AIBU to wonder if some tradesmen are picking and choosing work at the moment?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Having a nightmare at the moment trying to get contractors for various jobs to even answer the phone or respond to an answerphone message at the moment. When I DO manage to speak to someone they say they are busy and will contact in a few weeks. They never do. Or that they will "call next week sometime giving you an hour's notice" which is feck all use to a family where both parents work 100 hours between them, one of them in a school so no leave allowance, the other in law enforcement with highly irregular hours.

This has always been an issue, but it's terrible just now. We managed to get an extension done a few years back and I remember the builders being so flakey when someone rang them while they were working here. Just non-committal, or would visit them to quote and tell me "oh I could tell they were going to be a nightmare, I don't think it's worth it". They were only interested in the big jobs which would earn them most money.

I'm starting to wonder if tradesmen even want the work at the moment to be honest, and am wondering if any self-employment grants have had anything to do with it? (I don't know the rules for this). I can't get a roofer out to fix 2 or 3 problems with my roof and/or gutters. I can't get a plumber out to fit us a new shower. I have tried and tried. We have had to put tarpaulin on the roof and hope for the best for now. No-one rang me back when I left messages about a boiler service, or fitting a new tap so in the end we had to go with British Gas on a contract. They were fantastic, came exactly when they said they would and did the job, yet I often hear of people moaning that British Gas contractors are rubbish. Well - at least they turn up when you ask them and do the job you've asked them to do!

A roofer who said he'd call me back to arrange a time to come only lives round the corner from me. His van is nearly always outside his house so unless he's working on his own house he just isn't working at the moment, or is maybe picking and choosing lucrative jobs only like new roof rather than roof repairs?

What is going on????

It probably works both ways, especially when they have plenty of work. If you're being "difficult" about when it's convenient to call, even if it is for a sensible reason like you job, they're probably thinking you'll be difficult through the job too, especially if your frustration is showing!

Tradespeople have always been like this ime. Would be much better if they were honest and said they couldn't or didn't want to do a job rather than saying they'll quote and then disappear or never turn up in the first place.

My husband is picking and choosing jobs at the moment as he has sooo many jobs coming through. He never ignored people though - if he doesn’t want / can’t fit the job in then he will tell people.

OP why do you think that someone self employed shouldn't be able to pick and choose what jobs they do?

Well, of course they can pick and choose what jobs they can do. That's up to them. It's the lack of courtesy and flakiness I can't stand. If the job is too small and they're not interested, then why can't they just say "Sorry, I'm only looking at doing full extensions and loft conversions at the moment." Why can't they just be honest and if it's not lucrative enough for them, then just say so instead of stringing me along. It's better to be transparent. We will want larger jobs doing in a couple of years but a few contractors have really put me off with the lack of reliability and poor communication skills.

*The builder has been excellent in terms of the quote and communication but they told me from the start (in Aug) that they can't do the work until Jan."
Yes, that's normal I think. We had to wait to have our extension done.

They don't seem to need to be doing small jobs at the moment, so where do we go for those? I just can't stand the stress of it all, the house is slowly deteriorating around us....and I just want to be able to wash my hair in a shower and not with a jug in the bath with the bathwater slowly draining as the plug isn't working either!

I'm just having a moan really. DH and I work really hard. He had a week off in August but apart from that no time off at all since last Christmas. No lockdown for him. He's the one with the leave allowance but can't take it. It's stressful for me to try and arrange people to come to quote when there's no-one at home during the day and I don't have a leave allowance (term time only). You're conscious of eyebrows being raised at work if you have to ask to leave an hour early and then the person you made the appointment with doesn't even turn up. It's just so very very frustrating and I know I'm at risk of getting cowboys in out of sheer desperation.

Perhaps I'm just jealous of all the people who had a quiet lockdown and were able to have time to plan home refurbs and be available to get contractors in....

If you're being "difficult" about when it's convenient to call, even if it is for a sensible reason like you job, they're probably thinking you'll be difficult through the job too, especially if your frustration is showing!

I'm always available to take calls. They just don't call me when I leave messages or say they're busy and will call back! Is my mistake perhaps telling them that I work in a school and it's difficult for me to get time off at short notice? I didn't think that would be an issue as if they want to plan ahead then that's better for me too. Or is it that they can do a little job in between bigger things but want someone to be available here at a moment's notice so they can just ring up and say "I've got half an hour now, can I come and quote?"

My husband is picking and choosing jobs at the moment as he has sooo many jobs coming through. He never ignored people though - if he doesn’t want / can’t fit the job in then he will tell people.

Yes, that's all I want really. It's just basic manners and communication, I thought.

For plumbing OP, obviously depending on where you live, I’ve always found Pimlico Plumbers reliable. You’ll have to remortgage your house to pay the bill, but they do show up when they say they will IME.

I work for a heating company and we are so busy at the moment, we are having to prioritize customers with no heating or hot water, which means we are now planning general boiler swaps, showers etc into the new year as we need to leave room for emergencies

Pimllico are in LOndon and the SE, aren't they. A relative had them, yes, I agree - they did the job but were very expensive, as you say.

We're in Liverpool so no good.

I wish I was more practical myself. I would seriously consider retraining in a trade.

Ah yes, I think Liverpool would be a stretch!

@anyoldname76:

Wow, yes, that does sound busy. That would be doable for me, if someone could actually come, quote and tell me they can fit me a shower/do my other bathroom bits in the new year. At least it would be booked in and I knew it was actually going to get done. IT's the getting booked in that I'm finding difficult. I'm not the only one. I know of 2 other people who having difficulty getting roofing repairs done.

I wonder if it IS the Brexit effect?

Those I know are overflowing with work due to people having more money to spend due to covid reducing outgoings and choosing to spend it on their houses. Big jobs at £300 a day for many days will always take precidence over odds and sods which with all the travel and time quoting and getting supplies bring a third of that in.

Small jobs if you have enough of them to provide a couple of full days work might be best lumped together to a chap of all trades, or if sold as a loss leader to see how people are with a view to your big job next year.

They're really busy OP. We managed to get someone booked in April for some repair work and the original estimated date was July. However due losing staff (who didn't want to work due to COVID) plus illness they haven't been able to start our job until October! Tbh I think they were a bit optimistic in their estimating initially in April and still taking on work at pre-pandemic levels. When they realised they were effectively 50% down on staff that's when they decided to give more realistic start dates .

It’s always been like this by me. If they respond to phone/messages and say they’ll come and quote they only turn up about 50% of the time and then rarely actually give you a quote. This is people who reply to ads on local Facebook pages etc... I don’t get why they bother coming out in the first place.

We renovated our whole house and I found dealing with tradespeople to be so awful that we would never do it again. I’m sure there are marvellous ones out there but we ended up with a load of poorly done work, having to chase for certificates, or them not coming at all. Invoices for things that you didn’t think they’d done but obviously don’t have the knowledge to be able to say for sure. We didn’t know anyone in the area we moved to to get recommendations and out of the ten people we used for various bits and bobs only one I would reuse because he didn’t intimidate us and didn’t make us feel like he wanted to get as much money out of us as possible. I hope we were just unlucky but we won’t be doing it again!

Supply chains are very patchy. One of my clients is a window blind fitter who has a several month backlog because the factory he uses has only just re-started as they couldn't get raw materials. There have also been on-off supply issues with cement, plaster, plasterboard, etc.

@Carrotcakey

It’s always been like this by me. If they respond to phone/messages and say they’ll come and quote they only turn up about 50% of the time and then rarely actually give you a quote. This is people who reply to ads on local Facebook pages etc... I don’t get why they bother coming out in the first place.

We renovated our whole house and I found dealing with tradespeople to be so awful that we would never do it again. I’m sure there are marvellous ones out there but we ended up with a load of poorly done work, having to chase for certificates, or them not coming at all. Invoices for things that you didn’t think they’d done but obviously don’t have the knowledge to be able to say for sure. We didn’t know anyone in the area we moved to to get recommendations and out of the ten people we used for various bits and bobs only one I would reuse because he didn’t intimidate us and didn’t make us feel like he wanted to get as much money out of us as possible. I hope we were just unlucky but we won’t be doing it again!

Reputable firms won't be advertising on facebook - the good tradespeople don't need to advertise at all, they work on word of mouth and regular/repeat business. Those who advertise a lot are the ones who don't get repeat business or personal recommendations - there may be a reason for that! Of course, there will be exceptions, new start-ups, etc!

We've just got quotes for replacing guttering and soffits. We're going with the second cheapest, because he's just had a job cancelled and can fit us in on Monday!

Most of the others can't do anything this side of Christmas. Builder BIL is turning jobs away, he's booked solid until mid-Jan.

He has 2 theories: one is that because people had to cancel expensive holidays this year, they're spending the money they would have spent on their holidays on their houses; the second is that, having all been cooped up together and WFH for months, they now want extensions built so that they have somewhere to work and can stay out of one another's way more easily.

@user1497207191
What would you suggest someone does then if they have no recommendations/contacts?

We looked at previous work (although probably the people they told us to see were there mates) and went with the idea that we wouldn’t go with anyone that could start straight away (my Dad said this as he was a builder). It seems like an impossible task! Most of the people we spoke to were people we phoned but some were via Facebook or my work message board. That was the smaller jobs like carpentry for our bedroom etc... Local people seem to use this all the time.

Definitely seems to be a backlog of work with increased demand added in!
We've has success in getting trades in for two different projects the last few months using a website called MyBuilder. You post details of your job and it sends it out to tradespeople in the area and they can then get in touch if they want to quote. The fact they have to Express an interest in quote seems to guarantee a bit more of a timely response rather than trying to chase people who arent interested in the job

DH is a gas engineer, a lot depends on what time he gets home. Tonight was early (6pm) so he's been able to phone quite a few customers back, but it's not unusual to not get him before 9pm and then it's a bit late to be ringing. He works Saturdays, he usually spends a large part of Sundays doing calls and paperwork.

He does phone everyone back but that might not be as soon as needed.

Why shouldn’t tradesmen pick and choose the work they do?

If I had lost a couple of months or more of work/income, I would choose more lucrative work to make up some of the loss.

I also wonder if the reliance too much on non-UK labour is a factor, as some may have returned to their country of birth and not returned, or not moved here this year who would have done.

@Asdf12345: Those I know are overflowing with work due to people having more money to spend due to covid reducing outgoings and choosing to spend it on their houses. Big jobs at £300 a day for many days will always take precidence over odds and sods which with all the travel and time quoting and getting supplies bring a third of that in. Small jobs if you have enough of them to provide a couple of full days work might be best lumped together to a chap of all trades, or if sold as a loss leader to see how people are with a view to your big job next year.

Thankyou for explaining how it works.

@HelloDulling I can assure you not all tradesmen are. Some of us work in mainly commercial settings and are on our arses, no income and facing losing everything. Its a hidden area that won’t get support in tier lockdowns as were not the front face, ie, hospitality, retail etc. Whilst it is possible to find other work you can’t suddenly replace a huge huge percentage of work that’s taken years of commitment to build.

Although I would have thoughtt that more people might have held off from getting large jobs done if job security is more uncertain.