If you don't actually WANT the work, fine. Just be honest about it.

[bupcakesandcunting]

Right, I have had six men visit my house to quote me on re-building my patio/some steps. Out of the six, how many do you reckon have got back to me with a price?

One.

Bloody one.

I explain to them on the phone what the job is and ask if that's something they'd do. they sy yes so we aarrange for them to come round. They stand in my garden, measuring, umming and ahhhing about how much material they'll need etc, say they'll ring me with a price and NOTHING! Honestly, if they said "I'm sorry but it's more work than I'd realised. I won't be able to help" then it would be different. As it is, I've spent a total of six weeks waiting for these phonecalls that never come (they have all said to give them a week to get back with a cost)

It dos my swede in. So, if you know of/are married to/are employed as someone in this fieldand are in the Midlands, PM me. I am fucking NICE to work for. I dole out tea and biscuits and don't chuck a diva fit when things go wrong.

Some tradesmen are just inefficient when it comes to admin, which this time of year when they are rushed off their feet they just do not have the time to do. I do admin for DH and tbh he is barely here long enough at the moment when not asleep to do the quotes...plus everyone wants it done YESTERDAY, he is booked until mid-end September & no one will want to wait that long.

There is ONE other possibility (and you wont like it) this IS the peak time for work and if they come to see you and decide you are possibly unpleasant and will not enjoy working for you then they wont quote...ditto if they DO quote and it's really high, they have probably gone "shes going to be a PITA to work for, THIS price will make it bearable" Ive often said to him "oh Mrs .... has asked you to quote for ......, good luck she's horrible" I have only occasionally been wrong.

They fucking drive me mental, the lot of them.
Not turning up, turning up late, turning up the wrong day, having to pop out to buy a hammer, having to pop out to do some other fucker's job, not answering the phone, not doing what I tell them to do.
But the worst, by far, is when they come and look round, hissing between their teeth ("That wall is unstable, since someone put a Christmas Wreath up with a drawing pin - we'll have to put that right first at a gazillion pounds a day.") and talk a load of shite at you.
I am desperate for a plasterer, decorator and gardener, and can I fuck get anyone to do the work. So much for a recession.
(Apologies for swearing. I've toned it down.)

"Rrrright, THIS is what needs doing, I've been to the builder's yard so I KNOW how much the blocks cost"

Were you intending to get the materials yourself? Only there seems to be some misunderstanding with clients that materials take time and fuel to collect and the cost of both WILL be passed on the client, first rule of business - im SURE you are aware of that when its comes to your time and labour. God it pissess me off how many people just back from a month at their second home in Morocco/Barbados/Switzerland with a mercedes/bmw/assortment of audis on the drive nit pick about every penny on materials - whatever you are being told we are not getting rich here, apart from anything else we have to insure ourselves in case you trip over a screw and sue us.

Pumpernickel - hubby not a builder as such but I know what you mean...you should see my living room its a real "work in progress" I have to grit my teeth when people phone up and tell me how wonderful he is - he thinks its quite amusing that every room has one annoying little thing that isnt finished (apparently doesnt feel like doing after doing it all week!)

"There is ONE other possibility (and you wont like it) this IS the peak time for work and if they come to see you and decide you are possibly unpleasant and will not enjoy working for you then they wont quote...ditto if they DO quote and it's really high, they have probably gone "shes going to be a PITA to work for, THIS price will make it bearable" Ive often said to him "oh Mrs .... has asked you to quote for ......, good luck she's horrible" I have only occasionally been wrong."

Ha ha. Does your DH actually get any work with you manning the front of house?

As for wanting it done yesterday, not so much. I've been trying since April to get someone to just give me a price and have told them all there's no rush/I don't mind if they fit it in around other jobs i.e I don't mind if they're not there day in/day out. I just want it done at some point, before I am 96.

