To be annoyed that 4 workmen have yet to email me quotes

[MrsPeeee]

For decorating and plastering. They all said quotes would be emailed over by the weekend. Don't the fuckers want my business/money? It's 4 rooms so not a small job!

Thanks again all. We are indeed in the South East! I got all of the workmen from Checkatrade, all with good ratings and feedback.

Well I just got my first one through 5 minutes ago

It's not as high as I was expecting either so bonus! 3 to go. Hopefully! (Though this guy was my favourite so he's the front runner in that he's sent a quote over, ha!)

Have you checked your junk email folder? I was waiting for a quote from some removal firms and one of the emails ended up there.

Plasterers and Decorators are different trades though - have you asked them to quote for all the work ? Are they Jack of all trades or will they subby the bit they can't do to other tradesmen?

I've been checking junk all through the day so none there but good idea.

Well when setting up the visits I deliberately chose workmen that said they did both. 3 of them have a decorator /plasterer and just one said he could do both. He's the one that has emailed already so I expect his quote might be lower as he is qualified for both bits.

Probably a mixture of them forgetting/you not being their dream client of a gullible woman likely to pay 3 x the real value of the work.

Sadly for you, it's not a big job. Not if they've a sniff of doing a bunch of multi plot new builds or conversions. It might be quicker to do a plastering course yourself :-)

it is a common problem with tradesmen. Which means that you worry that one who does quote and has time to do it isn't very good!

Pragmatically - get a man to make the phone call (or sound like one and give a male name). This may get you a response or at least a 'sorry, too busy'.

sometimes you just have to take the path of least resistance.

YANBU.

We are having some complex building work done and DH is project managing it. He has no experience in this sort of thing but project manages all the time at work. He is astounded at the lack of professionalism of everyone he is handling!

People who agreed to do work are suddenly unavailable, others change their rate at a moment's notice, others decide not to bother turning up until a few days later... it's a nightmare. Getting quotes was exactly as you describe OP. We are having a builder, a decorator, a plasterer, a flooring bloke, a scaffolder, a skip delivered and goodness knows who else. It's bloody stressful. The shoddiness just wouldn't be acceptable in any other industry, it's weird.

If you go to an established building firm, you'll pay well over the odds but they will have a secretary or someone who will ensure things are handled professionally. We didn't want to pay VAT for unnecessary people so doing it ourselves, but it is hard.