Carpenters

What to put in your job description

• What you want made, fitted or repaired: doors, skirting, flooring, shelves, a wardrobe, stairs.
• Sizes, and how many.
• Who buys the wood, doors or flooring, and whether you have them already.
• What is there now, and whether it needs taking out.
• Whether it is an outside door or window, or a fire door.

Don't put your name, phone number or address in the description: every trade who covers your area reads it. Your name, phone, email and address go only to the trades who take the job (3 at most).

Questions to ask before you hire

• Is the price for labour only, or with materials?
• Will you take away the old doors, flooring or offcuts?
• For a replacement window or outside door: are you in a scheme such as FENSA or CERTASS?
• For a fire door: how will you fit it so it still works as one?
• Do you have public liability insurance?

Registers and schemes to check

There is no legal register for carpenters. Replacement windows and outside doors must meet the Building Regulations; installers in a competent person scheme such as FENSA or CERTASS can sign that off. Taking out or changing a wall that holds up the house needs building control. We don't check this for you yet.

What the job usually involves

• Doors: hanging, trimming, new handles and locks.
• Fitted furniture: wardrobes, shelves, alcove units, under-stair storage.
• First fix and second fix in building work: floor joists, stud walls, then skirting and architraves.
• Repairs to floors, stairs, windows and sash windows.
• Decking, sheds and fences, which some carpenters do.

How quotes and visits work

Fitted furniture is usually quoted after a visit to measure. Ask what the price includes: the wood or board, the finish (painted or not), and fitting. For doors and windows, ask who supplies them.

Ask for a written quote (a fixed price) rather than an estimate (a guess that can change), and for what it includes. If you agree a job in your home, you usually have 14 days to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations; if you want work to start sooner, you may have to pay for what has been done.

Safety

• New outside doors and replacement windows must meet the Building Regulations. An installer in a competent person scheme such as FENSA or CERTASS can sign that off.
• Fire doors (for example to an integral garage, or in a loft conversion) must stay fire doors: ask before trimming or changing one.

Insurance and TrustMark

Ask for public liability insurance before work starts. It covers damage or injury caused by the trade to you, your home or someone else. Ask for the insurer's name and the cover's end date; you can ask to see the certificate.

TrustMark is the government-endorsed quality scheme for work in and around the home. Its registered businesses agree to its code of practice, and you can look them up on trustmark.org.uk.

Guides for homeowners

• Fence repair after a storm
• Planning permission and Building Regulations: the difference
• How to compare quotes from local trades

We take jobs from anywhere in the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Trades choose the postcode districts they cover.

Carpenters by town and city

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland