Yep, fully agree. I've just finished fully decorating our DS's room. Decorator wanted to charge £1,200 and said it would take a week. That's on top of the materials, etc. I stripped it myself (half day), sanded down all the woodwork (1 hour). Filled all cracks, gaps, holes and then sanded down (2 hours). Undercoated it all (2 hours). Top coated it all (2 hours). Repapered it all (1 full day). The job is immaculate and I'm very proud of myself - every bit as good as a professional decorator would have taken and less time - not to mention saving myself £1,200.
Last time we had a decorator in, the job was, again, a full week, but he came and went constantly, doing half day here and there, arriving mid morning, leaving mid afternoon, long lunch breaks, going to buy more materials, etc. We were basically paying for his time to do other things, i.e. quoting for other jobs, probably doing other small jobs alongside, etc. Even then we could see the joins on the wallpaper, rough cuts top and bottom, paint drips everywhere, and horrendously untidy papering around light switches and sockets.
OH has just been on the roof (single story part of house) to replace a cracked tile and replace a leaky gutter. The roofers we got quotes from were around £500 plus materials. It took OH an hour.
I think we all need to be getting smarter, doing more DIY, etc. The shortage of tradesmen is only going to get worse, and they're going to be more likely to give poor service and over charge!