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Tradesmen

daveaddickdaveaddick
in Not Sports Related
Not sure about anyone else on this site but I get totally pissed off with trying to get tradesmen to committ to work. I have now two jobs needing doing on my house one is not so urgent and the other is pressing I have contacted two blokes, one a plasterer the other a boiler engineer who have both done work on my house before and they won't even take a call. You leave messages which they don't return which is the really annoying thing if at least they called back and said they were too busy you can at least look for someone else.

My point is that you use certain people because you know their work is good they take you on as a customer and then when they have you hooked you get ignored. Does anyone else have this experience? I suspect yes but would be good to know and maybe some recommendations for a bolier engineer as well would be appreciated.
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Comments

  • RizzoRizzo
    Had a plasterer do our whole house a couple of years ago and when we contacted him to do some more work for us he let us down 3 times in a row and we ended up not bothering.
  • paulsturgesspaulsturgess
    Has anyone got any bathroom fitter recommendations in Abbey Wood area?
  • Arthur_TrudgillArthur_Trudgill
    daveaddick said:
    Not sure about anyone else on this site but I get totally pissed off with trying to get tradesmen to committ to work. I have now two jobs needing doing on my house one is not so urgent and the other is pressing I have contacted two blokes, one a plasterer the other a boiler engineer who have both done work on my house before and they won't even take a call. You leave messages which they don't return which is the really annoying thing if at least they called back and said they were too busy you can at least look for someone else. My point is that you use certain people because you know their work is good they take you on as a customer and then when they have you hooked you get ignored. Does anyone else have this experience? I suspect yes but would be good to know and maybe some recommendations for a bolier engineer as well would be appreciated.
    I recognize that: it happened to me with a window fitter.

    I've now used MyBuilder.com twice: you describe the job and they contact you.

    All contractors in there seem very professional but some can be pricey. Those with good ratings have a reputation to maintain, so I try to go for those.

    I would not say it is perfect, but there's no such thing when it comes tradesmen, I think. Too much depends on the individual, the job itself, the house, etc.
  • swords_aliveswords_alive
    I'm not sure mybuilder.com existed in 2012 but I use it too for the reasons described.
  • LargeAddickLargeAddick
    problem is too much work around, not enough tradesmen. Only seem to get let down now if we want something done and we don't already have a contact for that line of work. Luckily we have a decorator, a sparkie, a builder etc whom we can rely on. 
  • clb74clb74
    Chippycafc said:
    Try your local pub after 2pm. The pub down the road from me is full of transits after 2pm.
    Come on Chippy enlighten us.
  • ChippycafcChippycafc
    edited May 27
    clb74 said:
    Chippycafc said:
    Try your local pub after 2pm. The pub down the road from me is full of transits after 2pm.
    Come on Chippy enlighten us.
    Well in my local if your want a painter, plumber, electrician or carpet fitter their vans are always parked in the car park. If they stay longer than they should they park in the side roads too it.
  • ChippycafcChippycafc
    edited May 27
    Thought check a trade was supposed to root out a lot of these cowboys but my engineer told me last year he contacted about 6 in his local area for a bathroom refit and not one person bothered to reply to him.
  • ElfsborgAddickElfsborgAddick
    LargeAddick said:
    problem is too much work around, not enough tradesmen. Only seem to get let down now if we want something done and we don't already have a contact for that line of work. Luckily we have a decorator, a sparkie, a builder etc whom we can rely on. 
    If you have people that are decent it's good to keep hold of them.

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  • valleynick66valleynick66
    ElfsborgAddick said:
    LargeAddick said:
    problem is too much work around, not enough tradesmen. Only seem to get let down now if we want something done and we don't already have a contact for that line of work. Luckily we have a decorator, a sparkie, a builder etc whom we can rely on. 
    If you have people that are decent it's good to keep hold of them.

    Tell that to Andy Scott😆
  • ChippycafcChippycafc
    edited May 27
    Stig said:
    Chippycafc said:
    Try your local pub after 2pm. The pub down the road from me is full of transits after 2pm.
    Lazy bastards. And all the time the home workers are giving it their all.
    They were in there at 10. Then Lidl's at 3, then get home at 4.30 and pretend they've been busy all day.
  • clb74clb74
    Chippycafc said:
    Stig said:
    Chippycafc said:
    Try your local pub after 2pm. The pub down the road from me is full of transits after 2pm.
    Lazy bastards. And all the time the home workers are giving it their all.
    They were in there at 10. Then Lidl's at 3, then get home at 4.30 and pretend they've been busy all day.
    Good luck to em.

