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!

We have this problem every time we need to use a tradesman. And considering we are 11 years into a refurbishment with still some way to go, I am talking about a lot of experience.

Over those 11 years, I have lost track of how many tradesmen have not returned calls, failed to come out to quote, failed to quote having come out, quoted ludicrous prices (think anywhere between 2 and 10 times the going rate) because they clearly were not interested in the work, or done a substandard job.

Of all the trades I would say electricians are the best - usually reliable, always efficient, tidy, and pleasant to have in the house. Our builder was reliable too, although dh fell out with him over the course of a 10 month job due to a number of misunderstandings and failings. We also have used a damp proofing & roofing specialist multiple times and found them excellent.

The worst was a plumber. I cannot bear to even hint at the story of our dealings with him, but he was finally sent away with a flea in his ear about 6 years ago. A subsequent plumber was well meaning but failed to solve the mess we were left with. We are about to have a very impressive appearing plumbing firm finally sort out the issue - fingers crossed for me.

We still have a bathroom needing complete refurbishment, another one repaired/replaced (crap plumber again!) one room damp-proofed and a total of 3 rooms decorated. And a massive garden project undertaken. Part of me is so so tired of living in an ongoing project, but another part of me dreads having to pick up the phone and look, yet again, for reliable tradesmen.

Just think how much money a good worker would have got from us over the years if they had presented themselves for work at the start.

When we moved we had a two week window for some decorating. I got a chap on Rated People, he was great.
For reasons not his fault he didn't quite have time to finish, but he noticed that one of our new neighbours was [is] a decorator, from his van, and asked him to step in and help and they finished the job and we were happy.

Skip forward a year, needed a coat of paint in bathroom - asked the neighbour. He did a terrible job. Well, not terrible but just very cursory, didn't take the wall unit down, didn't fill a couple of holes (that were the main reason for doing it), no undercoat and left the place with drips.

Embarrassing!

So, we need the outside painted now, felt I had to ask him which I did when I saw him at a local event, never turned up to quote. That was Jan last year. He lives literally ten meters from us.

I've gone back to the first chap to paint the new ensuite and will ask him to fit in the external painting in a few weeks (if it ever stop hailing down!).

Another neighbour runs a gardening company, I asked him to quote for some work, saying "I'll understand if it's too small for you, just say, but I thought I'd ask you first" - assured me not too small and that he likes to do very local work as he lives in the same close and wouldn't want people who know he lives here to see the close having poor gardens etc - never came to quote. Again, lives over the road. Not sure who is going to be most embarrassed when I do eventually find a gardener - but probably me.

But we were so dicked around by plumbers for our en suite it wasn't funny.

DH is an ex-decorator and is really shocked at some of the stories on this thread. He'd usually tell people while he was still on their premises.

I have started using a general building form and paying them a retainer to get preferential access to tradespeople and also to sort out problems when they happen. They are generally good but even some of their people utterly take the piss sometimes. I wish there was more regulation.

firm not form

Drunken Flamingo - where are you based please?

I suspect a lot of guys end up in trades because they weren't good at organisation or writing or numbers at school. We've used loads of local tradesmen over the years and one's wife has told me that her husband can come quote me for a job, but he is still after 2 decades crap at figuring out how long it will take him, so she will tell him if he can actually do it for that price.

So if I want him (because he's good and cheap and vaguely reliable), to check the price with her first, as she's not letting him do yet another job that loses them money! And apparently most of his mates are similar - they make a guess at a quote and then realise later they cocked up.

Luckily we usually have someone in the house so can tell guys that yes it's a small job, but pretty much any time they can call us and come over to do it, which helps a lot.

BIL recently qualified for gas, plumbing, and electrics after a teaching career, and has found loads of work simply because he finds writing emails and working out costs a doddle. I suspect being a white native English speaker helps too. Shame he lives 200 miles away.

I've had good experiences and bad experiences with tradespeople. The best is a local plumber who will do all the small jobs but also told me when he was too busy to do a job for me and gave me a couple of other recommendations instead.

Another plumber had overreached himself with his business and was struggling to keep up with the amount of work and how long it was taking him. He's since decided to just stick to heating systems rather than trying to do all kinds of plumbing and does actually turn up when asked.

But we've had plumbers, house decorators fail to turn up to even come and quote for the job on several occasions. Why not just say you can't do it as you're busy?

RE: My builkder website... My BIL, (builder) knows a couple of his words "proper fucking cowboy bodgers " that are on there. Can't beat word of mouth recommendations it seems...

checkatrade is utter crap btw
used them once, got a bloke who didn't know what he was doing, wouldn't admit to not knowing and completely mucked up a room which had to be redone by someone else

GnomeDePlume I agree with you there too! Also, we have trouble getting money out of our customers sometimes. At the moment we are owed close to £15,000, simply because DP does the work, customer promises to pay ...... then doesn't! I have spent the last two weeks doing nothing but send out polite reminders, and starting actions with the small claims court.

Also, DP is so kind, he often does work for elderly people and doesn't charge them. In one week, instead of payment (from three separate customers), he came home with a tiny bottle of beer, a mango that was so overripe it went straight into the compost bin, and two jars of out-of-date marmalade. As lovely as that is, and I wouldn't change him for the world, I do sometimes have to remind him that we also have bills to pay

I don't deny there are bad tradespeople out there, but please don't lump us all in the same basket.

they make a guess at a quote and then realise later they cocked up

There's an error to begin with - I always tell DP to ESTIMATE, not QUOTE. He used to quote for a job, then the customer decided to change things, asked for extra work to be done, then at the end only wanted to pay for the original quote. We've been caught out by that clever ploy several times - not any more

Oh, and a lot of 'guys' end up in trades because they actually enjoy their work. To be a qualified tradesperson, you still have to sit exams and provide theoretical papers. That's a bit of condescending remark, if I might say so. As though 'Tradespeople' are a bit thick.

