To think some people are really snobby about tradespeople?

I’ve never had someone ask me to pay them in cash. And not every trades person will need to charge VAT. Only businesses with a turnover of £90k have to be VAT registered and they can recover VAT from HMRC in any event.

I think a lot of people put a lot of importance on the "uni experience" and I admit that I'm guilty of this. That said it sounds like the "uni experience" isn't what it used to be with more people studying locally so maybe there will be a shift here.

God I'm hoping my son has some practical skills. Looking round my house I'm thinking 'please be a plasterer ' 🤣

If you think trades are bad for looking down your nose try a manual job that isn't a trade. My husband had people shouting through the gates 'they told you to stay at home ' during covid. Not seen as essential because they make crane ropes. But try unloading all that essential PPE without one!

I'm well educated and work in higher education. I wouldn't encourage my kids this way unless they really have a passion for learning.

That works if you measure your worth by how much you earn.

I am grateful for people who are able to do the jobs I’m not, but I want them to be reliable, efficient, careful, considerate and conscientious. I’m happy to pay if the job has been done well, but less so when it’s not.

I think, particularly in recent times, people get fed up when trades are unreliable, turn up late or not at all, leave the job for ages, leave a mess behind.

A good tradesperson is worth their weight in gold.

Those with actual intelligence and educationalists are the ones who recognise the value of practical skills and trades. My skill is being able to analyse policies and put them into practice. I am hopeless at practical skills, I live in my head. I however appreciate my amazing hairdresser, the man who tiled my kitchen, the man who laid the kitchen floor using wood from my previous home. Builders, beauticians, carpenters, hairdressers mechanics etc… are valuable skills. University is not the best choice for everyone, I like the European model of education where practical and theoretical skills are equally valued. Essentially both sides need each other this is how research and design work thus progress is made. Unfortunately it tends to be those without critical thinking skills who do not recognise this.

They can’t win. For every person like you saying what you saying you have 10 people saying ‘they clock off at 4pm. Why can’t they do a full days work”. They can’t do both unless you expect them to be working 16 hour days.

I can understand not wanting your kids to become tradies. As in if you spend your whole life on the tools, it does wear out your body

I don't think this is generally the reason some parents don't want their kids to do these kind of jobs. I think it's just snobbery and old fashioned thinking that equates academic success with financial success.

@Loveheart13

Why are people so snobby about it?

I don't think it's snobbiness. I think most of it is down to the far too often poor attitude of some tradesmen themselves.

Good ones are like gold dust, and by that I mean actually turning up on time (if at all), communicating, not ripping you off, not wanting "cash to knock off the vat" for tax evasion, quality workmanship, and respecting you and your home.

Unfortunately there are a lot of rogues, either deliberately out to rip you off and defraud you or simply incompetent (i.e. did badly at school so become glorified odd job men doing things far beyond their competence often without any proper training and experience), or people who simply don't respect you or your home.

It's a shame there isn't better regulation of the entire industry as the "bad'uns" damage the reputation of the entire industry and customers are immediately "On alert" and suspect the worse before a tradesmen earns trust.

This is so rude. You sound awful.

I doubt that’s true.

Lots of snobbery and sneering on MN, outraged a tradie out earns a teacher for example, one thread she was raging 🤣
It takes the same length of time to learn a trade as getting a degree does.
Far too much arrogance about going to uni, half the ppl I know do not use their degree.

Who are ‘them’? You think you’re in a position to judge hundreds of thousands of people because you’ve met a handful of trades you have no respect for.

I can understand not wanting your kids to become tradies. As in if you spend your whole life on the tools, it does wear out your body.

However, there are trade professionals, and should be treated as such. Imagine thinking a mechanic is stupid. Hundreds of different cars, thousands of components, responsible for machinery that could kill. The amount of people who can’t even change a bike tire.

What needs to change is the culture of pushing all ‘non academic’ kids into trade courses/trade routes. Tradies are smart, they have good logic/problem solving/attention to detail/common sense etc. The amount of kids who honestly cannot fathom how a ruler works are put onto a carpentry’s course.

I used to work in the construction department in the local college. Apparently the tutors used to do ‘interview’ the students by having them in the workshop for the afternoon. Any kids who messed about/didn’t want to be there were let go. The two weeks of the course any kid who couldn’t keep up with the general pace was let go/about 20% would be removed. When I was there we had kids who literally could not understand the terms like ‘double it’ or how to find the centre of a circle. The amount of kids who would say ‘I don’t/can’t do maths’ and have no drive/ability to even learn that 10mm makes up one 1cm… Getting as far as ratios or percentages were lost on many. But those kids are labourer material, carry those bricks over there, use the dustpan and brush to sweep that up… unfortunately British mentality is that trade jobs are as basic as digging holes or mowing lawns.

You don’t need a contract for all work though, do you? I agree that you might want a written quote but not everyone does - especially for smaller jobs.

They’re probably impossibly slow because they’re massively busy.

I don’t presume they earn badly but given my experiences with them I don’t respect them. Every experience I have had has been either disappointing in some way and I don’t think they would last in an employed job.

Depends on how they deal with their finances. If they are earning what some around there are earning they’ll be able to retire with ease by the time they hit their mid 50s

Yes people are quick to moan when they can’t get people to come and quote at a time that suits them but apparently anything less than a 6pm finish is unacceptable too. Maybe if you’re running a large company that becomes do-able but that isn’t how most trades function.

That's exactly my point though, SO many of them don't bother or are impossibly slow because they only care about the stuff that means instant money in their hand. The admin side gets neglected. We had a bunch of workmen (and prospective workmen 'quoting') in last year and most of them wanted to do everything verbally (nope) as they 'don't like' or even 'don't do' paperwork. Bitch please. I'm not sure if it's just my area, but they seem to get regular work just 'coasting' and cherry picking the bits of running a business they want to do, and avoiding the bits that they don't. And then they look at you like you're both weird and difficult for wanting quotes and contracts in writing...

You’re aware that most trades people are also running businesses too? That they need to quote, invoice etc?

My partner leaves the house at 7am everyday just to go to the wholesaler to pick up materials. He might not be on site at 8am but he’s working. He also doesn’t take long lunch breaks - and most trades who are employed wouldn’t be allowed to either. They tend to work shorter days because they spend the remainder of the day doing all the other stuff that’s needed to run a business.

I have a corporate office job, getting AI pushed on by every angle. Tradeis earn a bloody fortune IME and absolutely nothing wrong with that. University can be a massive waste of money. My BIL did a Masters in Media, now works in a call centre for example.

And now AI will soon be taking over, I think having a trade and a practical skill will be far more useful and useable than knowledge based desk jobs. The world is changing.

If everyone did that they’d be mass unemployment as they’d be too many people on uni courses then relevant jobs and actual trades people require to maintain their homes and lives would die out.

My DP is an electrician and gets tarnished with the same brush. He’s not stupid and is extremely hard working.

He actually wanted to go to art college but his mum told him he shouldn’t.