The reliable way to hire a tradesperson

I have a tenant with the floor in the bathroom that has movement. Don’t know if it’s floor boards or joists or something else

Hi all I am currently re-doing my spare bedroom. It is a typical victorian 2 up 2 down. The bedroom has a fireplace on one wall with two alcoves set back on either side - extremely typical for this sort of house, if you google "victorian fireplace alcove" you will find hundreds of pictures of what I am talking about. The wall with the fireplace has (from one side to the other) two internal joints, then an external joint, then the fireplace, then another external joint, then two internal joints. I am going to scribe the skirting to fit the internal corners and mitre to fit the external corners. My question is for the joints I am scribing, how do I know which side to lay flush against the wall, and which side to scribe to the profile of the side that has been laid flush against the wall? Does it matter, or is there a trick to know which will look 'better' when all is said and done? Is it a no-no to scribe both ends of one piece of skirting board (for example the boards that will be up against the back of the alcoves either side of the fireplace), or are you supposed to try to ensure that where you have a number of internal joints in a row, each board has one side flush and one side scribed? Many thanks in advance & I hope this makes sense.

Today I called a local roofing company to get a quote for painting my roofline. The small local company owner came and gave me an estimate for the painting £850 and suggested sealing the pointing and totalled the job at £1000. He said he could do the job the next day. He said he would take a £450 deposit for materials. He wanted cash as he was not including VAT and that did not sit well with me. He then said if I preferred to transfer he would give his wife’s account which I said I wouldn’t like that. I felt under pressure having the job done so quickly as I wanted to check things out first. However I signed a contract which did say I was entitled to 14 day cooling period. After he left feeling like I needed time to think through things I called him and said I did not want to go ahead. He was unhappy and said he’d already bought materials but it had only been 20 minutes since he left my place and it would take at least half an hour to have reached town and shops let alone already bought stuff. He then said that I have the right to cancel but subject to a cancellation fee which was not written down in the contract. Please advise if I am within my rights to cancel without incurring a cancellation fee.