Builder 45 minutes late with no text or call and now wants to come

In my experience tradesmen are often running late, especially towards the end of the day. They're out and about at a couple of other jobs that over run and get stuck in traffic.

Yabu. People that work with their hands, in environments where there is dust, rubble and with tools that can cause accidents or damage if not handled properly don't necessarily have their phones into heir hands at all times 😏. Jobs are unpredictable and sometimes run over, and it's not like they are going to do a runner and leave everything unfinished....

I had to have the plumber out today. He said he'd try make it for around 11am. I was truly shocked and amazed when he arrived at 11.25am.

Now this is one plumbers crack I do not mind., 😀

Yabu here. The job takes as long as it takes and you need to be flexible when you waiting for builder or plumber.

I'm probably missing the point entirely here @rosecin, but for the planting part of the task you are actually quite lucky to have stoney ground, as most plants like free draining soil - unless they are bog type plants. So all you need to do (unless you want a very big flower bed) is dig up - with a spade - the top layers of soil, and store it in a strong black bag in a shed or your garage, and use a handful of that stoney soil in the bottom of plant pots in the future.

You will then need to fill in the space left by the dug up soil, with top soil, which depending what type of flowers/plants you are planting, will probably need some type of 'treated' additives, or it might need to be an acidic soil rather than an alkaline one. The labels on your plants, and the soil that you buy, should have what sort of conditions they need, etc.

If your children are toddlers or infants, and you bought them tiny children's gardening kits, they would probably love to help you, and/or daddy - in fact if you have a big enough plot, children often seem to enjoy planting their own seeds, and watering them, and watching them grow. Light gardening really can be a fun activity for all.

Unless your "builder" is a hobby gardener he might not know anything about garden management, and his brawn might not be too helpful on it's own! Also, and this is only personal, I would be too embarrassed to ask someone who calls himself a builder, to do something as easy as putting hanging baskets brackets up. During my period as a single Mum I was quite proud of teaching myself things like that, and how to re-tile my bathroom, and change fuses, and wire plugs etc. and that was before the Internet, well maybe Pacman had started on PCs, but it was definitely before YouTube et al.

Sorry OP, I started this ages ago, but then my husband brought our dinner in - he is my carer as well, and has to all the jobs now, as I am virtually bedbound these days, how I wish I could still garden and do DIY! Anyway we just finished our very nice meal recently, and I have come straight back here before I get on with learning the foreign language that I am currently studying - aren't Smart phones wonderful, well within reason...

However you decide to tackle your present problem, please don't forget to make some time for whatever your family do for fun, as at the moment you sound very busy. Here are some 🥀🌻🌷🌾 to start you off! 😉

Indeed.

The big difference is that you're not paying the doctor or the judge (unless you're going private or bribing them.)

With a tradesmen you're supposed to be a customer, not that you would know it from the way you get treated

Doctors, dentists, hospitals and tribunals are all public services though. Builders are individual commercial providers.

I've waited a couple of hours beyond the appointed time at hospital appointments before now, and once had a tribunal hearing listed for 2pm and we didn't get before the judge until gone 4.

My hospital appointment last week had a 1.5 hour delay to get an (essential to the appointment ) x-Ray and another 1.5 delay to actually see the doctor. With a two hour journey there and back.

I could have walked out but I assumed everyone involved in the clinics was doing their best and I needed the appointment and wasn’t going to cut my nose off to spite my face.

Perhaps not the best analogy, but I would have completely factored in a modest 45 min delay if I was you.

45 mins for a b

Of course that's unreasonable. If you were busy you could have messaged him to say dont bother today.

You have no idea what made him late

any communication from a tradesman is a positive in my experience 🤣 he sounds like a good one

Workmen are often rude like this op! Fair enough running late but at least let you know they are running late! Mind you you will be pretty lucky if you even get one that bothers to turn up!

It's not impossible at all. I use big companies like Aspect, Fantastic Services etc and they manage it just fine.

They do a few things that aren't really complicated:

They build in some contingency - unlike your average individual trader who just overbooks themselves, allowing an hour when they know full well it's more likely to be an hour and a half.

