Why are trades people so incredibly unreliable?!

[motherofkevinnotperry]

I need someone to explain why. What's so difficult with "I'm sorry, I'm not able to do that" or "I'm going to be late", "I'm fully booked", "I need to reschedule" etc etc. How long do you give them before moving on and finding someone else?

I have had more than my fair share of trades just not turning up, making false promises on work then not fulfilling it. They're all so unorganised and terrible communicators. It's so infuriating. Just tell me!

Have wondered about this for years! Came to the conclusion that the ones who let you down just don't give a fuck as they have lots of jobs on offer and pick the easiest/most lucrative. They don't care about getting a bad reputation because the volume of people looking for tradesmen,means there will always be work. We had just managed to find a reliable plumber, electrician and general builder, and now we've moved to a different area so here we go again!

This post is so rude

Yeah it's crazy isn't it, since when have we developed this attitude that having a trade is not something to aspire to? Its a job and one that if you're good at is well paid.
Most of my dps friend have a trade (unfortunately live miles away from us) and they're all financially better off than us and we went to uni. Having a skill or craft is something to be proud of, not everyone is academic.

'We went to uni' isn't a guarantee of high income nowadays I would argue. Many people are in minimum wage jobs afterwards. It's devalued in a lot of instances with entry requirements and where you went to university, the subject studied and result, are more important.

With tradespeople the sole traders working out of their homes, with their white van and a few tools and perhaps a lockup of some sort, appear to be the poorest. In my line of work (voluntary) they're claiming working tax credits or universal credit and renting a house.

Tradespeople who have visited my home (not all bad, but a good number have been) have complained about the scarcity of work. I don't know how true that is, but it can't be so scarce or they wouldn't be so unreliable.

Yeah it's crazy isn't it, since when have we developed this attitude that having a trade is not something to aspire to?

I think the experiences on this thread go a long way to explain why parents don't encourage their kids into the trades, when their experience is one of dishonesty, incompetency, stress, etc. Would you want your child working in that environment, having to work alongside people who aren't really fit to work in the trades, being constantly messed around by other trades they're relying on, etc.? Unfortunately, the "trades" have got themselves a very poor reputation, which is sad because there are still "good" reliable/honest tradesmen, and the genuinely good ones will be just as frustrated with how things are going as customers.

Because people still look down on the trades. They're seen as jobs for dropouts who have no qualifications. Even now, people are still shocked that someone who left school at 16 can make more money than they did by doing A-levels and going to university.

My DH is a contractor for a large company. He left school at 15 with no qualifications - he didn't even take his GCSE's but he earns upwards of 50k a year. But people look down on him because he's got ADHD and never got a C grade in Maths or English.

Even according to MN he's dirty and disgusting - tradesmen can't be trusted to use their toilets or go upstairs in their homes unsupervised in case they don't clean up after themselves or steal something or make a mess. The attitudes on here are really shocking and I suspect go someway to explain why so many people have issues finding people to work for them <dons hard hat>.

Even according to MN he's dirty and disgusting - tradesmen can't be trusted to use their toilets or go upstairs in their homes unsupervised in case they don't clean up after themselves or steal something or make a mess.

Ive name changed to post this. It will be bad experiences of many.

We had a plumber in to fit a new boiler. He left the house in a mess, blocked our loo (which he used in the family bathroom) but with bits of rubbish he'd tried to flush down as he'd taken some piping and a water tank out of there. He flogged the tank to some scrap merchants as they collected it immediately from the roadside. We had to call out a different plumber on that discovery.
We found rubbish hidden under kitchen units and bits of damage here and there. It was upsetting. I'd say that for every one or two who treats your house and you with respect there's a bunch more who have no manners or know how to behave in houses of others and behave like they're doing you a favour, though you're paying them for their services. That's if they turn up.

They often don't have academic qualifications it's how some of them fall into the trades. Not snobbery, but fact.

Well - the flip side to @yasminas post is that I've lived in various places all over the UK in various types of housing and I've never once experienced anything like that.

Every single person from the internet repair man to the scaffolder to the boiler repairman and the painter has been nothing but polite, friendly, courteous and well-mannered. They tidy up after themselves, take their shoes off, use the toilet if needed - one even washed his own mug up after I'd made him a cup of tea.

I've never been left with a half-finished job or experienced any of the horror that seems to occur on a daily basis on here.

And so what if some people fall into the trades because they have no qualifications? I fell into my career by complete accident too!

Thanks @coffeecupsandwaxmelts . I wasn't aware that was the meaning.

