Before deciding which tradesperson to choose from those quoting for your project, read through the homeowner checklist items below to get a feel for what to look out for when it comes to deciding who to award your work to. Whilst the majority of tradespeople are honest and genuine, and keen to provide a great service, it's still important to use your own judgement and carry out your own checks. Top Tradespeople only act as a means to find local trades and services wishing to quote on projects of specific types in their area, so you will still need to undertake your own due diligence as you might if you found a telephone number of a company in a local newspaper or other online directories.
There are quite a few different types of certificates and accreditations which tradespeople can hold. Some of these are general trade wide accreditations and certificates, but some are trade specific (for example, gas fitters and heating engineers will need to be Gas Safe Registered, but general builders will not). Some certifications and accreditations are absolutely essential, and legally required before your tradesperson can carry out a project for you, so you should clarify that the tradesperson has the certification needed before allowing them to undertake work. Primarily these are related to gas and electrical work. Gas Safe and Part P are the absolutely essential certifications which contractors must hold, if they are carrying out gas work or electrical work respectively. There are ways to check that your tradesperson is Gas Safe registered or Part P registered.
Gas Safe Register replaced the CORGI registration in 2009. It is the official list of gas engineers who are qualified to work legally on gas appliances. Gas Safe Register is the official gas registration body for the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey, appointed by the relevant Health and Safety Authority for each area. By law all gas engineers must be on the Gas Safe Register.
Tradespeople who deal with gas carry an ID card with up to 6 digits which can be checked on the Gas Safe Register. You should ask to see the Gas Safe ID card of any tradesperson carrying out work involving gas at all, and furthermore you should ensure that the services the gas fitter is carrying out is within the scope of the gas safe certification they hold, since not all Gas Safe engineers can carry out every type of job.
In 2005 the Government introduced electrical safety rules into the Building Regulations for England and Wales. Because of this, most fixed electrical installation work in homes must, by law, meet the Building Regulations.
Part P states that anyone carrying out electrical installation work in a home must make sure that the work is designed and installed to protect people from fire and electric shocks.
Part P applies to any changes made to existing installations, including any parts that have been rewired. In April 2013 further changes were introduced, reducing the range of electrical installation work that is notifiable - removing some requirements in kitchens and outdoors.
Again, ask to see accreditation / certification.
There are plenty of other trades associations and accreditations which tradespeople might hold. These include membership of The Guild of Master Craftsmen, The Federation of Master Builders, TrustMark (a Government endorsed scheme of vetted and accredited tradesmen) or the SafeContractor scheme. SafeContractor is used by numerous public and private sector organisations as a pre-qualification, when they are short listing contractors, suppliers and consultants for jobs.. Ask the tradespeople wanting to quote whether they are members of any other industry associations. In addition to these general schemes there are also more trade focused schemes too which don't carry the legal necessity of Gas Safe or Part P, but are certainly helpful when it comes to deciding which contractors stand out from the rest. An example of this is 'The National Association of Security Installation Contractors' which is specifically for those service providers who work in the home security installation sector. There are many, many different types of associations and trade bodies which your prospective tradespeople could be members of. For a complete list visit our 'Trades Associations' page.
Naturally you want to deal with a tradesperson or company who has the necessary experience to carry out your work so don't be afraid to ask them whether they have carried out work like your project before. Ask them if they have any references from people who they have carried out similar projects for and also check their Top Tradespeople profile page to check for evidence of similar projects there. Many of the tradespeople upload photographs of their work for you to browse through and you should also receive a link to any trades members who want to quote on your work when they decide they want to take up the opportunity since our system triggers an automated email to let you know someone wants to quote for your project.