Hiring a tradesperson, and when to stop

Almost every lesson in this course has ended somewhere in the words "call someone". The pipe that keeps weeping after a new washer, the breaker that trips again with everything unplugged, the ceiling that might be asbestos, the gutter you can't reach safely: each one hands the job to a person you pay. That handover is where the money in home repair goes, and it's where much of the harm is too, because the person at the door may not be qualified, registered, insured or honest, and the contract you sign decides what you can do about it. This last lesson gathers the course's stop points in one place, then goes through choosing, checking, agreeing, paying and complaining, in the UK and in the US, with the law stated only as far as this course read it.

Most of this lesson states consumer law: the UK's Consumer Rights Act 2015 and Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, the US Federal Trade Commission's Cooling-Off Rule, and one state's contract law, California's. This is general information, not legal advice. The rules differ between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and between US states and cities, and they change.

Three things sit elsewhere, and this lesson points to them rather than repeating them. Which jobs the law reserves to a registered or licensed trade is lesson 22, "Who may do what: reserved work, and the argument about licensing". The pressure pattern at the door, and the call-back rule, are Personal Safety lesson 5, "Home, the door and the doorstep". Insurance, and which ways of paying can be clawed back, are Personal Finance Fundamentals lessons 8 and 10, "Handing off what you cannot absorb" and "Defending it".

When to stop: the course's stop points in one place

Every job this course has named carries one of three labels: Yours, Yours, on conditions, or Call someone. Here are the main Call someone jobs from lessons 1 to 21, with the reason each lesson gave. Read the middle column before the first: the reason is what tells you whether a job you've never met belongs on the list.

Before you pay anyone, ask whether someone you don't have to pay can help. If you rent, in either country, that's the landlord. In Great Britain, HSE runs a free Gas Safety Advice Line for questions about gas safety (lesson 10), and names your council's environmental health officer for asbestos questions at home (lesson 19). In the US, your state's radon programme can help you find a test kit (lesson 19).

Look down the middle column and three kinds of reason turn up. Some stops are the law's: in Great Britain, a business doing gas work must be registered. Some are the advice's, where the law would let you do more and the advice read says don't (on this course's reading, asbestos is the clearest case). And some are this course's own, because it read no method, or the work is wiring, which it explains and does not teach. The first kind is lesson 22's subject. All three belong on your stop list, but label them honestly: "it's illegal" is a different claim from "every body I read advises against it", and a reader who finds the first claim false may stop believing the second.

The same panel fact keeps its partner here as everywhere in this course: HSE's guidance for people who work on electrical systems does not recommend "non-contact devices such as 'volt sticks'" for proving anything dead.¹⁸ Nothing in the table is made safe by one.

Finding and checking a tradesperson

This section includes a legal point about insurance. This is general information, not legal advice.

In the UK

For finding a trader in England, Citizens Advice says the best place to start is your local council: search its website for "approved traders" or "Trading Standards".² It lists TrustMark as "the Government’s trader scheme".² TrustMark says "TrustMark is the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme that covers work a consumer chooses to have carried out in or around their home."³ This course read no government page saying so, and reports both as their words.

Then the checks, from its page "Before you get work done on your home", which applies to England:¹

• References. Get "2 or 3 recent examples of similar work" and the customers' contact details, and ring them, because "written references aren’t always genuine".
• Is the business real? Ask for a business card or letterhead and full contact details, and ring the business to check it exists and the person works for them. Be wary of a mobile number and nothing else.
• Membership. Check any scheme, competent person scheme or trade association the trader names on that body's own website. The Federation of Master Builders, a trade association, gives the reason: "some places claim to be a member when they're not".⁴
• Insurance. Ask to see the trader's policies and check they don't run out before the job ends. Citizens Advice says "If a trader which has employees doesn’t have employer’s liability insurance, they are breaking the law", and to tell your own buildings insurer about the work. Insurance itself is Personal Finance lesson 8's subject.

