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The dream: a beautiful kitchen, a new extension, or a manicured garden. The reality? Incomplete projects, empty pockets, and a trail of unanswered calls. Lacking a combination of qualifications, skills, and integrity, cowboy builders target unsuspecting homeowners and promise the world but deliver disaster. What Are Cowboy Builders? Cowboy builders wave many red flags. If […]
The dream: a beautiful kitchen, a new extension, or a manicured garden. The reality? Incomplete projects, empty pockets, and a trail of unanswered calls. Lacking a combination of qualifications, skills, and integrity, cowboy builders target unsuspecting homeowners and promise the world but deliver disaster.
Cowboy builders wave many red flags. If nothing is in writing, the quote is suspiciously affordable, or they want a deposit as soon as a deal is struck, then beware. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Ignoring red flags can mean an unsafe and unhealthy home, as well as legal and financial issues.
Perhaps it’s Kiwi humility, but Bruce says customers shouldn’t be afraid to ask tradespeople for evidence of their legitimacy. Sourcing authenticity statements from tradies should be easy. Hiring tradies involves a level of personal responsibility, especially when you’re spending a lot. Getting at least three quotes for a project should suffice.
Any great builder will have a social media presence and a dazzling portfolio of successful past projects, so it’s a concern if a trader lacks positive and recent reviews and references. Slow, poor communication and a Gmail, Yahoo, or Xtra email address are two other digital alarm bells.
People are often not as Internet literate as they think. Fact-check your research across multiple websites. Remember that any licensed practitioner will be listed online. Further, anyone can leave a Google review, and there are people paid to give businesses five-star references.
“Google is a double-edged sword,” says co-founder and general manager of NoCowboys, Bruce Lindsay. NoCowboys helps Kiwis find reputable tradespeople. Founded in 2006, the intuitive website hosts over 11,000 businesses and invites tradies to reply to negative reviews. NoCowboys’ specialised AI software verifies and checks reviews for inconsistencies.
“Most tradies are great. To get a cowboy is bad luck,” Bruce says. Licensed Building Practitioners have had 42 complaints so far this year. MBIE says there were 207 complaints made for the year ended August 2022. For context, Stats NZ reported that in February 2022, New Zealand’s construction industry was comprised of 77,160 enterprises.
Illegitimate traders use many strategies. Some change their names. Some target the vulnerable, such as retirees and the poor. Some take the phoenix trading approach, burning one business only to start another soon after, continuing trade as if nothing happened. Do your due diligence.
Bruce notes that there are some cowboys listed at www.nocowboys.co.nz, not because the site supports these tradespeople but so potential clients can be aware of dodgy builders. The website’s purpose is to host conversations and hold tradies accountable. The fact that cowboy builders passionately hate NoCowboys is perhaps their best advertising. Businesses can register with NoCowboys to permanently capture and leverage their existing goodwill with a customisable webpage.
Fraudulent tradespeople leave a trail wherever they go, on and offline. Bruce says the answer to protecting yourself from cowboys is simple: “Do your homework, check the businesses out, look for verified reviews, and trust your gut.”
