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

[EmbarrassingMother]

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?

I wouldn't consider this cheeky at all, and I've never paid a call out charge for work to be quoted either. I imagine they just think it's convenient since the builder is there.

Yes he's YOUR builder. He's not allowed to talk to anyone else.

The guy is a plumber, the man has a broken toilet. I don't really see why he shouldn't ask him to look at it. That is his professional career!
It doesn't necessarily mean he was trying to get him to do it for free. My plumber takes calls from other clients while he's working in my house. It's up to him to manage his own workload. As long as the job is done on time then I don't really see the issue.

This. They are not YOUR builder and this is how many of my tradie friends get business. You can't be precious about this

Ye, they don't quote per hour as such but for how long the job will take

If they went and did a job for someone for free and then took longer on your job as well they'd be losing out double.

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 builder having refused may suggest you're right
It's normal for someone to ask if they'd have a look at their job once they've finished - either for the day or completely - but it makes a difference if she expected them to "pop in" right now

Especially since "popping in" is so often followed by "Could you just ..."

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. We had a builder for months when we first moved here. I came home one day (mid all the work) to find him retiling next doors storm porch. I never once thought I was paying the builder while he did work for my neighbour. Ultimately he had quoted me a price and I paid that price, he didn’t bung on an extra £200 for a bit of tiling. I’m sure the neighbour paid him. Another neighbour also got him to do some chimney work.

non issue 🙄

It doesn't necessarily mean he was trying to get him to do it for free

True, @BobbyBiscuits, but as I just mentioned the tradesman refusing might well suggest that's exactly what they expected

After all getting jobs from other jobs is perfectly normal, so something must have happened to make him decline

Had this - the neighbour actually trailed into my flat and kept yakking on about her sodding boiler.
I just interrupted after a few minutes with the fact that I'd previously put the guys' number to her specifically on the WhatsApp group, I was currently paying him by the hour to fix my boiler, not discuss hers. Then said boiler guy could visit her when he'd finished if he had time, or she could call him.
He was glad I'd got rid of her.

@Puzzledandpissedoff it's good he wanted to finish your job first. But realistically he could probably manage a few other small jobs around the one he was doing for you. He was obviously too busy. Or maybe he will go there once your job is complete. I honestly wouldn't get too het up about this.

I think CF territory. If you've got a broken toilet you call a plumber and there is a call out fee, it's not like getting a one-off quote.

Our neighbours had a tree surgeon in and we asked if he’d take out a big bush while he was there. He did it and only charged us £20. Don’t know how my neighbour felt about it.

He removed the door furniture entirely, let DS out, then switched the handle with the lock to the outside of the toilet door.

Totally normal thing to do. The builders just pop by on their break to quote for the work. And it’s efficient for them to do a job nearby as they already have tools on site. As long as they don’t start the job before they’ve finished the first one. What a weird weird thing to get upset about.

I think the neighbour should have asked him to take a look, after he was finished your job. I hate when neighbours do this. We have scroungers next door who try to get everything at the expense of others. When we had somebody doing a job, the mean old woman came out, pounced on the poor man who was busy working, started asking questions, trying to get him to fix stuff in her garden for free! She wasn't paying half, and she curtain twitched the entire time! 😡
Some do it to try to get it for free, or for a discount at your expense imo. Your neighbour's intentions may have been good, but ours were CF's dressed up in sheep's clothes!
Oh and the trademan wasn't impressed; they can spot cheeky fuckery a mile away I think.

Fuss over nothing

I have a feeling some of the posters on this thread may be the "CF neighbours" we are talking about. 😂

Seems like a mixed set of answers 🤣… I don’t think I’d have it in me to approach a builder in my neighbours front garden who is obviously working and cutting tiles and ask them to come and look at my toilet. I find it rude disturbing people when they’re working. They’re also working long hours to get my job done, as they have other jobs lined up and need to finish within time, so not sure they need to pick up extra little things along the way 🤔…

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest but I like our neighbours 😂.

I like our neighbours but I would be pissed off if they pulled a tradesman off a job they were doing for me, to look at a toilet

I assume your neighbour is not a clairvoyant and wouldn't know how many jobs your builder has lined up or how many hours he works. They asked, he said he is not interested. I'm not sure where you come in

I think I'd find that quite annoying

😕 I've done that this week. A man with a specific trade was doing a job next door and I spotted him when I went to put something in the bin. "Ooh are you a xxxx man? Can you knock on when you've finished because I need something like that?"

I didn't think I was being a cheeky fucker asking. He knocked on and fixed what I needed and I paid. Win win.

But isn’t that for the tradesperson to decide whether be can/wants to take on the job and when?

Seems you think that somehow this is all going to affect the timescale/quality of your job. Or are you just peeved that neighbour will have the benefit of the services of ’your’ good plumber?