To not answer the door to this man?

Just to make you aware that a knock on the door and if you answer, a claim to be a tradesman is a common tactic for burglars checking to see if someone is in. If you answer, there will usually be some issue with what they are offering (run out of cards, offering a job you obviously don't need (painting where the house is freshly painted), need to come back later).

Obviously he could be genuine but he may not be and may not come back. If he had flyers and gave you one, its more likely its genuine but it could just be grabbed from a stack in a shop for an unrelated business and being used as a prob.

Can you not remember the company name or anything?

If you can't - ask the neighbour getting the work done - and give the guy a ring to tell him you've changed your mind.

YABU to let him waste a journey back.

I wouldn’t say you were too polite, he offered and you said yes, ignoring him would be rude, is there not a number on the leaflet to phone?

Yes I would call. I know it's annoying, but both my mum and my dad had those kinds of job at one point (no, they didn't want to do that and yes they did look for other jobs) and I would hate to think of them trudging round somewhere when all it would take is a quick sorry I can't make it call.
Lots of our kids will no doubt get these kinds of "jobs" (as in they often get very little pay, if they're workmen or women for the kinds of places my parents worked) and I wouldn't like this for my kids.

Oh FFS, grow a pair and don’t waste the man’s time! Phone and cancel if you have a number, or just say you’ve changed your mind when he arrives. Simples..

He'll likely be a "pikey", for want of a better word. A proper contractor wouldn't be touting for business in this way. Either don't answer the door when he comes back, or if you feel obliged to open the door, say you sw your other half and they don't want you getting quotes at this stage as you are not in a position to proceed with any work until next year. I mistakenly let someone like this one cut some of our trees back when they knocked saying they were working locally so could price competitively as in the area, they were supposed to take all the rubbish, and as their van was full left loads behind, but asked for payment for tip fees. I paid them on the basis they left their tools behind, needless to say they never came back and I ended up keeping probably some dodgy tree cutting tools. I also found out the next time I had the trees cut ( by a proper tree surgeon) that they had put a lot of the cuttings back into the top of the trees.😂

My guess, tree surgeon or gutter cleaning.
We had the former “just doing a job up the road” and would I like a quote for the tree out front.

Not right now I said but I’ll take that flyer off you.
It was his last one apparently.
I took a photo and said I’d think about it , shut the door.

Just don't answer the door

You could be straight forward and just say “after thinking about it, I don’t want the upheaval at this time” or something along those lines.

You did accept him to quote so don't be angry or alarmed if he comes back to try and do just that.

But by all means just crack the door, and say you've changed your mind. Or you've found someone else. Then just politely say thanks anyway and shut the door.

You're very wise to never trust builders that are at such a loose end they go knocking doors claiming they're working in the area. If that were true they'd be too busy to hand out flyers while asking to quote for works they have no idea if you need or not.

Decent builders are always booked weeks in advance.

Just tell him your big huge 7 foot husband has already sorted it with another company

By being too soft to say a firm but polite no you have wasted this mans time. He is probably SE so his time is money
Its much better to just say no to things like this, less stress for you and actually politer in the long run

Ring him and say don’t come back or tell him when he comes. No drama needed

Yep tell him you've changed your mind.

Decent tradespeople don't usually feel the need to cold call.

It would be rather rude of you if you just ignored the knock at the door at 5pm. You agreed to him coming back, he didn't force you.

Just give them a call and explain thank you but no thank you

Don't make him come back to your house. If he is someone genuine trying to earn a living/ just starting out it's not fair to waste his time like that.

Ring him and tell him you're no longer interested in getting a quote.

Personally I just wouldn’t answer - you didn’t ask him to knock your door and pressure you into saying yes (and that is what they are planning to do, however nicey nicey it is done!). I think he’ll get the message if you don’t answer.

I did the same as you once OP and they didn’t even turn up the second time so that’s always a possibility,
I don’t usually answer the door to cold callers and I won’t again.

Never get work or even quotes from people knocking on the door. Good tradespeople get business from word of mouth and do not need to advertise.

My default answer is 'Not interested - We rent'

Phone him back and say the landlord has refused to pay for it.

As others have said, just call and say you’ve changed your mind. I did it once so can sympathise. Exact same thing happened- we’re fitting windows a few doors up, would you like yours doing? Sure. Ok I’ll take your number and someone will call you to arrange a fitting. When they called I said I wasn’t really interested in someone coming inside to measure, just wanted a general ballpark price based on windows they can visibly see without entering my home. The guy was mega huffy but whatevs.

No need to draw the curtains just don't answer the door when people knock.

When people you don't know knock on your door it's because they want your money. No one ever knocks on your door to give you money.

Call him back. If you find it difficult saying no, just say something like you mentioned it to your husband and you've decided to put the work off until next year. You've got his number, so you'll call back then for a quote if you need one.

This is far less awkward than having to hide when he comes, or him coming back tomorrow. Also, saves the guy from travelling all the way back just to be ghosted on the doorstep.

He'll keep coming back. Just tell him you've thought about and you're not going to do it, if you could have someone there with you it might be a good idea. He may well complain about you wasting his time, or while he's here he might as well...Don't let him in.

We do get some pretty unpleasant characters trying to sell us things at the door like a new driveway, or your roof needs work, or that tree needs cutting, and they are always doing work down the road with a vague wave in one direction or another, usually they aren't, and they won't take no for an answer. Good tradesmen don't need to knock doors.

Don't let him come all the way back
Ring him.

You answer the door quickly so doesn't interrupt dinner time tell him to crack on sorry you can't chat due to feeding the baby.

He doesn't want you hovering around anyway

Actually he'll probably forget and come a completely different day or time

However I'm very keen on tradesman looking for work so wouldn't be turning them away I've got a load of things need doing but can never find people

Just leave a note on your door for him and say you've changed your mind or you had to go out and changed your mind anyway, that would be less stressful than having to answer the door and deal with him x