The reliable way to hire a tradesperson

My daughter lives in a terraced house fronted with engineered brick. The whole frontage needs repointing and several tradesmen have said it should be pointed with lime mortar. Since the bricks are non-porous and don’t breath, why does the pointing need to be lime and breath? Surely the pointing mortar should have similar properties to the brickwork.?

We have recently opened up our closed off chimney breast to original fireplace opening (bricks restored), unfortunately we didn’t account for the gap in the laminate floor where the plaster and bricked up sections used to be. We have 4 pieces of laminate that were in the shed when we bought the place and after searching it appears to be discontinued. Any ideas for a fix? We thought of fixing the damaged bits of laminate where the skirting / plaster used to be and then a floating fake hearth to extend into the void where no flooring is present? Would love some advice or help on this, trying to keep costs down but want it to look good enough that’s it’s not a botched DIY! (I know fully replacing the floor is the best solution but we cannot afford this currently).

Can anyone recommend a product which effectively removes mould from grout. I have tried various products all with minimal success.