Creditations

Guild of Master Craftsmen

Orchard Building Services are proud to have passed the stringent requirements for recognition by The Guild of Master Craftsmen and have been accepted as a member.

Member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen 

Aims and Objectives of the Guild

• To bring together all skilled people engaged in a craft, art, trade, profession or vocation in order to safeguard the interests of craftsmen and the public.
• To ensure that the minimum qualifications for membership preserve the high standards of the Guild by excluding the unskilled.
• To publicise these high standards through national and local media, thus creating public awareness of the ideals and aims of the Guild and of its members.
• To promote to the public the trading assets of the members, their honour, professional expertise and integrity, their high standards and the value for money which they offer.
• To provide clear identification and recognition for members so as to enable the public to distinguish them from the unskilled who pass themselves off as craftsmen, and so increasingly to attract and direct work to members of the Guild.
• To assist all members, particularly the self-employed, and to protect them against the growing menace and the devaluing and damaging activities of the unskilled, against bureaucratic discrimination, against penal taxation and adverse legislation. Equally to protect the public by instilling among members a greater sense of responsibility, making members aware of the national importance of the services they render, monitoring these standards to ensure that the Guild's high standards are being maintained, and by encouraging members always to strive for excellence.

• To encourage an interchange of views among members, to endeavour to unite these views and to bring them to the attention of the Government and local authorities in order to safeguard the livelihood and welfare of the members and their dependants.
• To constitute a pressure group to seek the support of one or more Members of Parliament to make sure that someone speaks up for the interests of Guild members where it matters most.
• To promote research within the craft, trade, art, profession or vocation in which members are engaged, for their own benefit and that of the public.
• To foster learning among apprentices and students in order to perpetuate the survival and success of their particular craft.
• To promote sponsorship of the Guild by persons, firms and organisations, whether by financial support, by endorsement of the activities of the Guild or by patronage.

Builders Guarantee Scheme

This Scheme, which operates from 143 Malone Road, is registered with the Office of Fair Trading and was founded by the Federation in 1987 to provide customers in Northern Ireland and Scotland with an extensive list of Registered Builders who can offer an insurance backed guarantee on the quality and standard of the work registered by the Scheme.

The Guarantee applies to work carried out by Builders who are registered with the Scheme where an Agreement for Scheme Work has been registered and a Registration Certificate has been issued by the Scheme.

The Scheme applies to all work between £500 and £250,000 and has been extended to work supervised by Architects or Surveyors under the JCT Agreement for Minor Building Works.

The Guarantee, which covers the additional cost of completing faulty work up to £10,000 over and above the original contract price, also provides a six month defects liability period followed by a two year period of cover for major structural defects.