Pro Installer Guide to Installer Support - Issue 02 | Page 8

Dispute
Resolution:
Getting it right
S

ometimes it hardly matters how good a job you
do at somebody’s property, the customer will not
be happy. Occasionally this is because the customer has
unfairly high expectations, or even merely a demanding
or perfectionist nature. Other times, they have a fair point,
when a tradesman has not completed work up to a high
enough standard or has done something else that was not
originally agreed, such as adding on extras that were not
clearly set out.
Usually, under current law, there is little recourse other
than the courts. If the customer won’t pay even if the job
is good enough in the eyes of the tradesman, then they
must take the customer to court.
Other times, it is the other way around and customers
have to take the tradesmen through lengthy proceedings in
a bid to get some or all of their money back.
The truth is, disagreements go both ways.
“It’s almost always the builder that gets the bad press”
says Harvey Ellingham, founder of the Home Improvements Guarantee Scheme (HIG), which is attempting to
revolutionise the way agreements are drawn up between
customer and tradesman.
“It’s not fair” he adds, “because half the time it’s the
customer who hasn’t got the money to pay for extras that
they have asked for or because they have entirely unrealistic views about how the job should be finished.”
In these cases, the HIG has a built-in dispute resolution
service which is agreed and signed before the job begins
and is binding on both parties.
“Firstly, let’s be clear” says Ellingham. “This situation
hardly ever arises. We’ve only had about four disputes in
the last 200 contracts we’ve cleared,” he says.
“But on the rare occasion when it does happen we need
to first use a bit of