For the trades this course has sent you to, the register is the check:

• Gas. Citizens Advice: "If you're getting gas work done, you must use a Gas Safe registered engineer".¹ Lesson 10, "Gas: the law and the engineer", showed the whole check: the card, the categories on its back, and the Register's Check an Engineer service.
• Electrical work. Citizens Advice says "you should use a properly qualified or registered electrician".¹ GOV.UK lists the competent person schemes MHCLG has authorised: for electrical work in homes they include "Certsure LLP trading as NICEIC" and "NAPIT Registration Limited", among others, and GOV.UK says members of an electrical scheme go onto a single register where householders can find registered electricians.⁵ Check the scheme's own list, reached by your own route. What the rules require in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is lesson 22's.
• Plumbing, chimneys, asbestos. WaterSafe's approved plumbers (lessons 3 and 4); a sweep from HETAS's scheme, whose ID you ask to see (lesson 11); and for sprayed coatings, lagging and asbestos insulating board, HSE says removal is for "a contractor licensed by HSE" (lesson 19).¹⁶ HSE also says to tell any trade about asbestos you know of before they start. This course did not read how to check an HSE licence, so its line is to ask to see it, and to ask your council's environmental health officer, whom HSE names for asbestos questions at home.

One rule runs under all of these. Digital Literacy lesson 11, "Recognising a con, and the ten minutes after you clicked", put it as "Do the thing. But by your own route." Here that means you find the register yourself, and never follow a link or number the trader gave you.

In the US

The FTC's page "How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam" is the federal starting point:⁶

Consider only contractors who are licensed and insured. Check with your state or county government to confirm a contractor’s license, and ask the contractor for proof of insurance.

Licensing differs by state and city, which is why the check goes to the state or county. This course read one state's board: California's Contractors State License Board (CSLB), whose guide asks "Did you contact the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) to check the status of the contractor’s license?", and says workers' compensation insurance "is required by law if the contractor has employees or workers".⁸ Lesson 22 has the licensing rules this course read for five places.

Two hazards from lesson 19 come with their own checks, both from EPA:

• Paint in a home built before 1978. EPA's lead rule requires "anyone paid to perform work that disturbs painted surfaces in homes, childcare facilities and preschools built before 1978" to be certified, and EPA's page links a search to find a lead-safe certified contractor near you.¹⁴
• Asbestos. Federal law does not require training for work in detached single-family homes, though some states and localities do; EPA says homeowners "should ensure that workers they hire to handle asbestos are trained and accredited", that each should give proof of accreditation, and that it is better to use one firm to inspect and a different one to remove, "so there is no conflict of interest".¹⁵

Quotes, estimates and the written contract

This section states law. This is general information, not legal advice.

Citizens Advice draws the line that people blur most often: "A quote is a fixed price, so you’ll know what you’re getting and how much it will cost. An estimate is just a rough guess, so you might end up paying more."¹ On its account, a trader can't charge more than a quote unless you ask for extra work, you agree to extra work they tell you is needed, or they made a genuine mistake writing down or working out the price. It advises: "Try to get written quotes from at least 3 different traders before you decide on one."¹ Be cautious, it says, of a price far below the others, which might mean the trader lacks the skills, is not being honest, or is not quoting for the same work. A good quote, on its list, gives a fixed total price rather than a daily rate, a breakdown of the work and materials, how long the price is valid for, and whether it includes VAT.

The FTC says the same about the cheapest bid in the US: get several written estimates, "Don’t automatically choose the lowest bidder", and ask why if the prices differ a lot.⁶ Its contract list asks for the contractor's name, address, phone and licence number, estimated start and completion dates, any promises made in conversation, the written right to cancel where it applies, and no blank spaces.⁶⁷

The UK's Consumer Rights Act 2015 puts a floor under every contract in which a trader supplies a service to a consumer.¹⁰

• Section 49: the trader "must perform the service with reasonable care and skill".
• Section 50: anything "said or written to the consumer" by or for the trader about itself or the service, if you took it into account in deciding, is treated as a term of the contract. Whether a claim painted on a van was said to you, this course did not read, so get it into the written quote.
• Section 51: where no price was fixed, "the consumer must pay a reasonable price for the service, and no more". Section 52 does the same for time.
• Section 57: a term that tries to exclude the section 49 duty is not binding on you.

