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Home and garden guides
Plumbing, electrics, renovation, cleaning and garden work: how to find a trustworthy pro near you and what to check before you accept a quote.
Home repairs turn urgent at exactly the wrong moment, and that is when the expensive decision gets made: calling the first number you find, then discovering afterwards what you actually agreed to.
These guides break down what ends up on the invoice. What a fair price looks like, what an itemised quote should contain, what you can safely do yourself, and when calling a professional is the cheaper option.
What this category covers
- Plumbing and drains
- Electrical
- Heating, boilers and appliances
- Painting, carpentry and handyman jobs
- Cleaning and moving
- Garden and outdoor
- Locks, pests, roofs and windows
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Frequently asked questions
How do I tell whether a quote is realistic?
Ask for a breakdown into labour and materials, with quantities and unit prices. A single total is a number, not a quote. Where two quotes differ a lot it is almost always because they do not cover the same thing, so check the call-out fee, the strip-out and the waste removal separately.
What is worth doing myself?
Anything where a mistake is cheap: painting, assembling furniture, changing filters, clearing a simple blockage. Where water, gas or wiring is involved, one wrong move can cost many times the labour you saved, and your insurer may not cover it.
Do I need a contract for a small job?
For a renovation, yes. For something small, a summary confirmed by message or email is enough, as long as it states the work, the price, the deadline and the guarantee. Without a written trace a dispute stays exactly as verbal as it started.
How much of a deposit is normal?
Typically 20 to 30 percent of the total for materials, paid when the work starts. On a materials-heavy job it can reasonably be higher, but then ask for the materials list and the purchase receipts. Anyone asking for most of the fee before starting is a risk.
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