Welcome to DIY Doctor's blog

If you are planning building work this year we recommend that you draw up a contract with your builder.

There has been a lot of talk recently about Cowboy Builders, and what a drain they are on our economy, but not so much focus on what you can do about it. Regulation and Government intervention can only work so far, the most effective vehicle for change is to use market forces which are driven by consumers, so DIY Doctor decided to make it their mission to help eradicate Cowboy Builders by giving homeowners the tools they need to avoid them.

There are things you can do to help you find a good tradesman and avoid the Cowboy Builder. We have a section on the site called HIPS which stands for Home Improver Protection Solution. This section is dedicated to helping you avoid Cowboy Builders by providing you with useful information to arm yourself with before you choose your builder, then it gives you valuable information on how to choose and contract a builder and finally keeping control of costs and processes throughout the build.

What is HIPS?

There are five main sections in our Home Improvers Protection Solution (find out more by clicking here):

Price Doctor
Online software that allows you to get a costing of an extension before you meet your builder to discuss prices, the free version will arm you with a rough figure so that you can tell if your builder is quoting a reasonable figure. There is a paid version which allows you to put in a much more detailed set of choices and will break down the costs of materials for you into a ‘shopping list’ which is ideal if you are planning your own build.

Desired Outcome Contract
This is a contract, written by DIY Doctor and checked by legal professionals, which has been designed to make it clear what you expect from your builder, and what he can expect from you. Disputes often arise over unreasonable expectations on either side, but if all stages of the build and payment are discussed at the beginning then this leads to fewer arguments.

If a Cowboy Builder is presented with a contract before they start work they are much less likely to take the job on. Even better it is provided free to DIY Doctor users.

Desired Outcome Contract – Notes
By reading through the accompanying help notes you will know which questions to ask to make sure you have a legitimate builder eg. are they insured, how long have they been trading, can they provide references for similar jobs. You will also be prompted to ask for proof of the answers to these questions.

Third Party Payment Plan
We recommend you use a third party payment plan. They are designed to hold the money for the build securely for you. This will reassure your builder that you can pay for the job, and will release the money in pre-agreed stages such as: on delivery of materials; on completion of first fix; and on completion of the build but with a percentage held back against ‘snagging’. They often have warrentees and dispute resolution procedures attached too.

Trustmark
Trustmark is a Government approved body which lists tradesmen who are insured and belong to trades bodies. Although this is not a failsafe method of choosing a builder it will rule out any fly-by-night traders who do not want to join trades bodies because of the way they do business. The attitude of a builder who bothers to get insurance is much more professional, and trades bodies often have dispute ombudsmen attached to their organisations. You can easily check the details out online.

For more information on how to make a Desired Outcome Contract work for you when you are planning building work, please watch this explanatory video.

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The Green Deal is a government initiative with the aim of making 14m properties across the country more energy efficient. This is in a desperate bid to reduce the carbon emissions currently being released into the atmosphere. The government has set itself a target of reducing these emissions by 80% by the year 2050; a big goal that needs ambitious measures to take place in order to be met. It is no surprise then, that this month we are seeing the launch of “the biggest home improvement scheme since the Second World War”, as coined by climate minister Nick Clegg.

The appeal of the Green Deal comes from the idea that home owners will be able to give their homes necessary energy efficiency upgrades at no upfront cost. This is due to the “golden rule” of the Green Deal. This states that property improvements will be financed by the Green Deal Loan; a financial system that allows the property owner to pay back for improvements in monthly installments through their energy bills. Now here’s the clever bit: the money paid towards improvements will never be allowed to exceed the money the property owner saves on their energy bills. Hence, the owner of any energy inefficient property can have it spruced up by Green Deal Installers, without the usual pinch of heavy upfront costs.

