Pre-contract Check

[jonnydarcy]

Hi,
I'm about to give some work to a company to draughtproof/overhaul and double glaze the windows in our house. Can someone recommend what I should do in order to check the legitimacy of the company before any contract is agreed or signed off.

Presumably getting the VAT number is an obvious start. And getting their official registered company name to check they're not bankrupt would be advise? Anything else?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jonnydarcy]

BTW the company want to use an F220 contract for minor building work. Presumably that is a good thing?

Cheers

 

[jonnydarcy]

Oh and they use white cedar for their sashes. Is this a decent wood for the job?

 

[gissle]

See if they are on the web, are there any reviews? I think you can look on a site called contractor check or something like that.

 

[jonnydarcy]

No web presence it seems. They're a family business that have been in operation since the 70s apparently. Not seeing a great deal of proof to be honest.

 

[jonnydarcy]

No-one else out there who can give a steer at all?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Have you asked them for a couple of referees who you can follow up yourself? Seeing another job that they've done is generally a good way to judge how good a job they'll do

As to using cedar, that's a good timber choice. All traditional sashes were made from softwood and using clear (i.e. not knotty) softwood replacement parts is therefore in keeping with the rest of the structure

BTW an F220 contract ios a standard FMB (Federation of Master Builders) contract. You can see a copy here. Amongst other things there is a 7-day cooling off period in the contract

 

[Ouch77]

Is it a limited company? Is it registered? If so there's loads of websites you can use to check publicly accessible records held at companies house, such as the names of any shareholders, directors, financial statements and registered address.

'DueDil' is one I've used, and whilst you get a couple of 'anonymous' tries, registration is free and painless and allows better repeated access.

 

[jonnydarcy]

Great thanks

 

[^woody^]

You don't need to check anything. You could just have a basic contract with the work content and start and end dates, and price. And just ensure that payment is not made until all the work is completed.

IMO, you/they are going overboard with that contract for a bit of draughtproofing

 

[jonnydarcy]

Thanks. It's not just draughtproofing but overhauling as well as several replacement double glazed sashes. Looking at between £5k and £8k's work I'd guess.

Is it still not worth it?

 

[jonnydarcy]

Also to say that as a result of needing some new sashes they require a deposit up front. They're happy not to take anything up front for the draughtproofing and overhauling.

 

[Ouch77]

It's your money, at the end of the day, you're entitled to do as much or as little to ensure it's being spent with a reputable and solvent company.

Ask if they're registered with any professional bodies, GGF, FENSA etc.. These bodies sometime guarantee any work and protect any money for the customer.

 

[^woody^]

Also to say that as a result of needing some new sashes they require a deposit up front. They're happy not to take anything up front for the draughtproofing and overhauling.

For deposits, no large company should need one or be asking for one.

If it's a one man band, then a deposit helps with cash flow and this can be a big help. But I would wonder why a large company would want one?

Perhaps from the company's point of view, they may want a deposit from a customer who they may be wary of, or to cover themselves for specialist work

Just be wary of how much deposit you are paying and exactly what it is for - and try and ensure that any deposit is not more than the value of any work done or material supplied for any particular length of time.

As for solvency checks, its not worth it for a domestic job. You can spend your time investigating and worrying, and however many checks you do, a company can turn up at 9 AM and be solvent, and bankrupt at 9:05. And you would not see it coming.

Your lever is in the payments, so don't have any significant amount of money paid out before work is done or materials are on site

 

[jonnydarcy]

Good advice, thanks. The guy invited me round to his house as he and his wife are in the middle of doing it up. He showed me the windows they'd had fitted which look good, so I'm already feeling more confident.

He was also saying that he preferred to use beading to putty on the external window (although we could have what we wanted). Although less traditional he preferred the strength of beading.

Also our boxes are big enough to take sash stiles that are around 40mm wide. One of the joiners that came to look at our windows suggested that using 20mm (4/12/4) double glazed panels in these sashes would be a little too wide as there wouldn't be enough wood either side of the glass to support it, the risk being that in a few years the wood could split. If this is true, would this be mitigated at all by using a relatively strong sash wood like white cedar?

He also said that they fit a single double glazed panel per sash rather two panels. He stated that splitting the sash into two panels and using sash bars was not as structurally secure as a single glazed unit with an imitation sash bar. Reason being that the sash bar on the split panes can relatively easily be forced. This made a lot of sense to me but is it true?

Lastly he didn't see any reason not to use waxed ropes rather than nylons.

Any thoughts on any of the above would be great.

Thanks