Yes, I was planning on getting my own materials. I did it in my old house and it wasn't a problem for the labourer we had in there. The local builder's merchant that we use delivers to the front of the house. I don't see why I am going to pay a 30% mark-up just for a builder to drive one mile and put an order in when I can do that myself. I suppose that I'm pissing them off with that too. They don't think they can make an easy extra wodge out of us so they aren't bothering. FWIW, we're not rich. We're not poor but not rich. But even if we WERE just back from a month in our second home in Morocco, it would still be our prerogative to nitpick over money.

This really makes my piss boil. Why bother going through the whole charade of measuring up, bigging up their skills and sucking their teeth if they're thinking 'I'm not going to bother getting back to them about this, I don't like the look of the job/them'?

("That wall is unstable, since someone put a Christmas Wreath up with a drawing pin - we'll have to put that right first at a gazillion pounds a day.")

Ph yes we have this too. Despite our house being only a few years old it seems as though for many things we are exceptional. Oddly sized windows. Weird brickwork. Resident wasps (who turned out to be birds). Ridiculously small bathroom (we don't think so, and we use it!) and all of these things conspire to make any work we want doing almost impossible and littered with a list of caveats as long as your arm.

YANBU

We want to extend DD's bedroom over the stairs (Tiny box room that you cant fit a proper bed in). I have had 4 builders over, 2 never got back to me, one gave me a price but never got back to me about when he was available, and one arse who asked me if I lived on my own

We also had illegal felt in the roof. Have replaced it now with stuff that is valid to be felt in the UK

My conservatory man was recommended by a friend (for whom he'd done something awkward). He built a nice straight forward job for me so I recommend him to another friend.
Her job was tricky he said he'd do it, in two years he never did . She's a softy she kept waiting for him to get back to her which he rarely did.

I could tear my hair out over various tradesmen we've used or asked for quotes over the last 4 years. They either don't turn up to quote, or when they do quote, don't turn up when they say they will, or don't do the job properly, or don't finish the job. I'm not very confrontational, and hate having to deal with errant tradesmen who charge like a wounded bull for a really bodgy job.

I would love our local college to run evening classes on simple plumbing/pointing stonework etc. And before hordes of builders/tradesmen come along telling me how they have to train for years for this stuff, you don't need a 3 year course to learn how to plumb in a sink.

I fizz with temper over this kind of thing (can you tell ). I work really hard at my job to ensure clients receive excellent service for the very reasonable charge we make and I am sick and tired of being taken for a ride by unscrupulous tradesmen who don't deserve to be in business.

There needs to be some kind of Trip Advisor type website where you can rate/slate tradesmen.

If you go to www.ratedpeople.com you can put your job in etc and then the tradespeople call you back.

I used a carpenter from the site, he rang me back the same day, quoted me over the phone and came out within the week and the job was done. You then fill in a review for them on the site.

Oh, I will give it a go, Saggy! Thanks for the tip :)

There is a site - checkatrade or something. And I am sure I came across another one too.

Pimpernickle10 - shame it's abit far, we are needing work done in Berkshire & Dorset :(

WOuld it be terrible "Masonic" to have a thread for MNers/MNers partners in different trades in need of work? I would literally give my right arm for a decent mechanic too!

be aware that the websites do not inspect their advertisers work, do not vouch for it, do not guarantee it, have no effective complaints process, do not remove poor workmen or crooks. Any good tradesman with a good local reputation will have more work than he needs and will not waste his money on these websites.

Ask around friends and neighbours and get personal recommendations. There is no better way.

don't bother using checkatrade.

i did and had an awful experience with a decorator.

and there was another thread about them on here too, where someone wanted to put a negative review and they make it SO difficult that she complained to them about it

bupcakes "Ha ha. Does your DH actually get any work with you manning the front of house?"

Yes actually he does hes working day/evening/weekends at the moment and is booked until September/October, he doesnt need to work for people who will make his life unpleasant because he's good.....not cheap or immediate but probably 50-70% of his work is referral or (lovely) return clients.

