A Tradesmans rant

jimbms

I may not be an actual hands on tradesman any more, but as a design engineer who started off via an apprenticeship on the tools and even now still trade a service I think I can give an opinion on this. The answer is simple, no matter what job you do if you have achieved a good reputation and do a high standard of work then you will always have people who are willing to pay for a virtually 100% guaranteed high quality end result. If someone does not want to pay you that then fine, they can go and pay to get the result they can afford. Mind you in saying that it is good fun when they come back with their tail between their legs because the cheaper option has messed up and you can charge extra to correct it.

iseg

Speaking as a customer I realise that a tradesperson doesn't get everything they charge back as pay. I know that there are expenses in running a business and that w well qualified, properly insured builder/plumber/electrician will not be cheap, especially at short notice. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to be feeling a bit depressed/annoyed about handing over several hundred quid, especially if I have have no choice.

marleyboy makes a good point about the need to take a few things into consideration A decen analogy is dentists. I use the nhs dentist on the high street, they have always done a decent job, the surgery is clean if not very nice, and the price is bearable. My mum uses a private dentist who used to be NHS , howeevr my mum feels that it is worth the extra expense, given that she has been going to the same person for around 20 years and they are very reliable and do very good quality work. In addition my mum gets very nervous at the dentists and really values having someone she trusts rather than the constant new faces that seem to turn up in the NHS place.

suited-aces

I look at this as an economist. If it really was such an easy living for which you get paid a fortune, everyone would want to do it, more people would be offering their services and thus the going rates would fall accordingly. Like most things, it's really just a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, taking skills into account.

suited-aces

stagsman wrote: »

If your good at your job you wouldn't need advertising you would use word of mouth.

Care to elaborate?