Fed up with cowboy builders? UK company Firm Choice launches clever scheme to protect homeowners becoming victims of rogue tradesmen

It wasn’t too much caffeine that kept coffee company boss Soner Yilmaz awake at night during the early days of lockdown. He had just learned that two of his friends had been ripped off to the tune of £48,000 by cowboy builders.

The friends had been carrying out home improvements and had unwittingly picked unscrupulous builders for the projects. This prompted businessman Mr Yilmaz to spend long hours working out a plan to avoid such heart-breaking practices which affect thousands of homeowners every year and cost a fortune. The result was the birth of new London-based company, Firm Choice.

Explained managing director Mr Yilmaz, who also runs specialist coffees firm Co44ee World in the UK: “When I started looking into the history of events it quickly became clear that while many hard-working people want to improve their homes and lifestyles most simply don’t know how to start or control the project, which may cost many thousands of pounds. Our aim is to reduce the risk of falling prey to an incompetent cowboy builder or rogue trader.

“I set up Firm Choice to safeguard them, their families and their homes from any misunderstandings and inappropriate behaviour between them and their contractor. Firm Choice helps protect peoples’ hard-earned money by minimizing the risk in choosing a bad contractor at the outset.

“The aim of Firm Choice is quite simple. It is to help ordinary people who do not know how to build an extension, install a new kitchen, who can’t build a loft conversion or don’t know how or where to repair a damaged roof. When you need a contractor, Firm Choice provides the tools to help you sort between the good and the bad, plasterers, plumbers, electricians, builders, kitchen fitters, roofers and so on.”

While there are building trades organisations that exist to protect the public from dirty dealers, the media and TV continue to expose tales of woe caused by malpractices of those within the construction industry who con people into parting with hefty upfront deposits and cash for materials and then either not turn up or disappear offsite leaving a bodged job behind them.

Mr Yilmaz is far from impressed with the trade membership organisations who are supposed to be the ‘go to’ reference source for supposedly qualified tradesmen. From his own research, he’s found them not exactly reliable.

Typically, a rogue or incompetent trader is one which clearly doesn’t know they are doing professionally and does not care about customers. Those intent on causing trouble and taking as much money often from vulnerable customers from the very start and then make a quick exit. Firm Choice is determined to put a stop to all of that.

Adds Mr Yilmaz: “In these days of the Covid-19 many industries have been hit extremely hard and the construction industry is no different. It will affect the good tradespeople as well as the rogue traders, so arguably it could produce more rogue and incompetent traders in the system.”

Which means that homeowners should be even more vigilant against rogue and incompetent traders. Surely, he advises, it would be better to take your time to find the right trades people rather than walking blindly into a situation just because they can start quickly or by quoting a cheap price or discounting against cash payments. In short, things could move rapidly move from bad to terrible in no time at all.

“If contractors do not agree to issue a signed Quotation Agreement, Building Agreement, or Payment Schedule and don’t provide sufficient information about their track record, don’t lose your money - simply show them the door.”

For a nominal fee, Firm Choice can:
• Give greater protection of your home and finances
• Give you greater control of your project
• Make rogue traders a thing of the past

Genuine and qualified tradesmen understand why customers need the comfort of having their company profile checked before committing their home and thousands of pounds to a project. With Firm Choice’s thorough credit profiling and rating system, peace of mind is assured for both parties. The contractor is committing their time and experience and wants to know they will be paid for their work and the homeowner wants to create a better living space, an investment for the future a better home.

Firm Choice business credit scoring, referred to as a Company Credit Rating, calculates the probability of a company becoming insolvent within the next 12 months. It highlights creditworthiness through a traffic light system of credit scoring - red advises the homeowner to be extremely cautious, amber suggests that they should negotiate short payment terms, while green gives a positive credit decision.

The credit limits that feature within the Company Credit Reports are approved by all leading UK credit insurers. As an approved source, policy holders can use our recommended credit limits and integrate this into their discretionary policy limit or at a level advised by their credit insurance underwriter.

Firm Choice’s database is updated in real-time, over a million times a day. Data is collected from over 200 sources and, where possible, information can be obtained from official registries similar to Companies House. The company’s network of 16 offices and trusted local partners allow the gathering of information locally, ensuring Firm Choice always delivers high quality, up-to-date information. Its credit scoring provides a rating of 1-100 and a business credit score is calculated using the most sophisticated statistical algorithms available. It considers over 150 parameters, as well as economic and industry factors.

Adds Mr Yilmaz: “Value for money and fair pricing are frequently used terms to consider the value derived from a purchase. It should be viewed not only on the minimum purchase price but also on the effectiveness and efficiency of the purchase. A simple exercise would be to consider the cost of your project, say, costing £18,000 and the price of a Firm Choice Hand Over package at just £288. As a percentage, this is just 1.60 of the total budget. Is the price fair? We think so.”

He asks potential clients to just consider the benefits of the package. Firm Choice’s Legally Binding Agreements allow the client to edit the “open areas” of the agreement to suit the project while Legally Binding Letters can do similar. A Company Credit Scoring model achieves prediction rate of 70 per cent of company insolvencies 12 months in advance, endorsed by all leading UK Credit Insurers. Financial data is provided for up to five years (where possible) and includes profit and loss accounts, balance sheets, capital reserves, cashflow and key ratios.

Other benefits include invoices and payments data. As more companies file accounts with official bodies, payment behaviour is a good indicator of current financial state. Then there’s information about company directors providing an insight into how a company operates and about the people running the business, including their history. Finally, bank and VAT verification data from Firm Choice allowing the client to match the bank account details and VAT number directly to the contractor.

Concludes Mr Yilmaz: “We all want to work with trades people who take pride in their work and who are honest enough to tell you when you have a problem with the job which can often be easily fixed . What could be better than working with someone who knows their trade, is honest and competent, who identifies a problem and offers an acceptable price? They fix it, the problem goes away, and you pay them.

“We need trades people that can solve problems in a competent, honest, and forthright manner. Make no mistake, being a skilled contractor is a very honourable, productive occupation and offers a very well-deserved good standard of living for their hard work and experience. Let’s just get rid of those unscrupulous con men that often give the building and construction trades a bad name. Firm Choice is here to do just that.”

Website: www.firmchoice.co.uk

Soner Yilmaz
Managing Director
Firm Choice Ltd
2 Cumbrian Gardens
LONDON NW2 1EF, UK.

Call: 0208 194 3000
Direct call: 07957 432 266
Email: soner@firmchoice.co.uk

Launched in 2020, Firm Choice Ltd is the creation of Soner Yilmaz, a Turkish-born businessman who was appalled at the numbers of decent homeowners being deprived of their hard-earned money by unscrupulous builders and other tradesmen, often unqualified for carrying out home improvements projects.

Firm Choice came about on the back of a shared experience of rogue traders. Looking into the history of events it quickly became clear that while many hard-working people want to improve their homes and lifestyles, most simply don’t know how to start or control the project which may cost many thousands of pounds.

Our role is to safeguard you, your family, and your home from any misunderstandings, inappropriate behavior between you and your contractor. We are here to help protect your money and your home by minimizing your risk in choosing a bad contractor.

This release was published on openPR.