The great GREAT 'how to find a decent tradesman' hunt continues!

nLdn · 12 April 2018 at 2:15PM

I joined a few local FB groups last year after someone on here suggested them as good sources for tradesmen. I had to unsubscribe a few months later as they were mostly full of people selling stained clothes, broken ikea furniture or potentially stolen phones and audio gear. Maybe thats just London

Ruski · 12 April 2018 at 4:58PM

southcoastrgi wrote: »

You could try local hero's

Please don;t tell me you've signed up to that?!?!?!?

Russ

bobwilson · 14 April 2018 at 8:55AM

Herongull wrote: »

Get recommendations from friends and neighbours instead of using sites where people either have to pay to go on or have to pay for leads. Good people get plenty of work from recommendations. Streetlife was great for this sort of thing but alas it is no more but its successor Nextdoor is also useful for this purpose.

Hi Herongull,

I appreciate your sentiment but I have to agree with other posters you responded to your comment- it's a big jump to assume everyone has the luxury of friends or family in the area, or indeed of living in areas where the neighbours are owners and/or know of decent tradesmen. I've lived in several different areas and in each of them, the neighbours couldn't help- and even in another city where I used to live, I was in the same predicament but the neighbours didn't know of any. One neighbour (who had lived there 30 years!) came and asked me for a recommendation a month or so after I moved in ! It is THAT bad.

bobwilson · 14 April 2018 at 9:05AM

nLdn wrote: »

Getting recommendations from friends would be great but in my experience, being a young London homeowner I have very few friends in my area who are in a similar position. Talking about it doesnt garner much help and is often seen as a "rich person problem" or showing off as someone unhelpfully put it to me. I live on the edge of an estate so many of the neighbours I've got to know are tenants.

I'm looking for a plumber and builder for some work replacing radiators, plastering and decorating in my flat in N7. I started looking last year but after weeks of trying to get people in to give quotes I gave up and decided to just enjoy summer. Tradesmen are so damn flakey.

Last year I invited 4 plumbers over for quotes. It took weeks getting people to come over, finding a suitable time, having them keep to the time and then follow up providing the actual quote.

1 never got back to me with a quote after visiting despite chasing
Another came had a look but said he was booked up for the summer
One arrived late after rescheduling, on foot and it emerged they were commuting in from really far away. The quote they gave me was so low they would have been paying themselves at or below minimum wage so I dont think they'd factored in how they would actually get to me and provide the materials needed. Made me concerned for quality and his ability to complete the job.
Another plumber seemed pretty shifty. His mate kept nosing around my property and asking me questions about any part or contents of my flat not at all related to the job. It felt like he was sizing me up or pricing the contents of the flat. I didnt feel comfortable having them in my home. I dont think they got back to me for a quote either. After weeks of entertaining this BS, with no results I decided to take a break from it.

After a spell working away I'm now back to square one and looking again to kick off getting the work done. Already the first builder has messed me around, cancelling coming for the quote and not responding to polite chaser emails to get him in on an alternative date. I'm worried I'll get to the end of summer and still not have anything sorted out. It there really so much demand for these people's time that they can be so sh*tty?!

On a more positive note I found an amazing local electrician who's responsive, approachable and has done some good work for me. He'll be back for the next bit of work I'm planning atm.

I agree wholeheartedly with you- everything rings true with me also & with everyone I know. I think the problem stems from the tradesmen culture in the UK. I've lived in other countries where apprentices still exist & people become tradesmen because it's something they WANT to do, but the vast majority of people in parts of the UK seem to "fall" into the job because they're looking for an easy (lazy) way to make money without having to go to University. Many think it's an easier or faster way for them to make money than anything else. This isn't conducive of a healthy workforce.

Back in the 1950s, tradesmen used to work & train very hard, be reliable, polite, and proud of what they do. Nowadays, tradesmen are lazy, very highly paid (because they all put prices up so it becomes a monopoly) & not as skilled in the workmanship, or the scheduling side.

bobwilson · 14 April 2018 at 9:17AM

BTW, I just updated the original post with the latest story of what's happened since.

bobwilson · 14 April 2018 at 9:28AM

Nathaniel_Essex wrote: »

Sometimes I wonder if it's the way I ask or are builders in general are just this hard to come across.

