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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Next door neighbour asking my builder to do some work in his house :/

110 replies

EmbarrassingMother · 05/10/2024 00:22

We are getting some renovations done in our house including a new bathroom.
today my husband was walking our child back from school and saw our neighbour chatting to our builder/plumber and asking him to come inside his house and check out his broken toilet. our lovely builder declined and told him he won’t check his house until he’s finished our job.

Isn’t this cheeky fucker territory? Husband thinks it’s not a big deal, but CFN was thinking he’d take our builder on our time and ask him to diagnose a problem… without having to pay a call out charge or anything. The fact my builder declined shows it was wrong. No?

OP posts:
Kittynoodle · 05/10/2024 00:26

Cf at its worst!!
glad your builder declined to assist

fallenbranches · 05/10/2024 00:31

Depends if he just meant 'take a look' or actually fix it. Depends what the relationship is like with your neighbour as we are really close with ours so I'd have no issue with a builder taking out 10 mins to just have a look in our time - but not to actually start fixing it. My DH is a builder and gets this a lot. In one way it's a good thing for him as this is how he gets more work and obviously people are seeing he is doing a good job elsewhere which is why they ask. However, common courtesy would be to wait outside of your building schedule.

MartinCrieffsLemon · 05/10/2024 00:40

"Take a look" doesn't mean "fix for free"
It's "if you've got a moment, can you pop in and just check this for me?"
Builder then might pop in at the end of the day and be like "ye, it's gonna need this, that and the other. Be around £X. Let me know and I'll get it in for after this job"

Unless your neighbour was then kicking up a fuss like "if you won't check now then I'll find someone else who wants the work" kind of thing..
No he wasn't cheeky to ask

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 05/10/2024 00:42

I don't think asking them to have a look at it is a problem as long as they don't start fixing it before finishing your job. It's sensible really.

TwattyMcFuckFace · 05/10/2024 00:43

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest, unless it took a ridiculously long amount of time to diagnose (doubtful) 😳

Plus no builder worth their salt would charge a call out fee for a quick quote.

TwattyMcFuckFace · 05/10/2024 00:45

Plus 'your' builder could've just said 'Yeah, I'll pop in before I go home mate' 🤷‍♂️

Honestly, the things some people get princessy about on Mumsnet.

Bobbie12345 · 05/10/2024 00:46

Wouldn’t bother me at all. 10 min for the builder to line up their next job so easily seems ok. I would expect them not to actually do the job until mine was finished though.

HRTQueen · 05/10/2024 00:50

I really don’t see what the issue is

Grabyourpassportandmyhand · 05/10/2024 00:53

Isn’t that now many tradespeople get jobs? Some even put up a sign with their phone number on it outside the house they are working on.
YABU.

bumblefeline · 05/10/2024 00:59

We have done this before when it's similar work we wanted done, just asked them to pop in and quote when he has a spare moment. Likewise our neighbour did the same to the guy we were getting a new fence from. Very normal way to get tradesmen. You don't have exclusivity over him.

bagginsatbagend · 05/10/2024 01:01

My husband is always being asked to pop round to just take a look at something. He’ll always say x time once he’s finished for the day he’ll pop round but never once was he expected to do anything for free or on the neighbours money. It’s always been a request to quote for a job because if he’s doing work for the neighbour then it’s worth them getting him to do the work for them as word of mouth is the best marketing for his business & how he gets the most work. Is there history there with your neighbour being a CF? I don’t see why you would assume the worst immediately unless there’s some history there

edited to add that he’s never been expected to go round immediately either, they just ask at the time so they don’t miss him packing up at the end of the day

GildedRage · 05/10/2024 01:06

my neighbors are great and if they've selected a workman to do xyz repair i can trust them to be good.
when they have had certain trades doing work i've popped over and asked for a business card.
i don't see that as cf territory.

AmeliaEarache · 05/10/2024 01:10

What’s it got your knickers in a knot for, OP? The builder isn’t in an exclusive relationship with you, he can pick up work from anyone.

RubyOrca · 05/10/2024 01:16

Nothing here suggests your neighbour was wanting you to pay for the job, or steal “your” time.

