Anyway, can anyone offer a recommendation for a reliable person to refit a small en-suite in the central Borders? Need new suite, flooring and tiling. Perhaps a bit of damp plasterboard replaced as well due to leaking shower?

My brother in law is a plumber.
He has mentioned several times in the last few years that he’s a bit quiet. I’ve passed on his details to several people who have been after a plumber.
They phoned and left a message on his answer phone. He never got back to the people.
Recently I gave him the number of a friend who wanted his whole house plumbing, new central heating, bathroom and kitchen.
Never bothered phoning to enquire about the work.

in fairness I could not abide dealing with the general public either, but most times ive needed a tradesman he’s come recommended or they are a mutual acquaintance which ime is miles worse! probably because you dont wanna act like a dick with them, and he tells everyone what i’m a mithering t*at i am or whatever…. but whenever ive run out of patience and turned to Yell, the service has been faultless!

I’ve recently tried to get someone to do some work for us.
Long story short is that they struggle to read and write, so nailing down any sort of quote/scope of work was too difficult.

He has mentioned several times in the last few years that he’s a bit quiet.

Jaysus. Even the shit plumbers are busy.

I imagine there is nothing more frustrating for a self employed tradesman than spending half your working day going to look at jobs and typing up quotes only for the prospective customer to have no concept of the fact you could actually be out earning right now rather than listen to them tell you they are looking for the cheapest price.

THIS is the reason it’s so difficult to get a trademan to come give you a quote.. too many time wasters.

The professional who comes and prices up a job properly will never be the cheapest.

never had an issue getting a quote – getting the job done is the problem!

Enough enough enough!!
It’s the same in all jobs.

All jobs have their problems, but it’s not quite the same. In IT for example there are loads of shit companies pushing crap. But we are talking about basic issues here like responding to communications and lying to clients about if/when they will come round.

Saying ‘yeah I’ll be round in half an hour’ when you are in Morzine – that’s unforgivable.

THIS is the reason it’s so difficult to get a trademan to come give you a quote.. too many time wasters.

So why do they turn up, waste an hour of their and my time measuring up, then not bother quoting?

So why do they turn up, waste an hour of their and my time measuring up, then not bother quoting?

no idea but i’ll add to the anecdotes:
wanted a new direct fill water cylinder fitted. not interested in the cheapest quote just can you do it (i have good idea of what it should cost)
finally managed to get a plumber to turn up, he had look, took a pic of the waste and said he needed to find a fitting for the tundish to go into. i said i was happy to schedule it for whenever he was free and i could get the cylinder myself if he prefers. then radio silence, sent a couple of emails…nothing….

it’s not an awkward job, no up to your armpits in a waste pipe in the freezing cold, you get tea/coffee biscuits and a hand up the stairs with the cylinder and you get £20 for the scrap!
i get the impression they would rather do tap washers for old ladies for £100 a go than actually do any work.

finally found a really good father and son plumber team who turned up and quoted then started the job 2 days later. a joint did fail and flood my hallway but that could happen to anyone.

there are a few good ones but most seem to be a law unto themselves and act like they are doing you a favour.
i’m really not looking forward to getting my kitchen and bathroom done.

Telling that so many tradespeople on here say they work by word of mouth. My dad did this exclusively for 30+ years and so did most of his regular subbies.

It’s been harder since I moved 200 miles away and can’t tap into his network any more!

Ha ha i got charged 50 for a tap washer so the old ladies pay double….its so tempting to take the piss but my old odd job man in sw london is now a 250 a day decorator. Thats a 4 day week and you clear a grand. I m tempted to come and get a bit of the action. 3 day weekends, pick the easy jobs.

Had a couple of quotes for some fencing work in the garden, chose one and he did a cracking job, good quality materials, didn’t leave any mess and a reasonable price. The good ones are out there 🙂

Had a couple of quotes for some fencing work in the garden, chose one and he did a cracking job, good quality materials, didn’t leave any mess and a reasonable price. The good ones are out there

Can he do bathrooms?

Can he do bathrooms?

Raised bed for a bath and feather edging for the shower curtain?

Why is this so difficult?

Personally, I hate people crooning while I’m trying to listen to Radio 4…

my old odd job man in sw london is now a 250 a day decorator. Thats a 4 day week and you clear a grand.

Except it isn’t, and you don’t…

Can he do bathrooms?

We always go to our local plumber (Ultimate Plumbing & Heating), again I can’t fault them……………..

Oh and people who spend 20 minutes trying to decide where to position a loo roll holder!

Sounds like me tbh as I’m fairly anal about my access point to get to it quickly.
Except I’d have a good go at fitting myself.

£250 a day for a decorator?
I need to start charging more. I know a lot of people in trades and all of them work hard and do a good job. I’m one of those who always turns up to quote when I say I will, then probably doesn’t charge enough because I feel bad for the customer. I’m never going to be a millionaire but for me it’s all about doing a good job and having happy customers. It does make me laugh when people try and haggle your £150 a day rate down when they’re consultants and the like who are earning a grand a day. It does tend to make you think ‘sod it….do it yourself then’.

