11th February 2009, 12:54 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Oxbeast
When I rectntly needed a builder and roofer, my first port of call was the Federation of Master Builders and the Guild of Master Craftsmen. I wouldn't expect to be able to ring the building control officer, and ask him to recommend contractors. And if he did, they might well not be suitable, and accustomed to knocking up hundreds of new builds, or schools on PFI schemes or something.
I also got a nice regional list of surveyors through the RICS website. They weren't all local by any means, some of them were based 60 miles away, but if they were willing to work in my area, they came up.
I agree with you that the line between a list and a recommendation is a pretty fine one. If the list indicates 'a mark of potential' for people who have successfully carried out work in that area, surely a developer just hears 'recommended'.
i wonder if this is widespread in other aspects of planning, ie. lists of herpetology companies, asbestos removal, newt wranglers, etc, etc.
Newt wranglers! Nice.
Aren't these lists a bit like looking at the IFA directory though? I assuming that they don't just include anyone that wants to be in them. Speaking of which, does the IFA have an online list of its members? A sort of IFA version of what BAJR has? If not, it should, I shall investigate...
They do, although only for RAOs as far as I can tell from a 30 second investigation. Plus it also has the downside for developers that when you search a region basically every RAO comes up, which is probably a little off putting. Presumably this is because when asked which regions they work in the all tick the 'all' box. I think that muight be even more unhelpful.