| Your personal background. |
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[img]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/B1i3u9-Q-KS._CLa|2140,2000|B1BhXt4vkUS.png|0,0,2140,2000 0.0,0.0,2140.0,2000.0._UX342_.png[/img]Having to find good local tradesmen when no
one you know can recommended one for a job you need doing
can be tricky. But getting it right is fundamentally important if you don’t want
to have to pay to correct work that was done badly,
or even plain wrong. Worse still, especially if the work is
of a structural nature and involves the electrics, you could be left with a dangerous
home which might be breaking the conditions of your
home insurance cover. However, with a bit of common sense and investigative digging, you
should be able to avoid the cowboys and find a
qualified, competent tradesman who will do a decent job without ripping you off in the
process.
The first thing to do is to ask friends and family if they know anyone they can recommend as the chances are they’ll be both competent and won’t want to mess you around.
Ask if you can check out the work they did, ask how
much it cost and whether it was completed on time. Be wary if
the tradesman is a relation of friends as it may be that the recommendation was made out of
a desire to help the family member get work, rather than because they are good at what they do.
These sites work by putting those who need work to be done in touch with tradesmen.
The tradesman that advertise their services on the sites live and die by the consensus opinions of those they have done work for and who leave their comments about them.
As with eBay and Amazon, it’s soon clear which tradesmen are really good at what they do and which
struggle to garner decent reviews from previous clients.
Watch out for those comments which are rather too enthusiastic
and quite often posted rapidly over a short space of time
(check the dates of the posting) and sound very
similar. It’ll probably be a tradesman trying to boost their profile and cover up for other shoddy reviews by using false names.
You could also use the postcode search on the Trading
Standards website. If a gas engineer says they’re CORGI registered, or if a builder says they’re in the
Federation of Master Builders, ask for proof.
Don’t just take their word for it. Certain jobs, such as the installation of a boiler,
have to be done by a qualified individual if they’re to meet legal
requirements. Of course, some tradesmen are perfectly competent and good at what they do without such qualifications.
But such individuals should probably only be employed if you’re totally happy with the recommendation you’ve had and
you’ve checked out other work they’ve done. It’s vital that you get a quote for a
job in writing. If a tradesman tries to subsequently adjust a quote, make sure you get that in writing too.
If you decided to try and save money by going for the cheapest quote
you’ve had, rather than the person you think would be best for the job, you
could live to regret it. If any tradesman asks you to pay in full up front, be very wary.
For larger jobs, and jobs which may require a certified individual to do them (re-wiring a house, for example, or
fitting a gas fire), you should check the tradesman has the correct insurance.
If something goes wrong after the work is completed, or even while it’s being done, you might need to seek compensation. Likewise, always check with your insurer to make sure you’re covered during
major building work and other projects of a more serious nature.
Tell them in advance as they may need to adjust your cover,
possibly increasing your premiums slightly, while the work is carried out.
Here at Policy Expert, our dedicated customer service team is always
on hand to help - either online or over the phone. Whether you
want assistance in finding the right policy or even handling a claim, we make sure it’s all handled by experts.
We sat for a while, listening to the radio without speaking.
At nightfall we headed out for Bo’s boat. Born Robert Conley, Bo was
a sixty-eight-year-old artist who spent his days riding along the
shoreline on a gold-painted bicycle collecting pieces of scrap wood he used as canvases.
For years, he had painted pictures of the anchorage and
its residents. He left his works unsigned
and free for the taking on the sidewalks
around Sausalito; those who wanted his signature had to find him in the park
to negotiate a price. We arrived to find Bo belowdecks, relaxing in the saloon with a young woman who I gathered was living
there. She didn’t give me her name, but told me that she had cleaned up for
the party: either side of the room had bright red pillows to sit on, and Christmas lights
had been strung from the ceiling.
The four of us climbed up onto the deck. As the fireworks
started, Dream shouted at the San Francisco skyline
glowing across the water, declaring the spectacle a
waste of money that could have been spent on the anchorage.
" Bo shouted back. Bo handed me a can of warm beer, and I asked the young woman where she was from. She told me she had been visiting the United States from Russia, but she had overstayed her visa and was afraid to go back on land for fear the police would arrest her. As the fireworks continued to explode, Dream continued to shout.
Bo, getting drunker, continued begging him to stop. Once the show ended, I realized how late it had become. The bay was silent, and many of the lights on the hill had gone out. I asked Dream for a ride back to shore. We traveled in silence. When we arrived, he gave me a big grin and tipped his hat. I told him I hoped to see him again soon. "
he said, offering me a friendly wave. As he floated
away into the dark and fog, I walked back to the bus stop, happy to know where I was headed.
 A year passed before I
returned to the anchorage. That September, I found Bo in his usual spot, beneath a Dunphy Park oak tree listening to the radio.
His hands were covered in paint and he
was in a good mood. "A guy started buying my art," he said.
"Then I started thinking differently." He told me he rarely spent
his nights on the water anymore. He’d begun sleeping at a friend’s house and working odd jobs for
the locals in town. "I tell them, ‘Excuse me, it’s five-thirty. Bo had grown up in segregated North Carolina, and had moved to the waterfront fifty years earlier, when many black working-class boatbuilders still lived in the area. Though I’d heard white anchor-outs claim that their community was "the most
diverse group of people in the world," Bo was one of the few black residents I’d met.
"It used to be a shipyard where they’d build
ships for the army," he said. "Then it happened again. They gave
the Indians beads for land, then they gave the black guys crack." Today, Sausalito is more than 90 percent white, part of the fifteenth-Ârichest county in America. A well-dressed woman approached him and handed him a Steel Reserve. "Thanks, Bessie,
" he said. Bo cracked open his beer. "Everyone tells you how bad
it is out there, how you don’t have a bathroom.
They don’t let you enjoy it. Everyone is so hung up on toilets.
He looked out on the bay.
Barges creaked and moaned in the distance as anchor-outs
rowed to and from the shore, occasionally stopping to greet each other along the way.
"Things change fast," Bo said. Not long ago,
he revealed, Rose had left the anchorage.
"Her boat sank, and she had another baby. I think some other boat might have hit it—might have put a hole in it. They got it up a few times, but then they let it go. "I might be
the oldest—shit," said Bo. "My birthday’s coming up.
I’m getting ready to go." He told me about the anchor-outs’ funeral tradition. "They make a boat
for you. Everyone puts what they got to say to you on it. And they push it
out and light it on fire.
My page - completesolutionservices.co.uk |
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