In California, a home improvement contract over $500 has to be in writing and carry a list of notices, set out in Business and Professions Code section 7159.⁹ Two of them do most of the protecting, and the next section is about them.

Paying

This section states law. This is general information, not legal advice.

Both countries' sources come back to one idea: your money should not run ahead of the work. Citizens Advice gives the reason for paying in stages: "Paying in stages is a good idea, because it means problems can be put right before you make the final payment."¹ California writes the same idea into its law, below.

In England, Citizens Advice's advice (guidance, not law) is to pay by debit or credit card if you can, otherwise by bank transfer, and "Don’t pay with cash."¹ Avoid deposits; if the trader wants one for materials, offer to buy the materials yourself; and on a long job where you can't avoid one, "don’t agree to more than 25%". For work costing between £100.01 and £30,000 paid by credit card, Citizens Advice says you may be able to make a "section 75 claim" against the card company if something goes wrong, including for a deposit, even one under £100. Which ways of paying can be clawed back, and why, is Personal Finance lesson 10.

In California, the cap is law, and section 7159 makes a contract that charges a down payment print it in bold type:⁹

"THE DOWNPAYMENT MAY NOT EXCEED $1,000 OR 10 PERCENT OF THE CONTRACT PRICE, WHICHEVER IS LESS."

The licence board's guide adds that there are "no exceptions for special order materials"; the only exception is a contractor with a blanket performance and payment bond on file with the board, which the guide says only "a handful of licensees" have, noted on the board's website.⁸ And a contract with progress payments must carry this: "IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR A CONTRACTOR TO COLLECT PAYMENT FOR WORK NOT YET COMPLETED, OR FOR MATERIALS NOT YET DELIVERED. HOWEVER, A CONTRACTOR MAY REQUIRE A DOWNPAYMENT."⁹

Keep the two apart: England's 25% is advice, California's cap is law, and neither is the other country's rule. Elsewhere in the US, the FTC says "Some states actually limit the amount of money a contractor can ask for as a down payment", and to ask your state or local consumer agency.⁶ And the last payment waits: the FTC says never make it "until the work is done and you’re satisfied".⁷

Liens: why paying in full doesn't end it, in California

A lien is a claim against your home. California's statute makes every home improvement contract carry a "Mechanics Lien Warning", and the licence board's guide explains it: "Even if the contractor is paid in full, unpaid subcontractors, suppliers, and laborers involved in the project may record a mechanics lien and sue the property owner in court to foreclose the lien."⁸ And: "A property owner could be forced to pay twice or have the court sell the home to pay the lien."⁸

The guide's reason is its first sentence on the subject: "Anyone who helps improve property, but is not paid, may place what is called a mechanics lien on the property."⁸ The claim goes with the unpaid work to the house, whoever you paid. The protections follow from that. Suppliers and subcontractors must send you a "Preliminary Notice" within 20 days of starting work or delivering materials; ask the contractor for a list of them; have each sign a lien release when their part is paid; or pay with a joint check made out to the contractor and the supplier together.⁸⁹ The statute also makes the contract promise that, once a portion of the work is paid for, the contractor gives you a full and unconditional release for that portion before any further payment.⁹

This course read no other state's lien law and no UK source on liens, so it says nothing about either.

Cancelling

This section states law. This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources: the UK column, regulations 5, 27(3), 28 to 31 and 36;¹¹ the federal column, 16 CFR Part 429 and the FTC's page;¹²¹³ California, section 7159, Civil Code section 1689.5 (a "senior citizen" is 65 or older) and the board's guide.⁹⁸

Three points in that table are the ones people miss.

