What is it with Builders ?

loobs40

We spotted a problem with the porch canopy this weekend, in that it appears to be coming away from the main wall of the house. There are no pillars supporting it, only whatever support (nails ?) the original house builders put in 10 years ago when it was built.

On Monday, we phoned at least five builders from the yellow pages so we could get some quotes for the work required. Only one bothered to return our call, and then even he didn't turn up.

What do you have to do to get a builder to come round? It looks like in my area, Berkhamsted, unless you are building a huge extension, builders are not interested.

jaimeo

Maybe if the job is not worth much...they have got better things to be doing?

Not saying this is your fault or anything but all the builders I have worked for have been in demand...if you spend an hour (£x) pricing something, you've effectively lost that time.

Did you give them a specific time you wanted them to come?

J

loobs40

The only builder who called back, gave the impression that he would decide when he came around ! We deliberately only called builders who lived very locally, some of them with addresses within 5 minutes driving time to our house.

Surely popping around for 15 minutes in the evening (now that it is light till failrly late) isn't too much to ask ?

jaimeo

I know what you mean...how much are you expecting it to cost?

Maybe they are just really really busy. Or maybe you have to phone a few times.

Did you phone landline or mobile? My last co. had a mobile for the van but jobs would be booked from landline calls.

Sorry to not be much use!

J

loobs40

Just venting my anger on here I'm afraid ( in the forlorn hope that a good local builder in the Berlkhamsted area will come to my rescue)

We have no idea how much the job will cost. We don't know if the canopy is dangerous, whether the whole thing needs to come down (its a sloping one with tiles), or whether nothing needs to be done.

Lillibet_2

Sympathies loobs40, I'm having the same thing with plumbers at the mo.....I wouldn't mind but 2 of them lived within walking distance!

Norma_Desmond

I've never found a decent builder/plumber through the Yellow Pages; We've always gone with local word-of-mouth recommendations, and now have a brilliant chap who does everything from landscape gardening to building work brilliantly AND at a great price! Ask the neighbours, or anyone else who is having work done on their house locally...

mrcow

jaimeo wrote:

Maybe if the job is not worth much...they have got better things to be doing?

Unfortunately that doesn't seem to follow either.

A few years back we had a £25k extension done. We found it extremely difficult to find a builder interested enough to do the job. They either never called back or never came round. Even the guy that did end up doing the job seemed to have something better to do half of the time.

lol I'd agree, plumbers are the same in my area!

Tom_Jones

For a job that appears to be quite small your best bet would be to look in your local paper in the ads section or look in your local DIY store at the noticeboard for the 'no job too small' builders cards.

dougk_2

From the sounds of the problem you just need a "handyman" rather than a builder. Have a look in the local papers as Tom_jones has said. Ask your neighbours if they can recommend someone... or do what I have done in the past, when you see a builder in the local area aski him to pop and have a look for a "cash in hand" job! This works especially well if you see a builder at a site building new homes. Also works for central heating boiler servicing if you can nab a BG engineer in his van!

[Deleted User]

In the 3 weeks since next doors skip hire broke my drains I've rung 21 builders, but I still don't have the 3 quotes I need.

There are the ones who never answer the phone.
The ones who never return the message on the ansafone.
The ones who's missus says they'll call back.
The ones who say they want £50 for providing a quote.
The ones who say they're too busy.
The ones who say the job's too small.
The ones who say they might come round one evening next week.
The ones who say they'll come round, and don't turn up.
And then there are the ones who turn up and say they'll post a quote but don't, so the whole process starts all over again....................

When a neighbours car demolished my wall it took a total of about 4 months to get it all sorted.