As the government today launched tougher standards for the government-licensed TrustMark scheme for domestic tradesmen in the repair, maintenance and home improvement market, its chairman Liz Male outlined a goal of tripling the number of businesses in the consumer protection scheme.
Currently, 14,500 firms are registered with TrustMark, after demonstrating they meet the technical and legal criteria laid down by TrustMark’s 29 accredited scheme operators. These include trade associations such as the FMB, certification bodies such as FENSA, and local authorities.
But Male told Construction Manager that she hoped “to be at 40,000 in a couple years – or less if the message gets across to the industry. In the past, we didn’t get out there to promote it enough, but now we’re finding that insurance companies are promoting TrustMark firms to their customers.”
She quoted figures that suggest there are a total of 148,000 businesses in the construction RMI sector, excluding sole traders operating below the VAT threshold.
TrustMark chairman Liz Male with accredited tradespeople. She hopes to have 40,000 construction companies registered in two years
Male now hopes to bring more scheme operators on board, including manufacturers that operate approved contractor lists, chambers of commerce, Building Control departments and niche specialists such as the Arboricultural Association for tree surgeons.
She added: “The relaunch of TrustMark is a clear sign to industry and any reputable firm in the domestic sector that government wants to give more recognition. TrustMark provides the best tradesmen with the opportunity to thrive through reputational benefits, increased business opportunities and quality referrals from the TrustMark website and other signposting channels.”
Relaunching Trustmark is one of the first major announcements from the Industrial Strategy for Construction – Construction 2025.
At yesterday’s launch event, Peter Hansford, the government’s chief construction adviser, said: “TrustMark is pivotal to improving the reputation of the UK construction industry which is why we committed to relaunch it as part of our industrial strategy.
“I know the government is committed to supporting TrustMark, expanding the scheme to include a greater proportion of the industry, and promoting the new core criteria standards and the industry and consumer groups that support them. It wants to see more trade bodies, industry groups and any organisation with a panel of approved contractors joining TrustMark this year so that it can grow to cover much more of the sector.”
The new, tougher criteria for scheme operators will introduce:
- Firmer standards – requiring operators to meet certain criteria, rather than using “best endeavours”
- A requirement for operators to show how they are raising standards to address identified areas of consumer detriment and other trade-specific issues.
- More vetting of tradesmen, including specific checks that must be done on firms upon entry to the scheme, but also at renewal stage or on an ongoing basis.
- More proactive use of complaints data by scheme operators, more reporting of that data, more transparency in the complaints process.
- Changes to protect the brand and reduce misuse of the TrustMark logo.
- A new requirement for scheme operators to develop ways to measure the effectiveness of their code of practice
The new standards will apply to new scheme operators from 3 April, but existing scheme operators will have 12 months to adapt to the new core criteria.
The relaunch of the scheme comes as TrustMark published a new survey claiming that incompetent tradesmen have cost UK homeowners an estimated £1.9bn over the last year – five times more than domestic burglary claims over the same period.
Its findings suggest that of the 18 million British homeowners who have employed tradesmen in the last 12 months – from roofers to plumbers to patio contractors – 17% have had to have at least part of the work redone at an average cost of £600 per household.
The survey also showed that a quarter of respondents (26%) said they didn’t know where to find impartial information on choosing a tradesman to carry out work in their homes; and only 26% of homeowners cited a recommendation from friends or family as the key reason for employing a tradesman.