They specifically give you a window of time for arrival so you know what you're expecting - usually no more than an hour

They actually value the time of their customers and don't just assume you can't possibly have anything else to do that day and proactively phone you if there is an issue

When booking in the appointment, they ask you if you have any timings you need to work around so you can tell them for eg if you need to do the school run or have an important meeting online

If they are late, they actually apologise, rather than tell you they're just more important than you

Well, it seems like the only person who has lost out here is you?

I'm an electrician, I am categorically not a professional, I am a tradesman, very important distinction!

I work for a tradesman. It's impossible to schedule exact arrival times.

There's travel times between jobs with variable traffic and it's not possible to know exactly how long each job will take. If we've allowed 1 hour for a job but it takes an hour and a half then he stays for an hour and a half to complete the job. Would you prefer he left the customer with a part done, unfinished job just so he could reach his next appointment on time? We wouldn't have many happy customers if we behaved like that.

Texting to let you know he's running late is ideal but that holds him up longer and if he's driving isn't possible.

You sound very unreasonable and you have very unrealistic expectations. I'm guessing you thought he was just pottering around doing nothing much until your appointment time - you'd be amazed how many people seem to be oblivious to the fact that they are just 1 of numerous appointments that day. We wouldn't be rescheduling your job so I expect you need to look for another tradesperson if you want the work done. Just a heads up though - they will probably be late!

If he was on your job and kept stopping to read texts, text people back, make calls or take calls...
A) you'd be annoyed he wasn't working and dragging it out, especially given you clearly have lots of things to be getting on with
B) he'd never get anything done!

Tradespeople can not run to a tight schedule. Its impossible. Far too many variables involved. Let's say he needed additional material that wasn't on the van, on the job before you. Down tools, nip to b&q, back on the job. Straight away that's a push back of half an hour. Let's say there was unexpected clay under the soil he was digging out. Let's say there's roadworks or traffic. Let's say the client before you asked "could you just..." as he was about to leave.

I work in a trade myself (yes - it's not just MEN as someone pointed out!). Honestly, an hour behind is good going. Making calls and updates really is a hindrance. Not least because their estimated time could further change again after the initial update to you!

YABVVU

Trade isn’t a profession. That’s literally the way jobs are divided. That aside, have you been to any GP or hospital appointments recently? 39 mins late (which is what it was - he rang at 3.39) would have me cheering!

They wouldn't know until after they started the job . Even simpler !

Just wondering how you cope when the doctor or dentist is inevitably late

I’d also add I have had a lot of work done at weekends …that the other difference, trades want to change overtime rates by working a Saturday or Sunday, in lieu of taking time off during the week…never used to see this…but my latest job had weekend working all the time with no trades on site all week in some weeks.

Cos they’re in a sellers market? Since Brexit the amount of European workers,ready to undercut and delivering capacity to take on work, has been slashed. Trades know they’re in demand, they can choose what they do and when. Many want to go self employed as more profitable and flexible for them with their own kids etc.

also rot set in when Blair gov told all kids to go to uni, and undermined apprenticeships which need government subsidies. I don’t think raising school leaving age to 18 helped either.

I had work done to renovate a flat in 2015, it was a breeze, though didn’t know it at time.

Since 2021 I’ve had to do significant basic building work on my new house in 3 separate projects and every time my stress and anxiety has been off the chart. I’m better this time around, but still with issues.

i wouldn not take on doing work to any house just now if I could avoid it. Don’t buy a house needing work doing to it. (I didn’t but vendor lied, and surveyor was deliberately deceived by cover ups)

until the government promotes skilled trade training or allows oversees workers to come in, we’ll be in this situation.

My dentist, doctor and hospital appointments are often running late.

My hairdresser as well at times.

It’s due to the nature of the job, some people want to discuss the jobs at length, some jobs take longer than anticipated due to an unforeseen issue. Lots of people do the “whilst you’re here, could you just look at” thing.

That’s what makes the timing unpredictable, you must surely see why that happens?

If I were him I’d have solidly put you in the ‘too much bother for a tiny job’ category by now. Have you got form for burning your bridges?

Why is being late ok for tradies but not any other profession?