Builders: How to Avoid the Cowboys

Any of us can suffer from a household emergency, or damage from extreme weather conditions that leave us in need of the services of a builder. It might even be that we just want to do some home improvements such as fitting a new kitchen or building a conservatory and do not want to tackle the job ourselves. Where do we turn to find one?

Often it is from word of mouth, local newspapers, or a telephone directory. These are the traditional methods of finding a tradesman and whereas when someone recommends a builder by word of mouth, you can be sure of their reliability, what about the others?

The classified sections of local papers are often full of telephone numbers from building firms all offering cheap prices but since we do not know if they are reliable and competent, how do we then make an informed decision, or do we simply take potluck?

There has been considerable press regarding ‘cowboy’ builders over the years and television shows have even been produced covering the disasters caused by shoddy workmanship and seemingly poor skilled builders. After all, there would be nothing worse than entrusting our home, and hard earned money to such a ‘cowboy’.

As for the telephone directories, many building firms display their awards and accreditations in order for us so better make our decision but with people turning their backs on these traditional directories what then? What other directories are available?

The Internet provides one solution to the waning telephone directory. Its popularity and appeal to a broad cross section of people has led to the emergence of online business directories as a replacement and are now a great place to find a builder in a time of need. Online business directories allow the user to customise the search in order to filter out erroneous results so that a search can be as broad or narrow as we want it to be.

If the builder in question has a website then a link will be provided to it from the business search engine in order for us to get more information about their services and even if no website is available, full contact details will be given. From these details, the builder can be contacted directly or if preferred, their premises could be visited to check out their reputability.

Online business directories are a fantastic resource when we want to find a tradesman in a hurry because they are available to us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and even if there is no emergency but we still require a builder then online business listings are still useful due to their convenience and superb ease of use.