To be disgusted by this attitude?

That's a real shame. I wonder if it's indicative of the standard of tradespeople, the expectations of clients or a bit of both.

I don’t care where they poo. I care about them ripping me off and leaving me with unfixable issues which no other tradesperson will touch and treating me like an inconvenient idiot while they do it.

Oh yes, and of course you must never allow any dirty peasant of a tradesman to use your loo - they might even do a poo in it! Because it’s well known that tradesmen’s poos are highly toxic, unlike all your family’s poos, which are entirely germ free and smell of violets.

The tradespeople we have used have been through personal recommendations and have all been ok to excellent, and we have in turn recommended them.

But we have had multiple experiences with neighbours tradespeople being rude, aggressive, leaving mess on our drive and even parking on it, working way beyond agreed hours. One told my husband 'shut your bitch of a wife up or I will do it for you' when I asked him to please be quieter on a Sunday for 1 hour so my toddler could have a nap - when noisy works aren't even allowed on a Sunday!

Six houses in our road of 15 houses have had extensions in the last 8ish years. We live in a small, rural town with only x amount of local builders.

When we were planning ours I asked each about their experience and whether they’d recommend anyone. Not one would recommend ANY builder, electrician or landscaper they’d used. It was a universal do not use these people. It was a nightmare and the finished project is sub par with ongoing issues. Between them they’d covered almost every “reputable” / well known builder in town.

I cleaned for a woman who was having extensive work done on her house. The 2 tradies were noisy and swore with every other word. They really pissed me off every time I had to work when they were there

As a tradesperson here are my tips for getting the best out of tradespeople.

Word of mouth is EVERYTHING. As your neighbours and friends who they use. Especially ask the older people who have been in your area a long time who they use. They're most likely to have good networks and long relationships with tradespeople they trust. They're also likely to know older tradespeople with experience rather than flash harry after a quick buck.

If you see someone working in your area and doing a good job - ask for their card.

Ask your existing, trusted tradespeople for their recommendations. Your plumber is likely to know lots of other tradespeople through jobs they've worked on.

Get someone who is actually a tradesperson. Someone who advertises as 'gardener/gutter cleaner/patio jet washer' isn't a gardener. They're a jack of all trades. Trained experience gardeners garden. They'll be rushed off their feet with clients who'll pay them to do what they're good at. They don't need to clear your guttering to fill their time.

Know what you want. Do some research BEFORE you call tradespeople. The worst kind of initial meeting with a client is someone who gets you round and says, 'I don't know what I want, but I think it's a wild flower meadow, with a tree of some sort, I'm not sure where I want it or how big'. The best type of client says, 'I want a 6m x 6m wild flower meadow. I want it there. My budget is £500. Can you do that?'. Send that to the tradesperson in an email before they arrive. If that's not what they do or you're being unrealistic it'll save hours of wasted time on both sides.

One last thing. Don't take the cheapest quote unless you're convinced that person is right for your job. Good, decent, qualified, experienced, reliable and personable tradespeople are in huge demand. They don't need to undercut other people to get work - they have a waiting list. If you pay peanuts......

Lastly, if something isn't working out right then SAY! Be honest and straightforward immediately. Good tradespeople want to do a good job for you and meet your needs. They'll change things/compromise/be realistic. They won't have a paddy.

Pay. Pay on time. Give the young lad he brings with him a fiver for a pint on the last Friday. Let them park on your drive. Bring them a jug of water on a hot day or tea if it's freezing. Add biscuits. Let them use your loo.
They will come back. They'll tell their tradespeople friends you're a good egg.

You'll find it easier to get good tradespeople in future.

That’s fantastic! If you were in my area I’d be on your waiting lists!

Mn skews aspirational lower-middle class in its outlook, which I think is behind much of it. The rest is explained by how much a lot of Mners hate having anyone in their house, and other oddities like thinking it’s terribly rude to move your bowls outside your own home loo.

Ugh. Have to admit that sounds equally nightmarish! Especially the kid with the tool kit. 😖People are strange.

My DP is trade. If it makes you feel any better, it cuts both ways. Him and his mates complain constantly about the disgusting state of the houses they're expected to work in, about people agreeing a price then half way through offering less, or finding fault to get a discount, or giving sob stories about not being able to pay. Men who've not the first clue about the job standing over them, offering 'advice'. Being expected to mind kids with toy tool sets because 'he's obsessed with builders at the moment, you don't mind, do you?' And more. Much much more...

My biggest gripe about tradesmen is actually getting one interested in doing work for me. It is virtually always difficult to find someone.

And as an older woman living on my own my experience is of being treated, a lot of the time, as stupid.

