Employing a tradesperson to work in your home can be a daunting idea and so it is important that you have a plan. We have compiled a checklist of what to do before, during and after you have hired your tradesperson to help you get your job completed on budget and to the highest standard.

What to do before hiring

Before hiring your tradesman we have some recommendations to help you make your choice.

We try our hardest to critically examine every business before allowing them to use our service.

Once we find a tradesman in your area suitable to complete your job and they purchase the lead, you will gain access to view their profile.

On our tradesmen profiles, we request certain information so that you can assess the suitability of the candidate.

This information includes: -

• Business Information. We request that our trades disclose as much information about themselves to make your decision easier. The business information will help you assess the size of the business you are choosing. We ask what type of business, age and size so that you can make a good judgement on the scale of business that you need for your job.
• About. The about section is for the tradesmen to disclose some information about themselves to help you make your choice. We recommend you give this a read. This section may contain a variety of things to help make an informed choice, including what the company must offer you in terms of skill, experience and examples of previous work.
• Qualifications. The qualification section will show any qualifications that we have received from the trade. We verify the qualifications before they appear on the profile so you can be assured that they are genuine.
• Trades. The trades section of the profile will show all of the categories that the company offers and what they specialise in.
• Reviews. Any previous customers that have hired the tradesmen may have left a review. Check the profile to see how their experience went. Don’t be put off if the company has no reviews as they may be new to the service but be a very reputable company.
• Public Liability insurance. We strongly advise that our tradesmen have public liability insurance however not all have uploaded proof of cover. Once a trade has accepted your job you will be able to see if we have public liability insurance on file. Just because we haven't verified it, does not mean they don't have it! - Read more about public liability insurance.

Other questions to consider before hiring:

• Has the trade got any references to show you?
• Can you see work they have done in the past?
• Have you looked online for other 3rd party reviews for this trade?
• If it is a large job have you checked other details like their LTD company status?
• Consider drawing up a contract between you and the tradesperson. Services such as LawDepot have a selection of templates.

During the process

After you have decided on a trade you should consider the questions below:

• Have they quoted or estimated a price?
• If it is a quoted price, does it include materials?
• Have you made sure the job is fully understood?
• Will they provide paperwork such as a written quote and an invoice after the work is complete?
• If they require a deposit, how much and why? Do they need to order materials or pay staff?
• Have you agreed a timescale with the trade?
• When is the full balance payable?
• Do they provide a guarantee for their work?

Once the work has commenced communication is the key. Changing the specification of a job midway through is a major reason why disagreements occur. Make sure that you ask questions in stages if the job spans over many hours or days. It is important to balance this with allowing the tradesperson to work in peace.

Paying for the work

Normally it is common practise to pay a deposit and the rest on completion or in stages. If it is a small job you may be tempted to pay upfront. Whilst this is fine, we recommend striking a balance where possible so that both parties are happy and confident that the job will go as intended.

After process

Once the tradesperson has completed the job and has been paid it is important to leave feedback on the job to help others who may wish to use them in the future. Our feedback system is designed to bring accountability to our tradespeople but also help them show off their skills and achievements when they have made customers happy.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions about hiring a trade please get in contact and we will do our best to help. You can contact our support team here.

How it works

1

Tell us about your job

At this stage we'll ask you questions about your job such as: when and where you want the job doing, what type of tradesperson you need, and a short description of the job.

The information you provide here helps us match up relevant trades in your local area. It also allows the tradespeople to give an accurate estimate when they contact you.

2

Local trades get in touch

As soon as we have all the details for your job, we'll forward it on to relevant trades in your area.

Up to 3 trades can then show interest and get in touch with you to give you a quote.

They'll usually contact you using the method you prefer, whether it be phone, text message or email.

3

Choose your tradesperson

Once local trades have been in touch, it's up to you to arrange with them to give a quote over the phone or visit your property.

After you've got your quotes you can then choose your preferred trade for the job.

We recommend that you check out each of the trades profiles on MyJobQuote, as well as carry out background checks as you would had you found them from anywhere else.

4

Leave feedback

As soon as your job has been completed by the trade, we'd love it if you could leave them a review.

These reviews are a great way to help our trades build their online reputations and they're also really useful for other homeowners when selecting the best trade for them.

