There are some jobs around the house that you can carry out yourself if you have the necessary DIY skills. However, for other projects it’s essential to get the right professional advice, to ensure that the work is conducted to the necessary safety standards and abides by legal requirements. This includes having your basement converted and there are a number of basement companies in London that will provide you with a professional service. It’s important to ensure that the company you use has the appropriate skills and experience to complete the work to the highest standards, so you need to choose carefully.
Here we’ve pulled together a few good tips on how you can find the right builder for your basement conversion and what areas you need to be focusing on.
Get recommendations
The best way to find a reputable company is to ask friends and family for recommendations of builders they’ve used. This gives you the chance to see the standard of finish and to ask questions about costs and how they were to work with.
Do they have experience?
All builders have to start somewhere, but having the right experience for your type of work really does count. Basement conversions can bring up a whole host of problems that may not apply to other types of building work, so do your research on the best basement companies in London.
Have they got insurance?
In the majority of building projects the work goes smoothly and you won’t encounter any issues, but if something does happen you want to know that your builder has all the right insurance cover. It’s also important to check that the work is covered by a full guarantee, should issues arise further down the line.
Cheapest is not necessarily the best
Any type of construction work will have large costs attached, but you shouldn’t focus too much on trying to find the cheapest quotes, as this won’t necessarily give you the best value. When you’re researching companies always get quotes from three or four and compare exactly what each one covers – you might find that the cheapest uses low-quality materials or doesn’t cover any extra areas.
See examples of their work
A high quality and professional builder won’t be afraid to show you examples of their previous projects or to let you talk to past customers so that you can check the quality of the materials, workmanship and their practices. Don’t just rely on the pictures on their website or in the brochure and follow up with their references to see what the actual extension or conversion looked like for yourself.
By taking the time to research the best building companies in the area for basement conversions, your project will be completed to a much higher standard and you won’t have any unexpected costs to cover. You’ll then be able to enjoy the additional living space, however you choose to use the basement, without any small or large problems getting in the way.