Builders, tradesmen ....not turning up, uncontactable ...Don't want it to happen again!

Okey00001

We want to renovate bathroom but worried about being messed about again by workmen!

We had a small downstairs toilet put in and should have taken 2 weeks but it went on for 2  months (not 3). Most of the time, nobody turning up.  The same with getting knocking down a wall to open two rooms - received quotes but did not reply when we wanted the job done.

We work full time, we  will have a schedule with the contractors but don't want to go through immense stress again, especially with bathroom renovation.

How can I make sure that the company/contractors paid to do the job, actually complete the job in the time given?

Doozergirl

Okey00001 said:

We want to renovate bathroom but worried about being messed about again by workmen!

We had a small downstairs toilet put in and should have taken 2 weeks but it went on for 3 months. Most of the time, nobody turning up.  The same with getting knocking down a wall to open two rooms - received quotes but did not reply when we wanted the job done.

We work full time, we  will have a schedule with the contractors but don't want to go through immense stress again, especially with bathroom renovation.

How can I make sure that the company/contractors paid to do the job, actually complete the job in the time given?

Speak to as many of their previous customers as you can and see what the estimated time frame was versus actual.  

You're not going to get anyone to commit to a contract that contains penalties, so you have to go on others' previous experience. 

I'd be happy for people to do it, but I've barely ever had anyone ask to speak to previous clients! 

Gavin83

Okey00001 said:

We work full time, we  will have a schedule with the contractors but don't want to go through immense stress again, especially with bathroom renovation.

What sort of schedule?

There's a thread running at the moment about leaving keys with contractors. There are several people saying they'd only let the work take place when it's convenient to them which given the current circumstances seems entirely unrealistic to me.

Eldi_Dos

If it is important that a certain date has to be met include a uplift payable if date is achieved.

Okey00001

Gavin83 said:

Okey00001 said:

We work full time, we  will have a schedule with the contractors but don't want to go through immense stress again, especially with bathroom renovation.

What sort of schedule?

There's a thread running at the moment about leaving keys with contractors. There are several people saying they'd only let the work take place when it's convenient to them which given the current circumstances seems entirely unrealistic to me.

Everything is organised around the tradesmen and they have told us when they are available and give us the date.  I gave them the keys to the house so they could get on with it.  Returning from work, nobody did anything and at times had to wait for someone else before anything could be done. It is their own schedule not mine.

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: You're not going to get anyone to commit to a contract that contains penalties, so you have to go on others' previous experience.

Used to be involved in construction projects that had penalty clauses attached. Admittedly, multi-million commercial contracts. Unlikely any builder would entertain such a clause with a domestic contract, although they would probably accept an early completion bonus (uplift payment).

Like the OP, I'm also experiencing difficulties getting quotes and having trades start a job.

Doozergirl

Current circumstances, things are not back to normal.  

Everyone is being let down left, right and centre, including construction employers, because there simply isn't enough labour.  There wasn't before Brexit/Covid, now it's worse. 

Supply chain problems also.  Can't get a boiler for love nor money at the moment, for example. 

TELLIT01

Lack of communication from contractors is the biggest problem I've experienced over the past couple of years.  I had one instance where the contractor apologised for the work taking longer than expected and saying he would work the following day (Saturday) to catch up.  He didn't show up, didn't answer his phone or respond to email over the weekend and finally reappeared on the Tuesday.  When I asked him where he'd been, given his promise to work on the Saturday, he simply said he'd been held up on another job!  Extremely frustrating but little I could do half way through a job.

The only positive was that, whether by accident or intent, he didn't charge for the lighting which should have been over £800.  As he never called about the additional cost I just put it down to his way of apologising.

Okey00001

With builders not turning up and putting the work to be done as not important enough and doing other jobs instead - they should be told that another contractor will be brought in to finish the job.

Builders forget their client who is paying them to do the work! Instead they are doing "other" jobs and promises broken.

Update:(my apolgies, I didn't mean to be rude, just fed up)

ComicGeek

Okey00001 said:

With builders not turning up and putting the work to be done as not important enough and doing other jobs instead - they should be told that another contractor will be brought in to finish the job.

Good luck getting someone else in, that's the whole point.

I definitely pick and choose the work I do - had someone rant at me today after I dared to tell him that we don't actually offer the service he wanted, it works both ways.

Doozergirl

Okey00001 said:

With builders not turning up and putting the work to be done as not important enough and doing other jobs instead - they should be told that another contractor will be brought in to finish the job.

Builders forget their client who is paying them to do the work! Instead they fart around doing "other" jobs and promises broken. Have they got too much money and don't need it?

I can see why Polish builders were seen as a "threat" by some, when I heard they had a good reputation, reasonable priced and completed the job for the Customer.  It seems that

There is a problem with total lack of skilled labour, brought about by the fact that there is no parity of esteem between academic qualification and vocational.   Generation upon generation of children brought up to believe that labour is beneath them.  

There is no customer service training, there is a problem with communication, generally, but people are held up by jobs running over, emergencies, other trades and supply chain issues are impacting heavily at the moment, as is Covid related issues on both sides.  Even with long term relationships, it is hard to manage people
who have more work than time, even when they try not to have.  

The way to avoid it is not to sneer at constructors and accuse them of 'farting around'.  It isn't an easy job to manage, by any stretch of the imagination and any suggestion that you think people are inferior to you will see you without anyone to do your project at all.   You are also selected as a potential customer by anyone who values their own work.  

The way to employ someone as reliable as possible is to seek genuine references beforehand.  I can count on the fingers of one hand the times anyone has asked us for a personal reference.