Getting quotes · High risk
Which builder do you appoint?
Price is one of five tests. Evidence, availability, insurance and communication matter as much.
- When it lands
- After you have compared like-for-like quotes.
- What it costs to get wrong
- The wrong builder is the most expensive mistake available on a domestic project. Recovery costs more than the original job.
Price is one of five tests, and on its own it is the least reliable. Evidence, insurance, availability and communication decide whether the next six months are manageable.
Check the company, not the person
Get the registered company name and number, and check it. A builder with excellent photographs was appointed on a £140,000 refurbishment; a Companies House check afterwards showed three dissolved companies at the same address in six years, each leaving unpaid creditors.
None of that was hidden. It simply was not looked for until it mattered.
Visit a live site and a finished one
A finished project shows you the standard of work. A live site shows you how they operate: is it tidy, is it safe, are materials protected, does the site manager know what is happening this week?
You are buying six months of behaviour, not a photograph.
Verify insurance in writing
Public liability and employer's liability certificates, in the company's name, in date. Ask who carries the contract works insurance during the build — it is a common gap, and it decides who pays if a fire or flood destroys half-finished work.
Ask references the awkward questions
Anyone can supply two happy clients. The useful questions are: did the final account match the quote, and if not why; how were problems handled; did they finish on the date they gave you; would you use them again knowing what you know now?
Listen for hesitation as much as answers.
Why this one matters
You are buying twelve months of someone's behaviour, not a number on a page. References you actually visit, and a builder who explains rather than reassures, predict outcomes better than price does.
Do this week
- Run a Companies House check on every shortlisted builder.
- Ask each for one live site and one finished project to visit.
- Request insurance certificates before you make a decision.
The realistic choices
Lowest price
Only safe when the scope is genuinely identical and evidence stacks up.
Best evidence
Recent, comparable, visited work. Usually the right answer.
Re-tender
If every quote is far over budget, change the scope, not the standard.
What good looks like
- Two references taken up by phone and one job seen in person
- Public liability and contract works insurance seen in date
Questions worth asking
- Who will actually be on site each day?
- What else are you running at the same time?
From real projects
The phoenix company
A builder with excellent photographs was appointed on a £140,000 refurbishment. A Companies House check afterwards showed three dissolved companies at the same address in six years. The company folded mid-project holding £28,000 of advance payment with no recovery.
The lesson: Ten minutes on Companies House, and never paying ahead of work done, prevents almost all of this.
Putting it into practice
What this decision should leave behind
The steps to work through, the paperwork worth keeping and the questions to send your builder today.
- · Check the company, not the person
- · Visit a live site and a finished one
- · Verify insurance and warranties
- · Template: Reference call — the questions that matter
- · Paperwork: Public and employer's liability certificates
- · Paperwork: Two written references with contact details
- · Paperwork: Company details and VAT registration
Next decision
Have the quotes been checked properly?