Sw london rates it seems, hes busy too. Looks after loads of rental flats so its a fast turnaround, hes only got a day or 2 to paint a whole flat. Plus the generous discount you get from jonstons for the paint i reckon you can clear 300 a day.

Poolman – for every charegable hour an independent trader has another 30 mins to an hour non chargeable. time spent getting materials, doing quotes, dealing with paperwork ie tax returns – that sort of thing.

Lots of people wondering why a tradesman would come round and then not provide a quote
Hate to break it to you but they met you and decided they’d rather not bother

I need a house renovation soon, in Bristol. Any recommendations for someone who can manage a good job?

Poolman – for every charegable hour an independent trader has another 30 mins to an hour non chargeable. time spent getting materials, doing quotes, dealing with paperwork ie tax returns – that sort of thing.

That sounds way too high, I can see it being 20% ie 1 day a week.

As someone said earlier, its busy out there so theses ‘tradespeople’ can afford to be choosy. I walk my dog around the village occasionally and am amazed at how many people are having building works done to their houses. Literally every 10th house seems to a skip outside in one particular road.

You really need to find someone who is a friend of a friend or similar, who will not mess you around due to the connection.

I laboured yesterday for the builders and the guys earn every penny, everything ached last night. To be fair they work every day so they are used to it.

To be fair they work every day so they are used to it

You don’t get used to it, you just get on with it 😉

All decent trades are busy now. Nothing like few years ago with customers expecting to beat you down on prices as the recession was in full swing. As above you getting used to aching.

i found a hippie/carpenter on a local forum and arranged for him to come and hang a couple of doors and fit a bathroom lock, no haggling on price and i’m 5 min away.
he didn’t turn up….
sent a text mid morning….
nothing..
sent a text in the afternoon asking if he able to come tomorrow? finally got a reply saying yes.

first thing he did on getting getting here was put the radio on full blast MagicFM 😆

he’s cracked on with the job but why not just let your customers know your job has overrun?
30 seconds to send a text.

30 seconds to send a text.

Maybe but you’ve to remember that we’re working, which doesn’t involve sitting in front of a computer or walking around staring at your phone.*
So you either forget or put it off till later when you get home at daft o’clock.

*Yes. I realize I’m pissing about on the internet. 🙂

It’s not just tradesmen – getting bits machined, I’ve just given a £2000 order to the one company who responded promptly with a quote, I got tired of chasing another company for over a month.

Maybe but you’ve to remember that we’re working, which doesn’t involve sitting in front of a computer or walking around staring at your phone.*
So you either forget or put it off till later when you get home at daft o’clock.

Sorry not acceptable. I’ve taken a holiday day off work so I can let you in the house etc so you not having the courtesy to let me know you aren’t coming means I lose a days holiday for no reason at all. Sort yourself out.

The building trade complains they have a bad reputation for various things but when you can’t even let clients know when you aren’t going to turn up how do you expect to be treated any differently?

Hate to break it to you but they met you and decided they’d rather not bother

Why don’t they let the customer know then?

I’ll say it again, I’ve worked in the service industry a while before my current job and if I did the sorts of things tradesmen have been described as doing in this thread I wouldnt have lasted the day out before being fired.

I will leave my thread of last week here – plumbing jokes included for free.

Yeah newrobdob, that’s fair enough. It’s bloody annoying when you can’t get in touch with someone. Especially when deadlines or money are involved. It’s the same on both sides. I was just trying to point out that we can be a bit slow in getting in touch. Especially if they are a one man band.

(a bit sweary)
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0QxQoOInV0[/video]

being in the middle of something is no excuse, i’m often in the middle of something and will ignore social texts emails etc but if it’s work i’ll respond even if it’s a couple of hours later, if you have time for a pee you have time to send a text, if you don’t have time for a pee you need to manage your time better or think about a different career.

i have been doing my own painting so yes i’m not going to stop half way through a skirting or one area of wall but there are always pauses in working on something.

if you have time for a pee you have time to send a text

Better still, take a shit and compile an explanatory email at the same time.

tewit – Member

30 seconds to send a text.

Maybe but you’ve to remember that we’re working, which doesn’t involve sitting in front of a computer or walking around staring at your phone.*[/quote]

Bullshit. Unless you’re job involves balancing something over head all day, or you’re in a constantly difficult dangerous environment you’ll get an opportunity to check your phone. You might even use a minute of your 45 minute morning tea break or your two hour long lunch break.

My friend who’s a tree surgeon can’t have his phone on him when he’s climbing, for obvious reasons. As soon as he comes down he checks his phone, replies to texts and returns calls. He does this because he developed a level of professionalism and customer service in a previous career where grunting and ignoring customers would be seen as sub par service.