So you will need a damp proofing specialist There are several explanations why we occasionally need the help of a damp-proofing specialist These can range from a damp patch on wall plaster; mould growing on walls and ceilings or, a pre house purchase damp survey By far the simplest way of finding any contractor is by recommendation and if you are lucky, a pal will have first hand connection with using a local damp proofing firm and that is always worth looking at However, assuming that isn't the case, how does one look for a good firm and prevent the cowboy trader These days the web is the place we tend to start not to mention Google and Bing will throw up lots of firms, once you enter 'damp proofing' But before believing all the claims on company internet site like 'honest service', 'high quality workmanship' or 'fully qualified staff' it could pay to check a little deeper In saying this we have to recognise that a lot of people haven't got countless hours of time to spend pre-vetting a damp proofing company before engaging them, so some short cuts are justified most of the time A straightforward short cut to pre-vetted damp proofing specialists In the UK there's only 1 nationally recognised trade association for damp proofing contractors, therefore the Property Care Association is a great place to start The PCA have written standards they work to and companies need to meet these, and pass a strict financial, safe practices and insurance test before they can join Better still, member firms are visited regularly and subjected to an unbiased quality audit Okay therefore the PCA want members and the members pay the associations running costs; should they threw all of them out they'd be out of business, so can these checks be relied on On their own no, they can not; all organisation have the odd bad member and you could be unlucky and get the worst PCA member, as opposed to the best The thing is though, by choosing a PCA damp proofing member, you're already weeding out the non-members, those who have been vetted by nobody On balance, you've already increased the chances of getting a good damp proofing firm, who are qualified, financially sound and well insured Right, so now we've narrowed the field down and a quick search utilizing the PCA find a contractor widget on the PCA internet site will give you a list of PCA members in your town That's the main shortlist of damp proofing firms complete but how will you really find the best What next Visit the web site of every in turn and have a quick scan Nowadays building a web site is really a snip and a flashy site template with several generic images and photos is common - this tells you very little about those behind the business Look deeper though You are looking for some real facts; some sign of substance behind all that damp proofing gloss Clues to a good firm include images of the staff, the boss, his managers and key employees If the firm is small, all the employees should be represented; after all, if there are only ten or so, then each one represents 10 of the service package - check them out It's hard for a shallow 'front' of a business to fake this part Next look at the footer of the contact and website In the UK it is the law that company web pages will need to have the dog owner details shown Things such as the real holding company name and it's registered company number and registered address These enable you to check a firm's past records such as for example court cases and financial records at Companies House this is free If this information is missing then move on - the business know the law and when they are breaking it in this way, there's a good reason for it plus they have something to cover up - beware vendors who wear masks Customer testimonials are employed by many firms and it's really true that what customers say about damp proofing specialists they've used, mean a lot more than what the management say However, anyone can write a few glib sentences and call these a testimonial, just how is it possible to weed out the dodgy ones Once again it's a case of looking just a little deeper; is there photographs of these happy clients Are any commercial clients named after that you can check these exist with a straightforward search engine Commercial companies guard their brand and goodwill very carefully and most will have Google Alerts set up so that they see if anyone is utilizing their name in vain So if all the testimonials on a traders site are from Mrs Smith or Mr Jones, with no real details - consider why Most sites these days will have a news section - that is key to getting under the skin of an organization Is the news up to date Which kind of news is 'good' in the companies' eyes If it's about how great they are, without real depth then shy away Consider, what would you want to put on your news pages in the event that you were running a company Think about the achievements of one's staff New certificates for training; awards for good service; any charity efforts and events Of course you will see news about new services and jobs well done too - search for a real story which represents the efforts of several people behind the firm - that is always an excellent pointer to an ethical, good company If they care about their staff, they also care about their customers - both go together Accreditations are the next good pointer In the united kingdom the minimum generic accreditation to look for is TrustMark TrustMark is a government sponsored set of basic consumer focused standards, which should be met by way of a company before they can display the logo It's not fool proof, but if it's not there - you will want to Meeting these minimum standards; having insurance, a complaints procedure, customer deposit protection and similar basic good practice should be easy to meet for any half-descent company In construction related activity in the united kingdom health and safety keeps growing in importance Therefore the government has another sponsored scheme called CHAS This means Construction Safe practices Scheme The CHAS logo is displayed if the firm have met and are seen to continue to meet up basic safe practices standards, which are audited every year CHAS is not hard to get, but once more, if it is missing be very careful - the firm either never work on real construction sites where CHAS is mandatory, or they can not be bothered to do the work to meet up the CHAS standard If you use a company without CHAS you may be inviting danger into your home or risking harm to others on the project - I'd avoid non CHAS members The Property Care Association is a must as I said, but of course we are only looking at PCA member companies anyway Investors in People can be worth looking for This is an established accreditation that is quite hard to win and also harder to maintain IIP is only awarded when a firm can demonstrate commitment and good practice in eight areas, all of which revolve around staff engagement, training and development We've all had poor service from bored, poorly motivated and underpaid staff IIP is really a method of checking that the damp proofing company really put their employees first, so you are likely to served by enthusiastic, well paid and well motivated people - I know who I'd rather cope with Whilst we're about people why not check out the qualifications of individuals in the firm In the UK you can find national qualifications for damp proofing surveyors and technicians Look for https//builders-barrowinfurnesscouk/ after the surveyor's names - this stands for Certificated Surveyor in Remedial Treatment and it shows that the surveyor has already established his understanding of damp, timber defects and safe practices validated by independent examination Anyone can call themselves a damp specialist surveyor - but are they If they have CSRT after their name they're; if not then you will want to It's similar with the damp proofing installer; the guys who actually carry out the damp proofing on site The Property Care Association run validated training for technicians and there is also a City and Guilds NVQ level 2 for damp and timber treatment technicians - ask should they have this