Working from home isn’t as simple as sitting on your sofa in your comfy clothes and sending a few emails on your laptop. Productivity needs the right surroundings, a place with few distractions and a place you can draw the line between work and home.

Many people looking to start up a business from home look to renovate a room or build an office onto their home, but finding the right tradesperson to do it can be difficult.

We’ve all heard the horror stories. When you need a nice quiet office, the last thing you need to deal with is a torn-down wall, a pile of rubble, and a bill to pay.

So how do you find the ideal tradesperson to create your home office?

The Do’s

One of the first things you can do is run a background check. Some of the best background check services on the market are relatively accessible and reasonable value and will uncover a range of things including whether they’ve ever been bankrupt, have a criminal record, and other things such as years in business and credit rating.

This will help paint a picture of the tradesperson and allow you to explore further.

One way of doing this is by simply asking them for any evidence of qualifications and training. For example, if you’re looking to employ an electrician to rewire your office, as to see if they have accreditation with local authorities. If you need a job doing with gas, ensure they’re registered with an authority.

If you have a handful of prospective candidates you wish to employ to do your work, taking a simple Google search can often be useful.

There are a whole host of sites in which you can compare and rate tradespeople and often the reviews can be really revealing about the quality of work. If you don’t wish to do that, you could in fact just ask the tradesperson themself to provide references and get in touch with those people.

Most importantly, before you sign on the dotted line for a tradesperson, make sure you ask for proof of insurance.

Should they mess up the job, it’s vital you can claim off their insurance. Any legitimate business will have no problem in providing these details anyway.

The Don’ts

While there are many steps you can take to ensure you find a suitable tradesperson, there are also many things you shouldn’t do.

Most importantly, you shouldn’t use a tradesperson simply because they’re cheap. Sure, inexpensive is great, but follow up and find out why they’re offering a good deal.

Low quotes can be huge warning sign, as are people who can generally begin work immediately. If a tradesperson says they can start right away, make sure to ask why.

Good tradespeople will usually have to schedule you in, and for major work like a home office that could need a block week booked in.

It’s generally easy to spot a dodgy tradesperson, and there are a number of telltale signs.

The warning lights should certainly start flashing if you’re asked to pay with cash in advance, even if it’s to pay for materials.

A thriving business will have the resources to provide these before payment, and they shouldn’t need your cash. You should only look to pay at the end of the job.

You can generally get a good idea by their branding too. If the person only operates via a cellphone number, they’re quite likely to be less trustworthy and less skilled than a company with registered company logos, branded vans, and a website in which you can contact the firm easily.

If you have minimal work and are willing to go with an independent handyperson, make sure to check online reviews on sites like Google or Yelp.

Essentially, any company or individual who simply isn’t transparent with you should be avoided.

Follow these steps and you’ll be able to find a reliable person to get the job done for you, so you can transform your space into a productive office.