It all seems a bit too good to be true, and now perhaps it is. A Guardian survey of the 24 listed Green Deal Assessors found that, out of the 18 that were contactable, 5 claimed they would be charging an upfront fee for these assessments ranging from £95-150. Ouch! After months of being told that there will be no upfront cost involved in this revolutionary scheme, property owners are bound to be releasing some “tuts” and raising some “I told you so” eyebrows at this news.

It is now feared that, despite the savings that will be inevitably made by property owners in the long run, they will be put off ever taking part in the scheme if faced with these upfront costs. After all, times are hard in Britain, and with Christmas lurking in very recent past, nobody has buckets of spare cash laying around.

However, what is vital to remember at this crucial moment for the Green Deal Scheme is that its long term benefits are invaluable to both the planet and property owners. Not only will the Green Deal help the ever-more damaged environment, it will significantly increase the value of properties and make them more comfortable places to live.

So don’t be too quick to judge the Green Deal; it means good and will hopefully be allowed to do good.

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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has expressed concerns about
installers of energy-efficient products using high-pressure tactics to ensure that customers sign up.

Following their investigation the OFT have written to fifty leading installers of energy-saving products to insist that they improve their practices.

The OFT found various problems which ranged from, paperwork issues, to staying in a customers home for up to three hours, to failing to provide information on the customers rights to cancellation.

Energy Saving Installations expected to increase because of the Green Deal
As the Green Deal comes into effect this month this sector of the building industry is expected to experience growth, while the rest of the building industry is suffering from contraction. So it is vital that steps are taken to improve consumer confidence in installers of energy-efficient products.

The Green Deal will allow homeowners to have energy saving work carried out on their house and then pay for that work by adding the cost to their energy bills. We have written more about the Green Deal in our Projects section.

How to Avoid Cowboy Builders
DIY Doctor has been working to help consumers avoid Cowboy Builders for years. we do this with a variety of measures listed under our Home Improvement Protection Solution (HIPS) section of the website.

The information is free and includes a ‘Desired Outcome Contract’ designed to be used by homeowners who are employing builders and installers, there is also information on finding reputable tradesmen through Trust Mark. To help protect your payments there is information about Bond Pay which securely holds the money for the contracted work; only paying the contractor once each stage of the work is completed.

How to stay safe when employing energy-saving installers

If you are considering having energy saving work on your house, then you can read through the information in our Home Improver Protection Solution section to help you employ the right installer for the job. As a brief guide to avoiding a situation where you feel pressured into buying energy-saving products follow these steps:

• Don’t employ cold callers
• Ask friends for recommendations, if they have had similar work to yours
• Ask the installer for references from customers who have had similar work to yours
• Don’t expect an installer to be able to give you a price over the phone
• When booking appointments make it clear you will not decide on the day they call
• Ask about cancellation procedures when booking the appointment
• If the installers seem pushy on the phone don’t book an appointment
• Make appointments with three installers and keep notes on each one, so you can compare like-with-like
• It is a good idea to have someone else with you who can ensure you ask all you should and help you take notes

There is more information on our HIPS package here.

If you want to find out more about the Green Deal we have project pages under our Green Living section which you might also find very useful.

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One might prove me wrong but when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, most people tend to settle for things that don’t really suit them, so they lose their motivation soon afterwards. Surely, we all can read more, exercise more, spend less time browsing the ‘net and do more around the house. However, one can only be so determined about it.

This year then, why not look to break an old habit or two and start from a place so close to every DIYer’s and gardeners heart? Our pride and joy, the garden shed!

Image by Lenore Edman

Surely, the lazy part of us would insist that de-cluttering our sheds during the season that we can’t use most of its contents is an absolute waste of time. Yet wouldn’t it be nice to have all your tools and equipment all lined up for when the next season of maintenance works and gardening comes around? Here are five easy steps for sorting out that handyman hideout of yours.

Clear Out Everything

It may seem quite obvious, but the first step to de-cluttering is to actually acknowledge what kind of tools and fixings you’ve been hoarding, along with all the odds and ends and, let’s face it – rubbish. In order to be able to organise everything, clear your shed out completely and move on to grouping the contents, separating garden tools from DIY tools, garden equipment from power equipment and so on. Throw out all the obvious rubbish and set aside the things you’re unsure about. Give your shed a good sweep and, if necessary, a scrub too.

