So which builder can you trust?

At some stage every homeowner needs to get the builders in.
Whether its a necessity or for aesthetic purposes, raising the
funds for home improvements is usually the easy part.
Finding a good reliable builder is when the problems start.

With the government's new quality mark scheme now underway in most parts of the country, getting a reputable builder should be easy.

Unfortunately some homeowners are finding out too late that while they are happy with the quality mark members work, they are certainly paying extra for a standard of work a reasonable person would expect from any builder.

So what is the quality mark scheme?

It is designed to help the homeowner find a reputable builder to carry out repairs and improvements to their home.
It also provides reputable builders/tradesmen with a scheme which allows them to demonstrate their commitment to quality by becoming
members of the scheme.

While the government are to be commended for tackling the cowboy
builder there are rumblings of misgivings from within the industry.

Here are a few of these worries.

At the moment it is free to join for companies with a turnover of less than £1 million.
This is obviously to encourage
membership but what happens when the majority have joined and
they then demand a large annual fee to remain a member? Once you
leave this or any other federation you become conspicuous by your absence. Because of this members will be loath to leave which means the cost will be passed to you the customer.

Part of the requirement to joining the scheme involves a financial check and validating tax status. This seems to be
another method of keeping an eye on earnings and what happens when the work dries up and firms are struggling?

The customer can complain to the scheme about the builder. If
this is for poor workmanship then good builders have nothing to fear but a vindictive client could complain about something the builder cannot prove to be untrue such as "he was very
argumentative.”

Builders employees have to be qualified based on NVQ or
equivalent yet some of the best jobbing builders in the land
have never had any formal training in their lives.

The builder is required to comply with health and safety legislation such as risk assessments, safety policies etc.
Back door regulation?

What does all this mean for you the client?

Looking at the application pack, there is plenty of reference to customer care, satisfactory workmanship etc. but no reference to fair pricing.

There is also a lot of added bureaucracy, couple that with the
probable large annual fee and the cost of work for future customers can only go up.

It has already been reported that companies are getting the quality mark that are financially sound and have good tradesmen but have a record of rip-off prices.

The Institute of Plumbing and the Federation of Master Builders have also raised similar concerns about the new scheme¹s accreditation process.

As long as you compare the price of members of this or any other recognised organisation with a few reputable non-members and not just assume the price must be o.k. because they are registered with an organisation, it would be worth adding them to your list of potential builders.