How Do You Find A Good Tradesman?
Good tradespeople generally have no difficulty finding work and may have difficulty handling the volume of work available to them. Over time they have often created a demand beyond their working capacity, they can charge accordingly, and their pricing often works out better in the long run by needing less remedial work, if any.
That’s All Well And Good But How Does A Person Find One?
Things have changed a lot in the last decade. The advent of smartphones, fast internet, and a plethora of information and review sites have popped up. People are a lot savvier than they used to be, and they need to be. Less reputable people are often available to do the job, generally faster or cheaper, or both.
Reviews
The bottom line is that there is no number one review site. It is that simple. Fake reviews do mean that people need to be savvy when picking a tradesperson. However, that doesn’t mean that every review is fake. Much like buying a product from Amazon, people read the reviews. They want to know what to expect and whether that purchase is worth making. Whether tradespeople like it or not, ultimately this is a sales transaction. A service needs completing in somebody’s home.
Delve Deeper
Many people take to the internet in the form of private investigation before making a large purchase. They want to see a few things from the business. If you notice a particular tradesperson and you are interested in using them, if it is for heating work, check that they are on The Gas Safe Register
What you can check is that they have a website, that the website is updated and is a going concern. Have a look on Facebook and see if they have a business page. Some tradespeople may not, but I think they should have. It is free. Read the reviews there.
Help From Google
Over 90% of all web searches are through Google. Google has a free business platform called Google My Business. Google ranks businesses based on their relevance to their area, the value they bring in terms of content, and their reviews. This is good news for the consumer. Also, it is a great and quick way of checking whether somebody is worth using.
While it may be possible to write fake reviews, it is impossible to get genuine reviews written by happy customers. A fake review would be very generic and not refer to any specifics, because the work hasn’t taken place.
Alternative Review Sites
There are other places such as Which? trusted reviews, Trustpilot, yell.com although this is a dying platform and then some of the paid sites like Checkatrade, and TrustATrader. The important thing is that the reviews are real and it should help you think about whether the purchase is worth making. The good news for the consumer is that there is nowhere to hide in the world of reviews for any rogue traders.
