Tips
How to Choose the Right Tradesperson for Your Renovation
HG Group · 15 July 2026
01 / 02Quick answer
Choose a tradesperson by checking they carry public liability insurance and the right trade registration, then asking to see recent work and speak to a customer from the last few months. Get the full scope, price, timescale and guarantee in writing before anyone lifts a tool.
Choose a tradesperson by checking their insurance and trade registration first, then asking to see recent work and getting everything written down before a tool comes out of the van. Those three steps filter out almost everyone who's going to cause you a problem.
Poor workmanship costs UK homeowners an estimated £4 billion a year, according to research from the Federation of Master Builders. Most of that is avoidable, and it usually traces back to something skipped at the start.
Vet Them Properly Before You Ring Round
Ask how long they've been trading, whether they're the one doing the work or subcontracting it, and to see photos of jobs like yours from the last few months. Reviews help, but a customer you can actually speak to helps more. The Federation of Master Builders keeps a searchable list of vetted builders if you want a starting point.
Check the Insurance Is Real
Public liability insurance is the minimum. Ask for the certificate, check the dates, and check the cover amount is sensible for the size of your job. Anyone doing this properly has it to hand within the hour, because they get asked all the time.
Match the Registration to the Trade
Gas work has to be done by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register, and most electrical work in a home needs a competent person scheme registration such as NICEIC or NAPIT. These aren't optional extras, they're the legal baseline, and they take two minutes to verify online.
A good tradesperson will happily give you the boring paperwork. The ones who won't are telling you something.
Ask What the Guarantee Actually Covers
A guarantee is only worth what's written on it. Find out how long it runs, whether it covers labour as well as materials, and what happens if the business closes. A workmanship guarantee backed by nothing is just a nice sentence.
Get a Written Quote, Not a Number on the Phone
A proper quote lists the work, the materials, the price, the payment stages and roughly how long it'll take. An estimate scribbled on the back of a card leaves everything open to argument later. If something changes mid job, that should be written down too before the extra work starts.
Be Careful With Deposits and Pressure
A deposit for materials on a big job is normal. A large cash payment up front, a price that only stands if you decide today, or a firm that turned up uninvited are all reasons to slow down and get another quote.
02 / 02Key Takeaways
- Check public liability insurance and the right trade registration before anything else.
- Poor workmanship costs UK homeowners an estimated £4 billion a year, according to the FMB.
- Ask to see recent work of the same type and speak to a real customer.
- Get scope, price, stages, timescale and guarantee in writing before work starts.
- Big up front cash payments and pressure to decide today are the clearest warning signs.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many quotes should I get for a renovation?
- Three is the usual advice and it holds up. It gives you a sense of the fair price without dragging the process out for weeks.
- Should I always go with the cheapest quote?
- No. If one quote is a lot lower than the others, something has usually been left out of it. Compare what's actually included line by line before deciding.
- Is it normal to pay a deposit?
- For larger jobs, yes, usually to cover materials. It shouldn't be the bulk of the price, and it shouldn't be cash only.
- What if the work goes wrong?
- Raise it in writing with the tradesperson first and give them a fair chance to put it right. A written quote and guarantee make that conversation far easier.
Get a Maintenance Check Booked
None of this is complicated, it's just easy to skip when you want the job started. Ten minutes of checking at the front end saves most of the problems people end up ringing us about later.
If you've spotted any of these around your own home, get in touch and we'll take a look.
Written by
HG Group
Also known as Handy Grandad. A family run team of tradespeople covering Blackpool, the Fylde Coast and the wider North West. Everything here is written by the people who do the work, not a marketing department.
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