Aargh, I feel your pain!

On the plus side, we have become quite good at diy over the years, as we often give up on tradespeople ever showing up and end up doing jobs ourselves.

Woo hoo! Excited to say that we have heard from garden guy this afternoon offering a start date. Am sooo relieved not to have start from scratch again! Hopefully things will continue to go to plan.....

Ah yes, the phenomenon of the non-quoting tradesmen. Landscape companies are the very worst in my opinion, we've had several over the years who have either not come out at all, or then come out and quoted ridiculously high figures or just not quoted at all.

It isn't any better in Oz. 7 years after having a home built suddenly noticed mould on inner wall. Checked outside, mortar had disappeared among brickwork letting in rain in large area. Recheck house, other outside area having similar problem. Called well known company famous for repointing federation houses, etc.etc. They would get back to me with an appointment time for someone to inspect house. Never called back.

As it was heading into winter and desperate to get it fixed before then went to another company. Inspected got quote and asked for $200 deposit (this was many yrs ago) gave cash. A week later guy came back with friend , had another look at the house then asked me if I had been digging out mortar in the meantime, . Then stated it would cost me another $500 on top of the original quote.
After they had finished the job I gave him a check. He then had the cheek to tell me it was $200 short, when I reminded him I had given him the $200 deposit, he clapped his hand to his forehead and stated he had forgotten. Surprisingly, he did not have a receipt book with him for the final payment. Arsehole

6 weeks after this was finished, I got a phone call from the first famous company saying they were ringing to make an appointment for someone to come out and check building. My response was if it took them 8 weeks to even make an appointment, how may years would it take them to get around to doing the job. Forget it it had already been completed.

This was a small two bedroom house I bought much later. It had a toilet in the laundry and shower and sink on the other side of the wall. The shower was located immediately to the right of the door, and in the space left at the end of the toilet., while the sink was against the back wall. It was just weird.

I contacted a local kitchen and plumbing guy, young but very nice, who said he mainly did kitchens and subcontracted out the bathrooms. He did the plans and quoted, which I agreed to and work commenced. Basically the toilet was removed and placed where the shower was, and still accessed via the laundry. The toilet became the bath with shower, and a proper vanity sink replaced the old pedestal sink.

Problems encountered. 1) The original toilet had a lower ceiling then the bathroom, which neither of us had noticed, leaving a hole in the ceiling which had to be fixed. 2) The plumber had made excavations for the bath, so there was still a large hole in the ground when I popped round for an update and there were no workmen present. On checking with the company, the poor plumber had suffered a heart attack and died in hospital [truth], and he was getting someone else. 3} When the bespoke vanity unit was inserted they had left a large amount of glue from the top leaking down the side. Plus the bottom plinth was broken outwards ( no idea how they managed that). 4} One of the workman had made calculation markings on the wooden door frame which when painted still showed up.

I felt sorry for the young guy when he came round to do an inspection at my request before payment. He groaned in horror when he saw the vanity unit he had made, but did not install. Both painting and vanity unit were fixed and I was never charged extra for the ceiling. However I did bump into him several years later and he informed me he no longer did bathrooms, only kitchens. No surprise there, but if people in the trade cannot find good subcontractors what hope do we have.

Argh, we want our garden doing. First guy ignored my brief and just quoted for what HE wanted to do. Second guy never emailed back and for shirty when I chased him up on it.

Don't even get me started on plumbers, plastered and tilers.

You should just ask on a group from where you live. Like a bargain bay or lost and found or something if there are any gardeners looking for work. You'll find lots of people offering their services

If you see a house locally that is having work done and it looks good ask them who is doing the work and whether or not they've had any problems with them. Knock on the door and ask - it is by far the best way if you can't get good reccommendations.
I've had my best reccommendations from people I know and trust and respect their opinion who have had them work for them. I would never pick someone from a website - reviews cannot be trusted. It is scary how easily people can get fake reviews posted up to boost their rating and also how competitors post negative reviews. The only way to be sure is to ask someone who has already had work done and you are impressed with the result AND the householders are pleased with the level of service and price.

That's definitely the way to do it if possible Banana However, one of the guys that let us down was a recommendation from some trusted friends , so sadly even that approach isn't foolproof!

Checkatrade were on Radio 4 You and Yours today. I wouldn't be using them after hearing the interview.

Would you be able to provide a link, or summarise what was said please, Expanding? I would be very interested to hear (as DP is a member of Checkatrade, and we and our customers are so far happy with the partnership). We have many repeat customers, who have been customers for years, (outside of Checkatrade as well) , but we do find that Checkatrade brings in new clients, and we haven't had any adverse comments, and they all come back to us again.

It's would to hear the reasons against out of interest, for an alternative point of view. Thanks.

I agree Serenity - we had a recommendation from a friend for a loft conversion about 18 yrs ago. It was an absolute nightmare, and took years to sort out. I left comments about that company on here, actually, but the company complained and my comments were deleted.

Friend felt dreadful, but it wasn't his fault.