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Closing your MyJobQuote Account

We understand if you wish to close your account with us. As a job poster you can stop promotions or opt out of job alerts but still keep your account open should you need it again in the future.

Opting out of offers

You can do this in one of 2 ways:

• Visit the my details page of your account on myjobquote and untick the promotional offers tick box.
• You can contact our support team and they will action this for you. Usually within 24 hours.

Deleting my account

If you wish to delete your account you can do this by contacting customer support. If you just wish to disable alerts or any contact from us but wish to keep your account open you can do this by clicking on the my details page and unselecting the contact tickbox.

Complaints Against Tradespeople

We’re sorry to hear that you are unhappy. If you have a complaint about a trade, then please contact us with as much information as possible. We review all complaints about trades seriously and we will contact the trade to see what they intend to do to fix the issues you are experiencing.

We can't get directly involved in disputes between you and the tradesman, as you can understand we simply pass the details of trades to the customer where it is then up to trade and customer to agree terms.

We investigate all complaints made against any of our members and where we find evidence that a trade is not up to standard, we will warn/remove them when complaints from users are upheld.

Our policy on complaints

• We highly recommend that you make effort to discuss any issues directly with the company concerned to see if a mutual resolution can be made.
• Whilst we will undertake a level of investigation, we aim to remain impartial throughout, supporting both parties where we can to come to a reasonable resolution.
• We will contact the company to discuss your concerns to encourage a resolution. Your complaint will be kept on record so that we can monitor them and paint a picture of how the business operates.
• If necessary, we may ask for evidence of the work carried out. In the absence of evidence, we will be unable to fully process your complaint.
• If a satisfactory resolution is obtained, you are welcomed to decide whether you wish to continue with your original comments, to withdraw them or to submit new feedback.
• We aim to respond to all complaints as soon as possible.
• Any published complaints will not show the customers details, for example name and address.
• We reserve the right to edit comments for length, spelling or clarity. We will not publish names, or abusive language.
• In any case, please still notify us about your experience. Your comments are important and will be recorded internally.

It doesn't happen very often, but if you have been let down by a tradesman please let us know.

Our complaints procedure is as follows:

• Contact the trade and understand their side of events
• Where we cannot speak to the trade within 5 working days or they do not respond to our emails or calls, we may suspend their account until such time that they provide us with the information asked for.
• Once we have contacted the trade, we gather evidence from both sides.
• Review the evidence usually within 5 working days depending on the complexity of the case.
• Upon investigation if the complaint is upheld and there is a threat of consumer harm, significant damage to property or money is taken without work being completed, we will suspend the trade from our service. We also reserve the right to contact third parties such as trading standards or the police if it is deemed necessary.
• Where a complaint is partially upheld we may warn the trade about their conduct, suspend them or require them to rectify the situation to maintain their membership on MyJobQuote. Should further complaints be raised, we will evaluate our response based on all previous feedback, reviews and complaints both alleged and upheld.
• Where a complaint is unfounded, no further action will be taken by MyJobQuote.
• This policy is in place for complaints raised via email and or reviews where evidence supports the complaint.

How do I unsubscribe?

To stop MyJobQuote from sending you any further SMS or emails you'll need to unsubscribe.

If you have a MyJobQuote account

Visit your account settings page, specifically the communication settings. Disable your subscriptions at the bottom of the page.

In every email we send you, you will see a link to unsubscribe in the footer of each email. Click this link and complete the form.

Don't have an account?

In every email we send you, you will see a link to unsubscribe in the footer of each email. Click this link and complete the form.

Our partners

If you've posted a job with us that was sent to one of our partners, you'll need ti visit the partners website to unsubscribe from their marketing lists.

Leaving a Review of a Tradesperson

How to leave a review of a trade you have found on MyJobQuote

• Go to your jobs page (https://www.myjobquote.co.uk/my-account/quotes)
• Find the job that you wish to review and select the tradesperson who completed the job
• - Enter your review and select the number of stars you wish to award.

Be helpful and respectful to other users

Remember to keep your review factual and helpful to others. Be as descriptive as possible about your experience to help others make a decision of the tradesperson you used. Please keep your review clear of abuse, bad language and personal attacks towards other users.

Why leave a review?

