To ask why some contractors are so thoughtless

[lordofthemings]

When I recently got my walls plastered following a repair, the workmen got plaster on all of the surrounding woodwork, the ceiling and the floors in several rooms (they were only working in one but walked through to get to the bathroom). I cleaned for hours and hours and three weeks later I've still not managed to get it all off. The floor was polished wood and now just looks dull.

When I had some work done to the roof, the roofers disappeared in the middle of the job for two weeks, leaving me with a poorly covered hole in the roof. It rained, water came in and there was water damage. They denied water had got in, even though everything was wet. I had damp and mould problems for years afterwards, as it went into the walls. The next roofer I got in told me my dry-ridge roof was in desperate need of re-pointing and then became aggressive when I said it was dry ridge so hadn't been pointed in the first place.

I've had carpet fitters come in and leave bits of carpet and underlay everywhere, an electrician install a socket at a 20 degree angle and make a fuss when I asked for it to be straightened, another electrician leave my boiler in a dangerous state, horrifying the gas man. I've had a plumber install a tap that was incompatible with the mixed pressure water system in my house and then say it was my fault for not telling him it was a mixed pressure system (I didn't know at the time).

Only a small percentage seem to show up on the agreed day at the agreed time. I've had one person turn up three hours early as a 'favour' and then kick off when I couldn't come to the door (I was delivering a presentation to the senior leadership team in work at the time - I'd told him I wouldn't be available before 5pm), and I've had others just not turn up, often without notice so I sit in all day, sometimes having taken the day off as annual leave.

I know there are some decent tradespeople out there who are hardworking, competent and clean, but where the hell are they!? I can count the number I'd gladly get back on one hand.

And why is this behaviour so typical of this sector? I can't imagine walking into the office three hours late, splashing mud and paint everywhere, carrying out my job incorrectly and then arguing with my employer.

Why is this a thing!?

I cant seem to employ any tradespeople for love nor money at the moment. Clearly there is space for more workers. They either don't bother turning up for a quote, turn up but don't quote, or agree a quote but don't turn up for the work. We must be on some blacklist somewhere.

My mum had an absolute nightmare with her tiler, who then left boxes of crap from other jobs, a bucket of cement and all the off-cuts piled in her front garden.

oh lord of the mings, I share your pain! still cleaning up after the plasterers who were here last weekend (on a fricking weekend!) having been paid 50% up front back in OCTOBER - always something else getting in the way. THey were pretty affronted that i asked them to use better coverings / dust sheets - did an entire day with nothing at all on the floor. I'll have to get curtains dry cleaned. Thank god I'm decorating afterwards anyway as they left spatters of wet plaster everywhere - made zero effort to clear up properly. I've got another urgent plumbing job that i've had three quotes on and none of them can be arsed to do to the job - it's too big for a domestic plumber / not big enough for commercial. They are rolling in work, lucky devils.

I don't understand how there's no accountability!

You need to get everything in writing regarding their standard of work & finish - how they protect everything plus cleaning up after/repairing any damage

Then you just point at it and ask when it will be done

Agree it's a minefield - I do this now after I couldn't cope with any more crap work (am a landlord)

Yes! We moved to a renovation project last year so have had lots in doing different things. They all do their job well but leave it a mess and seem to not care about damaging other parts. The only ones who have done things really thoughtfully have been our builders who have done our extension and also done all the electrics/plastering/painting/tiling etc for that part - obviously because they are in charge of the whole part.

Yes! Kitchen painters managed to splash the floor, the door handles, the skirting board...I would have been better off doing it myself.

Plus - he decanted the remaining paint into one of my best glass jugs as a "favour".

We just had wooden flooring put in our hallway. They did an excellent job. Also had bi-folds put in our kitchen 6 months ago - another excellent job. Both workmen scrupulously tidied up after themselves.

So not all workmen are thoughtless.

A close family member had her kitchen done a couple of years back and one of the carpenters used the newly surfaced kitchen island as a rest while he was sawing through wood and scratched the soapstone surface and having got that sorted, she came across them doing the very same thing a week later. They also smashed an expensive light fitting and dropped plaster over skirting boards and radiators.

They also didn't bring their own equipment and borrowed and damaged an expensive hoover, dropped plaster all over her ladder steps and let it dry on, ruined a kettle, a carpet (despite it being covered in a double layer of plastic) and scraped all the paint on her front door and hall doors.

Oh My, where do I start?

Plumbers are definitely the worst, even the ones who are Corgi/GasSafe registered, so not only the cowboys/bodgers. Twice we've had "professionals" to do plumbing/heating work, and both times we had leaks from their bodged pipe connections. We had qualified electricians leave the house unsafe when they fitted the electrics to our new kitchen - they crossed over the different electrical circuits in the house instead of keeping them separate. "Time served" C&G decorator who couldn't hang wallpaper straight - it had a pattern which dropped 2 feet from the left hand corner of the wall to the right hand corner, despite the corners being vertically true. Our landscape gardener, another long established trusted firm, relaid our front lawn, but didn't put down any new sand/soil over the rocky/shingle base, and then left half the turf stacked up for 4 days over a hote bank holiday weekend before they laid it, which meant it was dead - all they said was to sprinkle some lawn seed on it!

None of these were odd job men etc. They were all long established, well known, tradesmen, all advertising they were qualified/experienced, etc., and we never chose the cheapest either. We always do what we can to avoid the cheap and cheerful and go for what we think are reputable firms, but even that doesn't work.

Oh, I forget our kitchen fitter, who turned up (as promised) on the Monday morning, ripped out the entire kitchen, then buggered off for the rest of the week. He said as he left on Monday, see you tomorrow! When he didn't turn up Tuesday morning, we phoned and he said he'd be there in the afternoon. Didn't show, then didn't show Wednesday morning either, phoned him and he said a client had phoned with an emergency, but he'd be with us that afternoon. And so it went on, day after day. Again, this wasn't some off job man out of the Zit magazine - it was from a local kitchen/bedroom showroom.

Why do they turn up, tell you what needs or can be done to repair or do the job then go off and you never hear from them again even though they say "I'll send you/ring you/ drop by with the estimate/quote."

Roofers eh!

We've just had the opposite problem. We need something done to the seals in the conservatory roof, which will involve their standing on ladders outside. It was sheeting with rain the day they were supposed to come so we rang and suggested they came on another, drier day. They were really reluctant, but we were worried for their safety! It's been rearranged

My family are in the building trade and they are constantly having to deal with the bodging and fuck ups of cowboys. Usually if you can find one good tradesman they will have contacts that they are happy to share. And personal recommendations are also key.

Unfortunately the only other way is to ensure you're covered by their insurance and get everything in writing but that only helps deal with the fallout rather than avoiding the problem.

I think they have licencing schemes in other countries (USA, France), but the downside is it makes it more expensive and in some places in France it seems almost impossible to get stuff done.

@DynamoKev

I think they have licencing schemes in other countries (USA, France), but the downside is it makes it more expensive and in some places in France it seems almost impossible to get stuff done.

But we have some similar schemes in the UK, such as for gas engineers and electricians, but even those with the "magic certificate" still foul things up. We had a GasSafe engineer who fitted a gas fire in our lounge. We had awful smells from it - he just said to open the windows and turn it to full as it was just the dust burning off. We did that for several days but it was no better. He came back, claimed to test the vents/flu with smoke bombs, said it was all fine. Still awful smells, so we had him back 2 or 3 more times. Eventually he admitted defeat, said he'd fitted it properly and told us to contact the manufacturers of the fire. We did and they sent an engineer who took the front off and promptly condemned it as unsafe due to it being fitted incorrectly - he showed us the fitting instructions and even us could see that the pipes/tubes etc had been fitted wrong - they didn't match the illustration in the instruction book. We got the original fitter out again, who huffed and puffed because he had to take it all out, drill another hole in the wall, refit the fire, re-cement the holes, etc., and then turned it on again. He went away claiming none of that was necessary, he knew what he was doing etc., the way he fitted it was better than the illustration/instructions, etc. Guess what? No awful smells! Shame he could have saved himself so much wasted time if he'd just read the sodding instructions himself instead of arrogantly thinking he knew best!

