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If you have you’ve decided to hire a tradesperson or home improvement company – here’s MyGlazing’s useful tips on how to deal with installers remotely
We’ve spent more time than ever in our homes recently, and many have created a list as long as their arm of tweaks and improvements they want to make.
If you’ve read the other Stay Safe articles in this series, you’ll know what you need to consider before hiring a home improvement company and how to plan for any renovations. Although we’ve got a lot closer to ‘normal’ life, we still need to follow the Government guidance and in particular maintain social distancing. So, if you’ve found the perfect company for your home improvements, here’s how to keep you, and anyone from the company you’ve chosen,, safe during the renovations in your home.
#1 Video calls
They’re not just for catching up with friends and hosting work meetings, video calls are a great way to talk with your installer when it’s not necessary for them to be in your home. Maybe you’re still investigating which company is right for you and want to look at a few options? Rather than meet up, consider scheduling video calls to get a feel if they’re the right company for you and your home.
Once you’ve picked your company, video calls are a great way of keeping in touch and are much more personable than a text! If you’re having work done in a property and you’re not present (you may be on holiday or living away from the property whilst work is being done), the glazing company you have chosen can show you progress at the end of each day via video-call without you even having to be there.
If you haven’t used a video-call platform before we recommend any the following:
- Zoom
- Webex / Cisco
- Skype
The company doing your home improvements should be using a video-call system that is easy to use and only requires clicking on a link.
#2 Ask to see a risk assessment
Before any work is started ask to see a risk assessment of the work that is going to be carried out. Companies can send this to you remotely – via email. To do this some companies may ask you questions such as:
Who is in the home?
Have they had symptoms of COVID-19?
Other things that companies may need to know in a remote video-call are the kind of windows you want – the style, design and colour. They should be able to show you on screen the different types and provide you with quotes, but they will also need you to provide the sizes and that means measuring your windows or doors.
Here’s a few useful videos that show you how to easily and properly measure your windows/doors.
Measuring windows – see video
Measuring doors – see video
#3 Know who is coming into your home
If you can’t communicate remotely for some reason or other, please ensure you knowing who is entering your home. It is always good advice but this has never been more true during the current pandemic! Speak with your company and see if they can limit the number of their employees (from salespeople to surveyors through to installers and inspectors/project managers)entering the property.. Once this has been established, make sure you know each person (by name) that will be working on the project and try and keep the number of people that are entering the home to a minimum and always maintain the social distancing guidelines of 2m apart.
#4 Preparing your home for tradespeople
More often than not, when you’re having work done on a property or a company visits your home, people may need to use your bathroom and potentially your kitchen facilities. Whilst we’d never suggested shutting these off to the people you want to work on your home, we’d recommend speaking with the company before they start work to establish the ground rules like checking they are okay with bringing their own lunch to eat in their van or away from the building, to limit the amount of contact they have in your home. Most companies will be prepared for this and will likely expect it…
If you’re having extensive work done and will be using a lot of different tradespeople, like roofers, plumbers and electricians, you might want to ask them to consider hiring a chemical toilet for your garden or outside your home. You can get these for as little as £50 a week and it could save you and them a massive headache!
#5 Stock up on cleaning products
If you invite people into your home, they will need to touch things and areas of your home. So, with this in mind, make sure they bring cleaning products to wipe down door handles and surfaces they may touch.
It is recommended that you buy in some cleaning materials yourself just in case. f you’ve been to a supermarket in recent months, you’ll have seen the anti-bacterial hand gel at the door and staff wiping down trolleys after each use so just to be on the safe side, do the same! Wipes are a quick and easy way to do this and are particularly handy if you’ve had to shut the water off. You can even leave them outside each room and ask tradespeople to give handles, light switches and plug sockets a quick wipe down if they’ve been used.
#6 No shaking hands!
It’s customary to shake hands in a professional relationship, particularly when a deal is made and a job is complete. It may go against every instinct in your body but physical contact is a big no-no! Instead simply laugh it off with your tradesperson and say “I think it’s best we don’t shake on it!”. Most will be thinking the exact same thing anyway.
Inviting a tradesperson into your home needn’t be a stressful or even dangerous situation. Chances are, once you let them into home, you leave them to do the job anyway. Trust us, no tradesperson does their best work with a customer lurking over their shoulder! So, make those renovations, turn your house into a dream home and make sure if you do make any home improvements, tag us in a picture on Instagram or tweet us (@myglazing).
