Skip to content Accesskeys Newsroom

Advice on dealing with doorstep callers

22 Feb 2012

It is important to be vigilant and prepared for bogus doorstep callers. These ‘cold callers’ could be selling goods, services or offering to do home improvements. While it might be tempting to agree to attractive prices being offered on the doorstep, you should think twice.

Cowboy builders

These traders or ‘cowboy builders’ often pressurise people into having unnecessary work carried out and then charge highly inflated prices for very poor work. Doorstep sellers typically turn up at homes without advance notice, offering to carry out:

  • building work
  • house repairs
  • garden landscaping  

It is important that you know who you are employing and that you will get a good standard of workmanship. So, word of mouth is often the best form of recommendation.

You might find the following pages useful:

Tips and advice

You should not agree to building work, house repairs, or indeed any other services with people who ‘cold call’. Always get a second opinion and do not pay for work up front.

Here are some top tips if someone does cold call to your home:

  • be wary of special offers or warnings about the building repair of your home
  • never hand over a cash deposit
  • do not accept a lift from the tradesman to your bank or building society in to withdraw money to pay for the work
  • do not feel pressurised into having the work carried out immediately
  • don’t agree to a trader starting any work straight away
  • take time to consult with someone you trust for a second opinion, speak to friends, family or neighbours before making any decision

If you're concerned or have a complaint about doorstep callers, contact Consumerline by:

You can find more information about scams, and report them online, at the nidirect pages below:

Remember building control

If you're considering having work done to your home, you’ll probably need to make a building control application. Sometimes ‘cowboy builders’ offer to carry out work more cheaply if you don’t get the required building control approval, or else they'll tell you that building control approval is not required.

Do not take a builder or contractor's word for this – not having building control approval can lead to sub-standard work and problems when your home is later being sold. Always check if it is needed yourself.

More useful links