AIBU to think that if a tradesperson doesn't want a job, they could just bloody well say so?

[SerenityReynolds]

We're looking to get a bit of work done in our garden - probably a couple of thousand pounds worth. Looked around on Which? etc and asked friends/family for recommendations and duly booked for 3 people to come and look/give us a quote.

Guy number 1 asks me to email him after he's been over so he can email me a quote. I do so. Never hear anything back.

Guy number 2 quotes for part of the work and makes some suggestions over a couple of back and forth emails about slightly different things to do with the garden. Very nice and enthusiastic. DH and I discuss his ideas, but decide we don't think they'll suit us, tell him we'd rather go with what we originally asked for. Never hear back.

Guy number 3 gives competitive quote for the work that we want. Email to confirm we'll go ahead. No response. 3 days later (today) I call and speak to him. He says he probably can't start for 2 months but will call me back when he has his diary. I have a sinking feeling I'm not going to get a call.

AIBU to think if they didn't fancy/couldn't take on the job, they should just say so straight out and not waste my fucking time? Or am I missing something? Four weeks down the line and we're still at square one!

Ynbu. What's wrong with these people. Do they not want the business and the money.
Have you tried rated people.

I feel your pain, have had very similar happen here with our bathroom. Can understand if they don't want the job for whatever reason, but then just say so instead of feigning interest, promising to send a quote, and then ignoring calls and emails. So unprofessional.

Don't get me started! Half way through a big refurb and the amount of workmen that have let us down, just not shown up or "can now only do the work in August" is amazing! Some of the quotes are eye watering as well. I'm seriously considering retraining in a trade....

I was saying the same to my DP only yesterday, it's so frustrating isn't it! We've moved into a house that needs a lot of work, and believe in supporting local businesses. Like you we've been on a merry-go-round of plumbers, gas engineers, builders, joiners etc. We've contacted them and arranged for them to call and give quotes.
They've not turned up.
They've turned up and not taken measurements/details , but then sent quotes.....how?
They've turned up, taken measurements/details, promise to get back to us with a quote, then vanished into the gloom.
I've just had the joiners here to finish off part of a large job we actually managed to get their firm to do - after several weeks of stalling. The last part of the job is due for completion next week. Me and DP are taking bets to see if it actually happens. If it does it's time!

Put it this way - they're not getting paid at all until the whole job is done. [incentive]

Have you tried ratedpeople.

Yes, and would never do so again.

After that it was Checkatrade - whose tradesmen told me how rubbish RatedPeople were. What they neglected to mention was how crap they were too. But then RP and CaT rely on their traders for a living, so are hardly likely to piss them off.

We need a tripadvisor for tradesmen ...

Oh and while all this is going on, remember "there's no work anywhere" ...

I feel your pain too. When we moved into our house our downstairs loo needed replacing nothing could ever make that clean again so I called a few plumbers for quotes.

I had 4 come round all after each other as none of them ever called me back! Two of them were Local and drive down my road every day but they just never replied to my calls/emails! In the end I did get a plumber, he was very good and explained it was a tricky job so would normally cost a fair bit more due to our odd plumbing but he did us a deal as old family friend.

I think it is terrible customer service. As OP says id rather they just told me so I can move on and not waste my time!

Yes.
Can't get a tradesman round here for anything less than a whole house refurb. It's a nightmare!!!

Oh to those having trouble with rated people etc, we've used mybuilder website a few times and it's been great. Wish I'd known they'd existed during the toilet fiasco.

OP Are you me? Similar scenario. We have a broken kitchen tap, broken/leaking shower, and another faulty shower. We also are planning to fit a new shower and toilet downstairs , this will make the job what we think is substantial. 5 tradesmen have come and gone. 4 gave quotes and set dates to start job. Never heard from them again, one rang after a while asking if we still want the job done , 'yes', said I, 'okay I'll be round yours first thing on Monday'. That was 18 months ago. Another rang to say his wife ^unexpectedly' had a baby, and he was in the hospital, again we postponed date till another week. Never heard from him again. It's now going on 2 yrs since we've been in this situation and the faulty things have got gradually worse.

We must have some tradesmen repellant of some sort! We smile, friendly, offer a cuppa when they come to quote, flexible with dates etc, make sure house doesn't smell before they come, do a little tidy up...I really don't know what else to do.

Sogodhelpme, all those things you do don't matter to them they are not WI inspectors checking how cosy your home is.

They want big easy jobs and gullible people with cash. Rest don't matter !

I have a plumbing job, had 3 plumber simply never return. Hopeless.

Nearly started a thread exactly like this a few weeks ago!

Need some guttering done, albeit only a small job. Called guttering firms and explained on the phone exactly what we needed, great had 3 people come out to quote. That's the last I've heard.

Yes the job is small but I specifically made that clear before they came out.

The majority of the time I use people we know/family friends who are in the trade but always make it clear that I don't expect a discount, just want someone I know will turn up and can be left with a key etc.

To give a view from the other side

My DF runs his own business for property management and mainly does fencing

He will get a call from a potential client who wants a quote and they want it now !!

