Don't Blame The Builder An Interview With Jeff Howell

Date Published:

05/08/2008

Having problems with your builders? Channel 4’s latest show devoted to the building industry, Don’t Blame The Builder, looks at the arbitration process. But just how bad do things have to be for clients and builders to fall out? And how should you deal with it? We asked the show's presenter, Jeff Howell, for his advice.

Jeff Howell, presenter of Don’t Blame The Builder, is a qualified bricklayer, university construction lecturer, chartered builder and chartered surveyor, with 30 years experience in the building industry. He writes about building and DIY for a variety of newspapers, magazines and construction trade journals, and appears regularly as a guest expert on TV and radio.

Q: You've said that homeowners often know very little about how to look after their homes. Do you think it would make sense for all homeowners to have to take some kind of 'driving test' before buying - so that at least we know some of the basics?

Jeff: Buying and maintaining a home is the greatest single item of expenditure in most people’s lives, but the average person embarks upon home ownership with surprisingly little idea about how to look after their prize investment. It is said that most home-buying decisions are made after viewing a property for an average of only seven minutes, for example.

Many property professionals have suggested that people should have to pass some kind of ‘driving test’ before being allowed to enter the housing market, but I think this is unfair. It is not the lay-person’s fault that the only way to find somewhere decent to live in 21st century Britain is to borrow hundred of thousands of pounds and pay interest on it for 25 years.

Other European countries have much more sensible housing policies, with high-quality homes available for reasonable rents. The idea that everyone has to get a foot on the so-called ‘property ladder’ is a peculiarly British thing and – as recent events are showing – the property ladder is actually little more than a massive pyramid-selling scheme.

Q: When things go wrong - that aren't obviously plumbing or electrics based - we often call in general builders to sort us out. This is often where things start to go pear-shaped. Should there be a code of practice whereby builders immediately have to recommend us on to a specialist, just as GPs would if there was something wrong with us they didn't have the knowledge to deal with?

Jeff: What there should be is a compulsory registration scheme for builders. After all, you aren’t allowed to call yourself a 'doctor' or a 'solicitor' unless you have a formal training and a recognised qualification. But in the UK anyone is free to call themselves a 'builder' and offer to work on peoples’ homes, when they might be complete amateurs – they might have been selling used cars last week.

Having said that, most builders are responsible, conscientious people, but because the British building industry is totally unregulated, there is no way for homeowners to distinguish between the good and the bad. Good builders resent the way they all get tarred with the same brush, and especially hate TV shows that make people automatically suspicious of ALL builders, even before the first brick has been laid.