Need to find a builder? Don’t know where to start?

Home » Need to find a builder? Don’t know where to start?

 It’s a vulnerable place to be:

  • You’re going to spend a lot of money
  • You’re inviting someone in to mess with your house
  • You’re trusting that someone else understands what’s in your head and will have your best interests at heart. 

You feel exposed on multiple levels. And now you have to decide which is the right person for the job! The process will be easier if you’ve done your thinking ahead of time – see Part One here

Where to begin?

There are four main options at this point:

Google: go online and take a look at builders in your area. Review their websites, read the testimonials, look at the qualifications, past jobs etc. Take it all in. BUT remember they have written it all. They are selling to you. It doesn’t mean what they say is wrong, just that it’s their own perception and may – or may not – fit with the day to day reality.

Go for a walk: walk around your local area and see who is having work done. Take a good look at the site – does it look well cared for, organised? Are there builders actively on the job or builders vans in the surrounding area? Does it look like a professional outfit?

If so, then knock on the door and see if the owner will speak to you. Most people are very pleased to help others in this situation. They’ll like to talk about what how good the builders are or to share their horror stories.

Social Media: Facebook often has a local renovations page which will be a huge help to you throughout the process, so find it as soon as you can. First of all, make sure that it is run by customers, for customers, without providers involved. You also want a page where no advertising is allowed. (you’ll find all this in the rules of the page.) This will give you personal, first hand experience with no skin in the game other that to help others in the same situation.

Put up a post, outlining the work you have planned. Ask if anyone has done something similar and are they happy with their builders. Alternately, put in the search bar ‘builder recommendations’ and see what comes up. Just remember to check the date. A lot can happen in a short time in business, so you want a recommendation that is up to date.

Personal recommendation: think through everyone you know who has had building work done recently and ask if they were happy with the process and the results. This might be family, friends, colleagues, local groups you’re part of. If you don’t know anyone, then ask who else does. Networking always says you are only a few steps away from the person you need, so keep asking. 

Take your list & reach out

Once you have a list of options, you can start to reach out. I recommend you don’t go into detail just yet. This stage can be quite a lot of work – sending out plans, discussing requirement, talking cost. Chances are, you’ll kiss a lot of frogs before you find the right person, so don’t load yourself with work at this point. 

Begin by narrowing down the list:

Availability: make contact and ask about availability. Some will be free next week, some will have a diary that is full for months ahead. Move ahead with those who can do the work in your time frame.

If you really take to someone or you already have a recommendation that sounds good, but they are too busy for your schedule, you may want to rethink your timeline. It’s rare for a building project to go totally to plan and you often have to be flexible, waiting for materials or tradespeople, so you may decide to accept it’s take longer but worth waiting for.

Area of expertise: once you have a list of possibles, give a brief outline of what you’re looking for and ask if it is work they have done before. If the answer is yes, ask to speak to someone they’ve worked with recently. Remember they will be choosing the person so it will still need more checking, but it’s a good sign if they are willing to give you the name of someone they’ve worked for.

Getting a quote: If all this has gone well, then send out your plans and ask for a quote. This will be your first experience of working with them, so pay attention to how it goes. Ask how long it will be before you hear from them so you know what to expect. If they don’t deliver on time and you have to contact them to find out what’s happening then this is a major red flag. If they are unreliable now then they will be unreliable again, so I really encourage you not to spend time chasing. 

Of course, everyone has busy times when they get a bit overwhelmed, so it’s not an automatic ‘No’. However you need someone who is going to stay in touch and keep you up to date with what’s happening. A short note to explain and tell you when to expect your quote is all that’s needed – as long as it is then delivered to time.

Due diligence – while you are waiting for the quote, do your due diligence. Find out as much as you can about the person or company. 

See my next blog for ideas about how to do this.

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