Nightmare Tradesmen - Would an app help?

Morglin

I'm in London, and I wouldn't employ someone that cheap - you are not getting a real professional.

I realise N.Ireland might be cheaper, but even so, under £5k for a bathroom is bargain basement.

I found someone, highly recommended by locals, had to wait 6 months until he could fit me in, and he talked through design, purchases and installation with me.  We have health issues, so the bathroom had to work for us.

I wanted high end tiles and figments, do it was never going to be cheap.

It took 10 days, with the owner and two labourers working five full days the first week and then a bit at the weekend, then into the middle of the following week.

They took the bathroom back to the brickwork, fitted and tiled the lot  and it was perfect.

Three years on, it still looks new.

But, it cost me £15k.

Most times you get what you pay for.

pennypincher64

Morglin said:

I'm in London, and I wouldn't employ someone that cheap - you are not getting a real professional.

I realise N.Ireland might be cheaper, but even so, under £5k for a bathroom is bargain basement.

I found someone, highly recommended by locals, had to wait 6 months until he could fit me in, and he talked through design, purchases and installation with me.  We have health issues, so the bathroom had to work for us.

I wanted high end tiles and figments, do it was never going to be cheap.

It took 10 days, with the owner and two labourers working five full days the first week and then a bit at the weekend, then into the middle of the following week.

They took the bathroom back to the brickwork, fitted and tiled the lot  and it was perfect.

Three years on, it still looks new.

But, it cost me £15k.

Most times you get what you pay for.

This is helpful, thank you, this is genuinely helping to put my mind at ease money wise for this project. I appreciate getting to hear your story on this. 

Bradden

pennypincher64 said:

What is it about them that you aren't a fan of may I ask? 

Yes a checklist before hand with a bit of data on a guide price so that prices can't just be plucked out of thin air. 

I think you're right actually, that's a good point, but if there was more value perhaps that could be avoided. If there was data I could get of a guide price for the area you're in that gives some sort of average and mix that with the checklist, I'm not sure how much value that would offer people 

My issue with checkatrade and similar sites it that it relies on consumers giving feedback on jobs which they aren't really experts in. E.g Feedback on block paving often reports on coming in on budget.. keeping the place tidy etc. Many paving jobs are poorly done due to the sub-base being skimped on - which results in the paving sagging months later. You rarely see any feedback about this aspect of the work.

pennypincher64

Bradden said:

pennypincher64 said:

What is it about them that you aren't a fan of may I ask? 

Yes a checklist before hand with a bit of data on a guide price so that prices can't just be plucked out of thin air. 

I think you're right actually, that's a good point, but if there was more value perhaps that could be avoided. If there was data I could get of a guide price for the area you're in that gives some sort of average and mix that with the checklist, I'm not sure how much value that would offer people 

My issue with checkatrade and similar sites it that it relies on consumers giving feedback on jobs which they aren't really experts in. E.g Feedback on block paving often reports on coming in on budget.. keeping the place tidy etc. Many paving jobs are poorly done due to the sub-base being skimped on - which results in the paving sagging months later. You rarely see any feedback about this aspect of the work.

I can understand what you mean there. On B&Q I see a lot of strange negative reviews on tons of items and usually it's because of poor installation, rather than the product being bad I would say. I think you're right, having said that, there are basics that should be reviewed so maybe their review policy needs to be updated. Review after a number of points of time and thinks like communication, time spent etc. I don't know. Thank you

macman

I forgot to say: if you allow 2 people into your home for two weeks work, and don't get a price until the very end, then you're going to be unpleasantly surprised, and the greatest app ever made isn't going to help you much.

Albermarle

Morglin said:

I'm in London, and I wouldn't employ someone that cheap - you are not getting a real professional.

I realise N.Ireland might be cheaper, but even so, under £5k for a bathroom is bargain basement.

I found someone, highly recommended by locals, had to wait 6 months until he could fit me in, and he talked through design, purchases and installation with me.  We have health issues, so the bathroom had to work for us.

I wanted high end tiles and figments, do it was never going to be cheap.

It took 10 days, with the owner and two labourers working five full days the first week and then a bit at the weekend, then into the middle of the following week.

