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PRO INSTALLER JULY 2015
PRO BUSINESS
@proinstaller1
ROGUE TRADERS:
RUINING THE REPUTATION
OF TRADESMEN
Unfortunately, the construction and fenestration industries have been associated with ‘rogue traders’ for a
number of years. Our industry, like any other, suffers from a small minority of dishonest people, but they are
the exception - not the rule. They don’t reflect the majority of our skilled and experienced tradespeople. It’s
time we eradicated rogue traders from our industry, and claimed back our reputation- once and for all.
WHAT IS A ROGUE TRADER?
1. NEVER TRADE IN CASH
A rogue trader is best described
as someone who uses unscrupulous, illegal and corner-cutting
trading practices when completing
projects. They’re often inexperienced, produce dangerous and
substandard work, and they are
one of the most complained about
parts of our industries. Rogue
traders are also known by the
phrase, ‘Cowboy builders’.
The construction and fenestration industries suffer from an unfair association with rogue traders
and The CPA has been fighting to
cast this off. Here are some simple
steps we can all take to improve
standards in the industry and eliminate rogue traders.
Trading in cash provides the
temptation of not declaring your
full income to avoid paying tax:
a move that is not only morally
wrong but also illegal. Nothing defines a rogue trader more
than trading in cash to avoid tax.
Everyone in the country, from the
supermarket worker to the banker;
even the 13 year old with a Saturday job, pays tax so why should
a trader in our industry be any
exception?
One of the biggest stereotypes
in our industry is of the white van
man who works cash in hand,
no questions asked. This has to
change. By making sure that we
never trade in cash, and that we
declare our full income for any
projects we undertake, we can go
a long way to ditching this bad
reputation for good.
HOW WE CAN BEAT ROGUE
TRADERS AND IMPROVE
INDUSTRY STANDARDS...
2. BELONG TO AN
ACCREDITED ORGANISATION
Belonging to an accredited organisation is a great way to boost
the overall quality of your work
and show potential customers
that you’re a trustworthy company. Accredited organisations,
like Which? or Network Veka
have high quality expectations
that they demand from installers.
This helps to increase the overall
standard of work in the industry
and sorts the good home improvement companies from the
bad.
3. OFFER A HIGH
QUALITY INSURANCE
BACKED GUARANTEE
Whilst recent legislative changes
mean that offering an Insurance
Backed Guarantee is now a legal
requirement, many rogue trad-
ers simply don’t, or offer one of
extremely low quality. By offering
an industry respected Insurance
Backed Guarantee, like the ones
offered here at The CPA, you
can boost the credibility of your
business and show the world that
you’re committed to high standards.
4. PROVIDE A CONTRACT AND
GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING
Every project you complete, no
matter how small, should have
a contract drawn up for it. Many
rogue traders don’t offer a contract. Not only does this diminish
the legal rights of consumers, it
also damages the legal rights of installers, as well as allowing unfair
additional charges to be added.
Drawing up a contract for the
project is not best practice: it’s an
industry requirement.
‘Contracts protect the
legal and financial
rights of you and
your customer’
Providing a contract improves the
quality of service we offer by letting
both parties; the installer and the
customer, know what’s expected
from them. This eliminates any potential problems further along in the
process. Contracts protect the legal
and financial rights of you and your
customer, and for that reason they
can only ever be a good thing.
For more information about
fighting against rogue traders
and protecting the rights of
installers and hom