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Xenophobia rules in Northampton as the local paper advises consumers not to employ builders who ‘don’t have a local accent’. This is under the heading ‘Dodgy and Dangerous’. Oh dear!

The Northampton Herald and Post is advising it’s readers on how to avoid cowboy builders in response to a report from Sainsbury’s Home Insurance which highlights how big the problem of rogue traders actually is in Britain. Sainsbury’s report shows that more than 6 million homeowners have suffered from botched building jobs in the last 5 years at a cost of some £3.7 billion.

You know we are always improving our information about avoiding cowboy builders here at DIY Doctor. Much of what the paper has to say makes sense, but this is one piece of advice that we have never seen before. We won’t be adopting this advice as part of our Home Improver’s Protection Solution, because we believe that people should be free to move around the country, and even around Europe, providing the service they are offering is a good one.

Go to our Home Improver’s Protection Solution pages to find out how you can really find a good tradesman and avoid Cowboy Builders. This includes free tools such as find a tradesman, Price Doctor quote checking tool, and the Desired Outcome Contract to use with your builder.

There is also lots of advice on our You Tube Channel – including a seminar from our Managing Director Mike Edwards which deals with avoiding the cowboy. Click play on the video below to see what he has to say.

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Jason Costner of Saltburn, North Yorkshire was jailed after leaving one pensioner with no water in her bathroom for five months and another with a hole in his roof over Christmas – in the snow.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that a rogue trader has been jailed for leaving a trail of destruction and misery in his wake, not to mention the financial pain he inflicted. You can see their full story by clicking on the photo above.

Costner gained the confidence of people by offering his services free or for very little money, and then started to charge large sums of money, before turning abusive and threatening. He even managed to pocket money received from an insurance claim without completing the promised work.

He was arrested for fraud in September 2011, and received an 18 month sentence on Monday.

DIY Doctor wants to eradicate Cowboy Builders

We have been working on various ways to arm yourself against getting caught by Cowboy Builders. We continually update this information as we develop new advice and products to help keep you safe.

On the main website you will see a button ‘HIPS’ which stands for Home Improver Protection Solution. OK so we know that isn’t as catchy as it could be, but the information in there is invaluable if you are having work done on your house. The information is free and so are most of the products. (Where something is not free we clearly say so).

What’s new?

Lots of sites give you advice on avoiding Cowboy Builders, but we also give you some tools to weed them out and help you choose good builders.

The latest addition to the website is a product called Price Doctor. The basic product is Free and takes about five minutes to use.

Price Doctor allows you to find out how much your extension should cost you before you speak to your builder, or if you already have quotes from builders it allows you to check that those quotes are reasonable.

How often have you heard the advice ‘get three quotes and pick the middle one’ but how do you know any of them are right? They might all be too much or,worse, too little.

How can a quote that is too cheap be a problem?

You might think it is great if you get cheap quotes but if the builder gets to your job and realises he hasn’t quoted enough, he will need to find ‘extras’ to charge you, and these can be hefty.

A good and experienced builder will quote you based on his knowledge of similar jobs, and so any extras will be legitimately unforeseen things. (In our building days, we once found an old Morris Minor buried in a garden when the diggers went to dig the foundations for a conservatory. That is a legitimate extra, it could not have been foreseen by anyone!)

Check your quote with Price Doctor before making your decision

If you know your builders quotes are about right you can be sure they are pricing correctly which means they know what they are doing and they are fair about what they charge. This is a good sign!

If your preferred builder has quoted significantly more you can ask him to look at the Price Doctor quote with you, you could even go through the process together. He might have a good reason for being more expensive, but at least it gives you a tool for negotiating with your builder.

Some builders are using our full level of Price Doctor to prepare their building quotes, in the knowledge that Price Doctor provides a clear and transparent quote for the homeowner. The more comprehensive versions of Price Doctor do cost money but for £20 you get increased choices for your build, a ‘shopping list’ of materials and you can also get a professional model which allows you to build in profit margins and trade discounts on materials.

What else do you have that protects me against Cowboy Builders?

We will continue to add to this list as time goes on but these are the main areas to help you avoid cowboy builders so far.

• Desired Outcome contract
• Guidance notes for entering into a contract with your builder
• Advice on using a payment plan
• Advice on finding a tradesman

Go to DIY Doctors Home Improver Protection Solution section to see all our advice, products and information to help you find a reliable builder and avoid the cowboy.

To try Price Doctor for yourself please click on the banner below, and do let us know how you got on with it.

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Price Doctor is a new online ‘webware’  that allows homeowners and builders to effectively calculate the price of building works, and order materials.  

Price Doctor has been designed by building professionals as well as software developers with you in mind. The system displays options at every stage, using pictures with captions. You don’t need building experience, you don’t have to downloaded anything, and you only need basic computer skills. If you are reading this blog you can work Price Doctor.

You work your way through a series of screens by clicking on the picture that matches the design and material you want. At the end the free package displays the total cost of the chosen extension. Upgrade to other other options from £10, to include access to materials breakdown ‘shopping’ lists and labour costings.

Price Doctor can be used for any extension project from self build and DIY, to project management, and by professional builders.

• Homeowners: Check and compare builders’ quotes for your job.
• Builders: Price your job using your own labour and material rates. Add the profit margins you need to cover overheads and profit.

We would like to hear from you if you have used Price Doctor, or would consider using it, or even if you tried to use it. Our aim is to provide the homeowner with as much information as possible so they can avoid cowboy builders, and ensure they are getting a fair price for their build.

We want to assist small builders in providing accurate and detailed breakdowns of costs. This allows them to quote accurately for their own business success. Price Doctor helps to ensure a transparent and respectful relationship between builders and their customers.

We would like your experiences of using the software and also what difference Price Doctor has made to your build plans.

For more information about Price Doctor follow the link http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/price-doctor/

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Price Doctor is a web-based software that allows you to check any quotations you have had for your planned extension. You can make sure the builder’s quotes are reasonable either before you meet them or after they have sent you your quote.

Price doctor was designed by DIY Doctor so of course we recommend it, but we would love to know what you think.

We promise it is really easy to use.

Click here to try Price Doctor

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If you are a builder you can use Price Doctor to estimate your jobs, this can be done with the customer, so they can make choices on the finishes they want or you can do it when you get back to the office. It will really speed up your estimating times, and will deliver a professional looking quote in super quick time, avoiding hours of paperwork and expensive mistakes as you try to catch up with quotes at the end of a busy day.

The pro version can be programmed to take account of the discounts you receive from suppliers to ensure you accurate calculations.

It is very easy to use and it guides you through the process of your build using easy to follow pictures, and there is a massive blue help button on each page if you can’t work out how to answer.

For homeowners who are not sure whether to think about building an extension, or who have some quotes and just want to check if they are fair and accurate then try Price Doctor’s Extension Estimate Checker for free.

You can go on to pay for extra features such as a list of materials and a breakdown of labour costs. These are great features if you are going to project manage your own build.

There are lots of helpful tips on how to ensure that your build runs smoothly whether you are builder or homeowner, check out our Home Improver Protection Solution HIPS) page for more information.

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