We've been lucky so far. A few weeks ago we had a decorator in who didn't leave a speck of paint anywhere despite being told that the carpet would be ripped out soon and not to worry about any paint splats. A plumber who fixed our flush mechanism took away the old mechanism, packaging etc. Had similar experiences in the past.

Now actually getting any tradespeople is another matter - they're like gold dust (Kent). Finding a plumber took us weeks.

I'm lucky in that now I live in a small rural area, and wherever possible, only use local tradesmen that are locally known and recommended. Because they work in this small area, they know their reputation is important, and (touch wood), we've had pretty good experiences. I ask my local friends if there's someone new I need. Also, when I have a good tradesperson in, I ask if they know of a good plumber/electrician etc. It's been interesting how many of the tradespeople I've used who know each other. Oh, and I also am acquainted with a few builders, they've been REALLY helpful over the years.

I should add though, the other thing is to be patient. If there's a tradesperson you want, sometimes you've got to wait until they have the time (and I've waited for months), also a good sign of good workmanship if they're that booked up.

It is so odd that they leave such a mess, we have had so many bad experiences. My DH is a plumber and carries his own hoover so he can leave his work area cleaner that when he arrived.

Like some other posters I have family who work in gas/plumbing and another who works as an architect (I'm not certain he is one but rather a related field) who has good contacts. While we very rarely actually use them for anything we do ask them for recommendations as they will recommend people who have either done a good job for them or who they know personally from their work. They also know exactly who so steer clear of, you clearly need to hope a family member either goes into a trade or marries someone who is.
Like another poster said, lay out in a contract beforehand exactly what is expect down to the tiniest detail if it's important to you. If the person you're dealing with won't agree to it/don't think it's needed then you know they're probably not the person for you. Also, if you're using someone who has a social media presence leave a review, if you think they did a good job overall but we're late and not very tidy say that. Some people won't care they weren't tidy but would be useful for someone like you.

I agree with getting local recommendations and being patient. We use an excellent building company who coordinate all the trades, and they are beautifully tidy, polite, reliable, hardworking and take pride in what they do. BUT they are expensive, and booked up for months, so it is essential to plan major work in advance. As they’ve now done a lot of work for us, we have all their individual numbers and if something goes wrong or we need something small doing, they always squeeze it in.

Before we found this company though, we had some horrors. You learn.

I think the problem is that there aren’t enough skilled tradespeople. It goes back to the polytechnics being turned into universities, and young people being told that a degree in any old thing was better than learning a trade. It devalued the trades as a career path, which was a disaster.

I fully agree. I’m getting a new kitchen and have made a lot of decisions based on keeping tradesmen and maintenance people out of my house once this work is finished. eg I declined to purchase a boiling water tap because they need regular maintenance whereas I can just order a new electric kettle myself.

I don’t know if you have been getting recommendations but I think it helps weed out the worst ones. And sometimes you need to be prepared to wait a while for the good ones.

Wow. We've had major work done over the last year on the wreck of a house we bought, and all of the tradesmen we've used have behaved impeccably. Many of them were found via Checkatrade and were selected for being well reviewed. Maybe there's a steer for you there.

I blame the Labour Party . They were the ones who wanted 50% of people to go to university thus making it seem learning a trade was not good enough.
We now have millions of people with degrees working in MW jobs whilst those that learnt a trade are the ones living in big houses.
It’s slightly ironic that Tony Blair who’s mantra was education education education has a son who is a millionaire by setting up a business involved in apprenticeships.