You need to be aware that a lot, if not most of the referral websites make their money by charging the trades to advertise no assurance that they are good or reliable just that they have paid - we have never needed to bother.

Also if you live somewhere that parking is a nightmare you are less likely to get anyone to work for you - they either have to cut into their profit by having to pay for parking or they have to park further away and lug their tools...a high percentage of tradesmen I know have joint/bone problems by the time they are are in their late 30s 40s.

If you start a relationship with builders/tradesmen by immediately saying how unreliable they all are, that you dont want them to "rip you off" then you are not really going to be successful its highly insulting to tarr them all with the same brush. DH is a lovely gentle honest person but he'd most likely walk out highly offended and not thinking the best of you.

"If you start a relationship with builders/tradesmen by immediately saying how unreliable they all are, that you dont want them to "rip you off" then you are not really going to be successful its highly insulting to tarr them all with the same brush. DH is a lovely gentle honest person but he'd most likely walk out highly offended and not thinking the best of you."

What do you think that I say to them? Do you think that I harp on at them about unreliability as my opening gambit? If anything, I'm too bloody soft with tradesmen. I've got a bathroom that should have been completed two weeks back still not done. My kitchen took one month instead of two weeks. The whole time, I smiled and said "it's fine, just one of those things" before crying with frustration after they've gone.

I think I need to get references from the workmen I've had in so that I can show potential workmen that I am very easy going. :)

Plus, I'm not going to BEG tradesmen to do work for me. I assume they must have work up to their ears to turn down my (relatively easy) job offer. I'm just asking for some common courtesy, just a "no thanks, I won't be able to do it" instead of "yeah I'll call you next week" That is all.

Its a big subject gully; yes there is a lot of crap behavious about. Years 2 young men came to do something with my gas. After they had gone we founfd out they had bashed a gas off key and broken it. Leaving it so it was not obvious. They lied when questioned

I used ratedpeople - or rather, put up that we were looking for someone to quote for about 3k worth of work swapping round a door and window. Got precisely no people contacting me .

DP and me are always saying that builders, plasterers, electricians etc seem to be allowed to get away with such unprofessional behaviour and folk have to just accept it.

Imagine with my job, where I also have lots and lots of other work on and I'm asked to do something. And i fail to tun up to the meeting to discuss it, but then just turn up three hours later. Or the next day. or not at all. And then I'm asked if i think I can do the project and I say yes. But not till October. And I can't tell you how much I'm going to charge, not even a ball park figure. And then say i will get back to you with an exact price next week, but don't. Then despite all of this, I am given the project. But don't do any work on it until three weeks after I'm supposed to. because i;'ve got other stuff on.

The builders rules should be applied to all jobs, wouldn't life be fun?

You're right, PuppyMonkey. For a trade that gets a lot of it's custom from word of mouth, you'd think they'd be a bit more concerned with not pissing people off!

I reckon at least with the recession, a lot of the wheat has been sorted from the chaff. I got a grovelling card pushed through my door last week from a local sparky asking that people in our area please consider him for any size job as the recession has hit his trade hard. Maybe if this SAME sparky had got back to me in December about the re-wiring I needed doing/new fusebox, I'd be calling him to do the work I need doing in my living room.

It drives me crazy as well. Four months ago I asked for a quote for some new garage windows. He came and measured and wrote it all down big on his pad. Then.....................................................................

Nothing.

He lives across the road from me . I wasn't asking for a favour or a discount as I hardly know him. Like the OP said - if you don't want the fecking work - say so!

I am now going with another company and just let him see their van outside his house. I thought it would be a good idea to use a local business. Obviously not.

"I thought it would be a good idea to use a local business. Obviously not."

That's exactly what I've tried to do! All of the blokes I've called have been advertising in the local paper as I'd rather give the business to someone local. The only bloke that got back to me was based fifteen miles away!