To be fed up of trades men and their lies

True for the big things, maybe like your roof. But really most things can be looked after by basic maintenance and small scale DIY jobs so you don't really need a lot of tradesmen, you just need the tools and the ability to watch youtube videos, or get small jobs done by tradesmen/odd job men before they become big jobs, i.e. keep up with the maintenance.

Eg, you really don't need a plumber to change a tap washer, you don't need an electrician to change a light fitting - You tube is your friend! You can get someone to clean out your guttering so you don't end up with leaks and damp in your walls so you don't need "big" replastering jobs just to repair a lack of basic maintenance.

Obviously, there are times when "big" jobs need doing and you need proper qualified tradesmen. But, I'd contend that for most of the time, just keeping up with basic maintenance, not letting small jobs turn into big jobs, etc., means you can often find "odd job men" to do the work, and when it's only routine stuff, it matters less if they turn up or not, because the job isn't urgent. You've got all year to find someone to clear your guttering, so if the first, second, third, don't turn up, you've time to find a fourth. Conversely, if you don't clean them out for a decade, the damp from leaks etc will be penetrating and you do need someone urgently when your ceiling falls in or you get a huge damp patch on your lounge wall!

Here's one for you. I had a tradesman come to my house with my vinyl flooring for my kitchen. He worked for the store I bought it from.
There was a small crack in the cement floor, so he said I can't put the flooring over that, get it fixed and I'll keep the flooring in my garage for you and I'll come back to do it.
So I got it fixed. And I never saw him again. Or my flooring.

He wouldn't answer his phone and the shop closed down, I'm hoping someday I come across the thieving scum bag.

I'm now being messed about by someone who said he'd fix my door weeks ago. I've text him and no reply so I don't know whether to get someone else or just hang on in limbo.

Very sensible but when you have lived there for a while things deteriorate and you start needing tradespeople.

Well unless you continually move to newer properties I suppose.

Unreliable tradesmen is one of the reasons I bought a house which needed very little work.
I am not interested in any major renovation projects

@cherryys he was genuinely outraged at what he saw as the sheer injustice of it!

We also had a guy who didn’t work Fridays. Which we found out when he failed to arrive at the end of week one of a few weeks work. No biggie in the grand scheme of things, but don’t act like it’s the norm in every industry or try to persuade us we should have assumed, when we express surprise.

I'm reluctant to send him £850 (50%) when he's not even done 4 hours of work out of the 5 days needed for this job

I can't say I blame you, @cherryys; personally I'd be paying him 50% when he's done 50% of the work and not before

Unless some of that's for materials, and if you're paying for those upfront just make sure they're on your own property and not susceptible to "going missing"

You’re not wrong. We’ve moved to a new area and the unreliability of the trades people has been absolutely unreal. SO much ghosting and mucking about. Only a plumber and floor restoration guy has been decent. Everything from chimneys to bathroom to carpentry to decoration to tree trimming to roofing and guttering has been beyond painful.

We waited in all day on a day off for a guy who agreed to box in our bathroom pipes but never arrived or answered his phone.
He turned up days later unexpectedly. I politely said I had booked someone else now so thanks but we were expecting you last week when you said you’d come and didn’t.
He was genuinely astonished and told a mutual friend how unreasonable and unfair it was. For expecting him to turn up to work, ring, or get sacked for being AWOL, like every other working person?!

I'm confused. Are people paying up front for the whole job, not just materials?

I find it incredible how much power the building trade has. I guess because of supply and demand but to a certain extent they’ve always had a lot of power:

Power to change dates with very little notice - to be able to overload themselves with jobs to maximise profits and then juggle them about at the customer’s inconvenience.

Power to make their own hours of work - who on Earth decreed that builders don’t keep normal working hours, and can turn up at the crack of dawn so as to be able to leave at 3? Come at 9 and work a normal day!

Power to decree that “oh builders run on cups of tea and free food” - why? No other business can demand their customers make them food and drink!

It was getting better when we had more Polish and other EU builders in plentiful supply but now we’ve gone back to the bad old days of unreliable English builders.

I had a phone call from an electrician complaining that my bad review could ruin his business.
I told him if anything was going to ruin his business it would be his shitty attitude to working for a living.

I'm not sure this problem is going to be fixed any time soon. Brexit has meant fewer workers from Eastern Europe. There seem to be loads of new flats and houses being built which means plenty of regular work for tradies.

Then there are all the people doing massive extensions.

Small jobs are just not worth the bother I suspect.

My partner is absolutely useless at DIY as am I and we aren't getting any younger. We need a stack of work doing around the house but I just shut my eyes to it now.

I thought things would be bad for a while after lockdown but now I can't see things changing for the foreseeable.

Honestly OP I've just finished a double storey extension and excuse my French but fucking hell majority of them are useless , liars and just shit at their job. Pisses me right off
We were meant to get our garage door sprayed yesterday so I messaged the guy now he's making some bullshit excuse up. I booked it in 12 weeks ago it's a joke

DH is a tradesman and I like to think he's not like this.

He shows up on time, does a good job and has never received a bad review. He's been doing this since he was 14 - he's now 40 and his work is very well-known in our area.

I'd also say that customers lie and mess tradesmen around too.

Unfortunately, I think the demand for tradesmen is really high, which is why they can get away with treating their customers so badly.

YANBU. We are mid-rennovations at the moment. It's an absolute nightmare and I'm fed up of the lies, the excuses, the disorganisation and the poor communication.

The lack of accountability really pisses me off. There's no acknowledgement that people have to plan their lives (move meetings, arrange to wfh, put off visitors) around work that is promised and then doesn't happen.The excuse is usually that their last job overran. Well, I'm not surprised since you start work at 10.30am, take an hour for lunch and fuck off before 4pm it's amazing any work happens at all .

We've just been let down by another plasterer who was booked in months ago and confirmed a couple of weeks ago but never turned up and then ghosted us. So now we need to find another plasterer but can't find one who will even turn up to quote! This has meant we've had to put off the decorator and carpenter who were supposed to start when the plastering was done, so by the time we eventually find someone they'll be busy with other jobs and the whole thing will be pushed back by several weeks. I'm sick to the back teeth of it.

I find it extremely frustrating as in any other profession they would have no choice but to turn up to work on time, deliver what was promised and be able to work to deadlines like the rest of us.

Will this problem eventually sort itself out? I mean will people just give up having jobs done at all (it sounds like a lot of people on here have) and so eventually all the tradesmen will go out of business, except the very best ones?

I think that’s what’s meant to happen in a capitalist society. Not sure it does though.

My Dad is an older painter and decorator who only works 3 days a week now. He is still booked up for months because he always turns up on time, does what he says he'll do and leaves the place tidy. People are so sick and tired of bad tradesmen they'd rather have a job guaranteed to be done in two weeks, than one supposed to be done in one week but after the first day they disappear for a few months.

I despair with a lot of tradesmen. My husband is very hands on, but it takes so long as he works full time, but I’d sooner wait for him to get round to it these days. Like you we’ve been let down, quoted ridiculous prices and totally disillusioned with them.

We recently needed a gardener to trim the hedges as we’ve been so busy this year, with work and illness. I got a quote for the job that would take my husband approximately 3 hours to do, it equated to £80 an hour, totally unrealistic. I’d understand £25-£30 an hour, but not £80! 🧐

I don't know why they do it either, it's just down to proper planning. Communication has never been easier but it's harder to get off of people than ever!

Having said that, we have just had a big refurb done on our house and the guys have been brilliant in this respect. In 11 months there were maybe one or two days when they didn't turn up as promised and that was down to illness or bad weather. But they were the exception that proves the rule though.