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New measures introduce to stop cowboy builders

The Communities Minister has announced the introduction new measures set to protect the public from cowboy traders.

The new legislation will require tradesmen operating under self check schemes to meet higher standards and prove they meet the right levels of quality to give householders peace of mind that work on their home has been completed to the necessary requirements.

Measures will also ensure that householders have a financial safety net in place if self-check installers fail to finish work properly, or if they can’t be chased through the courts.

Communities Minister Andrew Stunell said: “Cowboys builders that leave behind a trail of shoddy work costing householders thousands to put right, give the rest of the industry a bad name.

“We are determined to keep the cowboys from infecting self-check schemes, which let hardworking competent tradesman get on with providing high quality work, quickly and at fair prices.

According to the Office of Fair Trading, 85,000 complaints are made about building work in homes each year.

While current self-check schemes do have conditions in place already, the new regulations will mean that self-check schemes will need to be accredited to an international quality standard to operate, assess that members’ competence levels meet national standards and will have to promote membership and use of their schemes.

Mr Stunell added “I’m determined to ensure that consumers are properly protected. By raising the bar even higher for self-check tradesman, we are sorting the rogues from the professionals, making it easier for people to identify competent installers and giving them the confidence that they will receive a high quality of work - or be protected if they don’t.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .