... to wonder what is the problem with tradesmen?

[JumpJockey]

I made an appointment 2 weeks ago for a guy to come and quote for painting 3 windows and doing a bit of work on the bricks. He was meant to be here at 4, no message to say sorry I'm delayed or anything.

There's another guy who works a lot on our street doing esactly the job we need; I've asked him 3 times to pop round next time he's in the area (since he never has a diary on him to make an appointment), he's never showed.

We had a big job done on our kitchen, got quotes from several people, one guy turned up and spent over an hour measuring up then never sent a quote through.

Surely given the current state of the economy, people would be keen to at least quote for work? Why bother saying you'll come then not turn up? If this guy does show up I'll now be loath to use him anyway because of the lack of reliability.

Is anyone a/ DP of a tradesperson who works for themself? Is this kind of behaviour normal or have we just got loads of slacking useless independents round here?

SuzieHomemaker My DH is in exactly the same position as yours. He retrained a few years ago, always turns up on time and gives detailed written quotes (which add up to hours that he doesn't get paid for), only to be frustrated by people who would rather use a cowboy when they find out they need bonding, etc. I second your plea to give your local one man band electrician a go - being Part P qualified also means that the customer has additional protection.

I find it amazing that so many tradespeople just don't turn up for quotes. At the moment I'm looking for someone to replace my bannister and spindles, but have only managed to get one (very high) quote. No-one else that I've called is interested, or they say they don't do that kind of work.

I asked DH to read this thread so that he could see he wasn't alone in insisting that the work is carried out correctly, as it can be disheartening!

Don't be too hard on the tradies. They just forget their appointments as they are too distracted cutting up every other motorist on the mini-roundabouts in their white vans.