Question 1

How much does it cost to hire a builder for a day?

Accepted Answer

Roughly £450 to £500 a day excluding VAT for a general builder in London, or £540 to £600 once a VAT-registered firm adds 20%. That London figure is derived rather than measured: it takes Checkatrade's UK average of about £400 a day and applies the London uplift Checkatrade itself states.

Question 2

How much does a builder charge per hour in the UK?

Accepted Answer

About £50 an hour excluding VAT across the UK, rising to roughly £55 in London. MyBuilder gives a wider national range of £25 to £60. The figure misleads on short jobs, because many builders apply a minimum charge of two to four hours, so a one-hour visit can still cost £100 to £200 excluding VAT.

Question 3

How much should a tradesman charge per hour?

Accepted Answer

Around £50 an hour excluding VAT is the broad UK benchmark across the building trades, with London roughly £5 an hour above it. The spread between trades is wider than that average suggests, and certificated trades such as electricians and plumbers sit above general and finishing trades.

Question 4

What to check before hiring a builder?

Accepted Answer

Check insurance properly, because most people check it wrong. Employers' liability is compulsory where a firm has staff, at a minimum of £5 million, with a fine of £2,500 for every day uninsured. Public liability is not legally required at all, and that is the cover protecting you and your house.

Question 5

How to spot a dodgy builder?

Accepted Answer

Screen for incompetence first: on Citizens Advice complaint data, bad work by a real builder is roughly four times more common than a scam. Then the fraud signals: an unsolicited doorstep approach, a large deposit before anything starts, vague business details and no written quote. Persistent doorstep solicitation is now a banned practice the CMA can fine directly.

Question 6

Should a builder ask for money up front?

Accepted Answer

Often yes, for materials. Two independent bodies set the same ceiling: the Federation of Master Builders says a 10% deposit is reasonable but do not pay more than 25%, and Citizens Advice separately says do not agree to more than 25%. The FMB adds that you should probably walk away at 50% or more.

Question 7

How to tell if a builder is good?

Accepted Answer

Look for the positive signals rather than the absence of bad ones. A good builder gives a written quote that separates labour and materials, names a contract with rates for extras and overruns, offers references you can visit, and tells you what might go wrong before you have signed anything.

Question 8

What to ask a builder when getting a quote?

Accepted Answer

Ask whether VAT is included and whether there are costs not mentioned. That is the FMB's own advice, and it is the question that makes two quotes comparable. Then ask for labour and materials to be separated, establish who orders materials, and agree the rate for extras and overruns before signing.

Question 9

Is it legal to pay in cash for building work?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and the UK sets no limit on the amount. The general law is the same for every trade, but building work is paid in stages and runs to sums where the section 75 ceiling and the deposit both start to matter. Cash on a long job means several undocumented payments rather than one.

Question 10

What to do if a builder doesn't finish a job?

Accepted Answer

Complain in writing citing the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and give the builder a chance to put it right, which you usually must do before you can claim money back. Do not withhold payment as leverage: Which? warns it can put you in breach and weaken your position. Then escalate in order.

Question 11

What is the most common contractor mistake?

Accepted Answer

On the best available UK data it is competent-but-poor workmanship rather than dishonesty. Citizens Advice recorded 36,534 home improvement complaints in the year to June 2025, around 700 a week. Low-quality services accounted for 52.8% of them; scams and rogue traders for 14.3%, roughly a quarter as many.

Question 12

Is MyBuilder trustworthy?

Accepted Answer

MyBuilder is an established platform with strong review gating: a review can only be left where the job was posted on the platform and the tradesperson was hired for it through the platform. No trade directory has faced CMA enforcement action, MyBuilder included. We are a competing directory, so read what follows accordingly.

Question 13

Can you fake reviews on MyBuilder?

Accepted Answer

It is harder than on an open review site, because MyBuilder only accepts reviews tied to a job posted on the platform where the tradesperson was hired through it. Harder is not impossible. Since 6 April 2025 fake reviews are banned outright in the UK, and platforms must take reasonable steps to prevent them.

Hiring a builder in South London: your questions answered

What it costs

Choosing a builder

Paying and protection

Comparing directories

Ready to get quotes?