Finding tradesmen

[Annpan]

I am aware that this might not be the right section for this, but I reckon it is the closest.

I was just sorting out a cupboard in th eves of my house and I saw that we have fungus growing on the stone *AAARRRRRGGGHH* Damned idiots that sold us this house were bloody fools and never looked after it, we have found out that the chimney hadn't been swept and the septic tank hasn't been emptied in 16 -18 years... bloomin' heck.

Anyway we were already considering some pretty major re-build work at the rear of the house so I will have to find a builder sooner rather than later and since it looks like we will need treatment for dry-rot and wet rot as well

Has anyone got good advice as to how to find a decent builder? We don't know that many people around here and so are a bit reluctant to ask around, also I took the advice of my mother and got her guys to do our windows in our last property and they were crap.

I am starting to freak out a little, we knew the place needed work but this is getting pretty serious. I am hoping we can afford it all

[Martin]

talk to your neighbours and friends, they should have first-hand experience of "who's good" in the area. Sometimes a builder who's been doing the job for 30 years with few formal qualifications can be better than the "fully certificated" (and hence expensive) big companies

[Annpan]

We've only lived here 2 months so don't know the neighbours well enough to know who to ask (we have sussed that a few are morons but haven't sussed the good eggs yet ) Also we are young so any friends that we have ar not in the same financial situation as us (i.e most live at home with parents or is shared digs) and as I said we have just moved to the area so everyone we know is back up in Glasgow... Its tough to meet new people in a new area sometimes, it takes time

I think that we will resort to chapping the doors of neighbours who we think have had work done, but, people have different ideas of what is 'good' work. eg. my mother thought it was great that her window guys cleaned up when they had finished. I would have been more imressed if they had used wooden lintils and screw caps on our (expensive) wooden windows, they can leave it for me to hoover, I've got that covered and it's not what I am paying £50+ an hour for.

Sorry for the rant, once bitten twice shy, and all that.

[wulf]

It could be a good opportunity to meet your neighbours - many people will respond generously to a need and those that don't are probably ones you want to be aware of anyway!

Wulf

[Thomzo]

Hi Annpan

This might seem a bit of an odd suggestion so bear with me.

There are a number of business networking groups around the UK. They are primarily aimed at small businesses and helping them to find work. I have found them an incredibly useful way to make contacts in this area. If you contact the leader of your local group, they will be able to tell you what meetings they hold and so on. If you say that you are new to the area and looking for good tradespeople then they will either recommend someone or allow you to attend a meeting.

If they just recommend someone then you still won't know how good they are so it would be best if you can get yourself invited to a meeting. That way you can speak to other members of the group and get their feeling for the quality of work.

The groups I would suggest you contact are:

British Referral Exchange: http://www.brenet.co.uk/

BNI http://www.bni.com/

or 4networking http://www.4networking.biz/

The last one has a forum so you might get some leads from there.

It's a good idea to ask the tradesperson for the names of some recent customers who can give you a reference, especially anyone near you. Then go and actually talk to those people and see what they say. Look at the work that was done.

A good tradesperson will be happy for you to do this (as long as you don't mind giving a reference yourself if you have the work done). It's a good way to get to know your neighbours too.

Cheers and good luck.

Zoe

[colhut]

we have found out that the chimney hadn't been swept and the septic tank hasn't been emptied in 16 -18 years... bloomin' heck.

Well the chimney is a problem and I'd have it swept before I contemplated using it. The septic tank though, if it has not needed attention for 16-18 years thats a good sign. Septic tanks should not need anything doing to them at all, the natural bacteria (if it is not killed off by inappropriate chemicals entering the system) should break down everything just fine. As a kid our tank needed emptying every 2 weeks, until we discovered that the outflow drain was dug into clay. A weekends work digging a finger drain fixed the problem totally, we never needed the tanks emptying again after that (I lived there for another 16 years). so I'd probably not worry about that.

[Stonehead]

we have found out that the chimney hadn't been swept and the septic tank hasn't been emptied in 16 -18 years... bloomin' heck.

Well the chimney is a problem and I'd have it swept before I contemplated using it. The septic tank though, if it has not needed attention for 16-18 years thats a good sign. Septic tanks should not need anything doing to them at all, the natural bacteria (if it is not killed off by inappropriate chemicals entering the system) should break down everything just fine. As a kid our tank needed emptying every 2 weeks, until we discovered that the outflow drain was dug into clay. A weekends work digging a finger drain fixed the problem totally, we never needed the tanks emptying again after that (I lived there for another 16 years). so I'd probably not worry about that.

Ours needed emptying after about 10 years (three years of us, seven of previous owners), but that's largely down to its size versus the size of the household. There's generally been two to four people living in the house, but the tank is bit on the small side.

The farm across the road, with a septic tank double the size of ours and the same household size, hasn't emptied its tank since it was put in during the 1950s.

It's worth rodding outlets once a year or so to check they're clear. Ours was fine last year, but when I rodded the outlet recently small stones and sand came out followed by a rush of water. That suggests a cracked or dislocated pipe so I'm going to have to dig it out and see what the problem is.

The only problem is that the sand and stones came from about 10 metres up the outlet (and 10 metres down from the tank). And guess what, that area has about three metres of spoil above it (dumped there about 20 years ago). The ground is too soft to dig out safely by hand as well so it's going to be a tracked excavator job. More expense. Sigh.

[Annpan]

I have had the chimney swept, and I am not that worried about the septic tank (though it does stink a bit)

It's worth rodding outlets once a year or so to check they're clear. Ours was fine last year, but when I rodded the outlet recently small stones and sand came out followed by a rush of water. That suggests a cracked or dislocated pipe so I'm going to have to dig it out and see what the problem is.

What might an outlet look like? I can't see anything that might be one (except the paving slab over the access hatch)

The thing with ours is that it is really near the house (the access is only 2 metres from the back door) If we are getting any rear building work done it'll have to move further back, only problem with that is that the garden slopes upward away from the house and it is mid terrace so the only access (for a digger) is across a field at the back and then down the hill to our house *sigh* nothing in this house has been done properly (a fact we did not realise until it was too late) and I would not be surprised if I find that there isn't even a seep away, probably the water just seeps into the foundations of the house *even bigger sigh*

As with stonehead, yet more expence

*toddles off to cry into her camomile tea*

[Millymollymandy]

One way to find the soakaway is, if you have a dry summer, look for a patch of green grass and moist soil. That's how we found out where ours was.

I can't help with the tradesmen, but I do know the feeling. Commiserations!

[the.fee.fairy]

Go to the local pub!
i used to work in one, and people used to come in all the time saying that they were new to the area, and did we know the best people to talk to about building/decorating/car mechanics. As the workers were generally regulars, we knew who did a good job and who didn't, and would be happy to point the newcomers in the right direction.

buying a few drinks is always recommended!!

[Annpan]

Ahhh great idea fee, will do.It is a bit of a treck to the nearest pub but it sounds like a pretty good idea

Zoe - great idea on the networking sites but I would feel a bit of a fraud using sites that are for small business networking, though I will use them when I start to sell produce from my land (chutneys, jams, etc) so thanks for the links


Thanks

[Thomzo]

Annpan
Don't worry about using those networking links. The whole point of these networking organisations is to find customers for their members. You are a customer!

Good luck with the project.

Zoe