Choosing a finishing company without regrets

There is no ‘best company’, only the right one

The right company for a chalet on the coast may not be the right one for an old flat in central Alexandria. The size of the job, the location, the level of finish and how much of the work you want handled all change the answer.

So instead of searching for a name, check how a company works. A company that is happy to put everything in writing, show you its sites and explain its quotation line by line is usually the one that still answers the phone after handover.

Questions to ask before you sign

• Will you visit and measure before giving a price? A figure given over the phone is a guess.
• Will the quotation be itemised line by line, with materials named by type, size and grade?
• Who buys the materials, and in whose name is the invoice?
• How are payments staged, and what has to be finished before each one?
• Who does the work: your own crews and workshops, or subcontractors? Who supervises the site day to day?
• Is there a written programme, stage by stage?
• How are changes priced and approved during the job?
• If a defect appears after handover, what happens, and is that written into the contract?
• Which current and finished sites can I visit?

Who buys the materials matters

This is the question most owners forget to ask, and it decides how much you can check.

In some contracts the company buys everything and gives one total, so you cannot see what each material cost or exactly which grade was delivered. In others the owner pays suppliers directly, against invoices in the owner's own name, and the company is paid a fee for supervision and execution.

Neither is wrong in itself, but you should know which one you are signing. In both cases the specification of every material belongs in the quotation, so you can check what arrives on site.

Stage payments: pay for work that is done

The safest rule is to tie each payment to a stage that is finished and inspected, not to dates or promises.

• Be careful with any large payment before work has started.
• Link each payment to a named stage: first fix complete and tested, plaster done, floors laid, and so on.
• Inspect each stage before you pay for it, ideally with an engineer you trust.
• Keep payments for materials separate from payments for labour, so you know what each one covers.
• Get a receipt for every payment, and attach the agreed schedule to the contract.

Visit real sites, not just photos

Photos can be renders or someone else's work; a site cannot.

• A site in progress shows how a company really works: are the conduits neat, are finished floors protected, is the site clean, and is someone clearly in charge?
• A finished unit shows the result: look along the walls in side light, check tile joints and levels, open the doors and windows.
• If you can, ask the owner of that unit how changes and problems were handled.
• Ask whether the photos on the company's website and social pages show its own work.

Contract terms to look for

A finishing contract should describe the job well enough for a stranger to check it. Look for:

• The scope, with the itemised quotation attached as part of the contract.
• Drawings, and signed samples of the main materials.
• The payment schedule, stage by stage.
• The programme, and what happens if it slips.
• How changes are requested, priced and approved.
• How handover works, and how snags are listed and fixed.
• What happens if a defect appears after handover, for how long, and how it is reported.
• How disagreements are settled.

This is a buyer's checklist, not legal advice. For a large contract, have a lawyer read it before you sign.

Red flags

• A price per metre over the phone, before anyone has seen the unit.
• A large advance before any work, or pressure to sign today.
• ‘All inclusive’ with no specification behind it.
• No office, showroom or address you can visit.
• No current site you can see, or photos that turn out to be renders.
• Payments in cash with no receipts.

How Itmam answers the same questions

We visit, measure and give you a written, itemised quotation before work starts.

On a finishing contract you pay each supplier directly and the tax invoice is in your name; our fee is for supervision and execution, agreed in writing before work starts.

Kitchens, wardrobes, doors, vanities, metalwork and stone tops are made in our own workshops, and stone is templated, cut and installed by the same team.

Every photo on our site is from our own sites, and no render is shown as built work. Our head office is in El Ibrahimya and our showroom in El Deresa, Alexandria, and we have 20+ years in the business.