Why is there so much disdain towards tradesmen on MN?

[Enfys1982]

I’m genuinely baffled by it. Most of the men in my family are in trade. including my dad and brother. They are not lazy cowboys or crooks, my dad has worked since he started his apprenticeship when he was fifteen and has never been out of work since (he’s now semi retired) and barely had a day off sick either. He pays all his taxes and his is a registered Limited company with companies house. All are as honest as the day is long. No tax dodging or cash in hand jobs.

Please also be assured that none of them are ‘thick’ as posters are implying on one thread. You won’t see a ‘thick’ plumber or electrician as they need good GCSE grades, particularly in Maths, English and Science, to get a place at college to train. It’s very, very competitive and anything less than a B is pushing it for a place. They’re not going to let ‘thick people’ install gas boilers or rewire peoples homes ffs🙄

Rant over!

Then do the work yourself. Or find a female tradespersons

I know a few tradies who did go to university - big-name universities too. The trade is a second career for them. These tend to be very good.

How do you propose they buy materials?

I always thought of trades as a good job to have, and knowing multiple family members in trades I grew up thinking of then as hard working, high earning etc. But in my adult life (having moved away from family) I have experienced people not getting back to me, not turning up when they say they will, doing a poor job, generally being terribly unreliable.... Electricians, plumbers and plasterers (the absolute worst IME), all sorts of trades.

I have only had work done by two different tradespeople that I would actually recommend to others. The worst of it is that they are so in demand, it's like they are doing you a favour by taking on a job (that they are being well paid to do!) And sometimes you get so desperate you have to just try to book anyone who will turn up.

What materials? I would expect them to have their own tools. Most trades just need to bring their know-how. They don’t need “materials” for lots of jobs.

Yep. Why don’t they buy their own materials and factor the cost into the invoice, payable upon completion? I don’t know any other trade that bills this way.

@daisypond materials aren't tools.

Do you expect all trades to have materialises like say plaster, or plumbing fittings, or specific cabling or switches or anything else just laying around waiting for the right job?

Comments confusing materials with tools is a really good example of most people not having a clue what they're talking about.

We had a new kitchen tap fitted this week. The young plumber arrived within his allotted time, put on shoe covers before he came in. We had bought a replacement tap, the fittings needed to be changed, he was efficient, clean and tidy, and pleasantly professional. 10/10.

People tend to mention when things go wrong, rather than right.

Because they don't do what they say they will most of the time !

If you find a good one or company it's rare IME !!

I could not care less what someone's background is. All I care about is them turning up and doing the job properly.

Incidentally can anyone explain the thinking behind quoting massively over the odds in order not to get the job, instead of saying something like "thanks for thinking of me but I'll not be able to fit this in"? Had someone a few years ago quote £3,500 to lay paving slabs on a flat piece of ground measuring 2m by 5m. Ended up putting stone chip down instead myself for about £200, which wasn't what we wanted

No one is confusing materials and tools!
But if I need my washing machine installed, it doesn’t need any materials. I still need a tradesman to do it. If I want a room painting, I buy the paint. The tradesman brings his brushes and rollers. There are no materials.

@daisypond so you have bought the materials yourself. Do you think everyone does? You also literally said 'what materials' and 'tools'.

Evidently you're confused about something since you asked what materials trades buy. Do you think all customers buy their own materials because you'd be wrong.

No but they should form part of the quote payable upon completion of the job. Nobody else asks for money for ‘materials’ for example cake makers. They provide a quote, you pay it when the job is done. I’ve paid for materials only for them to be held ransom at tradespeople’s houses for weeks because they’ve cancelled the job date and now ‘can’t fit me in’. It’s madness.

It’s the snobby British thing, as evidenced by many of the ignorant comments on this thread. Being a tradie in Aus is viewed as a very good option, you can earn a lot of money and people don’t look down their noses or if they do they are pretty stupid as tradies earn a lot more than many “professionals”. I only have serious house envy with two friends, both are married to builders.

Well yeah because they’re not going to do such a shit job with their own houses are they?