Know What You’re Doing…Or Get Planning

Now that you’ve got a clearer vision of all the hidden treasure you’ve been storing in your shed for so long, the next thing you need is a clear vision of what you want to store in there. Think of what you use all those tools for, and why you’d want to keep them there. Obviously there’s no point in moving your garden tools away from the garden, but if you happen to do most of your DIYing in your basement and just use the shed for all your spare equipment and materials, it’s a sure sign you needn’t keep them there.

Invest In Storage Units

In case you’re still under the illusion that you’re quite an expert when it comes to organising, you’ll be surprised what difference storage units like shelves, box sets etc. can make. As we’re talking sheds rather than a living room, you don’t have to worry too much about making them look aesthetically pleasing which also equals lesser expense. Pick up a plain shelf set and a few plastic storage boxes from your nearest homestore – or, being a hardcore DIYer, you can always make them yourself. However, it may unnecessarily drag out the process. Besides, you can still put your skills to use in our next step.

Use Vertical Space and Walls

Not everything can go on a shelf or in a box, so this is the time to take advantage of our handiness and come up with some installations to make the most of the space in your garden shed.

To prevent any future clutters, focus on solutions that will help you keep things off the floor. Your solutions should also be easily accessible to increase the chance of things being put back again once you’ve finished using them, instead of leaving them lying around.

Try to use as much vertical space as possible: use ceiling racks to store away bikes and bulkier equipment. Use walls for organising tools and smaller hardware; pegboards are great for adjustable shelves and can hold heavier stuff like brooms, garden spades and rakes. If you start running out of space, remember the door is another surface you can make use of.

Quality Control

Even if you’ve managed to rid yourself of a fair share of your shed’s contents, simply stacking everything back would be a crucial mistake if you want to minimise the clutter.

Ideally, I’d recommend you carry out a proper inventory of your tools and equipment, focusing on the ones you really use. Unless it’s a piece of family heirloom, there’s no need to keep holding on to any half-broken or broken stuff that you’ve been meaning to repair for months. Or the one you’ve never used, like that heavily discounted wood-carving set you got yourself two years ago, strongly believing that you might have a knack for that (but didn’t).

However, that doesn’t mean you’ll end up wasting all that hard-earned money spent buying these tools – you can easily try and sell some of the relatively unused ones online. Or why not donate some to charity.

So, did you find these tips helpful for de-cluttering your shed or does it still look like a battlefield? And have you got any useful suggestions of your own?

Estelle Page is an interior designer and a passionate DIYer who knows how easily all those odds and ends one doesn’t want to waste can make a clutter. She blogs for Dunster House.

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Mike Edwards from DIY Doctor has been testing out new products in our film studio. Well we say film studio – that makes our converted container sound very grand. (This photograph above isn’t it by the way – this one is from one of our Pinterest friends).

So we will be letting you know about the products Mike recommends shortly, but in the mean time here is a way you can waste a bit of time when you should be doing DIY.

We would like to pay homage to the humble container – there are so many uses that they can be put to, and we often feature cool container conversions in our blogs. So please send us any photos of containers that you think deserve to be featured. If anyone asks you are doing valuable ‘research’ online.

You can also click over to Pinterest and find the DIY Doctor boards there pinterest.com/diydoctor. If you want to share your own favourite photographs with us then email DIY Doctor and ask for a link to our shared board.

You can Pin photographs of anything to do with Home Improvement, DIY or craft, and gardening. In fact anything home-related that interests you, but keep it clean, or it will be off. Any of us who have found our Pinterest boards will know we also have a fondness for Owls (don’t ask) so you can post those too. But no more cute cats please, or dogs in jackets, pigs in wellies, etc there are enough of those on Pinterest already.

Happy DIY pinning!

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