How to find a trusted tradie

How to find a trusted tradie


You've decided what upgrades you need and you've picked out the product that you want to get installed. But who should do the installation?
If you have not yet considered which upgrades you need, you can work through the process in our article, 'What is the next step to an Energy Freedom Home?' 
We've spent a lot of time talking to hundreds of installers for different types of upgrades. We realised that a wide range of expertise exists within the field of home energy upgrades and it's not always easy to filter out the best tradies for the job.
 
This article runs through the importance of getting the right tradie and provides a checklist of questions to ask any tradies you chat with to make sure they are trustworthy.
If you are reluctant to go through the vetting process yourself or have been burned in the past, join an Energy Freedom Homes Masterclass. Learn to identify your needs, gain expert installation advice, and meet trustworthy tradespeople. Check your Masterclass readiness now!

Why picking the right tradie is important

The selection of an installer and tradesperson is important as they are coming into your home to install appliances that should last a long time. Below we have outlined the key reasons we think it is important to have a trusted tradie when getting home energy upgrades.

Accreditation and certification

Accreditation and certification standards exist in every trade. If a tradie does not have the appropriate accreditation then their work isn't going to comply with standards and they will not be able to provide a compliance certificate of work. Using a tradie that is not certified means:
  1. Your home may be unsafe (particularly in relation to electrical and plumbing work);
  2. You have little recourse if repairs or replacements are required;
  3. The warranty on your appliances may be void.

Warranties

When your tradie is also an installer, there are links between their business and product warranties. Installers are often responsible for honouring product warranties. If your tradie goes out of business or declares bankruptcy a couple of years after installing your product, that's effectively the end of the 10 year warranty they offered.

Industry knowledge

Industry knowledge is not universal and with technology changing quickly, it can be difficult for tradies to stay up-to-date. The result is:
  1. At times tradies provide advice that is based on their opinions rather than researched knowledge;
  2. They can provide information that was up-to-date when they received their qualifications, but is now out-of-date;
  3. They can complete a dodgy install because they don't understand the product and installation requirements;
  4. They can under-quote and then include suprise costs at the end, because they didn't know what the job would involve, which can blow out your budget.

Your experience

There is no industry-standard for professionalism and as such, there are tradies that will confuse, mislead and bully homeowners. Tradies come into your home and therefore, it is important that they are nice to work with. This includes being timely, efficient, polite, patient, clean and pleasant.

How do you find the right tradies?

There are many different routes to connect with tradies, from HiPages to a Google search. However, wherever you search it's important to remember that businesses at the top of your search results are demonstrating marketing skills. There's no guarantee they will be the best fit for home energy upgrades!
 
The most important thing is to set up a robust filtering process. Run each tradie that you consider through a list of checks. If the tradie is unable to meet these checks, consider if you want the risk.
 
The link below provides a fillable checklist that allows you to filter tradies. When you're done, you can submit it to email yourself a copy for your records.
This is the same checklist that we use to select our Trusted Tradie partners, so it's quite extensive. You might feel it's a bit excessive for your purposes, but it's an important tool to minimise your risk and give you confidence to knock back tradies who don't meet your standards.

Why do Energy Freedom Homes use this process?

Getting the right tradie for the job is a critical part of achieving an Energy Freedom Home and unfortunately in our experience there are more unsuitable tradies out there than eligible ones.  
 
That's why we've established partnerships with businesses who pass our list of checks and work directly with them in ongoing relationships to make sure they are providing high standards of service to our clients.
Find out more about why we take this approach instead of operating as a marketplace provider in this article.

Next steps

Want to avoid dodgy tradies? Join an Energy Freedom Homes Masterclass and learn to identify your needs, gain expert installation advice, and meet trustworthy tradespeople. Check your Masterclass readiness now!
 
Knowing how to find reliable tradies is great, but if you are unsure about your journey to an Energy Freedom Home, you can start by reading about what one is here, or you can head to our planning article, 'What is the next step to your Energy Freedom Home?'