Building an Extension – Professionals You Need In 10 Easy Steps: Building Contractor selection

Find a builder

Step 6 Contractor selection how to find a builder

After successfully completing the Schedule of works or bill of quantities We now have a tender pack ready to send out to our contractors, so how do we find a builder and go about vetting the companies and workmanship?

Vetting the contractors

We recommend 3 simple steps for vetting a contractor

  1. Get recommendations
  2. Visit the works that they have already carried out
  3. Carryout a credit check

Step 1 – Recommendation

Firstly, speak to friends, family and colleagues at work who have had to find a builder and had building work carried out recently, as with any purchase a recommendation goes a long way and this is a potentially very big purchase

Step 2 – Site visits of previous and current works

Then visit the projects that the contractor has completed and be able to get an honest opinion from the client.

The contractor will also have live projects that you will be able to visit, these are great for seeing how tidy the site is and their attitude towards security of your property.

We can accompany you to these visits to advise on any technicalities on the operation of the sites visited & workmanship

Step 3 – Get a credit check

Finally get a credit check on the prospective contractor, this is critical to see the history and current financial standing of your potential contractor, we subscribe to CreditSafe and provide credit searches for free as part of our service along with a full detailed report, a sample is available in the downloads section.

Are they real?

Another great source of information is the contractor’s website, look for a portfolio page and have a drive past the projects to see first and foremost that they are real

Its easy to find a builder but difficult to find good ones

If you are not able to get any recommendations from family or friends, then there are a few options we are able to provide contractors who have already been credit checked or use one of the many online services such as

FMB – Federation of Master Builders

National federation of Builders

Trust a trader

My Builder

Houzz

Next let’s look at step 7 let’s go out to tender