For one it helps other users, it helps trades improve their service and makes them accountable for the work they provide. Our service relies on the reviews left by job posters.

If you are still having problems leaving a review then please contact support.

What to do if things haven't gone to plan

If you have had a less than satisfactory experience with your trade, it is best to try to resolve the situation before leaving a review. Most tradespeople want to gain long term repeat customers and will try their best to put problems right. If this is not the case you might want to check out our page about how to resolve complaints.

Contacting a Tradesperson

What to do if you lose a trades details

If you lose the details of a trade you have been dealing with you can access a list of all the trades details including phone number and email address from within your account. We also send you an SMS and email when the trade shows interest in your job so you know who will be calling and from what number.

How do you know a trade has called from MyJobQuote

If you have posted your job in several places or feel you have been contacted out of the blue, you can check who has gained access to your job by visiting the My Jobs Page on your MyJobQuote account. We only pass your details to trades who appear on your account.

How do I close my job request?

There are 3 ways to close a job on our system. They are:

• From within your account - You can view your job and close it by clicking the close job button. You can view a list of your jobs and their status from your account (https://www.myjobquote.co.uk/my-account/quotes)
• You can close your job from an email or sms alert which we will send you once your job has been live for 48 hours. If you wish to close your job sooner you can from within your account.
• Automatically - Once 3 trades gain access to your job the job is closed or if we don't hear from you after several days. We will offer you the chance to extend the job before we close automatically.If you are having trouble closing your job you can contact our support team.

What is public liability insurance?

Public liability insurance covers the cost of legal action and compensation claims made against a business if a third party is injured or their property suffers damage whilst they are working in your home, office or business.

Why is it important?

If a trade does not have this insurance and were to have an accident, you would not be able to claim against the insurance which makes pursuing a claim costly and time consuming.

Does my trade have public liability insurance?

We request proof of public liability insurance when trades start out with us. We renew this check annually where a policy has been uploaded. Where we have not checked public liability we will make this clear when you view the trades interested in your job. This does not mean that the trade doesn't have insurance, it simply means that they have not uploaded it to their account with us.

How do I check if a trade is insured?

There is no central checking service like there is with Gas safe or Electricians and so you will need to ask your trade to see their certificate of public liability insurance. Most reputable trades will have this available for inspection if required.

Verifying your Account

As a homeowner we need to verify some details before we find the perfect tradesperson for you.

Your verification page can be found here https://www.myjobquote.co.uk/my-account/verify.

We need to verify your email address, to do this you will be sent a link through email to verify that your address is correct. If you do not receive the email you can resend it from your verification page. If you are having problems verifying your email, please check its correct on our system and if it is then don’t forget to check your junk folder.

We also need you to verify your phone number. This is so we know that ourselves and our tradesmen can contact you on it if need be. Once you enter your phone number for verification you should receive a 4-digit number from MyJobQuote. This number is valid for 15 minutes, after that you will need to request another from the verification page.

Please note that it is best to submit a mobile number so that we can text you an update to your job. If you use a traditional landline phone we will call you with your 4 digit verification code shortly after you request it.

Why do you need me to verify my phone and email?

We verify your email and phone number to comply with spam laws and to make sure that our messages get through to you correctly. We also want to make sure that our tradespeople have the correct information so that a connection can be made and your job can commence as smoothly as possible.

Your Privacy and MyJobQuote

Our primary concern is making sure that our users feel safe in the knowledge that we will handle their information correctly. We have a full privacy policy which explains how we use your data can be found here.

In brief:

• When you sign up to use MyJobQuote and agree to our terms and privacy we will pass your details to a maximum of 3 tradespeople per job you submit.
• We will contact you via email/sms/phone to facilitate our service, of which you can opt out of at any time.
• We may send you information and updates to our service as well as promotions and offers, of which you can opt out of at any time.

If you have any concerns regarding your privacy, information or anything else then please contact support.

Opting out of offers

You can do this in one of 2 ways:

• Visit the my details page of your account on myjobquote and untick the promotional offers tick box.
• You can contact our support team and they will action this for you. Usually within 24 hours.

Deleting my account

If you wish to delete your account you can do this by contacting customer support. If you just wish to disable alerts or any contact from us but wish to keep your account open you can do this by clicking on the my details page and unselecting the contact tickbox.

