What is wrong with tradespeople?

[EssexSue]

I'm waiting for my new front gate to be built and fitted, I have designed it and have the money burning a hole in my purse. To add insult to injury the tradesman is my son in law!

[SnowWhite]

There's no excuse for bad manners - if they promise to come give a quote they should do so or let you know.
Of course there is the fact that, at the moment it's still hard to get certain materials, but if that's the case then a quick phone call to let you know is all it takes.
Hope you all find your guys

[mickey house]

Originally Posted by katiec68

Fair points!

If someone doesn't want to quote then id prefer they just said they were busy.

If we have booked someone we'd never cancel them - once booked that's it.

When I think of the service that DH provides to his customers they only ask him for quotes - because they know he'll do it. they even ring on a Sunday when they are preparing their quotes for the week.
He knows he will quote for more work than he sells but thats how it goes!

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I absolutely agree with you regards tradespeople not turning up when they say they will and coming to quote and not hearing back from them. Even if I was happy to do the actual job, but the person had attitude or could have been a nightmare to work for, I declined the job. I've even had people asking me to explain why I didn't want to do the job

Some people will take advantage of decent people (tradesmen or otherwise), and I never answered my phone in the evenings, weekends or before 9am. Admittedly I was fortunate that I didn't need the work to survive.

If people messed me around or were time wasters they went in my phone book as no thks, and I would never answer their calls again. I have many dozens in my iphone contact list who I wouldn't do work for (below is only some of them):

[mickey house]

Originally Posted by EssexSue

I'm waiting for my new front gate to be built and fitted, I have designed it and have the money burning a hole in my purse. To add insult to injury the tradesman is my son in law!

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But you likely expect a massive discount from him and he is probably losing money on the job

[stupet11]

Had this with a garden shed / office - and this was a guy from my sports club , so he knew I was not a time waster, and I approached him by asking if it was the sort of job he does...

He called 2 days after he said he would call.
Came to measure up (apparently) day after we arranged.
I had to chase for quote...got it 6 weeks latter
Quoted ridiculous price £16 (I had it done for £4k).
When I said that was more than I was expecting (he had never asked me about budget etc) he got the hump and said "only way you can get it cheaper is if you build it myself out of pallets"

I might charge him 4 x more than anyone else when he comes back to my club, and tell him it's on a different night!

It is a complete midfield. And I guess the good ones get so busy, they can't spread themselves far enough...

[lizzie145]

I've had a variety of tradespeople in and out of my house this week as want the exterior of the house painted, the hall and kitchen walls painting.
Plus I want the bathroom refitted and a few bits of electrical work.

Been impressed with all so far but just waiting for the quotes to come in. They are all local which is good as that means they should do a good job as people will talk about them and recommend them or not.

And I am getting new windows

[EssexSue]

Originally Posted by mickey house

But you likely expect a massive discount from him and he is probably losing money on the job

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Ha believe me he does very well out of us!

[buddog]

Originally Posted by Smilesonfaces

Not all tradespeople are the same. DH has been in business for almost 40 years. I’m not just saying this because he is my husband but he always quotes and always turns up. A lot of tradespeople won’t take on small jobs. Husband always finds larger jobs will come from the smaller ones so will usually take them on.
There aren’t so many tradespeople now, young ones don’t want to do the work so I guess they can be more picky with their jobs.
Best to go with recommendations. Hope you get your work done.

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My other half always goes and takes on small jobs too ... says "it could be the sprat to catch the mackerel".

[lizzie145]

Originally Posted by buddog

My other half always goes and takes on small jobs too ... says "it could be the sprat to catch the mackerel".

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Plus some of those small jobs can be done alongside bigger jobs, when waiting for others to do their bit or when waiting for plaster to dry.

If people stay local it reduces travel time so they can sometimes fit in 2 half day jobs.

[Taffy1959]

Over the years we’ve had many good tradespeople doing work for us especially when they are starting up a business but as soon as they start to get bigger jobs they’re not interested and we had a few let us down.
Since we moved we’ve had a lot of work done on our home and most of the people we’ve had to do our jobs have been excellent but unfortunately we’ve had a couple let us down.
We had 3 people let us down when we wanted our decking extending
One didn’t bother to turn up and quote another who had done a lot of work for us gave us quote which we accepted and then never turned up we gave him another chance but he let us down again and the last one spent over an hour here measuring up then we never heard from him again.
Eventually got it done by a neighbour who is a retired joiner.