He doesn't always answer his phone during the day as is working on other projects - if he answers his phone every time it rang he would never do any work and whatever job he is on the client would be annoyed he was always on his phone

Usually rings back evening or next day if doesn't answer

DF may not reply to email for a day or so depending how busy he is at work - may not be home till late

Will then email stating what days he is free - client wants tomorrow. That's not possible due to previous jobs booked in

Finally get a date and time. He goes there driving maybe 30 mins and person isn't in - or they ring wanting a diff time which DF can't do due to previous work commitments and he's said this already

Anyway finally meet and look at jobs they want done. Then get hassled for quote that evening

Usually DF needs a few days to ring around suppliers /looks online / checks price etc then works out job wanted and labour and gives a price

Send the email with quote

Either gets a yes please when can you start - already said be 2/3 weeks

They get annoyed can't be next few days

If DF was always free following day means he isn't very good at his jobs

Always be wary of someone can always squeeze you in ASAP

Or no reply

Never a problem to not have a quote accepted but how hard is it to reply saying thanks for quote we are going with someone else ?

Or get a reply 4mths asking for work to be done - which DF will say will need to do new quote as materials may have changed - does say this in original quote - clients get annoyed

Not all tradesman don't reply - some may be busy

Yes you get useless ones but also get bloody hard working ones as well like my DF

Well...we were at lost what to do...we guessed perhaps tradesmen might not want to work in smelly unfriendly households. But why don't they just bloody say,NO!
All that crap about wife having baby, having ordered the parts and waiting for them to arrive, booking Appts but never intending to turn up, what are they 10?

A big, but easy job and for lots of money...well yes that's what we all want!

The previous owners of my house built a porch but oddly didn't put in a ceiling so we had grim roof felt on display.

The porch ceiling isn't huge by any means, about 3ft by 5ft. When two people are in there are its squashy. I wanted the ceiling boarding. Simple job.

One builder quoted £1000. If he didn't want the job he should've just said rather than quoting twatty money at me.

In the end I did it myself and it looks bloody good (and the parts only came to £25).

We wanted a small raised decked area in our garden (our french doors open onto a 2 ft drop at the moment). 3 companies called - 1st was a no show, 2nd came and measured up but never sent a quote, 3rd came and asked if I had a measuring tape he could borrow! Funnily enough our French doors still open up onto a 2ft drop!

We had this last year- major refurbishment, wanted a builder to quote for all the works (plumbing, electrics, build work, carpentry etc). Stressed that it needed to be habitable within 2 months as that was when we had to move in.

Had a builder round to quote- he specialised in carpentry but regularly 'managed' the other trades. Was certain it could be done within 2 months, would get us a quote, etc.

3 weeks later we'd heard nothing. DH chased multiple times and then we finally got a quote for carpentry only and said we'd save money if we employed other trades separately. What a waste of time!

Builder is question is a friend of a friend and DH has chucked quite a bit of work his way over the years so we were a bit put out. We weren't expecting mates rates or anything- wanted to pay full whack.

Saw him in the pub a little while ago and he asked how we were getting on with the house

In contrast- we've just had a plumber round to do another job. Had to wait a month or so- not a problem, we know that the best people have a waiting list. Sent quotes within 48 hours, turned up on time to do there work, did a cracking job and invoiced is that night. Very happy.

Rae 'asked how we were getting on with the house'
This is an individual with a seriously low IQ.

That should be "the work" not "there work"

Totally agree especially with small jobs such as small electrical work or similar. We ended up getting British gas home care at 40.00 a month and have used them to fix our extractor fan, our leaking toilet, our wiring issues, our kitchen sink tap etc. We call them out all the time to do these little jobs and they're invaluable.
With regards to your garden work op, have you tried generic 'handyman' type traders or similar if its the sort of job the may be able to do, rather than big companies? Or, local to us we have a charity called 'betel' who do garden work under the support of a leader, they will do work such as clearing trees/turfing/ paving etc. I think they are national?

SoGod not at all, he's a clever bloke with a successful business. He just had no shame! I think it's such a common thing to do so he probably didn't think there was a problem.

We did find a decent builder in the end but the whole process was made far more stressful by the delay. Builder 1 obviously didn't want the job, but he wasted our time rather than just saying so.

Its difficult, we all want a good price but often working on older houses is a pain - they find things out as they go along so price or cost increases and people won't accept increases to do the job, they have work schedules and who doesn't want to know they have the next two or three months covered hence having to wait for work to be done for a couple of months. I have been both sides.

Aha! But his inability to cringe at his own behaviour when coming face to face with the people he had strung along....leads one to conclude IQ is low! Regardless of his successful business, or perhaps it's his emotional intelligence that is lacking.

We've had good and bad luck. We waited forever to get a quote for a new porch to be built, we'd already waited for ages to get him out to look at where/what we wanted. In the end we gave up.
Ds used a great guy to do his new boiler, he came out after a few days, emailed the quote within the week, and booked the job for a month out. Came when he said, and did a great job. (anyone in West Cheshire he's the one to use)
Dh can do most things, and since moving to this house YouTube has taught him a lot more, plastering, wallpapering (only painted walls in the last house) He could already plumb and and do most other things. Seems to get stuff done faster learning yourself.