Why do my jobs keep getting closed?

We close jobs for a range of reasons but the most common reason is if the job does not contain enough information or is a duplicate of another job. If you see that your job has been closed, check to see if you have another open jobs that are similar. If so please wait for tradespeople to get in touch. This can take upto 24 hours after posting your job.

If you have not posted a job before and we have closed it, please check that you have included enough information for us to categorise the job correctly. If you feel you could add more information, add more details by clicking the button on the job. You can see a list of your open jobs by visiting: https://www.myjobquote.co.uk/my-account/quotes.

If you are still having troubles please don't post further jobs, instead contact our support team.

Duplicate Jobs

If you have not received a response to your job it might be tempting to repost the job within a few hours of the original post. Please refrain from posting very similar quotes in a short space of time as we will automatically close duplicates. If you haven't got the job completed within a few days, you can then repost or update your job which will alert local trades that you are still looking.

Please look out for our emails and text messages to tell us if you still want your job completing and to help us save our tradespeople time and money, please promptly close your job when you have had it completed.

Gas and Electrical Safety

For some trades such as gas and electric it is the law that they must be fully qualified and allowed to carry out the work you are requesting. It is for this reason we ask for trades who operate in these categories to provide us with proof that they are allowed to operate. Whilst we make every effort to keep a check with the relevant bodies it is important for you to check that your trade is a member of the gas safe register or the electrical competent persons scheme.

Gas Safety

You can check your installer on the gas safe register - https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/

If you are having any work including but not limited to, boiler repair/replacement, gas cookers repaired or replaced or anything to do with your gas supply then you should request to see the trades proof they are on the gas safe register. You can also search yourself by name, company name or postcode via the gas safe website.

Electrical Safety

You can check that your Electrician is listed on the electrical competent persons scheme website - http://www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk

For electrical work it is recommended that you check your electrical contractor is listed on the website above. For some electrical work it is the law that you must make sure that your electrical work adheres to part P of the building regulations. You can read more about the rules for England and Wales here - http://www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk/Regulations-Explained

How do I post a job request with MyJobQuote?

You can post a job from any of the category pages on the site or by visiting our quote page.

First we ask you to enter a few details about the job you need doing. Be as descriptive as possible to get the best responses from our tradespeople. Then we need your contact details so when we match your job to suitable trades they can contact you (a maximum of 3 companies).

Once you have received calls from the interested tradespeople you can browse their reviews and profiles from within your account. Click to view your open jobs.

If you decide to get the work done with one of these tradespeople you are able visit your job and leave feedback on how the job went. Before you select your trade you might find it useful to read our guide on what to do before hiring a tradesperson.

How to get the best response to your job post:

• Choose the correct category so the right trades see your job
• Explain what you need doing with details such as sizes, if you need materials or if you have special requirements
• Do your research before hiring, get a budget in mind and check that it is realistic
• Verify your email and phone number
• Many trades prefer to call and so keep a check on your phone
• If you are unable to speak to the trade you can email them additional information about the job so they can assess your job

Job was sent to partner - What does this mean?

When you use MyJobQuote before you submit your job in some cases we may pass your job to our partner. This will be highlighted at the point of submitting your job. We will give you full instructions on how to manage, close and review your job from within your account.

As we are still in the process of growing our trade network we have partnered with several large companies who specialise in offering a similar service which means a much better chance of you getting your job completed.

Our privacy policy fully explains how we use your data and we only pass your details to a single partner who's privacy policy is available to view prior to submitting your quote.

If you wish to know more about our partners and how they work then please contact our support team. If you have an issue with a tradesperson one of our partners has connected you with then please also get in touch and we will help you make sure your enquiry gets to the right place.

What if I need more than one job doing?

Firstly, this is exactly what MyJobQuote is here to help with. We suggest for your best chance of getting responses you should split your jobs up by the trades that do each job.

There is no limit to how many jobs you can post at any one time but please only submit one version of each job.

Some jobs we understand require lots of different skills, such as getting a new kitchen and so we have categories specifically for these types of jobs. If you can't find the category for your job, it is possible we don't currently have enough trades to be able to offer it to our customers. We do have a selection of specialist trades which can be found here.