  • DamoNorthStandDamoNorthStand
    edited May 27
    I was very lucky with my recent house rennovation. My builder was locally known as excellent and after waiting 18 months for him, he started on exactly the day he always said he would. He said he would be done by Christmas and kept to that date meticulously.

    But we were lucky.

    Father in Law is trying to find someone to do his roof and it’s getting crazy now.

    I spent ages trying to find someone to do my bathroom (last job on the house), and after losing patience - I saved about £8k in labour and did it myself. Took a month working at the weekends and learnt some new skills in the bargain too.

    The hours thing does make me chuckle. Why is it they go home at 2-3pm every day. I’ve only just had my lunch! That’s just over a half day - I don’t get it.
  • ChippycafcChippycafc
    Anyone that has done work on my home have usually come from recommendations from friends and have witnessed work they have done.

    I use a rule of thumb that if they don't have a portfolio of work they can show me or they can start tomorrow or in a few days time, then their not likely to be up to much.
  • red10red10
    Got oil heating engineer, bathroom fitter, electrician, emergeny plumber and general maintenance / painting and roofing peeps all sorted over the past 6 years or so. Trust what they tell me and do a very good job. Very lucky to have found them with my creaky old barn conversion. As mentioned, they can never start next day, months in advance usually which speaks volumes imho.
  • WheresmeticketWheresmeticket
    Of about 5 tradesmen we've hired in the last 2 years only one has done an even adequate job. 3 were bodge jobs and one we are trying to claim against. Seems par for the course.
  • blackpool72blackpool72
    Reading all the above I am grateful that a lot of my friends are builders. 
    Between them I have all trades covered. 
    It really helps knowing them as friends as I know they won't rip you off.
    The only trade I haven't got covered is an electrician and it's a right pain trying to find a reliable one. 
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  • charente addickcharente addick
    edited May 28
    A lot of the tradesmen at my golf club seem to have plenty of time to work on their game from 3pm onwards.

    If only we were members of some sort of union where hard working, competent tradesmen could freely move to us from their home country to set a higher bar for free market competition thus improving the consumer's chance of getting a job well done at a fair (not cheap) price.............................
  • GribboGribbo
    We do 07.30 until 16.30. Generally only get an early shoot if we've crashed it in and are at a point we're it's better to start again on the following day, which happens maybe once every couple of months.
  • Friend Or DefoeFriend Or Defoe
    Gribbo said:
    We do 07.30 until 16.30. Generally only get an early shoot if we've crashed it in and are at a point we're it's better to start again on the following day, which happens maybe once every couple of months.
    Depends on the trade and how they get paid. Laggers working past 3pm means something has gone wrong!
  • BaldybonceBaldybonce
    paulsturgess said:
    Has anyone got any bathroom fitter recommendations in Abbey Wood area?

    blackpool72 said:
    Reading all the above I am grateful that a lot of my friends are builders. 
    Between them I have all trades covered. 
    It really helps knowing them as friends as I know they won't rip you off.
    The only trade I haven't got covered is an electrician and it's a right pain trying to find a reliable one. 

    @Greenie Junior is your man.
  • GribboGribbo
    Friend Or Defoe said:
    Gribbo said:
    We do 07.30 until 16.30. Generally only get an early shoot if we've crashed it in and are at a point we're it's better to start again on the following day, which happens maybe once every couple of months.
    Depends on the trade and how they get paid. Laggers working past 3pm means something has gone wrong!
    Laggers??? Thought we were talking about tradesmen

    😉 
  • clb74clb74
    All industries are the same.
    Wife's worked in an office uptown for over 25 years.
    No different a tradesman finishing at 2pm than the office bods who go for a pub lunch at 1pm and return to the office to basically log off for the day.
  • Friend Or DefoeFriend Or Defoe
    Gribbo said:
    Friend Or Defoe said:
    Gribbo said:
    We do 07.30 until 16.30. Generally only get an early shoot if we've crashed it in and are at a point we're it's better to start again on the following day, which happens maybe once every couple of months.
    Depends on the trade and how they get paid. Laggers working past 3pm means something has gone wrong!
    Laggers??? Thought we were talking about tradesmen

    😉 
    Good point well made. 
  • GribboGribbo
    Worked in all forms of contract work (spark / multi trader / Grove Park shopkeeper 😃 ), on the cards, self employed, run my own work, commercial, domestic, overseas, etc and generally find that people who shoot at 2pm don't last too long, unless they're covering their money. If they're going straight in the boozer at 2pm and get found out, they're gone usually gone, especially on major sites where there's random drug and alcohol testing.

    If you're looking for a tradesperson, get references and don't go the easy route banking on using the first person to price and who can start immediately. 


  • seth plumseth plum
    Trust a Trader (I access through my Which? Subscription) is much stricter than Checkatrade.

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