It’s the snobby British thing, as evidenced by many of the ignorant comments on this thread

Not this snobby rubbish again

Has anyone who cries "snobbery" actually explained what's snobby about expecting a contractor to:
Turn up when they say they will
Work a decent working day without disappearing for half the day
Not trash your house
Do a decent job
Make sure their work is safe

No wonder there's enough piss-takers and rip off merchants out there when expecting an honest and reliable service for a job you pay for is deemed as snobby.

Why? Because they are unreliable as fuck, and don't put the work in any more!

The 'that will do' attitude MOST of them has infuriates people. It's a job that should attract the perfectionists!

And they make a mess and don't clean up after themselves! Even the ones who do clear up still don't do it right.

DISCLAIMER: I am still waiting for my door handles to be fitted properly on internal doors from October! And he was the THIRD man I booked to fit FIVE internal doors.

The first one kept saying he was on his way and lied all day on the day he was supposed to turn up to do the job.

The second one turned up, absolutely off his head, telling me he'd been given too much codeine by the dentist before he came to me and left my house and yard in the worst mess they have ever been.

The third one, who I have been waiting for to come back since October, is a friend of a friend of a friend and has had a lot of family issues, which I had sympathy for,
but my patience has run out now!

I feel sorry for the good ones, I too am affected by shitty services provided by those in my field, that then affects how potential clients view me...

But - when people have experienced MULTIPLE examples of tradespeople who don't show up when they say they will, show up late, piss off early, who have limited skills when it comes to reading and writing (I have had to read websites and order fittings for a tradesperson who could not read and was relying on the layout of the website not changing to find the right product!), poor book keeping skills, zero customer service or management skills...

Then theres the outright liars and rip off merchants who are intentionally deceiving customers, rather than simply being inept.

The industry needs to up its game and it is not the customers who can control this, we don't find out a tradesperson is crap until AFTER we've attempted to or actually hired them and often not until we owe them money. That is too late to do anything productive about it.

So it falls to the industry itself to root out and boot out the shitty ones.

Funny that I’ve never met anyone who has been done over by a trades person. Nor have I heard of any not turning up

On a site stuffed full of batshittery and trolling, I think this has to be most obvious piece of deluded nonsense I've seen on here by quite a margin.

DP's dad was a joiner (now retired), brilliant at his job, didn't stick the arm in, turned up when he said he would. So, going by him alone, I already know that there are fabulous and reliable tradesmen. He's also a smart guy.

BUT I'm sorry, there are loads of cowboys. There really are. And people aren't going to come on Mumsnet to say what a fantastic experience they had. They come on to have a good moan about a negative experience. We have just had a loft conversion done and the building firm was fucking useless. Not following the plans. Terrible joinery. Not turning up for days and not telling us. Damaging our property. Making a pig sty of our garden. Not protecting surfaces. I could go on. We're still waiting, months after the job was 'finished', for them to come back and fix all the shit that isn't working.

I would be happy for my child to pursue a trade, as I think it is a good job and there is a HUGE gap in the market for reliable tradespeople who TURN UP WHEN THEY SAY THEY WILL.

You are being deliberately obtuse.

Yes, and they know they're respected, which makes them easy to deal with. There isn't an undercurrent of passive-aggressiveness which (putting this gently and politely) is a feature of UK life and might explain the comments about snobbery etc!

Which isn't to say there aren't cowboys here too but you can avoid them just by going to an established firm.

Finding builders in the other hand...

@Enfys1982

and most of the bankers in the city have a massive cocaine habit. I’m not quite sure what the point your making is really?

The fact that “most” of the bankers in the City (what was that you were moaning about - tarring people with the same brush, was it?) is a) a gross exaggeration but, more important, b) irrelevant.

I imagine the point the PP was making was that she found a tradesman whom she’d retained to do a job of work for her unlawfully taking drugs during that work, which a) wastes time and b) seriously compromises his ability to do a good job on an appliance in her home.

It’s very easy to understand. As someone else who’s been cheated more than once by tradesmen (the third time with really serious consequences), it’s clearly a prevalent problem.