When your business turns over £1M or more, a bad hire doesn’t just slow one job down. It damages your reputation, costs you rework, and can lose clients you’ve spent months winning. The right tips for hiring a good tradesperson are some of the most valuable things you can arm yourself with as a business owner. This guide gives you a practical, repeatable process from writing the brief to onboarding, so you stop filling the same roles twice.
The UK construction skills gap is real. The CITB estimated in 2023 that the industry needs around 225,000 additional workers by 2027 just to meet demand. At your scale, you’re competing with larger contractors for the same pool. You can’t afford to wing it.
Define What “Good” Actually Means Before You Start
Most businesses write a vague job ad and wonder why they attract the wrong people. “Good tradesperson” means different things depending on your business and the work at hand. Before you go anywhere near a job board, get specific.
Write a one-page brief for each role covering:
- The specific scope of work (not just “plumber” but “commercial first fix on £300k–£500k residential developments”)
- Certifications that are non-negotiable: Gas Safe, NICEIC, Part P, CSCS, IPAF, or anything site-specific
- Your expected standard of finish and working pace
- The size and type of projects they’ll be working on
- Whether they need their own tools and transport
- Working hours, site rules, and any client requirements such as DBS checks or specific inductions
A clear brief does two things. It filters time-wasters before they apply, and it forces you to think about what success in the role actually looks like. You can’t assess someone against a standard you haven’t defined.
Think carefully about the experience level you actually need. Fifteen years of domestic work doesn’t qualify someone for your commercial contracts. Time served isn’t the same as relevant experience. Ask yourself: what’s the hardest job this person will face in their first three months, and do they have a track record of handling exactly that?
Where to Find Good Tradespeople (That Most Businesses Miss)
The usual channels (Indeed, totaljobs, generic job boards) will get you applicants. They won’t necessarily get you the right ones. Here’s where businesses at your level tend to find their best people.
Your Own Team
This is your best lead source and most businesses underuse it. Your existing tradespeople know who’s good and who isn’t. They’ve worked alongside people across multiple firms. Ask them directly: is there anyone you’ve worked with who you’d want on your team? A personal referral from someone you trust is worth ten cold applications. Many businesses offer a £250–£500 referral bonus once the hire completes their probation. It’s one of the cheapest ways to find quality people.
Trade Colleges and Apprenticeship Schemes
If you want to build a loyal pipeline rather than fight over experienced hands, local FE colleges and apprenticeship programmes are underrated. You won’t always get someone site-ready from day one, but you shape them to your standards and they tend to stay longer. Contact the construction department at your nearest college. Many have employer liaison officers who’ll do the legwork for you.
Builders’ Merchants and Suppliers
Your local merchants see and hear everything. They know which tradespeople are busy, which are quiet, and which are looking for steady work. Let your rep know you’re hiring. Leave job cards at the trade counter. It costs nothing and the reach is significant.
Trade Associations
The FMB, NFRC, SELECT, JIB and APHC all maintain member directories. Tradespeople who’ve gone to the effort of joining and keeping up their membership tend to take their craft seriously. It’s a reasonable filter for quality.
Ex-Employees and Past Subcontractors
Someone who worked well with you three years ago but left for better rates might be open to returning, especially if your business has grown since. Don’t be too proud to call. They already know your standards and how you work, and that’s worth a lot.
For a deeper look at structuring your recruitment approach, see how to recruit for your construction business and attract the best trades.
Screen Properly Before You Waste Time on Interviews
At your business size, time is your scarcest resource. A proper pre-screen saves you from sitting with someone who clearly isn’t right.
Check Credentials First, Not Last
Don’t wait until offer stage to verify qualifications. Do it upfront. Most registers are searchable online:
- Gas Safe Register: gassaferegister.co.uk
- NICEIC: niceic.com/find-a-contractor
- CSCS: cscs.uk.com/checking-cards
- CHAS or Constructionline: for subcontractors working on larger or public sector sites
If someone claims a certification they can’t produce when asked, that tells you something important about how they operate before you’ve even met them.
Read CVs With Proper Scrutiny
Look at CVs critically. Gaps are worth asking about. Short tenures across multiple firms (three jobs in two years, say) can mean someone who leaves when things get difficult, or a contractor who was deliberately building varied experience. Ask which it was. The answer, and the way they give it, is telling.
Look for specifics. “Experienced in all aspects of plumbing” is filler. “Led the mechanical installation on a 24-unit residential development, contract value £180k” is something you can probe and verify.
A Short Phone Screen First
A ten-minute call before a face-to-face saves everyone time. Ask: what kind of work have you mainly been doing for the last two or three years? What’s your availability? Why are you looking to move? You’ll quickly know whether it’s worth going further.
Running an Interview That Actually Tells You Something
You don’t need a formal HR process, but you do need more than a five-minute chat over a brew. Structure your interview around three things: technical knowledge, attitude and fit.
Ask Scenario-Based Technical Questions
“What would you do if…” is more revealing than “do you know how to…” Anyone can say yes to the second type. The first shows how they actually think under pressure.
Questions worth using:
- “You arrive on site and the first fix from the previous contractor isn’t to standard. What do you do?”
