Opening your door to a stranger is an act of trust. The difference between a good job and a bad one is almost always in what was confirmed before the door opened.
Know who is coming, not just which company
Ask for the name and contact of the person who will turn up, not only the company name. When the job is booked through an app, that information arrives before the visit and there is a record of who was in your home. When it is arranged by phone, ask for written confirmation.
A fixed price beats a low price
An hourly rate with no estimate of how long the job takes is not a price, it is a lottery ticket. Ask for the expected total and what happens if the work runs long. Quotes far below everyone else tend to come back as extras halfway through.
Warning signs
- Pressure to pay everything up front and in cash.
- Refusal to give a name, an invoice or a company address.
- Rushing to start before explaining what will be done.
Prepare the house, not just the booking
Clear the area where the work will happen, put valuables away and leave a clear path to the consumer unit or the stopcock. It saves time for whoever is coming and avoids awkward conversations about damage.
Leave a review, especially when it goes well
The review is what protects the next customer and what keeps good professionals at the top of the list. Two lines about punctuality and tidiness are worth more than five stars with no text.
In the OSCAR app professionals are verified, the price appears before you book, and the reviews come from people who had the same job done at home.