I used to wonder that- but going by the sheer number of people who have problems, I think it's the way most tradesmen are unfortunately.

Having said that, I had a plumber here once, and whilst it took me an age to persuade him to turn up, someone with a very strong official voice called him who turned out to be a wealthy client with a big mansion & attitude to match- and he answered instantly & cow-tow'd to everything, even telling me he might have to cancel the rest of my job to get to that client because he doesn't want to let that one down! It seems for those of us who aren't multi-millionaires or live average lives, they can't really be bothered. So much for treating all customers equally hey.

I had another tradesman so something similar- I booked him in for several weeks work on a very decent job for me building various furniture, but when he had any new client ask him to do anything, he seemed to think I'm a "sure thing", so he would suddenly announce he can't come to work for me the next day because he wants to go to the other client to do a new job. He did this several times. This resulted in my job taking him a lot longer.

Something really needs to be done in the UK.. the government needs to put some adverts on TV like they do for the army & teachers- but for the new generation to become tradesmen & be proud of what they do, to turn up on time, be reliable & train to have good workmanship etc.

sauvignon · 2 May 2018 at 6:03PM

My experience is exactly the same as described in the previous posts. If you live in London, it's probably even worse than elsewhere. Repeated costly "repairs" of our relatively new boiler that failed to identify the real issue, botched fitted wardrobes job, unfinished bathroom installation, floor laying without preparation, boiler installation when half of the time no-one was working and when the pair finally left, a diamond ring was missing which we only found out too late... I could go on. Out of about 15 jobs, the only positive experience was a really small plumbing job. After a couple of years DIYing we've braced ourselves and posted a simple loft ladder installation job on MyBuilder and Rated People. Three days gone and just one response from someone with a 100% negative review, echoing the above experiences. Will try bigger companies (although they were no exception in the past, including Sharp, B&Q and now defunct MFI) but they are few and far between. There really seems to be a systemic problem with tradespeople.

owen_money · 17 May 2018 at 2:20PM

The best plumber I ever had do a job for me was a school boy, he was great but expensive

Burntfingers · 30 May 2018 at 3:22AM

It is easy to think you must be doing something wrong - or appearing like a soft target - with UK traders. I have to remind myself that I'm probably among thousands daily, coming to grief over unrelability, shoddy work, disrespect, rising quotes (where you haven't quite anticipated every tiny deviation possible), chumminess turning to aggression, and shortchanging with labour and materials. Very hard though when it's just you trying to steer round the sometimes ridiculously overplayed prima donna behavioural displays .... My sympathies. It's still such an unregulated area seeming often to attract guys who want a fast buck, or at best believe they're the only ones having to make an effort in the UK. (And that is less likely to include foreign workers with a different work ethic).

dunroving · 30 May 2018 at 9:20AM

Burntfingers wrote: »

It is easy to think you must be doing something wrong - or appearing like a soft target - with UK traders. I have to remind myself that I'm probably among thousands daily, coming to grief over unrelability, shoddy work, disrespect, rising quotes (where you haven't quite anticipated every tiny deviation possible), chumminess turning to aggression, and shortchanging with labour and materials. Very hard though when it's just you trying to steer round the sometimes ridiculously overplayed prima donna behavioural displays .... My sympathies. It's still such an unregulated area seeming often to attract guys who want a fast buck, or at best believe they're the only ones having to make an effort in the UK. (And that is less likely to include foreign workers with a different work ethic).

I have just received almost 10 quotes and site visits for electrics, networking, satellite, plastering, decorating and joinery. Without exception, every single one:

Has been on time (except one who messed up and is coming today and is clearly highly embarrassed about it)

Has been very personable (albeit they had wildly varying interpersonal skills!

Has responded promptly to questions.

The only slight wobble is that some of the quotes themselves have dragged coming in (but I have imposed a pretty tight timeline because I'm trying to orchestrate a schedule with several different skills).

I feel very lucky (so far).

The great GREAT 'how to find a decent tradesman' hunt continues!

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free