So you will need a damp proofing specialist There are several reasons 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 when you are lucky, a pal will have first hand connection with using a local damp proofing firm and that's always worth considering However, assuming that isn't the case, how will you look for a good firm and prevent the cowboy trader These days the net may be the place we have a tendency to start not to mention Google and Bing will provide lots of firms, when you type in 'damp proofing' But before believing all of the claims on company web site like 'honest service', 'high quality workmanship' or 'fully qualified staff' it can pay to check a little deeper In saying this we must recognise that most people haven't got countless hours of time and energy to spend pre-vetting a damp proofing company before engaging them, so some short cuts are justified quite often A straightforward short cut to pre-vetted damp proofing specialists In the UK there's only one nationally recognised trade association for damp proofing contractors, therefore the Property Care Association is a wonderful place to begin The PCA have written standards they work to and companies have to meet these, and pass a strict financial, safe practices and insurance test before they are able to join On top of that, member firms are visited regularly and put through an independent quality audit Okay therefore the PCA want members and the members pay the associations running costs; if they threw all of them out they'd be out of business, so can these checks be relied on By themselves no, they can not; all organisation have the odd bad member and you also could be unlucky and obtain the worst PCA member, rather than the best The truth is though, by choosing a PCA damp proofing member, you are already weeding out the non-members, those who have been vetted by nobody On balance, you've already increased the probability of finding a good damp proofing firm, that are qualified, financially sound and well insured Right, so now we've narrowed the field down and a quick search utilizing the PCA look for a contractor widget on the PCA web site will give you a summary of PCA members in your area That's the main shortlist of damp proofing firms complete but how can you really find the best What next Visit the web site of every in turn and have a quick scan Nowadays building a internet site is really a snip and a flashy site template with several generic images and photos is common - this lets you know hardly any 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 https//builders-barrowinfurnesscouk/ 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 roughly, then each one of these 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 owner details shown Things such as the true holding company name and it's registered company number and registered address These enable you to check a firm's past records such as court cases and financial records at Companies House that is free If these details is missing then move ahead - the company know the law and when they are breaking it in this manner, there's a justification for it plus they have something to cover up - beware vendors who wear masks Customer testimonials are employed by many firms and it's true that what customers say about damp proofing specialists they've used, mean much more than what the management say However, anyone can write a few glib sentences and call these a testimonial, so how is it possible to weed out the dodgy ones Once again it is a case of looking just a little deeper; are there photographs of these happy clients Are any commercial clients named after that you can check these exist with a simple search engine Commercial companies guard their brand and goodwill meticulously and most could have Google Alerts create so they see if anyone is using their name in vain So if all of the testimonials on a traders site are from Mrs Smith or Mr Jones, without real details - consider why Most sites these days will have a news section - that is key to getting under the skin of a company Is the news updated Which kind of news is 'good' in the companies' eyes Whether it's all about how great they're, without real depth then shy away Just think, what would you want to put on your news pages in the event that you were owning a company How about the achievements of your staff New certificates for training; awards once and for all service; any charity efforts and events Of course there will be news about new services and jobs done well too - search for a real story which represents the efforts of several people behind the firm - that is always a good pointer to an ethical, good company If they care about their staff, they also care about their customers - the two go together Accreditations are the next good pointer In the UK the minimum generic accreditation to search for is TrustMark TrustMark is a government sponsored set of basic consumer focused standards, which should be met by a company before they can display the logo It isn't fool proof, but if it's not there - why not Meeting these minimum standards; having insurance, a complaints procedure, customer deposit protection and similar basic good practice ought to be easy to meet for just about any half-descent company In construction related activity in the united kingdom health and safety is growing in importance So the government has another sponsored scheme called CHAS This means Construction Health and Safety Scheme The CHAS logo is displayed if the firm have met and so are seen to continue to meet up basic health and safety standards, which are audited each year CHAS is easy to get, but once more, if it's missing be very careful - the firm either never focus on real construction sites where CHAS is mandatory, or they can not be bothered to accomplish the work to meet the CHAS standard If you use a firm without CHAS you may be inviting danger into your house or risking harm to others on the project - I'd avoid non CHAS members THE HOUSE Care Association is a must when i said, but needless to say we are only considering PCA member companies anyway Investors in People is also worth looking for This is an established accreditation that is quite hard to win and even harder to keep IIP is only awarded when a firm can demonstrate commitment and good practice in eight areas, which revolve around staff engagement, training and development We've all had poor service from bored, poorly motivated and underpaid staff IIP is 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 browse the qualifications of individuals in the firm In the UK there are national qualifications for damp proofing surveyors and technicians Search for the letters CSRT after the surveyor's names - this means Certificated Surveyor in Remedial Treatment and it shows that the surveyor has had his understanding of damp, timber defects and safe practices validated by independent examination Anyone can call themselves a damp specialist surveyor - but are they Should they have CSRT after their name they're; if not then you will want to It's similar with the damp proofing installer; the people who actually perform 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