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“How do I find the right builder for my project?”

4Your building project is a significant investment and as such, there are a number of areas you may need to consider in choosing your builder to ensure that you get value for money and a quality end result that will endure, be finished on time, defect free, within the contracted budget and without any unforeseen or hidden extrasor any dispute to sour the whole experience!

It is unlikely you will repeat the experience, so try and ensure it has been a good one!

Consider the following:

  • How long established?
  • Have they sufficient resource to concentrate on your job from start to finish?
  • Financial standing?
  • Own Craftsmen or Tradesmen?
  • Recommendations?
  • Are they appropriate for the type of work?
  • Are they members of an appropriate trade body whose codes of conduct they are obliged to comply with and by whom they have been vetted eg Federation of Master Builders?
  • Do they have appropriate insurances and are they willing to show you evidence? If they have they won’t mind showing you.
  • Do they offer insurance backed warranties in case something goes wrong?
  • Are they willing to enter into a written contract appropriate to the size of the works?

You may have a builder in mind of course, who you can trust and get along with and you may have already had building work carried out previously which you were entirely satisfied with.

In any other case, our best advice would be to establish some background, prepare a brief and drawn information and obtain competitive quotations based on the same information, from at least three builders of a comparable size.

RSA can do this for you, as part of our extended service. We are familiar with a range of contractors and builders that we have known and worked with for many years and can assist you in putting together an appropriate tender list and prepare tender documents.

Once a builder has been selected after tendering, we can prepare contract documents, provide the construction information and deal with the builder through the construction process and negotiate the final account on your behalf, should you wish.