Selecting Tradespeople – Know About The Tradespeople You Hire – Finding A Quality Tradesmen – Reviews, Tips, Advice

Most of the time when it comes to renovating your home or getting something repaired, we face the challenge of locating a local tradie who is competent, reliable, honest and reasonably priced. How many times have you heard people bemoaning the difficulty in simply locating a suitable tradesperson that we can confidently hire and pay to get the job done. Sometimes we take on the first tradesman we meet and hire him without any prior knowledge of his skills and level of expertise. This often proves to be a huge mistake – not only can it cost us a lot of lost but money, time and hassle but often means that we have to go out looking for another tradesman to come and complete the job the other one failed to do right. To help you make the right decision we created this website where we offer advice, reviews and tips and choosing the right tradesman to do the job at the right price in a competent manner.  Following is a list of obvious, but sometimes overlooked pointers to assist in locating a plumber, electrician, solar panels installer or any other tradesman who you can rely on to deliver skills and do the work you need.

Go for only the licensed professionals

It seems obvious that all of the plumbers, carpenters, electricians and tradies we hire are not only qualified but are licensed. Always check this. Most of the online tradies websites specify their license details and this makes it easier for you to get the license verified before you hire them. The rule is to not only check but make sure that their license is current and applicable to their trade as well as checking they are not disqualified for any reason. How to check their license? Details here.

They should always have insurance

It is important that you hire only a trades person who has  insurance covering him so that in case they damage something at your home or on your property during the job, you will not have to bear the expense of rectifying any damaged caused. There are two kinds of insurance for the tradesmen; income protection and liability. The former covers any injury that they might incur on the job while the later covers any damage that they might cause to their client’s property. Apart from this, there is also the public liability insurance which covers the damage that might be caused to a third person or their property during their work contract. When you hire someone make sure that their insurance papers are updated, sighted and verified. Do not proceed unless you do.

Get a written quote

The old adage ‘if its not in writing it is invalid’ is especially true when it comes to getting quotes for work done by tradies. Instead of relying on their words, it is always critical to request a detailed written quote covering all the work to be performed including installations and parts and materials being used and replaced. The quote needs to be detailed so that you have a clear picture of what exactly you are being charged for. It is your right and something you shouldn’t hesitate to demand. Get quotes from multiple tradies so that you can make a clear analysis of the budget and the cost for the project that you are undertaking. Instead of going with the company which provides the lowest quoted price you need to dig deeper. Find out the reasons why they are quoting so low and what is it that the other companies are offering to justify charging rates higher than the other quotations.

Do not rely on every review you come across

Do not believe everything you read on the internet. Before hiring a tradesman, it is important that you read reviews about the company you will be working with. Ask in your neighborhood, in online forums and review websites like truelocal.com.au to try to find out previous clients experience when they hired that company. If people on forums suggest someone else, do not disregard their suggestion but try to find out about them as well. Client reviews of companies on ‘impartial’ review sites should always hold more ‘sway’ than some random review that you read on the tradies own website. However, the decision at the end of the day will be entirely yours to make so keep all the reviews in consideration but do follow your instincts as well.

Referrals work too

If you have had a good experience with other trades companies in the past who provide other services, try asking them for a referral to the service you are seeking out. Ask them if they know of any reliable plumbers or electrician, for example, in your area. Usually, the locals have a better idea about the people working in your area. Asking them could save you the hassle of looking for a trades person on your own. If you hire the one they refer you to or not, that is entirely up to you but at least you would have a baseline to begin with. In the same way, it could help to go with referrals that your trusted friends or neighbors recommend as well.

Look for professionalism

Professional attitude says a lot about the company or person you are hiring. Regardless of the the kind of job, if the tradesman who comes to your doorstep is not properly attired and fails to conduct himself properly in terms of him assessing the required work, quoting the work and clearly understanding and communicating his approach to doing the work, it may not be a wise decision to go ahead with him. It is very important that the person you hire takes his work seriously and is professional enough in his conduct to inspire confidence in him. This way you will have a degree of confidence that the work will be completed on time and to the right standard. Another clue to look for is the way they present their quotation, as outlined above, it should be detailed, in writing, outlining time frames, parts used, payment terms and a detailed description of the job,. If they follow the proper method of presenting a formally written quote then again it adds to your confidence in that company.

Ask questions, then ask more!

Remember When you are looking to hire a trades person for a job, it always right to ask questions and only hire them once you are completely satisfied with with their answers. If not, look elsewhere! 

Tradesman Ratings Sites

The following websites are not recommendations when seeking out quality trades but can be used as an ‘adjunct’ when looking for feedback on various businesses. Read this article first!

http://www.truelocal.com.au/

https://www.servicecentral.com.au/