Elite Trades in the press

An online tradesmen referral business has opened a new shop in Finchley to help residents gain access to their services direct.

Elite Trades has seen demand for its vetted builders, handymen and developers boom over the past year and has relocated from its shop in High Barnet to Nether Street in a bid to provide a better service for customers.

Business partners Stuart Fetti and Damian McCarthy, who worked in contract management and construction roles before they started their membership scheme in July 2010, will now be able to offer residents their expertise as project managers.

“By popular demand we have moved to a shop because some people want to come in and see us,” explains Stuart. “When we initially launched we were purely online, but now we’ve really become part of the community.”

Elite Trades has a membership scheme of strictly vetted tradesmen, mainly from Barnet, who will work across London and into Hertfordshire. The pair say they have “high standards” to vet out rogue traders and cowboy builders by checking the insurances and accreditations of companies and monitoring them when they are added to their list.

“Our members pay an annual membership fee. Because we are thorough at the beginning, we have not had to remove many people from our list – only one.

“We have a policy of three strikes and you’re out. If a client is disappointed

by the work we ring them, inspect the work and check with the trades person to see if there have been any communication problems.

“We are able to give our members a lot of work and we are growing but we are going to get the membership to a certain point and keep it there, so that we can monitor them closely and make our services stronger.”

Elite Trades also does a lot of work with Age Concern and many residents will often pop into its shop to get advice on quotes they have received.

For more information visit www.elitetrades.com or call 020 8440 2020.