Dodgy tradespeople cause millions of pounds of misery

British homeowners are paying a high price for inviting unqualified tradespeople into their home as they shell out millions to rectify botched jobs.

Every year 1.1 million homeowners spend £181 million to fix work carried out by tradespeople without the correct qualifications or training, according to new research by Direct Line Home Response 24.

One in six (17%) homeowners have had work carried out by a tradesperson in the past two years who turned out to be unqualified or improperly trained with one in five of these saying the job was carried out poorly or incorrectly.

The problem is made worse by the fact that the rogue tradespeople refuse to revisit botched jobs (16%) or to honour their work’s guarantees.  As a result almost half of these homeowners (48%) have had to hire further help – at extra cost - to correct inadequate work.
 
Worryingly, homeowners often fail to ask for proof of identification (33 per cent of those who have used a tradesperson) or qualifications before allowing tradespeople into their home. And it’s society’s most vulnerable putting themselves at risk, with more than half of women (55 per cent) home alone when letting in a tradesperson without checking their ID, along with 47 per cent of the over 60s.

Despite the potential risks to both property and security, two fifths of those who had let a tradesperson in without seeing ID or qualifications admit that they simply don’t think to check, while one in 10 say they do not want to appear rude.

The Direct Line Home Response 24 research also highlights the widespread ignorance of the qualifications tradespeople should have, with 92 per cent of homeowners admitting that they do not know the relevant qualifications of all tradespeople.

As a result, 84 per cent of homeowners believe that all tradespeople should have compulsory regulation.