why are tradesman bad?

Marktheshark

phill99 wrote: »

One of the issues ( and I have discussed this at 3 colleges) is that many tradesmen are good at their trades but have zero concept about running a business. Their trade is only one part of what they do. The other part is how they market themselves, the way they answer the phone, how they deal with you when they first come to your house (eg do they take theit boots off?), their courtesy, how they address you, how quickly they get a quote to you, how clean they are etc etc etc. All of this isn't taught at college and isonly likely to get worse. Its the older lags that tend to have a better grasp of dealing with customers as they grew up in more chivalrous times.

As others have said, the good guys are booked up for months ahead. The guys that can come this week have little work for a reason.

If you want a big flash car and shiny suited sweet talking visit, you use a company, they will send a smooth talking slick hair rep to quote in a big car, the workmen will have uniforms and clean new vans and the bill will be adjusted to suit.

You can have one or the other.

EssexExile

why are tradesman bad?
Why are customers so bad?

Blackpool_Saver

It's the lack of communication that upsets me, why can they not turn up when agreed or phone to say they can't make it

balletshoes

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

It's the lack of communication that upsets me, why can they not turn up when agreed or phone to say they can't make it

this is my main problem with tradesmen, and it does kind of tie in with phill99's post.

every time i need a tradesman, I get personal recommendations from friends/colleagues, I check out local business cards etc, and I usually start off with a list of about 10 numbers to call.

So I call them, a couple of them the phone just rings and rings, no pick-up, no answermachine.

half a dozen more, phone switches to answermachine, 6 messages left, maybe one will call me back to discuss what i want done.

I speak to 2 actual human beings when I call, one arranges a time and date to come and see what can be done/quote for the work - doesn't turn up and doesn't call.

One does actually turn up when he says he will, and gives a quote for the work and a timescale when he can come back and do the job - so invariably he gets the job, unless I want to go trawling around for another half dozen numbers and start the whole rigmarole again.

It just seems like really bad business to me, not even bothering to reply to a potential customer?

EssexExile

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

It's the lack of communication that upsets me, why can they not turn up when agreed or phone to say they can't make it

Why are customers not in when they've arranged for me to call?

catoutthebag

EssexExile wrote: »

why are tradesman bad?
Why are customers so bad?

Says the bitter labourer

catoutthebag

EssexExile wrote: »

Why are customers not in when they've arranged for me to call?

Because they found someone bitter, sorry, better

Doozergirl

Local facebook page this evening:

""Hi I need some skimming,plastering doing in my bathroom . About 26 th oct half term. Must be a good job no too expensive thanks"

victor2

Doozergirl wrote: »

Local facebook page this evening:

""Hi I need some skimming,plastering doing in my bathroom . About 26 th oct half term. Must be a good job no too expensive thanks"

Sums up customer's attitudes really.
We have a builder we use for every major task. Over the years we've got to know him well and treat him as a friend. Such is our faith in him that we got him to extend our house last year without even getting any other quotes. He's not the cheapest, but by far not the most expensive. If he's working, he starts at 8am prompt and finishes around 5pm, depending when the task in hand is completed. If we want his advice or a quote for a job, he gives realistic timescales. If he can't quote for a week, he tells us and we accept that.
He doesn't advertise, getting all the work he can handle by word of mouth. He turned a number of jobs down while he was building our extension.
He is looking to retire now and we don't know what we'll do for any future work, except ask him to recommend someone...

dirty_magic

Seeing it from the other side I think it can be quite hard for tradesmen to plan time scales because you can't plan for all the unforseen problems. You don't know what you'll find when you start exposing wires and pipes!

It can be difficult to get quotes though, I was surprised by how many people don't return calls or don't turn up when they say they will to quote.

I think it's unreasonable to expect tradesmen not to make a mess tbh, mess is inevitable when you're working.