Chris Kane MCIOB, director, Greendale Construction
All contractors should have to become licensed before they are legally allowed to carry out work, similar to the licences required by contractors wanting to work with asbestos. As part of the conditions of issuing a licence, builders’ previous work would have to be inspected, previous clients contacted and, after issue of the licence, regular reviews would be required to detect whether a business’s standards dropped following staff changes or acquisitions, etc.
Of course, all this would cost, and adding another layer of red tape to the industry is not going to be popular with small builders who are already spending their evenings pricing jobs. Licensing is also unlikely to drive out black market work: there will always be “cowboy” clients looking for a rock-bottom price.
Peter Gracia FCIOB, Gracia Consult
The industry could benefit from a quick and inexpensive adjudication process for resolving disputes between small clients and builders similar to the FMB/RICS Adjudication Scheme, on which I act as an adjudicator. Under the scheme, if a homeowner is unhappy with the standard of work, the FMB and RICS appoint an adjudicator and the case is evaluated in just over three weeks.
Verdicts are as legally binding as other court-based adjudication decisions and adjudicators’ fees are capped at about £1,100. Parties generally represent themselves so there are no legal fees.
Nic London ACIOB, managing director, N London Construction
There are already plenty of schemes and initiatives, including those run by the FMB and NHBC, plus other accreditation, such as the Chartered Building Company scheme. But most people either aren’t aware they exist or they don’t care.
Small clients should check whether a builder is VAT registered – if not it means they are not earning more than £60,000 a year, so contracting them to build an extension worth £100,000 makes no sense as they’re obviously not already doing that type of work. Of course, VAT registered firms are going to be 20% dearer, which may put clients off, and people are so price orientated in today’s climate they’re prepared to take risks.
Jay Finley, managing director, FT Finley
A new licensing scheme isn’t the answer. There are already a number of accreditations in place, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and BS OHSAS 18001, which recognise high levels of quality management, environmental management, and health and safety standards, respectively.
Businesses holding these sorts of accreditations need to make sure they’re communicating this to their customers. Likewise, quality measurement tools, such as customer satisfaction surveys, can help — positive testimonials from happy customers are a great stamp of approval.
Emma Nicholson FCIOB, founding director, Women in Sustainable Construction and Property
Building trust and creating deeper connections with a client helps, but it’s attracting new small clients that’s the main issue and media coverage of “cowboy” builders gives them an unfair impression of what to expect. Employing a competent project manager to oversee a builder’s work is a step in the right direction and on green refurbishment projects, a licensed and trained Green Deal Assessor and Green Deal Adviser helps to increase client confidence.
Builders should advertise their training, licensed accreditation and membership of the Considerate Constructors Scheme to steer people away from rogue traders.
