Rogue tradesmen have become infamous in recent years, for good reason! Many people have forked out hundreds if not thousands of pounds only to find that the person they trusted has done a shoddy job, not actually fixed the problem and is now nowhere to be found.
This is an awful situation to find oneself in, but there are safeguards you can put in place to make sure you get exactly what you want – not what the tradesman wants. Your money is on the line so you have every right to implement these steps, which will ensure you don’t deal with untrustworthy tradesmen.
- Make sure they are accredited
There are a few different accreditations that traders can have – search for which accrediting agencies are associated with the trade in question. In most cases reputable traders will be eager to show off these accreditations, so be wary of those who scoff at them saying how unnecessary they are.
These are made to safeguard you as a consumer, an important thing to keep in mind. Plus, having these qualifications means that the tradesperson has met high, consistent quality standards, and they will be proud to show them to you. And at the very least, trustworthy tradespeople will have your best interests at heart.
- Get multiple opinions
There are a few ways that rogue tradesmen can rip you off. The first of these is by misdiagnosing your actual problem. To mitigate the risk of this happening to you, make sure you get multiple tradesmen to diagnose your problem before you decide that that is in fact what needs fixing.
Ask your family and friends if they have dealt with any particular tradesmen before, as their recommendations may be particularly valuable to you.
- Do your research
The second big way that rogue tradesmen rip off customers who aren’t in the know is by using inappropriate materials or methods to resolve the problem at hand. This can take the form of unnecessary work being done at an extra cost, or material costs being hiked up for no reason other than for them to pocket the extra money.
Avoid this by researching the average prices for the job you need doing – Google can be a great help for this although we recommend getting lots of quotes in addition, as they are more realistic estimates.
- Have a cooling-off period
In many countries this is par for the course when making a significant purchase, but not all companies offer this privilege. Rogue tradesmen will often try to rush the purchase so you don’t have time to do research and reconsider their offer – sometimes this means they offer a huge discount for signing the contract on the day.
You want to avoid signing any contracts until you’ve had some time to reflect and research the options available to you. Set yourself a cooling-off period of three to five days to make sure you’re making the correct choice.
- Check online reviews
Nowadays consumers have a huge advantage in their protection against rogue tradesmen that wasn’t available 20 years ago – they can Google businesses before agreeing to sign a contract with them. We highly recommend looking for all of the online reviews available.
The more reviews they have the better. Try to determine whether these are real reviews or not (if they follow some sort of pattern or are all far too congratulatory and not descriptive enough, they could be fake).
- Compare as much as possible
Once you’ve checked all of the online reviews you can, make sure to gather as many quotes as possible. There are websites like this one where you can do this super easily. Getting multiple quotes at once is a godsend for people who hate filling out forms.
Once you’ve got your quotes, see where the prices fall and compare them to the average. Try to find out why that is – and if it would be worth it for you to pay more, or not. Getting in touch could be beneficial in this case. You will have the chance to chat to them about why they price their products in that particular way. Understanding the process gives you tranquility and assurance you aren’t getting ripped off!
You should feel good about your home improvement service purchases. Following these steps will reduce your chances of being fooled by a rogue tradesmen into trusting them. Keep your wits about you, trust your judgement and you could save thousands down the line!
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