What's more apprenticeship and training focus solely on the work and not the admin, with the larger companies that take apprentices having a separate office and then those apprentices qualifying and setting up their own small business without that aspect.

have not RTFT but what the UK need to du, urgently, is set up a proper apprenticeship scheme as it used to be. Like it is in Germany. Tradespeople do 3 years - part of it is schoolwork and includes things like invoicing and making appointments. Then after a while they do further training - like an apprenticeship equivalent of a master's - then they can set up their own business. It is all highly regulated through the Chambers of Commerce.

That's not to say that there aren't problems here with unreliability at the moment - they're not taking on any small jobs really, and can pick and choose. But when you get one? you know where you are with them, generally.

i recently asked a guy to quote us for a general clean up of our back garden ready for the spring summer - blast patio, sort the borders etc. He never got back to me with a quote. I recently saw that he has said on his socials he doesn’t provide quotes anymore he’ll just ‘turn up’ but also he has no price list for jobs he does. So how the F is anyone to know whether it’ll cost £50 or £500 for a job?! 🙈

Had to stop reading these awful replies! If as many of you seem to think tradespeople re illiterate, academically challenged with SEN why do you need them to do a job you're obviously capable of doing yourself being literate, mensa level intellectual hence and a perfect example of a human? It's no wonder you get messed around if that's what you think!

I certainly haven’t said any of the words you’ve just quoted. But they can be called out for being rude and unreliable. I often think my dh and I could have done a similar quality of job on a few occasions from watching YouTube videos. We’ve paid for skill and experience and sadly we clearly got neither!

Depending on the trade, scarcity of work would suggest they're not very good. Anyone using a tradesman who can turn up quickly is foolish. They're free for a reason.

I don't know any tradespeople that are on any form of benefits and there are three of them in my family.

We couldn't get a gardener to come and quote. They're far too busy.

Try fantastic gardeners - they're more expensive.

I work in the legal industry. Solicitors and specifically conveyancers are one of the most sued professions. There are rubbish people in all sorts of professions but people treat trades as if they're beneath them so you get these sorts of threads.

Google your electrics and plumbing rather than using those chavvy rude trades.

@kirinm I don't agree with that at all. We had to get some windows replaced recently; rang & emailed several places. One said he would come and quote, didn't turn up and then didn't reply to any further messages. None of the others even bothered to reply to voicemails or emails. Then I rang another guy who was recommended on local Facebook page, he was in the area so came to quote straight away. Always replied promptly to messages, turned up when he said he would and did a great job.
Agree completely with everyone else on this thread that poor communication is just bloody rude and there is no excuse for it, I don't care how busy you are. If you can no longer make an appointment it takes literally 30 seconds to call or text to say as much.

What don't you agree with?

Nobody has to come and quote for you. Agreeing to and then not turning up is completely out of order and we've had it happen to us. I know for a fact that the 3 trades in my immediate family wouldn't do that.

It's weird that you've had so many window companies not respond. I ordered one sash window and had three quotes and all three of them come out. What was for a single window.

@kirinm my disagreement was with your point that if they come out quickly then they mustn't be any good as not in demand.

Of course no-one is obliged to quote but again I think a quick reply just to say sorry, too busy to quote at the moment is too much to ask.

Isn't too much to ask even...

The thing is if you’re too busy to quote, then you need a price list or how am I going to know whether I can afford their services or not. Surely common sense?

I agree a lot of rubbish people in every profession , this thread is specifically about trades people however.

Depending on the trade, scarcity of work would suggest they're not very good. Anyone using a tradesman who can turn up quickly is foolish. They're free for a reason.

What's free?

I don't know any tradespeople that are on any form of benefits and there are three of them in my family.

Straw poll of three. Not my experience and I saw a lot through my voluntary role and I'm not putting them down for needing extra help or accusing them of dishonesty and tax dodging as some have on the thread.

If tradespeople can't deal with admin, they need to pay someone to do it for them.

Or get their wife and daughter to do it for free like my father used to

Anyone using a tradesman who can turn up quickly is foolish. They're free for a reason

I agree to an extent, but it might also be that someone has cancelled a job, they've finished a job early, or they have the materials for one sort of job but not another. However, that would only apply to someone I already knew, not some random knocking on the door.

@Moxysright I'm not sure a price list would work for construction - maybe certain trades like tiling or brick laying, plastering potentially where trades can calculate on the basis of square footage etc.

With Fantastic gardeners you (customer) have to estimate how long the work will take.