Clearview National November 2016 - Issue 180 | Page 84

INSTALLERSUPPORT

13 million homeowners
fear hiring a tradesman
Co-Founder, Cem Savas

»»HOME IMPROVEMENT
marketplace, Plentific.com’s latest insight
estimates that 13 million UK homeowners
fear hiring tradesmen to carry out home
improvement work.
According to Plentific.com’s survey, 87% of
homeowners fear hiring tradesmen and their
key concern seems to be finding a reliable
professional. 59% said their biggest hurdle is
finding a tradesman that they know for certain
can do their job properly.
The nation is relatively relaxed about
projects sticking to a timeline; homeowners

were more keen on getting their projects
done to a high standard. A fifth (19%) get
concerns about their work being completed
on time, with half (51%) fearing that
their finished project will not meet with
expectations.
The region with the most confident
homeowners was the South West, with 19%
of local homeowners replying that they had
no concerns about hiring a tradesman. This
is a big contrast to concerned Londoners,
of which only 5% said they felt completely
comfortable doing so.
There was a lot of variation at regional
level. The biggest worry in Brighton was
getting ripped off, as 74% of local respondents
said they feared their job would be unfairly
overpriced; a much higher statistic than the
national average of 51%. When it came down
to trusting tradesmen in the home whilst on
the job, the cities with the biggest fear factor

were Cardiff (45%), Liverpool (44%) and
Manchester (40%), which all showed greater
concern than the national average (33%).
Age also appeared to divide confidence
levels on certain issues, with 68% of
homeowners aged 55 and over voicing
concerns about the reliability of tradesmen,
compared to 45% of respondents under 35.
Cem Savas, Co-Founder of Plentific.com,
said: “Our survey shows why homeowners
may hold back when hiring a Pro without
seeing proper verification. These days
people need more than just word-of-mouth
recommendation, which is why we created
Plentific. We’re here to change the way
people feel about hiring a trade professional.
We provide a transparent marketplace
with verified and customer-rated trade
professionals, our guarantee and a secure
payment service, enabling homeowners to feel
confident about getting their job done.”

Chief Operations Officer Appointed
»»THE ASSOCIATION FOR
Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP)
is to appoint Niall Rowan as its
new Chief Operations Officer.
The appointment, which results
from the impending retirement
of Chief Executive Officer, Wilf
Butcher, forms part of a planned
reorganisation of the Association’s
structure, which will take effect
from 1 January 2017.
In addition, the revised
structure will also see several other
ASFP officers taking on new
responsibilities:
• Publicity Officer, Anna
Hayes, will have an enhanced
role based around her current
position, which will see
her taking on increased
responsibilities including
developing and implementing
a marketing and
communications strategy.

• Membership Officer,
Tony Corcoran, will now
also provide enhanced
member-focused support,
including members’
forums, an increase in CPD
programmes and increased
communication with the
membership as a whole.
• Wilf Butcher takes on
the new role of Training
Development Officer,
responsible for providing
a training strategy and
framework, which will
stretch from initial awareness
training to an academic
qualification in passive fire
protection.
The Association will be
recruiting a new part time
Technical Officer to take on the
majority of Niall Rowan’s existing
work load, including running the

84 » N OV 2016 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

ASFP’s Technical Committee and
task groups and being responsible
for all the Association’s technical
publications.
Speaking of his appointment
Niall Rowan declared: “I
am honoured to take on the
new role of Chief Operations
Officer. Interest in the ASFP
and its work has never been so
high and I intend to build on
this momentum to cement its
position as the pre-eminent trade
association in the passive fire
protection area.
“I would like to thank Wilf
for the tremendous job he has
done in bringing the Association
to where we are today and look
forward to working with him in
the further development of the
ASFP’s training activities.”
Retiring CEO, Wilf Butcher,
stated: “Niall and I have worked

closely together for a number of
years and I am delighted that he is
now taking on the role of COO.
I wish Niall and the rest of the
team every success for the future
and look forward to seeing the
Association grow from strength to
strength in the years to come.”