It used to be said that you could always tell if a Radio 4 play was set in the countryside as the estate agents were always the good guys. Does the same thing apply to builders? In fiction set in a rural milieu, builders are usually portrayed as being pillars of the community and indispensable to its survival, whilst their urban counterparts are portrayed as being semi-criminals, with no interest in the construction process except as a form of blackmail and intimidation.
Of course, it is easier to get away with villainy in big cities as not everyone knows everyone. If you work in a community where everyone does know everyone, then word of mouth works against you to a much greater extent than it does in town, where it seems builders can be making the lives of honest householders total misery at one end of a street, whilst being appointed to start similarly disruptive works for unsuspecting individuals at the other.
As in everything its who you know. Unless you are in the trade, there is no reason why you should be getting a good deal. If there is a genuine oversupply of 7’ wide engineered oak flooring boards, somebody who knows somebody will have a home for it. “We’re chucking out this practically new fridge, do you know anyone who wants it” is the sort of offer I get from time to time and is perfectly genuine. The deal is the builder doesn’t want to waste good stuff any more than you do and is loath to skip it, but unless someone can take it off his hands in the next twenty four hours he will have no option. If a complete stranger (ie a builder whom you have met for the very first time) makes you the same offer, there is something wrong with the fridge. The basic rule of construction is getting work done properly for a sensible price is a good deal. Reassuringly expensive is what I like to think my clients think of me.
When I am meeting a builder for the first time, I prefer it if I can meet the chap who runs the company rather than just the chap who does his pricing for him. Reading spectacles is always a good sign, as are Docksiders, and the throw-away propelling pencil for some reason. It’s a VERY long time since I met a builder with his own silver propelling pencil. I’m nervous about ties. I’m also nervous about posh builders in a way I’m not nervous about posh people who run landscaping companies. I’m quite suspicious if prospective builders want to show me round a job they are doing for someone where they HAVE NOT ACTUALLY FINISHED and I’m very suspicious if they say they can start tomorrow. If they have already been to look at the site that is encouraging, as is a not TOO new Ford Transit with padlocks on it. Roll-ups used to be a good indicator but no longer, although it is still a good sign with tradesmen (who are subject to their own set of rules of engagement). Up-front conversations about payment are good, whilst requests for money up front rings alarm bells, as does pooh-poohing the requirement to conform with recent regulation. “They don’t reckon that” as a response to something I’ve specifically requested is almost enough to make me terminate the interview immediately.
A few years ago, I suggested that a client who wanted to turn the upper part of his office into flats negotiate a tender with a local builder whom I knew to be efficient. Just before we were about to start, he asked me to meet someone else, a builder/developer who “wanted to give him a price”. I arranged to meet him outside a project he was halfway through. As he climbed out of his souped up mini in his zip up suede jacket and aviator shades, alarm bells started to ring. “Hallo Gus!” he bellowed in a fruity greeting as he clasped me with a handshake like a lump of Swarfega. “Want one of these?” he continued as he lit up a Dunhill Menthol. The second set of bells kicked in as I clocked the ironed jeans and the suede loafers with small chains over the tongue and soles as thin as pancakes. “How much is all this costing?“ I asked, as I was shown round a building site about which he seemed to know very little. “Oh well, we usually wait until it’s over to work it all out”. “And what about your clients?” “Oh they trust me”. When he told me that he’d prefer to price my drawings using his own documentation rather than the schedule of works I’d written myself, although he’d be cheaper than the price I already had, I had to tell my client that it was either him or me. I was disappointed but sometimes you have to cut your losses.
Eighteen months later I ran into the engineer and, although it was quite gratifying to hear that the matter was now on its way to the High Court, it didn’t really compensate for being a waste of a nice job.
Gus Alexander Esq.
email - gusalex@btinternet.com
Mobile - 07879 - 696434
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