I also think it depends on what type of area you live in. I have found tradesman often treat you much differently when i have lived in a poorer area.

I know not all tradesmen are poor or have bad attitudes but my experience of really good ones has been rare enough for them to stick out in my memory as the exceptions rather than the rule.

I'm not a snob. I worked for a short time as a Cleaner and was on the receiving end of snobbish and pre conceived ideas about Cleaners. So I would never make assumptions anout anyone just because of their trade or profession. But the truth is I have had enough bad experiences with trades people to approach having any work done with trepidation.

I wouldn’t except a trades person go steal from me, they earn considerably more and probs wouldn’t want my crap.

but I’m amazed at your statement “In my experience they have only ever been respectful people wanting to do a good job.” You’ve been very lucky. I’ve had consistently dreadful service from every single trades person I’ve ever had the misfortune to experience. Apart from one plumber. He’s a good un.

Given the nature of this site, you are only likely to get unhappy or negative experiences here. In the same way as with experiences with men whom the poster has been unhappy.

The post above saying you probably only hear about the wrong'uns on here is true.

No one's going to start a thread on MN saying 'D'y'know what? My electrician is good'.

We hear about the bad stuff cos it's interesting/shocking.

My DH is a tradesman. I have respect for anyone trying to earn a living. But over the years (big house reno) we've had a few shockingly bad trades people here.

I’ve only experienced one bad tradesman, and after renovating/decorating 3 houses I don’t think that’s too bad. Some were better than others but you find that in every job.

There was a thread recently by someone asking if they should hire a portaloo so the workmen they'd hired didn't have to use the bathroom, lots of people said yes as tradesmen were vile and would scooch their arses across the carpet instead of using toilet paper after taking a nuclear shit. (I may have paraphrased!)
Also see the one where people thought that workmen wouldn't be able to resist using a client's toothbrush to scratch their balls and arsehole with.
This place is very anti tradespeople.

@lCircleYou "I’d hire female electricians, plumbers, tilers and plasterers if I could."

I'm part of a group of tradeswomen in my area. We're gardeners, a window fitter, locksmith, painter, landscaper, plumber and decorator. We're all rushed off our feet with long waiting lists.

I really, really wish more women would go into trades. It's amazing to me they don't as they're really interesting, satisfying and lucrative ways to earn a living. Also, they're the kind of jobs that can fit around family life especially if you're working for yourself.

They are just people.

Some are good at their job but shit at communicating.
Some are lovely people but shit at their job.
Some are rude AND shit at their job.
Some are good at their job, good at communication and nice to chat to.

I'd say it's an equal split. If you hired 4 random tradesman tomorrow chances are you'd get one of each of the above.

That's why word of mouth recommendations are like gold dust.

there have been numerous tv shows/episodes of shows dedicated to cowboy builders which there wouldn't be necessary if they were all upstanding honest blokes
You also wouldn't need websites like check a trade(r?) If we.could trust them all.not to rip.us off

DH and I are tradespeople. He's a decorator, I'm a gardener.

We don't encounter this in real life. Our clients seem very pleased to have us working for them and treat us very well. I'd say many of our clients become almost friends. We have long waiting lists.

Whilst I'm working in people's front gardens the general public seem really chatty, interested, polite and more than willing to lean over the fence and natter.

Perhaps we only hear about the wrong 'uns on here.

I’ve only ever seen performative, almost comical “I’m best friends with my cleaner, I take her on holiday, and I signed over my house to my plumber” posts on here. Plenty of those posters will post here agreeing with you OP. Can I ask you to link to specific threads full of the types of comments that concern you? You should be able to if it’s so rife, right?

I’ve had some good and bad experiences. Most just get on with their job, but we did have a builder pissing in our garden years ago, another that read some of our opened post and one that made creepy comments to me.

We are landlords so we now have some great tradespeople that we use regularly.

I suspect it’s less to do with snobbery and to do with having a stranger, usually a strange man, in your house.

Most of the tradesmen I have had in my house have been polite, efficient and respectful.

But I have also experienced rude, sexist arseholes.

My worst experience was a man, standing over me yelling at me while holding a hammer in his hand. I had very young children in the house and felt extremely vulnerable.

The same is true of most professionals, mostly good with a few bad. But I’m not alone in my home with most professionals so it feels different.

I’d hire female electricians, plumbers, tilers and plasterers if I could.

You’d never hear that from me. I thought the world of every one of the men who built our extension etc for my disabled daughter. One was an ex chef from a Michelin starred restaurant. I do not think they are anything less than a mixed bag of people like any other profession. Ask me what I think of medical professionals though - I have stronger views that are less positive.