If any of our workers had talked to any of our clients in the way some of these sole traders have talked to me they'd have been fired.

Definitely do not employ anybody without evidence of their insurance in the form of a current certificate. We had to claim from our contractors insurance after he tipped varnish over the new Amtico floor and newly painted walls as he was too lazy to put down dust sheets. Although his insurance paid for the damage, they don’t pay for disruption!

I ask an extremely fussy friend who they use and use them. We moved house last year and the man who did the tv aerials and cctv was very efficient and tidy, so now I ask Wayne for recommendations.

In my last house I had a decorator who was there weeks, due to full house being done, he bored me rigid with his photos of Yorkshire puddings and showing me his North Soul moves : )

You need to find the pub where your favourite tradespeople congregate for a beer at 6:30. Good ones use other competent people. It has helped enormously that my omni-skilled kitchen fitter is building his own house and knows who's good, but even he would say he has kissed plenty of frogs. Friends who live a few miles away have a new pub which is very popular with tradesmen, and reckon their struggles are over. But we are rural.

Electricians and gas engineers are easy

It's still a lottery. We had a horrendous GasSafe registered heating engineer to replace our boiler provided by a local supposedly reputable showroom. Mega attitude problem from the moment he set foot in the house. Everything was too much trouble for him- sighing and eye rolling at every opportunity. Constantly whingeing that the job had been priced wrongly and there was more to it than he was being paid for. After he'd gone, the hot water kept cutting out - he came back 2 or 3 times but insisted it was all right and it was us who were wrong and just didn't understand combi boilers. It continued happening so we insisted the showroom boss came out - he agreed with us (he actually spent the time listening to us), but said it was a gas supply problem and we had to call out the gas authority. They came and tested it and said it had been installed incorrectly and told us to get the firm back to install it properly - they showed us the installation checklist which the Gassafe guy had left mostly blank! So, we got them back again, lots more huffing and puffing but finally it worked properly. Then a week later, the ceiling fell in - the idiot had botched a pipe connection which had been leaking! So, no, despite being registered, there's still the potential for complete dickheads to come round.

Good ones use other competent people.

This! We happened to come across an excellent "odd job man" who was very honest about what he could and couldn't do. Anything he can't do, he recommends someone, who's likewise excellent. We now have an excellent plumber, an excellent electrician, an excellent plasterer and two wonderful joiners. Not found a brilliant roofer yet - other trades seem very reluctant to recommend anyone, so it's just pot luck, but we live in hope.

I am just grateful to get anyone that looks like they know what they are doing.

Once advertised a particular job on Rated People.

I went on to the site to find something like 1400 people have looked at your job.

You have no offers.

Had some quite good work from Yell