Setting up a register of free tradesmen for the struggling elderly

C_Mababejive

I think its a non starter. What person would do such work for free? Which charity would pay his bills and feed his family/pay his mortgage? I certainly wouldnt give my time in such a way for free leaving aside the whole liability issue.

fordcapri2000

Mojisola wrote: »

Our AgeUK group already runs a handyman service - qualified, checked workman who do jobs for a very small price.

Perhaps you could act as a go-between for tradesmen who would be happy to do this work for free and AgeUK or the council?

That would be perfect for me, myself and the other guys are more than happy to do the work and free, it is just the administration side that we want to leave to someone else.
And who better to know who needs help than someone like AgeUK, and there are a lot who do need that little help. There are a lot of hard up pensioners who cannot afford to pay someone £20 or £30 to do those few little 10 minutes jobs.

The lady I was speaking to today was saying because of cutbacks so much of the help they once had has now gone.
Plus if I did get a sizable bunch together, I would want those in need to know about it, that is the bit I am a bit stuck with.

fordcapri2000

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I think its a non starter. What person would do such work for free? Which charity would pay his bills and feed his family/pay his mortgage? I certainly wouldnt give my time in such a way for free leaving aside the whole liability issue.

Good for you, thanks for sharing that.
I am lucky enough to know a lot of people who will stretch themselves and help people where they can.

Of course we all have to make a living as well.

Mojisola

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I think its a non starter. What person would do such work for free? Which charity would pay his bills and feed his family/pay his mortgage? I certainly wouldnt give my time in such a way for free leaving aside the whole liability issue.

I don't think the intention is for any one person to give all their time for free but I know people who 'donate' a certain number of hours of work every week. They have to limit the hours so that they can still make a living but that doesn't mean they can't do some work for free or at a minimal charge.

paddyrg

As opposed to 'for free' how about 'low cost' so the thing remains viable and doesn't get too badly abused? I'll happily do work for breakeven rates to fill gaps, but if I lose money on a job (fuel, losing other work to take it, etc) I get fed up pretty quickly.

fordcapri2000

paddyrg wrote: »

As opposed to 'for free' how about 'low cost' so the thing remains viable and doesn't get too badly abused? I'll happily do work for breakeven rates to fill gaps, but if I lose money on a job (fuel, losing other work to take it, etc) I get fed up pretty quickly.

I hear you Paddy, I would probably be ok taking minor expenses on the chin, but obviously materials is where you draw the line.

Have been on a number of tradesman forums and am getting some good feed back.

jordanjim

Just another thing to think about, what if someone on your database does some damage to the property, steals something or similar? Would you be liable? Would your tradesmen be as happy to volunteer if they're the ones liable for any accidents while donating their time? You'd need to consider your terms and conditions very carefully to cover yourself and you'd probably need specialist insurance.

I remember a friend of mine had a problem many years ago when she ran a volunteer home help service and one of them stole some money while at an old lady's house. Even though it was all voluntary there was some question about whether the volunteers classed as employees, meaning she was responsible for them.

Also, from my own experience, be careful about what phone numbers you give out to the clients. I was once delivering some fruit & veg to an elderly lady who asked me to change a lightbulb for her while I was there, as she was disabled. No problem, but next time she asked me to take out the rubbish, the time after asked me to clear out her sanity towel bin in the bedroom! She piled on such a sob story each time that there was no way I could say no to helping her without feeling like an absolute cad, but then she started phoning my mobile at all times of the day and night asking 'when I'm in the area, could I just....' Soon after that I found out that she had a home help a few times a week who could have done all these things for her.

I think she was just really lonely and liked the attention, so if you're offering a free service you can almost certainly expect that kind of thing to happen and will need to plan for it. The same people will phone up time and time again, meaning you'll have less resources to offer to other people that might actually need them.

Errata

fordcapri2000 wrote: »

I was thinking that age concern or Age UK could decide who is worthy for help and then contact me, of course all tradesmen would be vetted and CRB checked.

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Vetted and CRB checked by whom?

trailingspouse

I think this is a great idea - not without difficulties, but fab nevertheless.

There must be enough tradespeople out there who are prepared to give a few hours a week or days a months for nowt. Or possibly retired ones who don't want to hang up their tool belt completely.

I can see the problems as being - regulating it so that it isn't abused by either the tradespeople or the elderly, insurance (for example would the work come under the tradesperson's existing liability insurance even if it wasn't paid work?), admin (will that be done by volunteers also?), and advertising (both for alerting elderly people to the existence of the scheme and letting tradespeople know that they're needed).

CRB checking shouldn't be an issue if it's run as a charity - but there would still be the question of who would pay for it.

Definitely a good idea, but one that could take over your life!! I'm not saying that's a bad thing - just that you should go into it with your eyes wide open!

fordcapri2000

trailingspouse wrote: »

I think this is a great idea - not without difficulties, but fab nevertheless.

There must be enough tradespeople out there who are prepared to give a few hours a week or days a months for nowt. Or possibly retired ones who don't want to hang up their tool belt completely.

I can see the problems as being - regulating it so that it isn't abused by either the tradespeople or the elderly, insurance (for example would the work come under the tradesperson's existing liability insurance even if it wasn't paid work?), admin (will that be done by volunteers also?), and advertising (both for alerting elderly people to the existence of the scheme and letting tradespeople know that they're needed).

CRB checking shouldn't be an issue if it's run as a charity - but there would still be the question of who would pay for it.

Definitely a good idea, but one that could take over your life!! I'm not saying that's a bad thing - just that you should go into it with your eyes wide open!

Hi TS

Thanks for the positive spin.
I am jumping through a few hoops at the moment, but I am getting there. As tradesmen we all have public liability anyway, and as for running the show I want to leave that to Age UK or Age concern, basically saying if someone YOU know is struggling we are here if you want us.

I am with you on the CRB side, millions of aged people are phoning millions of trades people around the UK not knowing their past anyway.