Christmas is creeping closer and closer, and so a lot of people across the country are going up into their attics, or voyaging into their cupboards and dusting off their decorations, bringing out the tree and getting tangled in tinsel.
Over the weekend the Tecton Centre got our tree out, and it is now by the door, welcoming people in with a wave of colour and light. It’s getting a bit more festive here, even the conversations with clients and builders are beginning to adopt a slightly more festive theme. Besides asking about how everyone's Christmas shopping is going, builders are saying that they have heard of some people who have chosen other builders based upon the fact that they gave an unrealistically short time frame in which they would finish the job so that everything would be done and ready in time for Christmas.
Some builders will say this for the sole reason that it gets them the job, but this doesn’t mean that they will stick to that time frame. A few will take the job on, and as Christmas approaches they are no closer to completing the job as promised. This scenario brings a saying to my mind – “if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”. This quote can definitely be applied to the few builders who can make seemingly unrealistic promises. We would personally never work with any of these types of builders, but we have a list of builders who we have worked with in the past who have earned a good reputation from their past clientele.
Nobody likes to be messed around, even more so when you’re paying for a service, this is especially true when it is so close to Christmas and there are large sums of money involved. So that you can dodge being messed around, we have a few tips for you to bear in mind when on the hunt for a builder.
Ask around your friends and family for recommendations of builders who have done work on their properties. If someone you know and trust has had some work done by someone whom they are happy with, then you can trust that the builder will do a good job, and they’ll also be grateful for the recommendation. (Do not make the mistake of relying solely on this, just bear it in mind).
Ask at least three different builders to provide you with quotes for your work. Not only will this get you a better price, but it will give you an idea of the scope you should probably give your budget to plan for any extra costs which you may incur.
Produce a detailed description of what you want, and where you can, include detailed drawings. An easier route is to get an architectural firm such as ours to draw up plans for you, they will be to scale and so builders should be able to read them. Visual information is usually easier to read than a written description when it comes to work like this, written instructions can be open to interpretation whereas a detailed plan shows exactly what you would like.
Make sure that the quotes you get are for everything you would like done. We hope that these helpful hints will assist you with finding the right, reputable builder so that you don’t get messed around this Christmas.
Written by Jade Turney – Building Tectonics Ltd.
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