What to ask a builder before any work starts

Get a written contract, never pay a big deposit up front, and check their insurance before anyone picks up a trowel. Skip any of those and you’re rolling the dice.

Of all the trades, builders are where people stand to lose the most money. A botched plumbing job costs hundreds, while a botched extension can cost tens of thousands and your sanity. There are builders and construction firms listed on WotsItCalled, and the homework you do before hiring one is the cheapest insurance you’ll ever buy.

Start with what they’ve actually built

Anyone can put up a website with a stock photo of a kitchen. Before you get anywhere near a quote, ask for these.

• At least three recent jobs similar to yours. Photos are a start, but you want addresses you can drive past and ideally one client you can ring.
• References from the last 6 to 12 months. A builder can be great one year and awful the next, depending on who’s on the team, so recent is what counts.
• Photos of work in progress, not just finished. Anyone can tidy up a completed job. Mid-job photos show you how they run a site.

Then ring one of those references. Did the job come in on budget and on time? How did the builder handle problems? Would they hire them again? Ten honest minutes on the phone beats every review you’ll read.

Check their registrations and insurance

Builders aren’t regulated the way electricians or gas engineers are, but a few schemes do mean something.

• FMB (Federation of Master Builders). Members are vetted and can offer warranty schemes. It doesn’t guarantee quality, but it suggests they take the business seriously.
• TrustMark. A government-endorsed scheme covering several trades. Members sign up to a code of practice and a complaints procedure.
• CSCS cards. These are for the individual workers on site and cover basic health and safety plus trade competence.
• Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). This is for the professional end of the market, such as site managers and surveyors.

Get two kinds of insurance confirmed in writing before work starts.

• Public liability insurance. £1 to 5 million is standard. It covers damage to your property and to third parties.
• Employer’s liability insurance. This is a legal requirement if they have employees, and it covers their workers if they’re hurt on your job.

Ask for the certificate. A genuine builder emails it over, and a dodgy one finds excuses.

The contract is not optional

For any job over a few thousand pounds you need a written contract. A handshake won’t do, and nor will a quote on its own. The contract should cover:

• Exact scope of work. Every element, itemised. “Fit new kitchen” isn’t scope. “Remove existing kitchen, dispose of waste, install base units, worktops, splashback, plumb sink, fit hob, oven, extractor” is scope.
• Materials and specification. Which tiles, which paint, which fittings, either named or marked as “PC sums” (provisional costs to be confirmed).
• Start and finish dates. Add penalty clauses on a big job.
• Payment schedule. Staged payments tied to milestones, not calendar dates.
• What happens if things change. This is the variations process, the formal way of agreeing extra work and extra cost.
• What happens at the end. Snagging period, retention and final sign-off.
• Who handles building control and planning. The builder, you, or an architect.
• Guarantees and warranties. How long they last, what’s covered, and who pays if something fails.

The Joint Contracts Tribunal publishes standard contracts for residential work. Any builder worth hiring will have seen one.

Payment terms: where most people lose money

The usual way people get stung is handing over too much money too early.

• Deposit. A small deposit of 5 to 10% for materials is sometimes fair. A builder asking for 30%, 50% or more up front is waving a red flag.
• Stage payments. Pay as each stage is finished, not as it starts: “payment on completion of first fix”, not “payment at start of first fix”.
• Final payment on snagging. Hold back 5 to 10% until you’ve done a snagging walk-through and they’ve fixed everything on your list.
• Never pay cash for a big job. Pay by bank transfer so there’s a paper trail. That protects you both.
• Never pay up front for materials you can’t see. If they want £3,000 for a kitchen they haven’t ordered yet, ask which supplier, get the receipt, and pay only what’s on the invoice.

Questions to ask before you sign anything

1. Is this your quote or an estimate? A fixed quote is binding and an estimate is only guidance. You want a fixed quote for known work and a clear PC sum for anything unknown.
2. How do you handle variations? Extras, scope changes and nasty surprises need a written process, not a verbal “we’ll sort it at the end”.
3. Who’s on site day to day? Will you be dealing with the owner, a project manager or a main trade, and who makes the call when something comes up?
4. What are your working hours? Early starts, weekends and the radio on all day are worth agreeing up front if you’re living through it.
5. How do you handle waste and skip hire? Is it included or extra, where does the skip go, and who deals with the neighbours?
6. What happens if you need to pull off site? Illness, weather or a bigger job coming up can all happen, and you want to know the plan in advance.

Where to start looking

The builders and construction directory lists builders across the UK, including Wirral, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. Shortlist three, get three quotes and ring every reference before you sign anything.

Snagging: the stage most people mishandle

Snagging is the walk-through at the end where you list everything that isn’t quite right. Plenty of clients feel awkward about it, as if they’re complaining, but done properly it’s the most important hour of the job.

• Walk every room with a torch. Check corners and edges, where trim meets wall and where tile meets grout.
• Test every switch, socket, tap and handle. All of them, not a sample.
• Open every door and drawer. Do they close properly? Do they hit anything?
• Put everything on one list. Short descriptions and room names, with photos if you can.
• Agree a date to fix everything. Two weeks is normal for a kitchen and a month for an extension.
• Release the final payment only when the snags are done. Actually done, not promised.

The short version

• See three recent jobs like yours and ring at least one reference.
• Check public liability insurance and get the certificate in writing.
• Get a written contract with an itemised scope, stage payments and a variations process.
• Never pay a large deposit up front, and never pay cash for a big job.
• Hold back 5 to 10% until snagging is done. It’s what gets the last fixes over the line.

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