How to Choose a Builder
This is a big question and one of the most challenging decisions homeowners are faced with when embarking on a building project.
You will be welcoming the builders into your home for several months, potentially with you still living there. And it’s more than likely that they’ll be smashing it up to start with! Confidence in your choice of builder is key to your well-being and the success of your building project.
There is no set path to follow that will ensure you choose the right builder. But there are many things you can do to make the process a lot easier.
Step 1: Finding a builder
This is the first step and it is worth exploring as many avenues as possible to get a list of potential suitable builders. It is worth noting at this point, however, that most builders will not be keen to come and provide a quote or have a discussion if you do not have plans in place. Putting together a quote, even a basic one, can be time-consuming as it is important to give a level of accuracy. Therefore, if the idea is just a vague one there are probably going to be far too many variables for a builder to give you an accurate quote and hence a lot of their time would be used up with little hope of winning a contract.
Once you have your plans in place there are several places to look for builders.
Recommendations – have any family, friends, work colleagues, or neighbours had any building work done? Would they recommend their builder?
Online builder search engines – there are a few different websites where you can either advertise your project or search for builders such as the Federation of Master Builders, mybuilder.com and ratedpeople.com.
Be as detailed as possible when filling in the information to make sure you only get enquiries from builders capable of delivering your project.
Remember the builder will have to register with the website. So, this will be a limited list of builders you have access to.
Seek recommendations yourself – local online community groups (for example on Facebook) often discuss things like builders.
If you’re not on there already, join up and have a search through previous posts for anyone who previously may have asked for a builder recommendation.
Check as many posts as possible as it’s likely the question will have been asked more than once.
Check the people recommending to make sure it’s genuine.
Put your own request up there to see if you get any different recommendations.
Industry recommendations – does your architect have a list of trusted builders? Have you spoken to a kitchen or glazing company yet? They also may have recommendations in your area.
Step 2: Creating a shortlist
By now you will hopefully have a decent list of builder contacts. Now it’s time to start narrowing them down to a shortlist of 3 or 4 of your favourites. Here are some things you might want to consider to help you with your choices:
Online reviews – a reputable builder should have some sort of online presence. Although it’s not a must have. Long established businesses who generate most if not all of their work from personal recommendations may not need to have much of an online presence. If they do though, check for online reviews on independent websites. If there is a negative review, it’s worth reading to understand what may have caused it and also what response the builder may have given. Most independent platforms make it very difficult for reviews to be removed, so if a builder has all positive reviews, then that’s good news.
Company websites – most builders should have a decent website where they showcase their projects. What you’re looking out for here is not necessarily a glamorous website, but projects that look similar to yours. If they mainly do much larger projects then yours may not be as interesting or profitable for them so you may not be a priority. If they mainly undertake smaller projects then they might not have the experience of delivering one your size.
Companies house – this is essentially where records of a business are kept by the government. It’s only as good as the information put on there, so it can’t always be relied upon to give you the information you need. However, it should be able to let you know the basics such as how long a business has been going and whether it submits annual accounts on time. Just to give you some peace of mind the builder you’re looking at is an established business.
Recommendations – if you have a list of recommendations from people you know or local online groups, you may need to ask some more in-depth questions to fine-tune your list:
Was their project similar to yours?
Did it end on time?
Did it go over budget?
What were they like to deal with?
Were they punctual/stuck to meetings or times they were due on site?
Did they provide lots of information – contract, payment schedule, timetable, scope of works?
What was the communication like?
Was the site kept tidy?
Step 3: Meeting your shortlist
Each project, each client, and each builder is different so you will have to work out what is important to you when it comes to choosing your builder. However, here are a few tips and suggestions when it comes to meeting your preferred builders.
Have an initial phone chat to establish their interest in quoting and approximate availability. Most people will want to start as soon as possible of course but you should be realistic about your builder’s availability – most good builders will have a certain amount of forward booking so will probably not be available to start immediately.
Meet at the house and have the plans ready so you can have a walk around and talk through the build.
Think about what you are looking to achieve. You will have more chance of an accurate quote if you have firm plans and ideas.
But... be open to discussion and change! What may look good in your head or on a set of plans may not work that well in reality. A good builder will not be afraid to challenge the plans for a more efficient way of doing things.
Ask questions about the business - do they employ staff or subcontract? Subcontracting is very common in the construction industry for this size of business. How will the trades be managed and the work checked? Would they have regular site meetings with you, who would attend them? Who would be your point of contact? These are some examples, but you would need to think about what is important to you to see how they respond to those questions.
