How to Find a Good Builder (and Check They're the Real Thing)

Where to look

Recommendations from people whose work you can go and see are a good start. Beyond that, Citizens Advice suggests:

• Your local council. Search its website for "approved traders" or "Trading Standards". The council may list traders it has approved, or link to another website that lists trusted traders in your area.
• Schemes that recommend traders: TrustMark, the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, Buy with Confidence and Which? Trusted Trader. You may need to try more than one to find someone in your area.
• Trade associations, which often set standards for their members. For builders, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) says its members pass a vetting and inspection process before they can join.

TrustMark describes itself as the UK's only Government Endorsed Quality Scheme. It licenses scheme providers (accreditation bodies and trade associations, the FMB among them), which check that their TrustMark Registered Businesses keep to its standards. Those businesses give a minimum 2-year guarantee on work in and around the home, must have a complaints process, and if a complaint can't be settled, TrustMark is a member of the Disputes Resolution Ombudsman.

Whoever you find, check the claim yourself: Citizens Advice says to look the builder up on the scheme's or association's own website, and the FMB warns that some businesses claim to be members when they're not.

Checking a builder before you say yes

The checks Citizens Advice recommends, which we'd do for every builder on the shortlist:

• References you can follow up. Ask for 2 or 3 recent jobs like yours, with contact details, and get in touch: written references aren't always genuine. Avoid a builder who won't give any.
• Is the business real? Get full contact details, ring the business and check the person works for it. Be wary if all you have is a mobile number: they may be hard to reach if something goes wrong.
• Qualifications. You can ask to see proof, for example an NVQ in construction or a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card.
• Memberships, checked on the scheme's own website, as above. Take extra care if the builder knocked on your door or phoned you out of the blue.

Before you meet anyone, write down exactly what you want done and the questions you'll ask each builder, so you can compare like with like. Write down what they tell you, too. If you're not comfortable with someone, don't use them.

Getting and comparing quotes

Get written quotes from at least 3 builders, and ask first whether they charge for quoting. A quote is a fixed price; an estimate is a rough guess, and you could end up paying more. Citizens Advice says a trader can't charge more than the quote unless you ask for extra work, they tell you extra work is needed and you agree to pay for it, or they made a genuine mistake writing or calculating the price.

A good quote shows:

• a fixed total price, not a daily rate;
• a breakdown of the work and the materials, with separate costs for each;
• how long the price is valid for, and whether it includes VAT;
• when the price can go up (for example, only if you agree to extra work).

If a builder will only work on a day rate, get in writing how many days the job will take, how many hours count as a day, and when they need your go-ahead to work more days. Be cautious about a price far lower than the rest: it can mean they lack the skills, aren't being honest, or haven't quoted for the same work.

To know whether the quotes are in the right area, see our house extension, kitchen extension, loft conversion and house renovation cost guides.

Insurance: theirs and yours

Ask what insurance the builder has, ask to see the policies, and check they don't run out before the job will finish. Citizens Advice lists the cover to look for:

• Public liability: if someone is hurt or property is damaged.
• Employers' liability: if the builder's employees are hurt on the job.
• Professional indemnity: if they do faulty design work or give bad advice (relevant if they're designing as well as building).
• Contractors' all-risk: covers the work if it's damaged or destroyed before it's finished.

Ring your own buildings insurer too, before work starts. It may want to know who the builder is and what cover they have, and your premium may go up during and after the work. If you're a leaseholder, the freeholder or management company usually insures the building, so ask them.

The contract and paying safely

Once you say yes to a quote you have a contract, written or not, but get it in writing: it's what you'll rely on if there's a dispute. It doesn't need legal language. It should cover what you're paying for (it can refer to the quote), start and finish dates and what happens about delays, how rubbish is cleared and who pays for skips, who buys materials and equipment, whether subcontractors will be used, and how and when you pay.

Cancelling. If you agree the contract with the builder at your home (anywhere but their business premises), the Consumer Contracts Regulations usually give you 14 days after the day you enter it to cancel. Ask for the work to start inside those days and you'll usually have to pay for what's been done if you then cancel. There are exceptions, including building a new house and urgent repairs you called the builder out for.

Paying. Citizens Advice's advice, and ours:

• Pay by card, or by bank transfer if you can't. Never cash.
• Pay in stages, tied to points in the work, so problems can be put right before the final payment.
• Avoid a deposit if you can. If the deposit is for materials, offer to buy them yourself. On a long job you may not be able to avoid one: push it down and don't agree to more than 25%. Get a receipt.
• Paying by credit card for work costing £100.01 to £30,000 lets you make a section 75 claim against the card company if things go wrong, and that includes a deposit paid on the card. A debit card gives you chargeback. Cash and bank transfers give you neither.
• If you do pay a deposit, ask whether it's protected by insurance, or held by an escrow company registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

Get any guarantee in writing, and check how long it lasts, whether it covers materials as well as workmanship, whether it passes to the next owner if you sell, and whether it's insurance-backed (so it still holds if the builder goes out of business).

Your role on an extension or a big job

In England, Part 2A of the Building Regulations gives everyone on a project a role, including you as the "domestic client". Anyone doing building or design work must have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours (or, for a company, the organisational capability) to do it so it meets the regulations, and a builder mustn't start until satisfied you're aware of your duties.

• One builder doing everything: most of your client duties are carried out by the builder.
• More than one contractor (for example, if you hire separate firms for different parts of the building work yourself): you should appoint, in writing, a principal designer and a principal contractor. If you don't, the designer in control of the design and the contractor in control of the building work take those roles by default.

In practice, we'd ask at the start: who is managing the design, who is managing the build, who is dealing with building control, and what paperwork you'll get at the end. For neighbours' walls, see our party wall guide: notices can need serving months before a builder can start.

If something goes wrong

Your rights come from the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Every contract for a service includes a term that the builder must do the work with reasonable care and skill, and, where the contract doesn't fix a time, within a reasonable time. What the builder said or wrote about themselves or the work, if you relied on it when deciding, counts as part of the contract too.

If the work falls short, you can require them to do it again properly, at their own cost (labour and materials) and within a reasonable time. If that's impossible, or they don't do it within a reasonable time, you can ask for a price reduction, which can be the full price.

Raise problems with the builder as soon as you notice them and agree the fix in writing. We'd keep photos and copies of everything. If the builder belongs to a scheme or association, use its complaints process: TrustMark and the FMB both have one.

Frequently asked questions