The 14 days and early work. For the work itself, the Regulations do not stop it starting in the 14 days, but the trader "must not begin" unless you have made an express request, and for an off-premises contract the request must be "on a durable medium", which the Regulations define to include paper or email.¹¹ If you cancel, you pay for what was done, in proportion. And once a service-only job is finished, if you asked for the early start and acknowledged you'd lose the right, the right is gone (regulation 36(2)). If the trader never gave you the cancellation information, you pay nothing for it.

Urgent repairs. Regulation 28(1)(e) takes away the right to cancel "contracts where the consumer has specifically requested a visit from the trader for the purpose of carrying out urgent repairs or maintenance". Regulation 28(2) then keeps the right for extra services, and for goods other than the replacement parts the repair needed, sold on that same visit.¹¹ The FTC's rule has the same shape for repairs you asked for, and says "personal property"; this course did not read whether a repair to the house itself counts as that, so it says nothing either way.¹²

States can give more. The FTC's rule leaves a state law in force unless it is "directly inconsistent", and a state right to cancel that isn't "substantially the same or greater" counts as that.¹² On this course's reading of the two texts, California's longer periods are not inconsistent, which is why the California column sits on top of the federal one.

When the work is wrong

This section states law. This is general information, not legal advice.

In the UK, the Consumer Rights Act gives you a sequence.¹⁰ If the service wasn't done with reasonable care and skill, you can require the trader to do it again, "to the extent necessary to complete its performance in conformity with the contract" (section 55). The trader must do that within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience to you, and "must bear any necessary costs incurred in doing so (including in particular the cost of any labour or materials)". Only if putting it right is impossible, or the trader fails to do it within a reasonable time, do you move to a price reduction, which can, where appropriate, be the full price, refunded within 14 days of the trader agreeing (section 56). The Act doesn't stop you seeking other remedies too, but this course did not read how those work. Citizens Advice's practical order:¹ as soon as something's wrong, ask the trader to put it right, agree how, and get that agreement in writing.

In the US, the FTC's advice is to try the contractor first, then to follow any phone call with a letter sent by certified mail with a return receipt, and keep copies.⁶ If that fails, it points to your state attorney general or local consumer protection office. In California, the licence board's guide says you have four years to file a complaint with it about a faulty project.⁸

The pattern at the door

Personal Safety lesson 5 taught the pressure pattern and the call-back rule, and Personal Finance lesson 10 taught why the way you pay decides whether you can get money back. This lesson adds only the signs the FTC lists for contractors.

From its home improvement page: scammers knock on your door saying they're in the area, say "they have materials left over from a previous job", push for an immediate decision, want everything up front or cash only, and suggest a lender they know.⁶ One sign runs against what you'd expect: "Scammers ask you to get any required building permits."⁶ The FTC gives the sign without a reason, and this course supplies none.

From its page on scams after storms and disasters, the extra signs are a claim not to need a licence, a discount "only if you sign a contract right away", asking you to sign over your insurance check, insisting on payment by wire transfer, gift card, payment app, cryptocurrency or cash, a "blank contract", and a fee to help you qualify for FEMA relief. The FTC's answers: "FEMA doesn’t charge application fees", and "never sign your insurance check over to a contractor"; instead, arrange for your bank to pay the contractor stage by stage once you've approved each stage.⁷ Never sign papers with blanks in them, and never transfer your deed to anyone without advice.⁶

A boiler in Nottinghamshire

This worked example is set in England, and uses the law and advice read for England and for Great Britain. This is general information, not legal advice.

Megan owns a 1970s semi in Nottinghamshire. Her combi boiler is eighteen years old and has lost pressure twice this winter, and her engineer's last service note said it was near the end of its life.

