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How-to Guides » OLD GUIDE on home improvements

Find out how to make valuable home improvements to your home without spending a fortune.

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Save money on your builder

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1) Do it yourself!

If there’s a job you think you can manage yourself, check out homeimprovementadvice.co.uk for advice on making big and small home improvements. You can also take a look at letsfixit.co.uk which offers useful technical hints and tips and ultimatehandyman.co.uk has a helpful DIY forum.

2) Get at least three quotes

If you’re hiring a builder, make sure you shop around and obtain at least three quotes to ensure you’re getting the best deal. Sites such as mybuilder.com, problemsolved.co.uk and which? local are good places to find peer-to-peer recommended builders, or the Federation of Master Builders lists qualified tradesmen in your area.

3) Haggle

Once you’ve got a range of quotes to hand, use the lowest quote as a bargaining tool to see whether other builders will lower their price further.

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9

LAWR3NC3 said

When employing someone to do a good job the most important box to tick is 'trust'. If you trust the builder to do a good job without over charging, you are 100% of the way there. Haggle a bit at the start but do not get carried away. If a complicated (in particular where you cannot see exactly what has been done once it has been completed) job is involved you are asking for trouble if you haggle it down for less than the going rate as the builder is likely to cut corners which will come back to kick you in a few years time. The best basis of trust is a recommendation from someone you trust. Then get hands-on with the discussion of how & what materials etc. Make sure you keep visiting but also make sure the site manager knows when you are coming - try to see the works prior to completion of each stage; at the very least this shows you are interested in the detail & the builder will be aware that this needs to be attended to. Do not get uppity when they over-run in time (99% of builders do this - usually because they gave an optimistic estimate to get the business!)

Report on 18 November 2009 | Love 0 love
78

bellini said

As they are few and far between, if you are lucky enough to find a good builder, they are often choc-a-bloc with jobs.
Paying them quickly when you do get a good job done might go some way to getting into their good books and helping you jump the queue should you need other work in the future.

Report on 20 November 2009 | Love 0 love
2

Crissa said

What I am going to say here is to please do as they say and not as I did.
I used one of the above recommended websites in the summer, and received a visit from a highly recommended builder on the site, to do a number of jobs, ranging from basic to a couple of rather less obvious solutions for damp curing. The builder came accross as professional, and competent. He wrote neatly in a workbook all the items we discussed after talking through things. The final quote I felt just about comfortable with - slightly stretched, but thought it worth it for a quality buider.I felt encouraged, and here was my first mistake. Because of the number of recommendations, and because I felt comfortable with him at the time, and -significantly- I needed to get on with things, I asked him to do the work for me on his first visit.
I asked him for a copy of the quote, but nothing came. I phoned him after a couple of evenings to ask again for the quote in writing, and -my next mistake- said "because my memory is not very good". Actually I have a very good memory, and it was meant to be light-hearted comment. I had genuinely trusted him. So he said he would e-mail me the particulars. He did so, and I printed it out, -there were some differences, in prces, and a significant job was left out. I contacted him again, but it was downhill all the way from there. The prices kept creeping up. He did some jobs- I NEVER got the quote in writing I asked for. He would show me his book occasionally, other times say "I havn't got my book with me". The worst of it was, some of the work he did was really not so great, and he needed reminding to finish off some jobs. I felt very, very let down.
So - even when you use these recommended web-sites, please DO MAKE SURE to get your QUOTES IN WRITING before they you let them start work, no matter how much of a hurry you are in. And DO go for at least a couple of quotes, and from my experience, DON'T be tempted to accept on the spot, and definitely not without getting that all important quote in writing. Sleep on it fist.

Report on 08 December 2009 | Love 0 love
0

grayspires said

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If you have dormers or cottage style sloping ceilings with inaccessible voids you'll really notice the difference. The Carbon Footprint Insulation Co. Ltd. inject insulation foam to give you year round comfort. Go tohttp://www.dormer.warmerdormer.com/dormers.html.
You can phone them for helpful, free advice on 0800 9545650

Report on 25 June 2010 | Love 0 love

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