What type of project do they normally specialise in?
How many projects do they have ongoing at any time and how might that affect yours? Most builders do and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it could have an impact on your project if they have to leave to go elsewhere when you weren’t expecting it. This might be ok as the courtesy should also be extended to your project should it need to be a priority but the builder must be open and honest about this process with you so it doesn’t come as such a shock.
What completed or ongoing projects can they show you? It would be good to see both if possible so you can speak to one of their clients who has gone through the process from start to finish with the builder so they can talk to you about how the builder was at each stage. Seeing an ongoing project will give you an idea of how a building site is kept and also a live reaction from the builder’s clients who are right in the thick of a build.
Are there any planned changes to the company that may affect your build? Such as a key member due to leave during your build. This can have a big impact, especially if this person was integral to the quoting process.
How do they run their payment schedule? What is the process for signing off the project as complete and what are the terms for final payment?
Do they have a contract? If so, could you see an example?
Will they be able to give you a timetable of the work so you can have a forecasting framework for what will be done and when?
Do they coordinate with external trades such as kitchen/glazing companies?
Try to get an idea of what they are like as people. You will have a lengthy relationship with your builders so it helps if you click on a personal level.
This step is about building as big of a picture as possible of the builder, the people, the business and the experience so you can base your decision on other factors as well as price and availability. You must invest some time and effort into this part of the process. Fancy getting a bit technical?! Set up a checklist or a spreadsheet to note down information about each builder so you can then compare and contrast once you’ve met them all.
Step 4: Making your choice
You’ve taken your longer list and narrowed it down to your favourite few. Now comes the most daunting bit… making your final decision.
Some headline things will influence your decision, such as price and availability, but they shouldn’t be your sole focus.
Price
Everyone will want their quotes to be as low as possible, but the lowest isn’t always the best for a few reasons:
Quality – a reason for a lower quote could be a lower standard of workmanship or materials used.
The low price could be a false price – does the scope of work include everything? There could be key elements of the project not included which could mean in reality the build will cost a lot more than you may initially think.
Very keen to win your business – this doesn’t have to be a negative. Building work can be a little bit up and down so this builder may just be in a quiet patch for very valid reasons. However, it could also be because they’re struggling to find work because of a lack of recommendations and positive reviews.
Availability
Again, there could be positive or negative reasons for a builder being available at short notice. They may have had a cancellation or have a lot of flexibility in their team and structure to allow for work to start relatively soon.
However, a lack of work may be the reason for a builder being available quickly. This is something to be wary about.
What else to consider
If you have done your research and had productive meetings with your prospective builders, you should already have a good idea of your favourites.
Price is important, but you will need to properly scrutinise the quote you have been presented. It is important to read in detail what has been included in the quote. It is equally important to read what has been excluded and on top of that, to try and work out what has not been referenced in your quote. Never assume something is included unless it is specified. The devil is in the detail too – there may be an allowance for a certain element such as fitting of floors or bathrooms, but you need to know what that allowance is for before you can make an informed decision on whether the allowance is enough or whether you will need to increase this in your budget.
Top tip!... Read every element of the paperwork you get from your builder. This could take time and be a bit difficult to understand if you don’t know what specific building or legal terms mean. But it is incredibly important to know at this stage rather than when you’re committed further down the line. Know what is included and what isn’t. Only when you know this will you know for sure if the quote is in the budget for you
A key part of the process is doing your due diligence. Go and see their work, and speak to their former and current clients if possible. Speak to anyone else you know who’s done a build to find out what went well and what went badly. Use this information to add to what you would like to know to build up a list of questions to ask them.
In addition to seeing their work, do some digging online to try and get an understanding of the company, the people who work there and the sort of build projects they excel at.
The aim with all this work you will be doing is to try and build an excellent all-round picture to better inform your decision. Do not be seduced by one thing, such as price, timescales or promises that sound too good to be true
Everyone will have different priorities. You need to look at each aspect and decide what is important to you. You should have a full project budget in front of you so that you can assess the quotes you have been given by your shortlist and see how each one fits. You may want to scale back the finishing budget to be able to afford your chosen builder. Or you may be able to increase the budget in other areas or have a more robust contingency if the quotes are lower than what you expected.
The key to making the right choice is being thorough. Do the work now and it will pay off. You will have a much less stressful build and be in a much healthier financial position at the end if you do this work and make the best choice at the start.
