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

But she’s got kids to look after etc!

Nope.

you perhaps don’t understand that builders and trad3w gem rewlly operate to a different set of social norms

1. how long a job takes has no realtionship to how long they said. Getting pissed with them leads no where except to threats of them walking off job . Smile politely whilst you assertively set new deadlines
2. if they say they’ll be there at 9am, they maybe will be there that week. do not book time off work. Ask your boss to go in late or take day off depending whether they actually show
3. if they say they’ll call back. They won’t. You have to call. Always
4. never agree to staged payments in advance. Sign of very dodgy builders. Pay weekly for work done.
5. Try avoiding to sub contract. You might as well not bother and manage project entirely yourself as they’re no wiser than you at getting another company in on time.
6. they never communicate proactively about when they’ll be doing work.

I could go on and on. 3d building project in 5 years becuase my house was a money pit and I’m wiser.

ultimately it’s a sellers market. They have more demand than they can manage. They can choose jobs. And choose when to do them. and they’re the decent ones- the crap ones might sell you brilliant committments and then are even worse. They also do not spend time doing anything that isn’t bringing actual cash into business. Communication is an overhead that they ditch. Margins are tight.

sorry, adjust your expectations.

"Massive inconvenience"??? Really?? I think you are going to need to learn to be a bit more flexible when you employ tradesmen!

I'm happy if they turn up at all! 45 minutes is nothing really. You are likely to just make yourself a lot worse off if you give up on a tradesman who shows up to do a small job within an hour of the time agreed, on the same day.

I’m not one to usually comment on threads like this but honestly, you are being unreasonable. It’s 45 minutes and he doesn’t have a desk job!

If you don't get a good feeling from him I'd cancel and look for someone else, look for a gardener as a builder probably won't really understand what you want to happen with the soil and will do a half arsed job.

You try stopping in the middle of plastering, or hanging off a roof. Get over yourself, he’s humam

I’m just grateful for whenever a good builder ‘decides’ to turn up. Unfortunately because of the self employed nature of their work, I think of a better offer comes up then they move you down the pecking order. I’ve just had to suck it up many a time!

Off on a tangent now 😅 but I think this is why increasingly people hunt down houses that need nothing doing other than superficial decor improvements. I think doer uppers increasingly strike fear into the hearts of the average working age person as the logistics of managing such an unruly ‘law unto themselves’ sector is just so off-putting. If you don’t personally already know someone in the trade for any work that needs doing, it really is the Wild West out there!

YABVU - grab that builder if you have any sense and don't mention he's late.

My plumber is very reliable, he always arrives between 8 & 8.30. He lives nearby, and it suits him to have his first job close to home so he doesn't get stuck in rush hour traffic. Builder BIL is also very punctual, but he occasionally runs into a problem that can't be left unfinished. He'd always ring though, unless he literally couldn't get to his phone.

I don't think you need a builder to break up hard soil and hang some fixings for hanging baskets OP, and putting plants in is definitely a gardener's job!

I'm surprised he's still prepared to come at all now. For future reference it is standard for tradesmen to be late and uncontactable.

Yep this. ^ Unfortunately @rosecin this is par for the course. Most builders and contractors are terrible for running late (and often don't come at all.) DH and I have had this happen soooooo many times that we do the vast majority of work ourselves. I don't know why they are like this but it does my head in.

You're lucky he's still coming.

45 minutes quite modestly late for a builder.

I’ve had them be multiple hours late without explanation on several occasions.

I've never had a tradesman arrive on time in all my life, EVER. They're always finishing someone else's job, stuck on traffic or buying whatever material needs to be bought to do your home job.

Well that's just wasting more of your own effort and time isn't it.

Builders are often a bit late, especially If your not the first job of the day as things can overrun. Just accept him and have him do it. Then you don't need to think about it anymore.

Has nobody ever been late for something for you before? Blocking them seems extreme.

Why on earth are you getting a 'builder' to put plants in?

It’s just laziness and lack of consideration. If there is any risk of a job taking longer than anticipated then you don’t book appointments then

What nonsense. All jobs have a risk of taking longer than anticipated and most tradesmen I know are the very opposite of lazy.

Practical jobs won't always take a set amount of time so builders/plumbers/electricians etc will often run late through no fault of their own. Yab hugely U

I sort of agree and disagree with other posters

I agree that this is what tradesmen are like.

I don't agree that it's because their jobs are so uniquely hard that they cannot possibly organise themselves to be on time or at least communicate delays.

They just can't be arsed because they know that they can mess people around and still get work.

I now pretty much exclusively book with large companies - like Aspect, Fantastic Services, task rabbit for small things - and, amazingly when it has a consequence for the tradesman if they are late, they actually can show up on time. It is more expensive but it's 100% worth it not to waste time

Yes, I don't understand why OP booked a builder for this.

Anyway I agree with the others, YABU.

I just spoke to him via text and he says he isn’t free now until Monday.

Well, if you hadn't decided to cancel on him, you'd have had it done by now.

Oh well you can’t enjoy the job over the weekend now can you?

Also booking a handyman for 3pm is bound to cause issues with running late TBH. Underestimated traffic, time to do jobs etc.

im surprised he’s coming at all.

Exactly. 45 minutes late isn't that bad. Not coming at all. Saying they're coming then don't. Too annoying.

I’ll remember that one for my boss on Monday

They’re so hard to come across. I think I’d have just waited in all
honesty.