How to Choose the Right Contractor to Build Your Home

Few decisions will have greater impact on the success or failure of your project than the contractor you choose. Even if you breeze through the planning process and hire an exceptional architect, the quality of your home will be determined by the skill of those building it.

Here are a few key tips to make sure that you are putting your future dream home in safe hands.

Gather recommendations

If you already have an architect for your project, they will be your must trusted source for recommendations. An architect is just as keen to see your project succeed as you are and won’t risk putting the project in the hands of contractors they cannot vouch for.

You can also ask friends and family or knock on the doors of people in the area who you know have had works carried out on their homes.

Another good place to find contractors is to explore the area around the property you want to develop to find building sites for homes similar to yours. Any contractor who has pride in their work will have their name displayed on sign boards or on their uniforms.

Pay close attention to the site, perhaps visiting on separate occasions. Does the site look well managed, tidy and safe? Has the area surrounding the site been disturbed? Do the contractors conduct work in a professional, respectful manner?

While not every contractor needs to have a flashy website, a strong web presence can be a good indicator of a contractor who takes their work seriously and cares about their reputation, especially if their site boasts a portfolio and accreditations.

A detailed portfolio can give you an idea of whether the contractor has the relevant experience and is of the appropriate scale for your project. If you want to build a single-storey rear extension, a contractor specialised in complete home builds may be an unnecessary expense or may not be interested in your project.

Carry out background checks

Once you have narrowed down your selection of contractors, you should carry out thorough research to establish which will be most qualified and capable of completing your project.

But first, give them a call or visit their office to find out whether they are interested or have the capacity to work on your project to begin with. There is no point wasting time doing background checks on contractors who you won’t be working with either way.

As there is no mandatory licensing or even qualification necessary for someone to call themselves a builder in the UK, it is up to the person hiring a contractor to verify their qualifications and membership of respected trade organisations.

You might think Building Control will offer you a level of protection against cowboy builders, but as Philip wrote in a more details blog on the topic, the amount of scrutiny Building Control Officers can actually apply to a project is very limited and easily circumvented by unscrupulous contractors.

We recommend that you check for membership of The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), as each member is independently inspected, must follow strict coded of conduct and customers of an FMB registered builder can make use of their arbitration services should something go wrong.

Other reputable trade associations include the National Federation of Builders (NFB) and the Guild of Master Craftsmen (GMC). You can approach members of any of the above with a high degree of confidence.

Before hiring a contractor, you should at least:

• Verify experience in the type of project you are going to carry out
• Confirm existence of any professional qualifications or trade organisation memberships they advertise
• Contact prior clients to ask about quality of work and professionalism
• Look into their financial standing, annual turnover and insurance carried

This information can be gathered yourself through interviews, contacting trade associations and Companies House, but you may also want to hire an independent researcher or accountant to carry out more detailed background checks.

Ideally, your contractor will have capacity to take on your project while not being wholly dependent on it. A good rule of thumb is that the value of the contract should not be more than 20% of their annual turnover, except for very large scale projects.

When talking to prior clients, look for any between discrepancies between what dates and costs they provide and what the contractor reported to you – a deliberately misleading CV is a red flag.

Ask for quotes

When you are confident with your picks, the final step is to ask for the contractor or contractors to provide quotes for your work.

While everyone has their own priorities in the triangle of cost, quality, time, you should never choose your contractor purely on price. A low price can sometimes even be a warning sign, as it shows that the contractor does not have a clear grasp of what the project entails.

Spending more on a higher quality construction can often pay for itself through a higher end value for your home. Finding the right balance between quality and price – and thus which contractor is right for you – can be achieved through discussions with your architect and quantity surveyor.

A contractor without experience in your scale or type of project is unlikely to be able to tender accurately, which may lead to increased final costs as the true complexity of the works reveal themselves.

To protect yourself from ballooning costs at the project progresses, it is always recommended to agree to a fixed price contract before work begins so that the contractor must bear the costs if the works exceed the agreed price.

You may also think this protects you from underpriced tenders, but a desperate contractor may still take on work even if they can’t possibly deliver at the agreed price and specification. This will result in corners being cost and labour being exploited to save money, and may even result in the contractor folding while the project is underway.

No matter who finishes your home, we’re the best place to start

If you have any questions about contractors, the tender process or anything else about building your dream home, feel free to get in touch with us at lesley@dyergrimesarch.wpenginepowered.com