Chances are your neighbour just needed a tradie and figured they might as well see if the person literally outside was available. They might have been. They might have sent the apprentice to take a look. They might say not now but I’m free at lunch time.

k1233 · 05/10/2024 01:29

If I had something go wrong and there was an appropriate tradie working next door, of course I'd approach and ask them if they had time to look at the issue. I wouldn't expect them to do it while working on your job, but you don't own them 24/7 so they could stop on on their way home to look. Most tradies provide free quotes anyway, so its not like the neighbour is trying to save money on your dime.

Edingril · 05/10/2024 01:32

I dint see the issue sure if they take a look and go ahead and pay as long as your work gets done ehat on earth is the issue? That is how trades get jobs word of mouth

I really can't see an issue

Tittat50 · 05/10/2024 01:32

I'm really conscious of neighbour etiquette and id find this absolutely fine. If he went off for hours fixing it then understandably that's not ok. If neighbour has form for causing various problems or being generally difficult as a neighbour then I might see this post differently. But that isn't clear as an issue from the post.

When you look at some of the things people are dealing with in life this feels really silly. Its daft in the grand scheme really. Try get some perspective by looking at it like that.

MartinCrieffsLemon · 05/10/2024 01:43

TwattyMcFuckFace · 05/10/2024 00:45

Plus 'your' builder could've just said 'Yeah, I'll pop in before I go home mate' 🤷‍♂️

Honestly, the things some people get princessy about on Mumsnet.

Ye I'm wondering if OP thinks she "owns" the builder in some way because she's paying for set amounts of his time...

bagginsatbagend · 05/10/2024 01:44

GildedRage · 05/10/2024 01:06

my neighbors are great and if they've selected a workman to do xyz repair i can trust them to be good.
when they have had certain trades doing work i've popped over and asked for a business card.
i don't see that as cf territory.

This is what I was trying to get across in my post about my husbands business. It’s been a huge source of work for him, neighbours treating their neighbours judgement. They’d rather have someone their neighbour has used to do the work on their house than just choose someone they don’t know anything about. I definitely don’t see this as CF territory, I do all his admin/bookings/marketing etc so neither of us had ever had any negative feedback/complaints about a neighbour asking for a quote. So unless there’s some history that hasn’t been mentioned here I’m not really sure why it’s an issue but would be happy for any feedback off anyone on the thread who it would be an issue for; so we know if we’ve approached it the right way

Tellysavelas · 05/10/2024 01:46

YANBU, polite thing to do is get their number to approach them to have a look AFTER your work is complete.

TofuTart · 05/10/2024 01:49

TwattyMcFuckFace · 05/10/2024 00:45

Plus 'your' builder could've just said 'Yeah, I'll pop in before I go home mate' 🤷‍♂️

Honestly, the things some people get princessy about on Mumsnet.

This 😁
Also, did he mean right now?!
Might have seen them working and needed work done themselves and so thought worth an ask

TofuTart · 05/10/2024 01:51

Edingril · 05/10/2024 01:32

I dint see the issue sure if they take a look and go ahead and pay as long as your work gets done ehat on earth is the issue? That is how trades get jobs word of mouth

I really can't see an issue

Yeah same, we're having work done at the minute.
If one of the neighbours wants to approach them with work of their own, so what?!
As long as they're doing our work alright I don't care lol

HamSandwic · 05/10/2024 01:58

I dnt think it's an issue. Builder is also likely to receive calls about future work in the day.

timetogotobed · 05/10/2024 02:09

TBF I'm of the view I'm always pleased when contractors we have in then pick up extra work off the back of what they've done for us - we recently had someone in to sort our garden and he picked up 2 extra jobs from neighbours. Provided (as a PP said) it wasn't a 'can you sort it now' whilst he was on your clock as it were then I don't see the problem

MartinCrieffsLemon · 05/10/2024 02:11

HamSandwic · 05/10/2024 01:58

I dnt think it's an issue. Builder is also likely to receive calls about future work in the day.

Can you imagine that?

"AIBU... I'm having some work done and the builder stopped for 5 minutes to answer a call and speak to another customer, I thought this was really cheeky as they should only call in the evening when he's obvious finished and the builder shouldn't take calls whilst on my time?"