Unreliable tradesmen

LittleMissAspie

Since we bought our house we've outsourced a couple of jobs to tradesmen, but the whole experience has been very frustrating. I don't know if this is normal, or we've been unlucky, or we are doing something wrong to put people off.

Job 1:
First bloke cancelled the quote appointment twice, finally came round on the third try and gave us a quote.

Second bloke came round and quoted no problem, good price so we booked him and he didn't turn up or contact us. Finally got through on his phone, he said family emergency and apologised profusely and was keen to rebook. We rebooked. He never turned up.

Third bloke was great, on time, good price, booked him, did a great job.

Job 2:
This was fine, got two companies round for a quote and booked one, they did a satisfactory job. It was to clean guttering and repair a leak, I wanted one of the joints replaced but neither company wanted to do that, they wanted to seal it instead. I still would have preferred a replacement joint.

Job 3:
First bloke came round slightly late for the quote, seemed happy with what we asked and said he'd be in contact with a quote. Never heard from him.

Second bloke came round slightly early for the quote, seemed interested, went to lengths to investigate fuse box and wires while he was here. That was a week ago and still no quote has arrived.

I'm really fed up with it all, we have wasted lots of time waiting for people or quotes that never arrive. Why is this happening??

abankerbutnotafatcat

We have had so many problems with even getting tradespeople. Apparently, there is a recession - not amongst the tradesfolk of Surrey it would appear.

As a result, the most recent job we required (roofing c£1.5k job) I contact SEVEN different companies for a quote. I got one prompt response, visit and quote, one response but didn't turn up when he said he would and five no responses!!

Leif

I had trades to install stove, tile kitchen, install kitchen, rewire and plaster kitchen and plaster some walls, and refit a bathroom. I had some trades visit and provide no quote. The first bathroom fitters were cowboys, it took 6 months to get compensation. The replacements were okay, but there were issues such as a light switch falling off the ceiling because it was screwed to plasterboard only. And a tile fractured so I replaced it myself. The electricians put the cables for wall mounted units in the wrong place, so the fitter had to pull them out, and I had to patch damaged plaster. The manager for the builders was the most difficult person I have ever dealt with. "I'll do it tomorrow" meant "I will never do it". 2 years later I found the boiler gas pipe was undersized. To his credit it was replaced for free. BUt they arranged to come round Monday and did not turn up. They claimed the chap was ill. So they came round Tuesday. The work was good and he was polite. But later I found the thermostat turned up to maximum and the bath plug would not close. It needed the nut adjusting. Did he do that to annoy me? I have no idea, but I can't see how it happened otherwise. Did he not turn up on Monday to annoy me? I don't know, but I get paranoid with some trades.

But, the kitchen people, the kitchen floor tiler and the stove people were excellent. And the plasterer was very good.

I now do as much as possible myself because I know it will be done well (so far anyway) and it will be cheaper and I will not have to take time off work to meet a trade. I will use the good trades again though.

mymedi

I'll say something a bit controversial, but which I believe to be true - this has something to do with the British mentality. Tradesmen here just aren't interested in work or in money. Now, obviously, there are exceptions to the rule, but well over 60-70% I'd say fall under this generalization. In all the places I've lived before, nowhere did it happen that you wanted to pay someone money for doing a job and they wouldn't even turn up to quote...! While here in the UK this seems to be happening all the time and to most people...

LittleMissAspie

So this is fairly normal, how disappointing. I honestly thought there was something about us that was making people run a mile, neither of us has great social skills so I thought we were coming across as right weirdos or something!

What do people think about websites like mybuilder.com?

olly300

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

So this is fairly normal, how disappointing. I honestly thought there was something about us that was making people run a mile, neither of us has great social skills so I thought we were coming across as right weirdos or something!

The few tradesmen I know have told me they don't like dealing with home owners due to the amount of hassle they have received from them in the past.

They prefer dealing with commercial customers including developers and landlords as they apparently aren't as fussy.

However from some of the stories they tell me this is complete nonsense.

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

From the stories I've heard I know this isn't true.
What do people think about websites like mybuilder.com?

Nope.

Ask around include your neighbours in this about who has done work for them.

Leif

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

What do people think about websites like mybuilder.com?

There are good people on those sites, but there are bad too, and there is no way to tell which is which. I got A. Bodger & Co. from CheckATrade. They had 47 glowing reviews, but their work was below the legally acceptable standard, as confirmed by Trading Standards. It took well over 6 months to get compensation, and even then I was out of pocket. Many say the reviews are often faked, and the customer reviews are posted after the job is done. If the job subsequently falls apart because it was bodged, there is no way to update the review to reflect that fact. The bodgers I dealt with are still on CheckATrade despite having lied in writing about what they had done, and despite multiple surveys confirming the work was carp.

Kitten_Pie

I have had a couple of good people through mybuilder and we have kept their numbers and use them again and again. It helped when we moved to a new area and didn't know anyone. We have also had a bad experience with a trade from there so it is swings and roundabouts. Once you find a good one keep them.

robatwork

Ask good traders to recommend other traders if you can't get a neighbour to.

Trading standards is a better bet than any of those commercial "builder pays for leads" websites. Your local council may have a TS approved list.

I have found Which local to be a good source when the above didn't help too.

And no, it's not just you. I am amazed some tradesmen go to the trouble of visiting to quote and never do. If they don't want the job they should say so.

Leif

The one possible advantage of a Trading Standards scheme is that they will arbitrate in the case of problems. The cowboys I got were also on the Trading Standard BWC scheme. But they spent months and months arguing with TS. despite the fact that they totally messed up a bathroom refit, and it had to be redone, and they lied in letters about the work. To my surprise they are still on the scheme, and yet they did not know how to tile, they did not know how to install a bath, and they lied. And astonishingly, they still show on their web site pictures of bathrooms which they cannot have done, giving the impression that they did them.

To be honest if TS had not got involved, I might have got recompense quicker via the courts. So personally I do not recommend TS schemes.

rainbow12

I have used my builder and similar sites a few times. Sometimes nobody has contacted me after I have advertised a job (usually small jobs or if I ask just for a qoute). Ive recently moved and got two contractors successfully, one to do structural but relatively low value work and one to do the rest of the renovation (high value job). Theyve both been really good, though I freaked out a bit early on and posted questions here. The house will be done by the end of next week and I am happy and would definitely employ both again and I would be happy to give the second guy keys to just get on with it if I did it again (rather than trying to be there as much as possible). And believe me, Im a nightmare in terms of wanting things done right and not trusting anyone! I did specifically invite these guys to quote basedon their profile and feedback and this has been the most success I have had, not sure if it is related.
I would definitely look for people on my builder again (but still research them thoroughly)