How to Find a Good Tradesperson in Corbridge

Most people in Corbridge find a tradesperson the same way: a neighbour's recommendation, a name passed round at the school gate or a post in a village Facebook group. That's a good start, but it's worth spending a few minutes checking before anyone starts work on your boiler, your wiring or your walls.

Corbridge has an extra thing to think about. Much of the village centre is a conservation area and many of its older buildings are listed, so some jobs that need no permission elsewhere need consent here.

This is an advice guide, so it doesn't recommend individual firms. Our trades page brings together the local trades we list.

Check the right register for the job

Some work can legally be done only by a registered person. For other work, a trade body membership is a useful sign of quality but not a legal requirement. Always check the register yourself on the scheme's own website. A logo on a van or a website proves nothing.

Gas. Anyone who works on a gas appliance in your home must be on the Gas Safe Register. Ask to see their ID card and check the number on the Gas Safe Register website. The back of the card shows which appliances they are qualified for.

Oil. Many homes in the Tyne Valley countryside around Corbridge are not on mains gas and heat with oil. OFTEC runs the main registration scheme for oil heating technicians, and its website has a search tool.

Electrics. Most new circuits, consumer unit changes and any electrical work in a bathroom are notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations. An electrician registered with a competent person scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT can certify their own work. Otherwise building control must inspect it, at extra cost.

Building. There is no legal register for builders. The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) vets its members, and TrustMark is the government-endorsed quality scheme for tradespeople, with its own complaints process. Both have search tools on their websites.

Corbridge's conservation area and listed buildings

Northumberland County Council's records show that the Corbridge Conservation Area was first designated in 1974 and extended in 1996. Its character appraisal, adopted in 2009, describes a village built mainly of local cream sandstone, with Welsh slate and clay pantile roofs and a wide variety of chimney pots. It encourages traditional materials and original windows, doors and chimneys. The appraisal and a boundary map are on the council's conservation area pages.

Listed buildings. Several of the village's best-known buildings are listed, including the old inns on Main Street, Middle Street and Hill Street, and the appraisal lists many more in its appendix. If your home is listed, the council says you may need listed building consent to alter, extend or demolish it, and even small changes can need it. Protection can also cover walls, outbuildings and other structures in the grounds if they were there before 1948. The council says carrying out work without the required consent is a criminal offence. There is no application fee for listed building consent.

You can check whether a building is listed by searching the National Heritage List for England on Historic England's website.

Conservation area rules. Even if your home is not listed, being inside the conservation area reduces your permitted development rights. Work that would not need planning permission elsewhere, such as some extensions, roof alterations or cladding, may need an application here. Northumberland's Article 4 directions, which remove further rights, currently apply to six areas, none of them in Corbridge. If you plan to cut down or prune a tree in a conservation area, you normally have to give the council six weeks' notice first.

What this means when hiring. If you live in an older property in the village centre:

• Check before you book anyone. Use the council's "Do I need planning permission?" guidance, or ask for pre-application advice, before work is priced.
• Ask about heritage experience. For stonework, pointing, roofing, sash windows and timber doors, ask whether the firm has worked on listed or conservation area buildings and can show you examples. Traditional stone buildings usually need traditional materials, such as lime mortar rather than cement, and the wrong repair can trap damp and damage the stone.
• Be clear who is getting consent. Agree in writing who applies for consent, and don't start until it is granted.

Planning and building control

Northumberland County Council deals with both planning and building control for Corbridge.

• Planning permission is about what you build and how it looks. Corbridge Parish Council is consulted on planning applications in the parish, and you can see past applications for your street on the county council's online planning register.
• Building Regulations cover how the work is built: structure, fire safety, insulation, drainage and electrics. Most extensions, loft conversions and structural alterations need approval, even when planning permission is not needed. Your builder or designer can apply to the council's building control team or use a registered building control approver. At the end you should get a completion certificate, which you will need when you sell.
• Party walls. If you are building on or near a wall you share with a neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may require you to give them written notice before work starts.

The council's main phone number is 0345 600 6400. Our guide to council services in Corbridge explains who deals with what.

Getting quotes

• Get at least three written quotes for any job worth more than a few hundred pounds, and give every firm the same brief or drawings so you can compare them fairly.
• A quote is not an estimate. A quote is a fixed price for the work described. An estimate is a best guess that can change. Ask which one you are getting.
• Check what is included: materials, removing waste, making good the plaster and paintwork, and any certificates.
• Ask for references from recent jobs nearby, and ask whether you can see finished work.
• Ask about insurance. A builder should have public liability insurance, and many offer an insurance-backed guarantee.

A quote far cheaper than the rest often means something has been left out.

Contracts, deposits and paying

• Get a written contract for anything substantial. It should set out the price, the stages of work, the start and finish dates and how changes will be agreed and priced.
• Never pay the full amount up front. A modest deposit for materials is normal on bigger jobs. After that, pay in agreed stages as the work is completed.
• Pay by credit card where you can. If you pay at least part of the cost of something priced between £100 and £30,000 by credit card, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act makes the card company jointly liable if things go wrong.
• Be wary of cash-only demands, and of anyone who asks for a large payment before they have ordered materials or started work.
• Know your cancellation rights. If you agree a contract in your own home, you usually have 14 days to cancel.

Doorstep callers

Be cautious with anyone who knocks unannounced to say your roof, chimney, gutters or drive needs urgent work. Don't agree to anything on the doorstep, never go to a cash machine with a trader, and don't let anyone in without checking who they are.

Northumberland Trading Standards publishes a "No Cold Calling" poster to download from the county council's website and put in your window. We couldn't find a council-run approved trader scheme in Northumberland, and the county does not appear among the councils running the national Buy With Confidence scheme. So be wary of anyone who says they are "council approved", and use the national registers above instead.

If something goes wrong

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a trader must carry out a service with reasonable care and skill, within a reasonable time, and at a reasonable price if no price was agreed. If the work isn't up to standard, you are entitled to ask them to put it right, and in some cases to a price reduction.

1. Raise it with the trader first, in writing, with photos, and give them a reasonable chance to fix it.
2. Use the trade body's complaints process if they belong to the FMB, TrustMark, Gas Safe or a competent person scheme. Report unsafe gas work to the Gas Safe Register.
3. Call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133. Northumberland County Council directs consumers with problems about goods or services to this helpline, and you can email Trading Standards at tradingstandards@northumberland.gov.uk.
4. Report fraud to Action Fraud.
5. Consider the small claims court for money owed, after trying the steps above.

Find local trades

Browse the local businesses on our trades page. New to the village? Our moving to Corbridge guide covers the basics, and our history of Corbridge High Street shows why the village's old buildings are worth looking after.

Spotted something out of date? Get in touch and we'll update the guide.