What should you look at on a contractor's site to judge the quality?
Look at joints, skirting, gaps and the flatness of surfaces. Hold a two-metre straightedge against the wall and floor, look along the wall in raking light and check the gaps at doors. On a live site, judge the order, the protection of neighbours and the distribution board. An hour on site is enough for a first conclusion.
Portfolio photos show the best angle. On site you see how the work is made, not how it was shot. You do not need an engineering background: a tape measure, a straightedge or 2 m level, a phone torch and the habit of looking into corners rather than at the furniture will do.
Below is the order of the visit: a finished site, then an ongoing one, then questions.
Can you ask to be shown a working site?
You can and should, but it is not the contractor who decides; it is the owner of the site and the safety rules. A good contractor will show a finished job with the owner's consent and a live one under escort.
Ask for two addresses. The first, a finished job handed over a year ago or more, because with time you can see how the work ages: whether joints open, whether the parquet moves, whether the paint holds. The second, a live site, ideally at the rough stage or the finishing stage. On site the person in charge will accompany you and, if needed, provide a helmet and boots; that is normal.
If you are offered only photographs, ask why. Sometimes the reasons are honest: the owner does not want visitors, the job was handed over recently. But a contractor with not a single address you can visit gives you little to go on. One site shown is not proof either: ask for a second.
How do you check a finished job: joints, gaps and surfaces?
Walk a route of about forty minutes and look at the same places in every room. Quality shows in repetition: if it is the same everywhere, it is a system.
Skirting: tight to the wall with no gap, a joint of even width, corners mitred and not hidden by an add-on piece. Doors: an even gap all round, usually 2 to 3 mm; hidden doors close without a knock and with no visible frame; handles at one height. Walls: in raking light from a window or torch there are no waves, filler marks or bumps. Tile and stone: run your palm across the joint and a step between pieces can be felt; grout lines of equal width; cuts hidden in corners and not in the middle of a wall; the pattern of the stone continues across the joint.
Parquet: joints closed, the herringbone meets along the line, the gap at the wall covered by the skirting. Sockets and switches: at one height, straight, plates without gaps, spotlights aligned. Wet areas: a fall to the drain, no standing water, even silicone in the shower, flexible grout in the corners. Distribution board: breakers labelled, wires gathered, spare ways. Ask for the climate control to be switched on and listen for the hum.
How do you tell a careful site from a staged one?
Look where nobody takes photographs: inside wardrobes, behind doors, in the plant room, under the sink, in the ceiling hatch, at the balcony drain, in the stairwell and the lift. If the quality there is the same as in the living room, it is a system and not a set.
A staged job gives itself away because only what you see from the doorway is good. Look at secondary rooms: the storeroom, the laundry, the guest WC. Look at the shared areas: scuff marks on the entrance walls, a scratched lift, dirt on the stairs say how the crew really behaves.
Compare with the portfolio photos. A wide-angle lens enlarges the room and hides crooked lines, so the real size is easier to judge with a tape measure. Ask to come on a different day and at a different time, not at the exact hour you are given. And talk to the owner of the finished job if they agree: how problems were solved, whether the crew came back for snags. More on this in the articles on portfolios and verifiable references.
What should you look for on a live site: order, schedule, site records?
Look at what happens every day, not at what is finished. A live site should have a schedule on the wall, a person in charge present, materials stacked and labelled, and the lift, stairs, floors and neighbours' doors protected.
Skips are collected on schedule and debris does not pile up in the walkways. Cables and pipes are marked before walls are closed, and hidden work is photographed before it is covered: ask to see those photos, they will help in a warranty claim. For you they are the best proof of what is under the tile.
On jobs with a project there should be a health and safety plan and an incident book (libro de incidencias). Under Royal Decree 1627/1997 the plan is approved before work starts and is kept on site, and the book stays on the site and entries can be made by the project management, the contractors and other persons the text names. If the contractor cannot show either, ask why. For a small job without a project they are not mandatory, but order in the paperwork can usually be sensed without them.
What does a clean site look like at the rough stage?
A clean site at the rough stage does not shine, but it is organised. Debris is taken out and not mixed, walkways are clear, cables are not on the floor, and finished zones are protected from dust.
What the eye can see: rubble is in a skip or a set place, not all over the flat; waste is separated (concrete apart from packaging and plasterboard); wires are raised or covered; ladders and scaffolds are stable. Materials stand on battens and under sheeting, bags of mortar do not get wet. Tools are not scattered and the crew has a place to store them.
There will always be dust at the rough stage. But finished rooms should be screened off with sheeting or a door, floors covered with boards or card, the lift and entrance protected, and no cement footprints on the neighbours' stairs. The water and power cut-off points are marked. Chaos at the rough stage is not normal, it is a forecast: it will be the same at the finish.
What questions should you ask after the visit, and how does BCN YARD work?
After the visit, ask five questions. Who exactly built this job: an in-house crew or a subcontractor? Who will run yours, and was he on the site you were shown? When was this job handed over, and can you speak to the owner? What problems came up and how were they solved? What happened with warranty claims?
Red flags: jobs only in photos; different people on each job; dirt and nobody in charge; they will not show the distribution board; to a request for a second address the answer is "we'll show you later".
BCN YARD describes real projects on its website. The Urgel flat in Eixample, 109.80 m²: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an open kitchen, herringbone parquet, slatted wood panels, a marble wall. A children's psychology centre of 250 m² in Eixample: 24 hidden doors, climate control with heat recovery, legalisation of the medical activity. A private house with a pool (2022-2024): the full cycle, solar panels. Hidden doors work as a test: the gaps show at once. If you want to check what we say against those examples, write to us: we reply within an hour. Showing a live site depends on the consent of its owner, which we will discuss when you get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
What should you look at on a contractor's site to judge the quality?
Joints and skirting, gaps at doors, flatness of walls in raking light, steps between tiles, the fall in the shower, a labelled distribution board. Bring a tape measure, a straightedge or 2 m level and a torch. If it is the same everywhere, including the storeroom and behind doors, it is a system.
Can you ask to be shown a working site?
Yes: ask for two addresses, a finished job (a year old or more) and a live one. The owner and safety decide, so the person in charge will escort you. If you are offered only photographs, ask the reason. A contractor with no address to visit gives you far too little to go on.
How do you tell a careful site from a staged one?
Look where nobody takes photographs: wardrobes, behind doors, the plant room, under the sink, the stairs and lift. It should be good everywhere, not only in the living room. Come at a time you were not given, and talk to the owner of a finished job.
What does a clean site mean at the rough stage?
Order, not shine: debris taken out and separated, walkways clear, cables raised, materials under sheeting, finished rooms and the lift protected. Dust at the rough stage is unavoidable; chaos is not. What you see at the rough stage you will see at the finish: today's mess often turns into rework tomorrow.