1. Who. A boiler is a gas appliance, so in Great Britain whoever fits it as a business must be competent and on the Gas Safe Register, and lesson 10's check applies to each engineer who quotes: the card, the boiler category on its back, and the Register's own site.
2. Three quotes. Engineer A quotes a fixed £2,850 including VAT, broken down into the boiler, the flue, removing the old one and flushing the system, valid for 30 days. Engineer B gives "an estimate of about £2,400, depending on what we find". Engineer C quotes £1,650, total only.
3. Comparing. B is an estimate, so on Citizens Advice's account it is a rough guess and the final bill may be higher. C is far below the others with no breakdown, which is the case Citizens Advice says to be cautious about; it may not cover the same work. She asks C what the price includes. The answer leaves out removing the old boiler and flushing the system. She chooses A.¹
4. Signing. Engineer A comes round to measure up, and she signs his contract at her kitchen table. That makes it an off-premises contract, over £42, so she can cancel. Because it includes the boiler itself, the Regulations treat it as a sales contract, and her 14 days run from the day the boiler is delivered, not the day she signed.¹¹
5. Early start. She wants it in next week. So she emails him asking him to start then; an email is a durable medium. On this course's reading, if she cancelled after he'd started, she'd pay for the fitting done, in proportion; what happens to a boiler already fitted is set by regulations this course did not read.¹¹
6. Paying. He asks for £285 up front for the boiler. Citizens Advice's advice is to avoid a deposit where she can; she pays it by credit card, which Citizens Advice says may give her a section 75 claim, and she pays the rest when it is fitted and working.¹ Her last step, from Citizens Advice's list, is telling her buildings insurer about the work.

A hailstorm in Riverside County, with a gap for you

This worked example is set in California, and uses federal rules and California's. This is general information, not legal advice.

Dolores is 67 and owns a single-storey house in Riverside County, California. The morning after a hailstorm, a man knocks. He's "working on a roof in the area", has "materials left over from that job", and can fix her damaged shingles for $16,000, with a discount if she signs today and pays half in cash. He adds that she can sign her insurance check over to him when it comes, "to save you the hassle". No state of emergency has been declared for the storm.

Run him through the FTC's lists first. "In the area", leftover materials, a discount only if she signs right away, half up front in cash, and signing over the insurance check: that is five signs from the FTC's two pages before a ladder has come off his van.⁶⁷ She says no and closes the door. If he'd offered a number to ring for someone to vouch for him, Personal Safety lesson 5's call-back rule is why she wouldn't use it.

A week later she's found a roofer herself and checked his licence on the CSLB's website. He comes to the house, and she signs his contract at her kitchen table. It's also for $16,000.

Now the lien. The roofer will buy shingles from a supplier and may bring in a subcontractor for the gutters. What should Dolores ask for, and when does she pay each stage? Work it out before you open the answer.

The insurance check stays in her name. The FTC's answer is to arrange with her bank or credit union for a certificate of completion, so the bank pays the contractor for each stage after she has approved it.⁷ What her policy covers is Personal Finance lesson 8's question.

What people get wrong

"The logo on the van proves membership." Check the body's own members' list, found by your own route (FMB; Citizens Advice).⁴¹

"TrustMark is a government body." TrustMark describes itself as "the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme"; this course read no government page saying so.³

"I called them in, so I can't cancel anything." In the UK, only the urgent repair you asked for loses the right; extras sold on the same visit keep it (regulation 28).¹¹

"Paying in full protects me from liens." Not in California, on the licence board's account.⁸

"It's a good sign when the contractor asks me to get the permit." The FTC lists it as a sign of a scam.⁶

"Everything on the stop list is there because it's illegal." Some stops are law and many are advice or this course's own line; each belongs on the list, but say which (lesson 22).

Practice

The end of the course

The course started with four flows into a house and where they switch off, and it has asked one question of every rule since: law or advice, whose, and where? That question also works on the person you hire. A trader who says a job "has to" be done a certain way, or that you "legally can't" do something, has made a claim with a source, and you now know how to ask for it.

The course project, "Your home's maintenance plan", gathers every lesson's "For your plan" notes into one private document for your own home: the shut-off map, the emergency cards, a calendar, a stop list, a call list, and one repair written up. This lesson's part is the call list.

