Would this be unreasonable or ok?- tradesman related.

[DueinSeptember]

I had a quote about 3 weeks ago for some plastering from a recommended tradesman, he's an electrician by trade and also does other stuff like building etc.

I got three quotes in total and he was slightly more expensive than another local plasterer; we've chosen to go with the cheaper one as he also came recommended and I've seen his work in neighbouring houses.

I now need some electrical work done (consumer unit and sockets), do you think it'll be fair to text/email the electrician over the weekend and say something like:

'Thanks for the plastering quote, unfortunately we've gone with another plasterer as we had a slightly cheaper quote - We have some electrical work that needs to be done if you would be interested in giving us a quote. My husband will get in touch Monday if that's ok'.

I feel quite guilty that I didn't give him the first job (but there was a £150 difference - which was a small % of the actual job, but a fair amount to save).

Should I try elsewhere, or would that be ok?

Have you already given the other plasterer the job? Offer the first one both bits of work if he can knock 150 off his quote for the plastering.

That sounds like a very reasonable thing to send. I don't think he would turn down the offer of other work even if you have turned down a quote for something else

Clytaemnestra, thanks - The other plasterer has already started the job.

Sounds completely reasonable to me.

He should understand everyone needs to go with the cheapest these days, it might have cost him £150 more because it'd take him longer to do because plastering isn't his trade.

You should ask him for a quote, there's no reason for him to be offended I'm sure he'd do the same if he had someone coming in to do a job.

Market forces innit?

Great, I'll send him a message this weekend and my husband can call him on Monday as he knows a bit more about electrical stuff than I do.

I was just wondering as I was chatting to my sister about it and she said that she wouldn't call him, that it would be cheeky etc.

Seems perfectly reasonable to my DH who is an electrician and loathes plastering with a passion! However my DH said if the electrician is arsey about the plastering then that is a measure of his character.

Two things:

• make sure he is Part P qualified
• check that the plastering work and the electrical work dont overlap. You might well want the electrical work done first as the plasterer can then do any making good.

oops sorry, I see the plasterer has started already!

Mine's an electrician too Gnome

Is yours a proper one though? How many sugars in his tea?

Thanks - he is part P qualified. I did check with him regarding the plastering and the future electrical work during the quoting and he said it should be fine.

We've just decided to do our kitchen as well as the rest of the house renovations so we need a couple more sockets installed there. I know that if we do that then we'll need the consumer unit changing. Luckily that's located in our hallway and the plasterer is doing that in a few weeks time (he's doing a room at a time so we can decorate in between etc) so it should be ok.

Thanks for the advice!

Perfectly reasonable

Funny what a new baby's imminent arrival can do to you. Just want to get the house sorted after putting up with bed decor etc for the past 13 years!

AgentZigZag - 2 sweeteners!

DueinSeptember - you'll be wanting that bed decor when the baby arrives! I like the sound of it, duvets on the walls, pillows on every horizontal surface.

Good luck with it all!

Haha! I didn't notice that!