One tip - make sure whatever you agree with him that you have it written down and he signs it.
Nice chap as said above but he has just got too busy over the years and employs a few, what shall I call them, un-qualified builders.
He recently re-built our veranda, tiles off, new felt, tiles back on, all new wood and flashing etc etc. It took a few visits from him to get things anywhere near finished. One row of roof tiles mysteriously went missing until I noticed and got his men back to put them back. 'Lead' flashing is actually tin and is like a sieve. I can't really blame him for this as lead is just not available and tin is the norm.
As I said - he is a nice chap and will get the job done but get him to sign a list and make sure it's full payment on completion. We paid half up front in September 2007 so that he could buy the stuff he needed and complete the job over the winter and whilst the site had no renters on it. Legless will tell you that exactly a year ago - June 2008 - he started the job. Legless had to put up with a lot of noise and even our holiday was spoiled as he was STILL working on the job well into June.
Having said all that we would probably use him again but make sure he understands that when we say 'do it before the season starts' that he understands we are not joking!