Cowboy traders crawl out of the woodwork in downturn

Cowboy traders are peddling their wares even harder in the economic downturn, reveals household emergency service HomeCall+.

A cross-regions recruitment drive by the company to attract the best qualified trade talent resulted in slightly over 500 applications for one of the contracted positions – but HomeCall+ has revealed an extraordinary 153 – or just over 30 per cent – of the job seekers either had no recognised qualifications or had simply invented supposed qualifications for the positions on offer.

HomeCall+ is one of the few UK firms with an active, ongoing recruitment programme of contracted qualified trade professionals to support its growing nationwide boiler installation and emergency breakdown support service.

“We have had 512 applications for affiliate positions since the beginning of 2009 in response to our plans to expand our network offering,” said managing director John Williams.

“While we anticipated a good response – after all, jobs are thin on the ground at the moment - a staggering number of those applicants are clearly unqualified,” he said.

“You have to draw your own conclusions, but clearly many of these rejected workers will be attempting to pass off their ‘skills’ elsewhere, as we have no openings for anyone not fully qualified.

“Our typical minimum requirement for plumbers, for example, is a full City and Guilds NVQ Level 3 Qualified Plumber certification, plus of course our plumbers and gas engineers must be CORGI registered,” said Williams.

Crucially, any trades-people working in private properties need public liability insurance: “But many of those we interviewed seemed not to be aware of this requirement, which could have potentially catastrophic connotations for those unwittingly hiring ‘cowboy’ labour for skilled jobs in the home,” he added.

“The message is clear. If you are having any work done in the home, then make sure you only take fully qualified, fully insured trades-people.”

This latest round of freezing weather is bound to lead to lots of cases of burst pipes and broken down boilers. As call-outs go through the roof at this time of the year, HomeCall+ also warns homeowners and landlords to make sure they are properly covered, especially against boiler malfunction.

For more information, visit homecallplus.co.uk