British Tradesmen

Atomised

I would like to know why British plumbers, electricians etc say they will fix your problem then not turn up. This has happened too many times to us this year. Do they not want my money? They should be reported to Trading standards..or something. Or invoiced for wasting my time. Another morning wasted :mad: Another night with a broken roof and aerial.

dmg24

I think you are generalising there, not all are like that!

owls

im going to have to leap to the defence of tradesmen here.

it works both ways im a plasterer by trade, and often go out to meet people who have rung up requiring an estimate so i go to the customers house and they are late or are not in and they havnt bothered to call me and tell me,and as i cover a decent area [30 mile radus] it can be a huge waste of my time and fuel etc.

I do think you are generalising though as not all tradesman are this way[ i hope i fall in to this catogary] and some do turn up on time.

It doesnt make sense just not to turn up not only have they lost your potential business they have lost a lot more because they get negative feedback as you tell people you know that they are unreliable when people may ask for recomendations.

cazziebo

Atomised - I feel your pain! and owls - you must be one in a million.

took me 18 months to find a plasterer. Many didn't turn up to quote as arranged, of the ones who did, two were supposed to start and just didn't turn up. One said he could do the work in March 2008!! Eventually I got a great one, fab job, pleasant guy, reasonable price. I was really lucky in that a friend, who was going to sort out some landscaping for me, put me in touch with a builder and the builder has since found me said plasterer, a great electrician, a plumber and a corgi gas fitter. He also introduced me to a decorator who will do his bit in a few weeks once plaster is ready.

It's really frustrating when you've taken time off work, and also when you are waiting on one bit of the jigsaw to be complete so you can get on with another one.

The builder did say that plasterers in our area are in so much demand they're a law unto themselves...

However,original landscaper has said it will be Feb before he will be free to finish the garden....

Terrylw1

Some are good, some are bad. Trading Standards don't do much, look at those they stop trading who simply just open a new business undert a different name.

Cazziebo - depends with landscapers. Some firms close over xmas and have very little demand (often struggling to get through) from mid Nov until around Feb time. However, some carry on booking in jobs and keep themselves busy. Are you trying to get a firm to do it in business hours? Many landscapers will work outside of these hours to do the job themselves. Have you tried asking them that? Reason I ask is my dad's been a landscaper for many years and I know how some of the firms operate in and outside of their worksplace.

sooz

did you watch armstrong & miller last week. all british tradesmen are masquarading as polish builders to get work!! :rotfl:

cazziebo

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Cazziebo - depends with landscapers. Some firms close over xmas and have very little demand (often struggling to get through) from mid Nov until around Feb time. However, some carry on booking in jobs and keep themselves busy. Are you trying to get a firm to do it in business hours? Many landscapers will work outside of these hours to do the job themselves. Have you tried asking them that? Reason I ask is my dad's been a landscaper for many years and I know how some of the firms operate in and outside of their worksplace.

Thanks Terry. I want to use this guy because I feel I owe him as he introduced me to all these other guys, and secondly I trust him. He just started his business this year and he's so in demand he works non stop and has got work throughout Christmas. you're right, I could get it done quicker by going elsewhere. He's worth waiting for, only thing is - all this work is because patio was built too high which caused a huge damp problem which meant loads of other work had to be done. He came round first and dug up the garden so it means that for the next few months I've got a garden like a bombsite!

Vez

I think it must be great that so many dont need the work. I went to the HETAS site to contact installers qualified to install a multi fuel stove. Only one turned up to quote so I rang a couple of others again to get some comparisons, only to be told they werent interested. Instead we are doing it ourselves and the council are inspecting it.

New kitchen, completely new rip out the old and everything. Rang about 5 companies for decent comparison.
B&Q came but havent bothered sending us the finished design or followed up at all.
Second local company came and measured up but havent bothered sending us a design.
The others simply didnt bother turning up for the initial measure up.

Luckily my parents neighbour is a builder and hearing our tale of woe, said he will put us a kitchen in in the new year, plus he can get the kitchen at trade price!

Greensprout

I have to agree with the Op, it does seem that tradesman don't want my money.

I recently wanted an aerial fitting the guy gave me a time and date but never showed.
I rang him the next day he gave me some speel about been busy and will come later that day.. then never turned up again.
I gave him ring later that night and he said he'd come first thing in the morning.. No show.
He did however turn up at 3pm in the afternoon, by this time I'd had enough and told him I was getting someone else to do it.

PasturesNew

A lot of it is about time-management and managing people's expectations.

If it were me, for example, I'd probably work 4 days for customers on booked in jobs, then set aside one specific day a week to do the paperwork, go out and do the quotes and go back to fix something that somebody's called about, or finish off something that needed "one last thing". That way you can schedule people in to times/days when you can achieve all the call outs/call backs needed.

And if there were no quotes to be done, no callbacks ... then each week I could either have that day off or see if my current or next customer could accommodate me turning up. Or maybe scan through and find a one day or half day job I could bring forward.

What they are doing is responding to each immediate need as it occurs instead of proper planning of their time.

Another one is: allowing customers to change the job once they've started, causing extra work. I'd try to split that into two jobs and schedule the additional work a bit later. Instead, they try to fit it all in and over-run.