- “You’re two days behind on a job through no fault of your own. How do you handle it?”
- “A client on site asks you to change something that isn’t in scope. What do you say to them?”
These reveal not just competence but how someone deals with pressure, conflict and responsibility. At your scale, those things matter as much as technical ability.
Don’t Dismiss Soft Skills
A tradesperson who does immaculate work but causes friction on every job, gives clients grief, or can’t communicate a problem without it becoming a drama will cost you more than they contribute. Communication, adaptability and reliability aren’t optional extras at £1M+ turnover. They’re baseline requirements.
Ask about a time they disagreed with how something was being done and what they did about it. Ask what they find frustrating about working with other trades. The honest answers are almost always very telling.
Trial Work: The Most Reliable Test of All
One of the most underused tips for hiring a good tradesperson is this: watch them work before you fully commit. For most roles, a paid trial day or a small paid task before you take someone on long-term is worth every penny. Pay them properly for it. You’re not asking for free labour; you’re running a proper assessment.
Be clear about what you’re watching: pace, quality and how they handle a problem when one comes up. Watch how they leave the site at the end of the day. Do they clean up? Do they flag anything unexpected? Do they communicate without being chased? These habits don’t change once they’re on the books.
References: What to Ask and What to Listen For
Most employers treat references as a formality. That’s a mistake. A good reference call takes five minutes and can save you months of trouble.
Call rather than email. You’ll get far more from a live conversation. Ask the previous employer:
- Would you rehire this person without hesitation?
- How did they handle stressful situations on site?
- Were there any performance or conduct issues?
- How did clients and other trades respond to working with them?
Pay attention to hesitation, vague answers and what’s not said, as much as what is. “He was fine” followed by a long pause is not a glowing reference.
Red Flags Worth Knowing
These patterns come up repeatedly with hires that go wrong. If you spot them early, don’t ignore them hoping things will be different this time.
- No verifiable references from recent employers
- Credentials they’re reluctant to produce until pushed
- Vague, inconsistent explanations for why they left every previous role
- Excessive focus on what the job can do for them, with no interest in your standards or projects
- Arriving late to the interview with no acknowledgement
- Consistently badmouthing every previous employer
- Unwillingness to do a short paid trial or practical assessment
One red flag on its own might not disqualify someone. Three together almost always should. Trust your instincts, but make sure they’re grounded in specific evidence rather than just a feeling.
Onboarding: Where Good Hires Go Wrong
You’ve put in the work to find and hire the right person. Don’t lose them in the first three months because you didn’t set them up properly.
Good onboarding at your scale means:
- A clear induction covering your site rules, quality standards, communication expectations and how you work day to day
- An introduction to your site managers and foremen so they know who they report to and who to go to when something comes up
- A check-in at the end of week one and week four, not just at the three-month review
- Clarity on how performance is assessed and what progression looks like in your business
People leave when they feel unclear, undervalued or unsupported. A structured first ninety days costs you very little and significantly reduces early turnover. It’s one of those investments that pays for itself quickly.
Building a self-running team takes more than one good hire. If you want to go deeper on freeing yourself from day-to-day firefighting, our guide on delegation in construction covers the framework in detail.
Retention: Keeping the People You’ve Worked Hard to Find
Retention is the overlooked half of the tips for hiring a good tradesperson conversation. The best tradespeople have options. If you want to keep them, you need to give them reasons beyond a pay cheque.
What actually keeps good tradespeople:
- Steady, consistent work with no unexplained gaps or last-minute cancellations
- Being treated with respect on site and by management
- Clear communication about the plan and any changes before they happen
- Competitive pay reviewed regularly, not just when someone threatens to leave
- A path forward: more responsibility, team leader roles, or specialist project work
The construction businesses that struggle to retain good people almost always have the same problem. They treat hiring as the finish line when it’s really just the start.
Getting your project management structure right matters here too. When your site management is organised and your planning is solid, good tradespeople want to stay because the job runs well. Our guide on construction project management covers the operational framework that makes that possible.
Build a System, Not Just a Process You Reinvent Each Time
At £1M+ turnover, you can’t treat every hire as a one-off event. You need a repeatable process: a standard job brief template, a bank of interview questions that work across roles, a reference check script, a trial period policy and an onboarding checklist. That way, whoever in your business handles recruitment is working to a consistent standard, not starting from scratch each time.
The businesses that grow past £3M–£5M without burning out are usually the ones that have built systems around the things that used to depend entirely on the owner doing them personally. Recruitment is one of the biggest. If every hire requires your personal involvement from start to finish, you’ve built a bottleneck.
Our guide to mastering construction hiring goes into the full workforce strategy for businesses at your stage and is worth reading alongside this one.
Ready to Scale Without It All Depending on You?
These tips for hiring a good tradesperson only work if you run them consistently every time, not just when you’re desperate for someone. Most business owners know what to do. The ones that scale are the ones who’ve built it into a system.
If you’re running a £1M+ construction business and you want a clearer path to £3M–£5M without doubling your hours, we work directly with owners at exactly your stage. Hiring, margins, systems, growth strategy: we help you get clear and move faster.
Book a call with Develop Coaching and let’s look at what’s holding your business back and what to do about it.
