To be fed up of trades men and their lies

DH is a joiner, I run the admin so he definitely doesn't do this himself but it is a total free for all in the trade. I don't understand how they get away with it. Finding reliable tradesmen to link up with is a bloody nightmare.

Had a few jobs done lately by a local handyman, he did an excellent job, paid him within minutes of getting the invoice, he’s coming round next week to quote for more work - feel like a lottery winner! Good and reliable tradesmen are like gold dust !

Had our fair share over the years of rubbish trades people

Ha @Lampzade I once hired a 'man with a van'. He texted he'd be here about 8am, I replied saying great I'll move my car if he could text when five minutes out, he texted back thanks. Then he texted he was five minutes out.... never saw or heard from him again!
OP it is such a cliche now. I was very fortunate with my last builder (recommended by world of mouth, he never needs to advertise) . All his subs not only turned up on time, they were polite, took pride in their work, and tidied up after. In return I paid them within 24 hours of their invoice.

I always check reviews before making a call and all of them have 5 amazing reviews ... who gives them these reviews? Could they be fake?*

Of course they're often fake; even a 10 second google tells you how easy glowing reviews are to buy

I'm very lucky to have built up a group of tradespeople who can be utterly relied on, but this is exactly why I cringe if a job crops up which falls outside of their skills. For me personal recommendations from folk I actually know are the only sensible route, the problem being that those good enough to be recommended are usually rammed with work

That sounds like an extremely shitty builder tbh.

Thats not one builder - that’s standard across all trades for our young people.

I operate a one strike and you're out policy. They are often utter piss taking wankers.

Sack them and find somebody else.

Is there any sort of regulation of these cowboys?

I had a kitchen fitter not show up on a Monday morning-after texting him at 5pm on the previous Friday to confirm and then tearing the old kitchen out over the weekend.

He finally responded to a final text 5 days later to say he’d been held up on another job.

And then had the bloody cheek to text a week later to say he was ‘ready’ to start.

We have some bubbling and cracking on an exterior wall. Got a quote for over £3k to re plaster accompanied with much head shaking and teeth sucking about what a ‘big job’ it was. Got a second quote from a plasterer who confirmed it was dodgy paint that had bubbled and the whole thing was sorted with £300.

This is exactly why we do as much as possible ourselves. OH has a garage full of tools, including a full range of power tools, scaffolding tower, etc., and two sheds full of small tools, boxes of all kinds of "bits" including brackets, screws, fixings, electrical components, bits of pipework, etc. When we first moved in over 25 years ago, neither of us had a clue and we had to use tradesmen for everything. Over the years, we were ground down by incompetents, lyers, con-men, unreliables, etc. And, no, it's not a matter of employing the cheapest or odd job men, etc., the worst incompetent was a GasSafe engineer who botched up a gas fire installation which filled the house with dangerous fumes as he didn't attach the vent! You're not even safe with the ones who are qualified and regulated!

So we started doing the smaller stuff ourselves, then with confidence growing, we've moved onto bigger stuff. Obviously, OH won't touch gas appliances or the electric fuse board (but he checks what the gas engineers and electricians are doing!), but we try literally everything else ourselves. We've just replaced our decking (only 5 years old but was very shoddily built, not even level!), some concrete fence posts, replaced a few radiators, and damp-proofed a wall, including new plasterboard and re-plastering it.

Given the stress and wasted time of trying to find tradesman who'll turn up and maybe competent, it's often just easier to do it yourself. We've spent a fortune on equipment, but it's still massively cheaper than paying for tradesmen, especially when they do a shoddy job and you need someone else to replace it!

Even getting a quote is a nightmare. We waited in all day last Wednesday for a roofer who didn't turn up or message or anything. Then he knocked on the door at 7pm last night!

Honestly I feel your pain. We have been royally dicked about by a builder. He’s now fucked off having done a third of the job with no date to come back. It’s so tedious. We found another guy who is reliable AND does a good job so we are holding on to him!
I think that time management and being honest about your schedule are two basic adult skills so why can’t these people do it? And while they are at it they can stop judging all of the previous works done in a home and making you feel shit about what’s already been done. Grow the fuck up.
I feel better for getting that off my chest!

We used to do this but then we hired a female plumber who was totally useless. Poor woman - I felt for her but she clearly had no idea what she was doing.

This is my experience too. I can usually get them to turn up for quotes, but anything beyond that is hopeless.
Currently having this issue with flooring fitters, and even flooring shops themselves. It's like nobody wants or needs the work.

We have a plumber we used a lot as he was struggling with his business a bit, due to various circumstances. Then he landed a fairly big contract, but said he was free to do other work at the weekend.

We asked him to come and look at another job, and the last message I have from him is from 22nd June, saying "see ypu tomorrow".

Still waiting 🙄

This is nuts really isn’t it? It’s not how capitalism is supposed to work! The tradesmen who are good, punctual etc. are meant to get a good reputation and lots of jobs while the useless ones are meant to eventually go to the wall.

Whats actually happened is that we are so desperate to keep hold of anyone even halfway decent that we have to bribe them! And even the “good” tradesmen tend to be shit over things like punctuality because they know they can get away with it!

The whole thing is broken!

I hear you, OP!

I would definitely rather hire women. They're more socially and interpersonally intelligent and there's virtually zero risk of being sexually harassed or finding yourself having questionable conversations.

Yes, I agree! It’s a bit bonkers but after years of dealing with late/rubbish/dishonest tradesmen, I decided that it was worth doing more to keep hold of the good ones and that being extra nice to the good people was better than being fruitlessly angry with the bad ones.

This is very sensible of you, but you shouldn’t have to do it! You shouldn’t have to give them beer and sandwiches!

I completely agree - it’s infuriating. That is why when I find good people, I treat them well so that I can hold on to them because they want to help me. E.g. I ensure to pay invoices (including deposits) within a couple of hours, if they are at mine over lunchtime I make them a sandwich, and I always make sure I take some time to have a chat with them etc. If they are at mine until late finishing work, I will often give them a couple of beers. I also recommend them to others and ensure they know the recommendation is from me so I am seen as a source of work.

It might seem over the top but it works - as a result I now have a reliable: builder/roofer, electrician, carpenter, and handyman. I have built up a good enough rapport with them that they will go out of their way to help me quickly when I need them (our very old house always needs something!) Also, where possible, I hire women, as I have found them to be more reliable so several on my trusted worked list above, are women.

I think a lot of people gloss over bad points (lateness, not turning up etc.) in their reviews for fear of “losing” the tradesman in case they want to employ him again.

These reviews are often posted by friends and family who do get a great deal. Personal recommendations only for trades here, because of the total BS online

Totally agree OP.

@WhatNoRaisins says. We need work done on our house - a lot. We have the cash but don’t have the energy at the moment to face the hassle.

Over the years, we had plenty of work done and have heard all the excuses, van broken down, family member in hospital, bereavement etc. and those are the ones who actually get back to you.

I can’t cope with no communication and no shows…..so if anyone knows reliable trades people in Surrey?

That sounds like an extremely shitty builder tbh. My DH has an apprentice. He gets paid a full adult labourers wage, was provided with a set of basic tools and is picked up every morning and dropped back home every evening so he doesn’t even pay commuting costs.

I once had a tradesman ( electrician) tell me that he was on his way ( five minutes away)
I am still waiting for him three years later…,