builder Builder's references - what to ask?

[oldcoop]

We have found our preferred builder and he has given us a huge list of former clients to speak to for references... would love some ideas on what to ask.

 

Guess it is good to know strengths/weaknesses etc so we can keep an eye out and head off any issues before they arise.

 

Any tried and tested questions or things that you have found useful?

 

Thanks!

[Declan52]

Was the build brought in on time and budget???

Would you use him again???

If problems arose how did you and the builder deal with them???

Have you had to get him back to do any snags and if so was he quick to resolve these???

Loads more but a good start.

[swisscheese]

41 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Was the build brought in on time and budget???

Would you use him again???

If problems arose how did you and the builder deal with them???

Have you had to get him back to do any snags and if so was he quick to resolve these???

Loads more but a good start.

 

All good!

Another for us was Communications being important, so is he approachable, open to ideas, thinks on his feet etc etc.

Sometimes you may have items that are more important to you, what are your priorities? That kind of thing.

 

[Jeremy Harris]

I'd second communications being important, as well as how well they deal with problems.  Every build, no matter how good the builder, will have a few problems, it's pretty much the nature of building, together with the inevitable things that are out of the builders control, like the weather, reliability of suppliers etc.  What matters is how well the builder tackles these. 

 

I would be wary of only speaking to people that the builder provides as references, as with the best will in the world they are likely to be the jobs that went well.  If you can find others who haven't been given as references you may get a more balanced view.

 

FWIW, I've taken a firm line when it comes to providing references for all the companies that have been involved in our build.  They have all been told the same by me, and that is that I will provide an open an honest reference if anyone asks, without bias.  That even applies where I've received a discount, in the case of two suppliers, and both were confident enough in their quality of service to agree to that.