SEVENTEEN professional painters and decorators have been appointed at a top Stoke Prior firm.

LG Harris and Co, in Hanbury Road, has appointed the first 17 professional painters and decorators to its exclusive T-Class approved decorators panel.

Harris will regularly consult with the panel, asking them to road-test new and existing products in the company's top quality T-Class range. This range has been tailor made to suit the needs of the decorating trade. General consumers will also benefit by receiving the additional piece of mind that comes with using a decorator that has been endorsed by one of the industry's leading companies.

All 17 decorators on the T-Class panel have been vetted by check-a-trade, a trust mark approved specialist monitoring agency which uses customer feedback to ensure traders are credible and always complete work to a satisfactory standard.

The panel have signed up to check-a-trade's code of conduct, aimed at wiping out rogue traders, and will be continually monitored by the organisation, through customer response, to ensure that they continue to abide by the same high standards.

James Prentice, marketing manager for Harris, said: "The idea behind the T-Class approved decorators panel was to give decorators a say on how the industry is moving forward and assist Harris in designing products that meet their decorating needs. Product development is an important part of our business and we are delighted to have these 17 experienced individuals on board to ensure we continue in the right direction.

"In addition to improving NPD, Harris is also very keen to give additional support to consumers. It was important to us that when hiring a T-Class approved decorator, homeowners could be confident of a high quality service. Working with check-a-trade enables us to ensure that this is the case."