AIBU to say that the key to a happy life is access to good tradespeople and the means to pay for them?

[Whatevergetsyouthroughthenight]

I have an old house which requires a lot of maintenance. Stuff is always going wrong.

I had a good tradesperson/bad tradesperson day yesterday and it affected my mood so much. My boiler was playing up (hot water), I picked up the phone, called the plumber, he answered and gave me a day and time next week to come and fix it. Bliss.

Meanwhile, the person who is supposed to have come round to fix a reoccurrence of a problem in my living room failed to materialise and it’s now been two weeks with all the furniture out of place waiting for them to come and do the job. Tried chasing them with no success. I was feeling quite teary after that.

YANBU: Good, reliable, easy to contact tradespeople that you can afford are key to a happy life.

YABU: A loving partner, family and friends make you far happier than finding good tradespeople.

*years of knowledge. Doh!

My local council operates a "handy person" service. Free if you are referred, on benefits or elderly etc, and £12.50 ph otherwise. They won't do big jobs like the roof 😂 but they will put up pictures, change lightbulbs, install TVs etc. it's amazing! I got them in recently to move some furniture, put up some massive paintings, install a shower screen and more. They take exactly the correct amount, although I offered extra, they were really nice and clearly not rip off merchants. I expect other councils may do the same.

I think my DM decided I should marry DH when the first time he came to stay she mentioned getting a plumber to replace a dripping tap and he looked at her like she was mad and offered to do it (and did it well).

I've got 10 btl houses and my life became much easier once I got a few selected tradesmen who I always use and in turn if I ring they prioritise my houses. I have a gas safe guy who is really good and he also does servicing all boilers and gas certificates too, a general handyman who is good with plumbing and carpentry and a painter/decorator who refreshes houses every 4 years. Before I got them I remember one day before Xmas Eve a boiler went and I went from A to S ringing every single gas safe in the book being I got the one I use now. I even cried down the phone I was so worried as my tenant had a newborn. The one who came on Xmas Eve I have given all my work to since and 8 years later still very happy with him. My family and good friends are priceless though, nothing would come above them.

corned I have a pirate roofer too! They don't look organised but they do a good job and even send nice professional emails.

@megletthesecond ours don't email but I do get very polite texts with kisses!

Oh and one of them would rescue one of our cats every single time she got stuck in the scaffolding. It was multiple times a day, she was obsessed.

I am lucky in that my husband does diy for a hobby and is good at it. But otherwise I would be stressed if things went wrong. I completely understand why you feel like that OP.

Those of you who are/married to/relatives of tradespeople, do you know why so many are late or don’t turn up? Why book so many jobs in if you can’t manage? Is not customer loyalty important? Surely if you were reliable and had a strong client base it would make you richer and happier? Isn’t it stressful annoying people and have them get angry with you? So many questions. Why do so many tradespeople fit this unreliable stereotype??

I would kill for a steady stream of tiny local jobs! I would earn slightly more money (or, more likely, shorten my hours and keep my income the same) and it would involve a lot less prep in terms of quoting and large orders of materials. Sadly my trade doesn't lend itself to many of these, and those there are will be usually mopped up by local handymen, brought in to fix a variety of little bits across different trades. I'm lucky if I get 1 or 2 a month.

I don't think having good tradespeople make for a happy life as such, but a lack of or poor tradespeople can make for an unhappy one. As mentioned by PPs, you can lessen the risk of unhappiness by either learning a bit of DIY yourself or marrying someone who is handy. Youtube makes DIY-ing a much easier thing too (I often use it to do DIY tasks outside of my trade).

Where is this mythical place? I am moving there!

Fully agree OP. I have amassed as full complement of decent tradies and it makes me so happy that I don’t have to call around and kiss lots of frogs before somebody does the job.

If I could find a decent cleaner (that stays good after the first few) my life would be complete!

Agree 100%!

It’s definitely a good thing to have. I’ve very much come to the conclusion that you can have good, or fast, or cheap, but you can’t get all three at once. The guy we always call for plumbing work is really good, and always comes out the same day for emergencies. He has never let us down and heating and plumbing issues are definitely less stressful than they used to be, but he’s bloody expensive.

Agree 100%

I'm in Australia and initially get all my tradies via hipages - I'm sure there's a version in the UK. I winnow out the numpties and silly quotes, and have, on average, selected well, with some diamond geezers that my neighbours ask me about later. I only tout for jobs I can't do myself. Sorry to say this, but I always pretend my late DH is still alive because treating women less well is still a thing.

In more than 10 years, I've only taken on two who I wouldn't employ again.

YABU

Local Facebook groups are the perfect place to get recommendations for trades people.

whatevergetsyouthroughthenight. It's the People's Republic of Camden. So we're probably paying big in other ways 😂 Not many people seem to know about it. We also have a Library of Things nearby where you can borrow all sorts of equipment and tools

Just a reminder that a ‘plumber’ isn’t qualified to fix a Boiler unless he/she is also a registered Gas safe engineer.

Also, people tend to think that a Gas engineer is also a Plumber, not always the case. My DH often gets customers asking him to look at their loo/kitchen tap etc. after he’s serviced their boiler and they are most put out when he says no.
Always, always, make sure that whoever you get to service/ fix your boiler is on the Gas safe register. Easily checkable online.
Don’t assume that if they ARE on the register that they have all Gas certificates.
Boilers are seperate to gas hobs, are seperate to gas fires - you need different qualifications for each 😉

I want to sell my house soon and there are some small jobs that need doing. The amount of stress it is causing, with people not answering and not continuing to respond after contact has been made has been unreal. I’m also having to do the whole thing in a difficult language as well, with building words and descriptions that are unfamiliar.

Back in the old days, I had a window cleaner, who would periodically ask if I wanted my gutters cleaning and various other things. This was blissful on both sides, I think, because he charged me more than those in the council houses that made up more than most of the village but, to me, it was still very reasonably priced!

So I know exactly what you mean, OP. Not being able to do things yourself and struggling to find anyone else to do them is a significant cause of unhappiness.

Those of you who are/married to/relatives of tradespeople, do you know why so many are late or don’t turn up? Why book so many jobs in if you can’t manage? Is not customer loyalty important? Surely if you were reliable and had a strong client base it would make you richer and happier?
My DH is reliable but he says the other builders we know are not because they don't always have good admin/customer service skills, can't say no ans take on too much work. Sometimes it's trying to squeeze jobs in for people that then grow arms and legs thus making them late for the next client.

The not turning up is a mystery though! Just rude!

That would be good advice if I had gas!
Oil boiler here. A friend is always telling me off for using the term ‘plumber’ when I mean ‘heating engineer’.

I rent my flat from a housing association so finding tradespeople is not my responsibility. The flat was purpose built 15 years ago so it's in pretty good nick anyway, I don't think I've ever had to have someone out.

Yes to this, happy to be married to a very good tradesman and I’m hoping my son follows his dads footsteps!

That seems very odd to me. Thank god I live in a very low maintenance flat. Have never needed to use tradespeople