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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why no plumber wants to take our money???

33 replies

00100001 · 13/09/2022 09:15

All we want is a new bathroom installed.

Had SIX guys out to scope the job.

All six were recommended by others as being the type to definitely get back etc

2 no shows
4 people looked, said they would send quotes.... And NOTHING.

Seriously, a guy could turn up in Stetsons, a cowboy hat and a revolver and I'd give them the money in cash!

Why does noone want the work??

OP posts:
Whyareblokesonhere · 13/09/2022 09:20

They've read your other Mumsnet posts?

Sorry silly humour,. It's probably just down to having so much demand that they can pick and choose the most profitable, doesn't really excuse it and would put me right off but equally the power has certainly switched the other way round now, might be different in a years time

BonesOfWhatYouBelieve · 13/09/2022 09:34

We've had the same issue. Can't even get people to come round and quote for a new bathroom.
I assume they're busy enough they can afford to turn down work.

abovedecknotbelow · 13/09/2022 09:35

They've got bigger / more profitable projects on and can effectively pick and choose. Same with all trades here at the moment and has been for a long time.

ShandaLear · 13/09/2022 09:39

Took me 6 goes to find someone to paint my house, and even then there was a 2 month lead in time for a 3 day job. The cost was staggering too.

Hymnulop · 13/09/2022 09:44

You need to look smaller and local, try local Facebook groups recommendations (but be wary and research hard before committing to anyone once they've quoted you)

Or Do you need other work doing to the house you could get done at the same time to make the project bigger therefore more worthwhile?

Also if you're supplying the bathroom suite yourself a lot of builders don't like that so might be why they've ignored you.

BorgQueen · 13/09/2022 09:49

Do you have the next door app in your area?
There are always tradespeople advertising and people wanting things done.
DH will probably get most of his work on there and facebook once he qualifies as a gas engineer.

tenbob · 13/09/2022 09:51

Have you tried the ‘my builder’ type websites where you post details of the job and then builders pay to be able to contact you? There are a few of them that work on the same system

It weeds out the ones who don’t want the work, because the won’t pay the fee to get in touch

its been a few years since I used that site for a builder so someone can hopefully recommend the current one to use

AchatAVendre · 13/09/2022 09:56

Theres no-one round here willing to do any form of trades. Worse still, if you try really really hard to phone them up and speak to them in person, they like to wax lyrical about how wonderful they are, how satisfied their customers are, how great their standard of work is, how busy they are, and once you have listened to all of that for about 20 minutes and eventually talk them round to coming out to do a quote, you never hear from them again. Or they come and do the quote, you try to book in a date and you never hear from them again.

I know locally that they all prefer quite sort of gullible clients whom they can charge a lot, rather than people who know what they are doing.

The solution for us has been to get trades from elsewhere, often a couple of hours a drive away, using people we have used before elsewhere or calling in a favour from friends. And we pay their petrol. Its amazing how some people are willing to travel for work in order to have a full diary but local trades can't be bothered to even respond. I once used some Polish builders who were great and very very quick, but they went back to Poland.

SofiaSoFar · 13/09/2022 09:58

I think if you are prepared to wait a bit longer, you'll see more trades keen to pick up what work they can.

With inflation where it is, even those with an "I've got money so I'll spend it, to hell with tomorrow..." view point will be forced to rein it in.

JaniceBattersby · 13/09/2022 09:58

Commercial clients are much, much more lucrative and there’s so much work around at the moment that tradesmen can pick and choose. My husband works in the construction industry and could quite easily book in work for the next two years if he wanted to.

workinmums · 13/09/2022 10:00

Tradesmen are in high demand everywhere at the moment. My DH had to turn himself into a plumber, tile layer, joiner and decorator in order to get some work done. We ended up saving loads but its a lot of hard work and hassle which is why we wanted to pay for a professional.

Stade197 · 13/09/2022 10:03

We recently had the same issue with plasterers, we messaged a few for quotes, 2 didn't show up and 3 came out to look and said they would send quotes but even after chasing them up we never heard from them, so frustrating!

Chikapu · 13/09/2022 10:03

It's taken us months to find someone to refurbish our bathroom, same as you we've had people out promising quotes and never heard a thing. We have someone now but we've waited three months for a start date.
He has a lot of new builds that he's fitting bathrooms and kitchens for and I imagine the money is worth putting other people off for.

Cheesies · 13/09/2022 10:11

We had to use Wickes in the end as we spent two years trying to get independent fitters to commit.

Tessasanderson · 13/09/2022 10:16

Maybe you are giving off the wrong impression. My FIL does it and now no contractor will go anywhere near him. He is a perfectionist andbacks it up with a horrible attitude which means it not worth doing the job for him.

If you have had 6 tradespeople round and not one has quoted, its you. It must be. Are you talking discounts throughout? Are you inflexible with timescales? Are you demanding before you have even let them see the job? Are you simply not very nice?

At the end of the day, at the moment tradespeople can afford to be choosy. That will change soon enough when people run out of money to pay for jobs. But at the moment they are probably still playing catch up on jobs and can afford to put your job off in favour of nice jobs, pleasant people and more money.

Think about it.

smittenkittennn · 13/09/2022 10:16

Try Wickes. If you buy your bathroom fittings there they have fitters they work with. You don't even have to source everything from Wickes.

SILdidittoo · 13/09/2022 10:20

We can get a plumber, no problem, but a plasterer? No chance.
Having said that when we wanted a full bathroom refurb we used one company to do the whole thing and their waiting list is six months.

honeyandbutterontoast · 13/09/2022 10:23

It’s the same for all trades. I’m still waiting for an electrician I contacted (who was recommended) six weeks ago to come round and quote. It’s to replace every switch and socket in the house so a fair amount of work, but I’m happy for it to be done a few at a time around other work, but clearly he’s too busy.

The same with plumbers, painters, etc. Most of the time they don’t even return a call let alone actually come and quote. Or if they do quote it’s so outrageously expensive that it’s clear they don’t need the job.

Managed to find a plasterer who came the same week, did a good job and only wanted a reasonable amount. Felt like Christmas :)

Pixiedust1234 · 13/09/2022 10:23

I just wish they would be honest and say they are too busy. At least that gives you a chance to look elsewhere. It the waiting around for weeks to hear nothing thats so annoying.

Butterfly44 · 13/09/2022 14:48

As someone said - my builder.
Great we site to put what you want doing and wait for local trades to get in touch.
Built on reputation and feedback which is important to them. I've used it several times for small jobs!

girlfriend44 · 13/09/2022 15:19

Another vote for Next Door website lots of ppl ask on there and get work and on local Facebook groups.

galacticpixels · 13/09/2022 15:27

No advice but we've had the same issue trying to find an electrician to do some work on our new house. It's so frustrating because we're going to do most of the rest of the work on the house ourselves (floors, painting etc) but are stalled until we can find someone to do electrical stuff first.

Original poster
00100001 · 13/09/2022 17:49

We got these recommendations from the village FB group 😔

OP posts:
Original poster
00100001 · 13/09/2022 17:50

smittenkittennn · 13/09/2022 10:16

Try Wickes. If you buy your bathroom fittings there they have fitters they work with. You don't even have to source everything from Wickes.

Cheers

OP posts:
Kashmirsilver · 13/09/2022 17:51

SofiaSoFar · 13/09/2022 09:58

I think if you are prepared to wait a bit longer, you'll see more trades keen to pick up what work they can.

With inflation where it is, even those with an "I've got money so I'll spend it, to hell with tomorrow..." view point will be forced to rein it in.

I don't agree, the cost to the consumer is NOT going to go down anytime soon.
On the books pay is strong atm, so sole trader/SME charges will also reflect that value. The pandemic slowed business considerably, there's 2yrs worth of work on top of current projects to do.

I think if you're prepared to wait and are flexible you'll find someone. However some jobs are more appealing than others, So businesses are picking and choosing. Bathrooms are notoriously labor and time intensive.