What’s in a partnership?
Author : UKTSA
6 October, 2026
UKTSA’s whole ethos revolves around ensuring that consumers get services that get the job done, efficiently, with good workmanship and at a reasonable cost.
Of course, you can get those things from personal recommendations or just get lucky by picking a trades person from a directory. But you don’t get the underpinning knowledge that your chosen trades person has been thoroughly checked out, has the appropriate insurance, track record and has the stamp of approval of Trading Standards.
It doesn’t stop there as strong relationships are being established with professional bodies, associations and learning organisations.
The latest partner who has joined the UKTSA team is CETA. Neil Whitfield, the consultant who runs the organisation, has been lecturing in building and retrofit, specialising in cavity wall extraction, for decades. He was involved in the development of the original NVQ qualifications and has worked with manufacturers and stakeholders.
Neil works with local authorities, housing associations, facilities manager, landlords, and mortgage advisors providing continuous professional development (CPD) programmes to enhance their knowledge and learning around cavity wall extraction identification, techniques and related issues.
Why is this important for you – the consumer?
Choosing a trades person that has been fully checked out, means that you can be confident you’re not unwittingly engaging a rogue trader who will disappear with your deposit, leaving you high and dry, with unfinished work, or poor workmanship that needs redoing.
An experienced trades person will know the difference between a damp spot that has arisen due to rising damp and a patch that signals failing cavity wall insulation. Also, they’ll know how to check with the minimum of damage to your property and then explain exactly what needs to happen next and how this will take place.
“We’d only been in our new house for a couple of months when we noticed a damp patch had appeared halfway up the stairs. We soon realised that the previous owners had deliberately covered up the original damp patch, so it passed the surveyor’s check and enabled them to sell to us without doing any expensive work.
“Our first call was to damp contractors to get a quote to fix the problem, and one of the people we spoke to advised that it may be due to defective cavity wall insulation. He suggested we check the guarantee. We contacted the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) and had an independent assessment on the house carried out. They inserted a camera into the wall cavity and confirmed that the problem was being caused by the cavity insulation.
“On the surveyor’s advice we contacted a cavity extraction company, who came and removed the insulation. I could see it was soaking wet as they pulled it out – no wonder we had a damp patch.”
- Launching Soon
Cross-Referenced for Total Confidence
As CETA is launching their own membership scheme shortly, a cross-reference between their members and our Trading Standards checks means you can get expert advice with confidence by choosing an expert in cavity wall extraction from our membership directory.