For your plan

To the call list: each trade from the exercise, its register and how you'll check it, and your country's cancellation period and deposit rule. To the stop list: the table at the top of this lesson, each job with the rule behind it and whether it's law or advice. To the emergency cards: one line under each, "urgent repairs I call for can't be cancelled; anything extra sold on the visit can" (UK), or, in the US, "no cash, no wire, no signing over the insurance check".

Connections

The main Call someone jobs from every earlier lesson are in the table. Lesson 10 has the Gas Safe check; lessons 19 and 20 sent you here for trained, licensed and lead-safe certified firms; lesson 22, "Who may do what: reserved work, and the argument about licensing", has the law on who may do which job. Personal Safety lesson 5 has the doorstep, Personal Finance Fundamentals lessons 8 and 10 insurance and paying, and Digital Literacy lesson 11 the own-route rule.

Go deeper

• Citizens Advice, "Before you get work done on your home". Read here in full. A checklist for England, and the source of most of this lesson's UK advice.
• FTC, "How To Avoid Scams After Weather Emergencies and Natural Disasters". Read here in full. Short, and worth reading before the storm rather than after it.
• Contractors State License Board, A Consumer Guide to Home Improvement Contracts. Read here in full. California's, but its account of liens explains why paying the contractor isn't the end of it. It doesn't mention the seven-day right in the statute, so read it beside section 7159.

Sources

1. Citizens Advice, "Before you get work done on your home". Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026. The page says its advice applies to England.
2. Citizens Advice, "Find a trader and check you can trust them", page last reviewed 9 May 2019. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026. England.
3. TrustMark, its own description of itself, on its website. Read: the sentence re-read on TrustMark's home page, 26 September 2026; the "Why TrustMark?" page recorded at research now returns "Page not found". A self-description; no government source read.
4. Federation of Master Builders, "Find a builder". Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026. A trade association, about its own members.
5. GOV.UK, "Competent person scheme: current schemes and how schemes are authorised", updated 17 September 2026. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
6. US Federal Trade Commission, "How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam", modified 10 December 2025. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
7. US Federal Trade Commission, "How To Avoid Scams After Weather Emergencies and Natural Disasters", modified 28 April 2026. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
8. Contractors State License Board (California), A Consumer Guide to Home Improvement Contracts, undated. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026. California only.
9. California Business and Professions Code section 7159, as amended by SB 517, effective 1 January 2026, and Civil Code section 1689.5(f). Read: section 7159 in full, and section 1689.5's definitions, on the legislature's site, 26 September 2026. California only.
10. Consumer Rights Act 2015, sections 49 to 52 and 54 to 57, on legislation.gov.uk. Read: each section in full, revised text, 26 September 2026. Extends to the UK.
11. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/3134), on legislation.gov.uk. Read: regulations 5, 6, 7, 10, 27 to 31 and 36 in full, revised text, 26 September 2026.
12. 16 CFR Part 429, the Cooling-Off Rule, on the eCFR. Read: the whole Part, 26 September 2026. Federal.
13. US Federal Trade Commission, "Buyer's Remorse: The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule May Help", modified 9 December 2025. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
14. US Environmental Protection Agency, "Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program", last updated 17 June 2026. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
15. US Environmental Protection Agency, "Protect Your Family from Exposures to Asbestos", last updated 25 June 2026. Read: full text, re-read 26 September 2026.
16. Health and Safety Executive, "Asbestos: FAQs", updated 4 September 2025. Read: full text, as recorded for lesson 19. Great Britain.
17. US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Publication 5133, "Preventing Home Fires: Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCIs)", dated R042012. Read: full text.
18. Health and Safety Executive, Electricity at work: Safe working practices, HSG85, third edition, 2013. Read: the whole PDF extracted; "Proving dead" paragraphs 53 to 55 read. Workplace guidance, used here only for what it says about non-contact testers.