They took the bathroom back to the brickwork, fitted and tiled the lot  and it was perfect.

Three years on, it still looks new.

But, it cost me £15k.

Most times you get what you pay for.

On the other hand £15K looks a bit on the high side. We had ours done last year.

I'm in London - We are just outside
I found someone, highly recommended by locals, had to wait 6 months until he could fit me in, and he talked through design, purchases and installation with me - Exactly the same for us, except we chose and bought some of the materials & fitments ourselves, but using their advice as a base.
They took the bathroom back to the brickwork, fitted and tiled the lot  and it was perfect. Same 
I wanted high end tiles and figments, do it was never going to be cheap. In our case 'medium end'
It took 10 days, with the owner and two labourers working five full days the first week and then a bit at the weekend, then into the middle of the following week. 9 days, 8 full hours a day for one person and one day for a labourer who then went off sick
But, it cost me £15k. Cost £8.5K including what we bought ourselves

Sounds like you have a bigger bathroom and higher end fittings.

I think for a standard size bedroom away from London and the South East, you could get a decent, but not fancy, job done for around £5K 

pennypincher64

macman said:

I forgot to say: if you allow 2 people into your home for two weeks work, and don't get a price until the very end, then you're going to be unpleasantly surprised, and the greatest app ever made isn't going to help you much.

Fair point 👍

pennypincher64

Albermarle said:

Morglin said:

I'm in London, and I wouldn't employ someone that cheap - you are not getting a real professional.

I realise N.Ireland might be cheaper, but even so, under £5k for a bathroom is bargain basement.

I found someone, highly recommended by locals, had to wait 6 months until he could fit me in, and he talked through design, purchases and installation with me.  We have health issues, so the bathroom had to work for us.

I wanted high end tiles and figments, do it was never going to be cheap.

It took 10 days, with the owner and two labourers working five full days the first week and then a bit at the weekend, then into the middle of the following week.

They took the bathroom back to the brickwork, fitted and tiled the lot  and it was perfect.

Three years on, it still looks new.

But, it cost me £15k.

Most times you get what you pay for.

On the other hand £15K looks a bit on the high side. We had ours done last year.

I'm in London - We are just outside
I found someone, highly recommended by locals, had to wait 6 months until he could fit me in, and he talked through design, purchases and installation with me - Exactly the same for us, except we chose and bought some of the materials & fitments ourselves, but using their advice as a base.
They took the bathroom back to the brickwork, fitted and tiled the lot  and it was perfect. Same 
I wanted high end tiles and figments, do it was never going to be cheap. In our case 'medium end'
It took 10 days, with the owner and two labourers working five full days the first week and then a bit at the weekend, then into the middle of the following week. 9 days, 8 full hours a day for one person and one day for a labourer who then went off sick
But, it cost me £15k. Cost £8.5K including what we bought ourselves

Sounds like you have a bigger bathroom and higher end fittings.

I think for a standard size bedroom away from London and the South East, you could get a decent, but not fancy, job done for around £5K 

It's interesting the difference in price between you both. That's the part I think that might help people if people could see these figures for their area. I don't think they're obvious and they vary. Mine cost less than £5k (I do think a lot of that is down to location)

Brie

Prices will also vary due to getting top quality or designer or value fittings.  And a good tradesperson will be able to advise if they are actually required.  The guy who worked on our bathroom (not a full job, just a shower) was able to point out what we could be reused, what would be practical for our requirements and also left his card saying should we need more work done to give him a shout.  I would in an instant as he saved us about 30% off the original quote.

pennypincher64

Brie said:

Prices will also vary due to getting top quality or designer or value fittings.  And a good tradesperson will be able to advise if they are actually required.  The guy who worked on our bathroom (not a full job, just a shower) was able to point out what we could be reused, what would be practical for our requirements and also left his card saying should we need more work done to give him a shout.  I would in an instant as he saved us about 30% off the original quote.

I agree with you. It's not the easiest thing though to compare and contrast. Around here it's usually who you know and a lot of trades people don't actually advertise themselves at all (and I'm really not joking or exaggerating). I'm glad you got good value.