GUARANTEED Plumbing owner Heath Wilson has been in the trade a long time, and he has seen a lot of changes in the service industry.
But it is the advent of unlicensed tradespeople and the cost they can leave behind when things go wrong, that he believes is becoming a more prevalent and worrying trend for homeowners.
“Late last year I was undertaking some insurance inspections on behalf of insurance companies, inspecting some leaking bathrooms,” Heath said.
“I had two in one day, where the shower bases were leaking, due to sub-standard waterproofing. Both bathrooms were less than two-years old.”
“These are not inexpensive to repair and both homeowners had engaged handymen who were neither insured or licensed to carry out the work undertaken.”
For homeowners, this can be a minefield and end up costing them a lot of money, as there is no insurance to remedy the issues.
“When a customer places a claim with their insurance company, it is vital that they verify the work being undertaken is done so by a licensed and insured provider.”
“In the case of these bathrooms, their home insurance would not cover the repairs and the person they got to do the work, had no insurance either. The homeowner was left high and dry, with $20,000 of repairs to cover.”
The advent of social media marketplaces and wait times for tradespeople, has accelerated the number of ‘back-yard’ operations.
“There are a number of red flags that you can look out for, if you are considering engaging a tradesperson.”
“If someone is available to get stuck into a bathroom renovation at short notice, that’s probably a red flag. If they don’t have any work on, they may not be regularly operating in this space.”
“Equally, you can jump on to the Qld Building and Construction Commission website and search up the name of the person you are dealing with and make sure their licences are up to date. That was, they will be insured if something goes wrong.”
“Finally make sure you get three quotes for all renovation or larger work. If something is way too cheap, and sounds too good to be true, it often is.”
