How to choose a dry lining contractor for a housing scheme

Ask for named schemes of a similar size and tenure to yours, each with the client, the place, the number of homes and the contract value. A list of logos proves little. A named scheme can be checked against the developer's or housing association's own website.

Match the tenure as well as the size. Then ask for a reference from a scheme still on site, where the site manager can still be reached.

Most buyers start with a supplier portal and a health and safety assessment. Each one checks a set of company documents at a point in time. None of them shows whether the firm has built schemes like yours or has labour free for your programme.

SSIP says as much. It advises clients to use a member scheme for the health and safety stage, then check separately for the experience, trained staff and resources the work needs.

• Constructionline: verified levels run from Bronze, which checks identity, financials and insurances, up to Platinum, which adds a one day on-site audit
• SSIP: a member scheme's certificate means the firm's health and safety management was assessed against the SSIP Core Criteria. Check it free on the SSIP Portal
• Common Assessment Standard: Build UK's industry-agreed pre-qualification question set, certified once a year by a Recognised Assessment Body. It includes a Building Safety section
• CSCS: a card shows its holder has the training and qualifications for their job on site. CSCS Smart Check catches fake and revoked cards that a visual check misses
• CITB: employers mainly in construction, dry lining included, must register and make a yearly levy return. Registration opens up training grants but measures no skill
• Insurance: employer's liability is compulsory for any employer, at a minimum of £5 million from an authorised insurer. Ask for current employer's and public liability certificates

Ask how many sites the firm has live and who the contracts manager on your scheme will be. Then ask for a straight answer on whether the gangs are there for your programme. A firm that says yes to every start date has not checked.

Ask how often the contracts manager visits. Your site manager needs one number to call when a plot is late or a gang is short.

Ask how each plot is checked before it is offered to you, who signs it off and what record is kept. Photographs of boards, fixings and service penetrations before they are covered are the ones that count.

Ask whether the records are shared with you. On a scheme with a clerk of works, they save a second inspection. Without one, they are your evidence of what went behind the board.

Ask which manufacturers hold the firm on their installer register. Fire and acoustic ratings belong to a manufacturer's tested system, and Approved Document B warns that small differences in fixing method, joints, dimensions and insulation might significantly affect fire performance. The manufacturer keeps the register, so check the listing with them.

• Plot by plot checks, with photographs, signed off by a named person
• A set response time for customer care requests after handover
• Defects closed inside the times in your customer care charter

A fully compliant price answers the tender pack line by line, prices the specification as written, and lists its inclusions and exclusions. Compare prices on the same scope. A low figure with a long list of exclusions tends to return later as variations.

Ask how variations are raised, priced and agreed before the work is done.

A tender pack is easy to price when it holds the drawings, the specification, an inclusions list, the scope and the programme. With any one missing, the dry liner has to guess, and guesses come back as queries or exclusions.

Use this table at tender stage. Each row pairs a question with evidence the directors who sign the order can see for themselves.

JMC Drywall Ltd names current and recent schemes that come to 1,740 homes and £13.16m of contract value, each with its client, place, homes, tenure and value. Six are for Orbit Homes. Harolds Gate in Harleston, 162 affordable homes for Orbit Homes, is on site now.

Our quote is our quote. The price reaches you by the tender deadline, built from your drawings, specification, inclusions list, scope and programme.

• Constructionline Silver member, with health and safety assessments from SMAS Worksafe, CQMS and Acclaim
• Registered with CITB. Operatives on our sites hold CSCS cards
• 21 live sites, each with a named contracts manager who visits often
• Each plot photographed on a cloud-based quality system, signed off by the contracts manager and reviewed by our construction administrator. Records in Site Audit Pro, shared on request
• On the installer registers of Saint-Gobain Weber, British Gypsum, Knauf and K Rend
• Customer care requests answered within 24 hours, defects dealt with inside your charter timelines, and references on request