Finding a Reliable Builder

Finding a Reliable Builder

Finding a reliable builder isn’t as testing as some would have you believe. Sure, there are some people out there who will take as long as is humanly possible to complete the smallest of jobs, while also abusing your property and demanding tea and biscuits every five minutes.

For the most part, however, builders are friendly, accommodating, and want to do the best job they possibly can. How, then, can you be sure that you’re choosing the right people to work on your project? Here, Cobbydale Construction Ltd walk you through some pointers for avoiding the cowboys.

 

Talk to them

First impressions are always important and for good reason. Often, it’s possible to form a reasonably accurate impression of someone quite early on. It’s not always the case, and people can find that their first impressions of a person or company were completely off after as little as a week of getting to know them better.

That said, if you’re getting a bad feeling from a builder initially, and a number of our other points don’t check out either, then proceed with caution. If, however, the person is friendly, clear, and happy to talk to you, then the chances are that they don’t have much to hide. Again, don’t base everything on your initial feelings; they should be used more as a guide.

 

Accreditations

A more concrete sign of a reliable builder is the accreditations they have. It’s perfectly easy to find out whether they’re recognised officially; if you’re comfortable doing so, simply ask them, or you can look them up online. Many of the best-known governing bodies have websites that allow you to enter a person or company, to see whether they’re certified. It’s not all about what courses they’ve taken, but finding out a little about this can certainly help inform you. If they’ve put in the effort necessary to become accredited by, say, the Federation of Master Builders, then it shows that they care about their work and that they conform to a number of industry standards.

 

Recommendations

It might seem backward, given today’s reliance on the internet, but word of mouth recommendations give a lot away. Ask your friends whether they’ve heard anything about your builder; if they’re notoriously bad, then you’ll likely be able to find out through your local network alone. The vast majority of builders work almost exclusively locally, making it much more likely that these recommendations will be readily available.

 

If you’re struggling to find much out from your local contacts, then there is often a testimonials section on a builder’s website. It should be acknowledged that these will have been picked by the company themselves (or, at least, their marketing agency), so they’re not going to include any negative feedback if they can help it. As a last resort, though, it’s useful to see how many people have good things to say about them. Again, don’t base everything on this point, but if they’re light on accreditations and they don’t come across well, then things aren’t exactly looking great …

 

Look them up

This point covers most of our previous ones, but it’s worth re-emphasising. Are they listed online, or is there simply no trace of them? If it’s almost impossible to find any mention of the company, then they’re potentially not the most reliable builders around. Most companies would want potential customers to be able to find them as much as possible; if they’re not appearing anywhere, it could be that they’re keen on hiding their bad reputation.

 

Cobbydale Construction Ltd

If you’re based near Keighley, or in the wider area of West Yorkshire, then you don’t need to look very far to find a reliable builder. Here at Cobbydale Construction Limited, we take pride in all of our work and are extremely confident that you’ll be thrilled with the work we do for you.

In line with everything we’ve just said, we’d advise you to ask around about us, check out our accreditations (at the foot of our homepage) and previous projects, and to look us up. To get in touch with us for that all-important first chat, give us a call on 01535 653 530, or fill out one of our online contact forms.