To expect just ONE tradesperson to do a good job?

[EtnaVesuvius]

We’re having work done on our house at the moment so have employed various tradespeople - everything from carpenters to plumbers to garden services.

I’m not super fussy/difficult and haven’t always gone for the cheapest quote but almost without fail they have done a crap job - either spectacularly so or just with lack of attention to detail. I honestly wouldn’t recommend a single on of them.

What is happening?

How are you finding them? the only decent tradespeople I've found have been recommendations through my local Facebook page. Even then, it's worth keeping an eye on who's doing the recommending (eg is it the partner/spouse doing the recommending). How far are they booked up? I've waited 3-4 months for the good ones.

We totally renovated our last house and some trades were good, some bad, some dangerous (gas and electric wise). Several were aggressive when it came to payment and snagging, several were sexist to me (who knows a lot more about it than my husband), several said inappropriate things. They all slagged off other trades work and we’re rude to other tradespeople doing work concurrently. Most who came out to ‘quote’ didn’t actually quote. I had to chase for promised electric and corgi certificates and mainly they didn’t come.

Price made no different as we had some cheaper and some more expensive.

The whole experience was awful. I’m about to do it again and I’m terrified. I think I’ll just live with the artex and 70s kitchen!

@Icelandeesh

Prepare for it to be just as bad but 3x as expensive as last time :(

I'm paying £4000 over the odds (I hope, please visa) just so I can go with Victoria plumbing in case I need small claims court, optimistic.

After 30 years living in one area, I now have a rolodex section stacked with the names and cards of reliable trades people. Sadly some of them are getting on a bit now, and most are over 50. My joiner, kitchen fitter, co-project manager and go-to fix everything is brilliant, if slow... it will be months before he gets on with a planned project, but in a real emergency he will arrive with a smile. I don't share his name and number unless I love you very dearly.

I have had a similar experience building a house and it wasn't anything to do with price - I paid for high end but the tradesmen but they were still dreadful.

I am witholding payment from half a dozen different tradesmen while I wait for things to be sorted!

They also all try to find ways to charge more than the original quote and they can be threatening when you stand your ground. I am not paying you more because you put in a low quote to get the job and now want more money than the others who quoted!

If I need a plumber I'll phone my trusted joiner or plasterer for a recommendation. When contacting the plumber I tell him who recommended him to me. Knowing full well that plumber will then ask joiner " Have you worked for bazooka? " I have built a reputation as an excellent person to work for, very clear, particular, attentive and straightforward. The site will be clear and ready when they arrive; hot drinks offered at regular intervals otherwise I keep out of their way. The day they finish the job, I pay.

I'm in a similar position, @2bazookas , but I get recommendations from my trusted plumber. He's only had his own business for about 5 years, and he's already too busy to take on new customers. He did a few small jobs for me, then replaced my boiler, then a year later fitted a new bathroom. His tiler and carpenter were both excellent, and the chippy has since done a few smaller jobs for me. He also recommended an electrician who I have used a couple of times. I have an excellent plasterer, who I've known for years, and who I really trust.

My BIL has his own building company and he has great tradesmen, but they're all in E Surrey and are reluctant to come this far south. BIL is so busy, he's not even doing quotes for new customers and he's currently booking work for next July.

It's really hard getting tradesmen in the SE at the moment, and I daresay it's the same everywhere. Another Brexit benefit, I reckon.

On the flip side, I’ve been having extensive renovations and have used multi skilled as well as specialist trades and without exception they have all experienced nightmare clients. Those who change specs at short notice and expect them to be incorporated immediately. Clients that don’t empty rooms or remove old kitchens when the specification agreed they would be and kick off when they have to stick to agreed timescales and the job is delayed. And all had clients that failed to pay balances and used flimsy excuses about ‘snagging’ where expectations are way over the standard of the budget agreed.
they are now super wary and have upped their prices accordingly.
Their take on things is that people likely have totally unrealistic expectations of what their money buys, expecting bespoke for mass produced poor quality.

Hmm…we ve just spent quite a lot of money repairing the leak caused by the shower installed by our Eastern European predecessors , rewiring the kitchen where they were running five appliances from one closed socket behind the fridge and re installing the smoke alarms which they decided to wire into the burglar alarm.

The best trades I’ve used are ones that I got through my old job and they actually worked in commercial jobs, so efficient and did a really good job. Had new stair railings and custom coat cupboard, plastering and electrics done to a really good standard. Now I’ve left my old job really struggled with plasterers one nicked off with our step ladders and good screw driver we didn’t notice till we needed to paint a few weeks later and the latest plasterer did an ok job and I would use again but still not at the same standard as before.

I got several quotes and recommendations for all of them

Personal recommendations from people you know or online reviews? Because too many of the latter are faked

And how were they sourced - directly or via one of these "find a tradesman" sites? Again looking at the second option, decent tradespeople don't need to use them

I said ‘recommendations’, so I meant ‘recommendations’.

Sorry for the sarcasm, I’m just tired of people thinking I’m an idiot.

@FangsForTheMemory Ive had a similar experience, tend to stick to Facebook recommendations but I’m cautious about the posters!

I’ve also found recommend by the brand people good - e.g. we’ve had a Rockdoor installed but used the person recommended on the Rockdoor website and opted for the ‘one man band’ rather than the larger companies (also plied him with drinks, ice lolly’s etc.. to keep him happy, plus it was that really hot weather & he was doing a lot of lifting etc… didn’t want him fainting in the heat or anything!)

But also…. We do a lot ourselves now. I can plaster to a reasonable standard now!

For the past 20 years or so, young people have been pushed into staying on at school and going to university. We don't have enough young people going on vocational courses to learn very real skills. Where are the technical colleges? Why aren't we like some Scandinavian countries where every trade is viewed as a craft and highly respected? We've got people who should be labourers no more, who are advertising themselves as plasterers. That's not how it works. The painter and decorator who has recently decorated my house is a British worker in his mid 60s. He has done an absolutely amazing job, his work is superb. He came highly recommended and I had to wait months.