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OCTOBER 2016 PRO INSTALLER
PRO SUPPORT
www.proinstaller.co.uk
‘LITE’ GUARANTEE
SCHEME MAKES LIFE
EASIER ALL ROUND
A streamlined version of the Home Improvements Guarantee Scheme (HIG), called HIG
Lite - is now out. It is being officially recommended by the department of Trading Standards
to all members of the government-approved Buy with Confidence (BWC) scheme.
Trading Standards officials
have written to BWC members suggesting that they
use the HIG Lite product to
help put customers’ minds
at rest. As a matter of best
practice, tradespeople and
their customers are covered
should the worst happen and
they cannot finish a job or
pay back any deposit.
The HIG Lite product covers
deposit payments from customers
up to a maximum of 25% of the
job’s value. HIG founder Harvey
Ellingham says this is a great way
to reassure customers who are
apprehensive about handing over
a deposit.
“You can’t really blame people
for being a little bit wary when a
tradesman asks for a deposit up
front – we could be talking about
many thousands of pounds and
customers are rightly cautious,” he
says.
“But being able to demonstrate
that the deposit is covered, and
that the work is also guaranteed
for ten years, is enough in most
cases to persuade the customer
that their money is safe and that
they should proceed.”
He added: “Many contractors
say that when they mention a
deposit they can see the fear in
the customers’ eyes. But when
they are told that their deposit is
insured and they don’t have to
pay anything until they receive the
certificate of insurance – with the
deposit protection section already
completed by the HIG team proving that the deposit amount is ‘on
cover’ already, then they are more
than happy to pay. It just makes
life easier for everybody and has
helped many of them to win more
business.”
Insurance-backed guarantees are
not new, but HIG’s approach of
having pre-approved ‘live’ policies
ready for instant use is a one-of-akind service.
“What usually happens is that
the trader wants, say, a guarantee
for a £30k job with a £6k deposit,
so they buy an insurance backed
guarantee from a supplier. The
supplier then sends the contractor the guarantee, the contractor
gives it to the client, the client
then sends it back to the insurer,
they stamp it and send it back to
the client. It’s a long old process
and things can get stuck halfway
through which means the client
is never actually put on cover,”
Harvey explained.
“We have live policies ready to
go, so as soon as a contractor
gets in touch and says they want
a policy for a £30k job with a £6k
deposit, we fill in the details, send
out a scan of the actual policy
and that’s it. The client has the
actual paperwork in their hand
and they are on cover immediately – before they have had to part
with the deposit or indeed any
money at all. It’s tremendously
reassuring, gives peace of mind
and that’s why it is proving so
popular.”
The full HIG scheme also offers
a secure payment system where
the customer places money for
each stage of the project, into
an independently held secure
deposit account, and money is
only released to the contractor
once the work has been complet-
ed satisfactorily. It also includes
an arbitration service that gives
discounted access to a chartered
surveyor to rule on the quality
of the work in the event of any
dispute.
The cost of the HIG lite scheme
is also cheaper than rivals, with
costs from £60 plus VAT for
contracts of £2,000 to £5,000, and
0.75% of the contract value plus
VAT for jobs £5k-£25k.
www.homeimprovementsguarantee.
co.uk/higlite.php