To be at the end of my tether with tradies

[hereismydog]

I’ve had three occasions recently where I’ve needed a tradesperson to do some work in my home. Several have come out and had a look, said they’d be in touch with a quote and then absolutely ghosted me. Three have given quotes, arranged a date to do the work and then not turned up at all, or cancelled 10 minutes after they were due to arrive. One started the job, left a gaping hole in my roof (in early December, when I was 38 weeks pregnant!) and then went AWOL for a week. He also refused to speak to me and would only ever speak to DP, even though I would be the one at home to let him in. He would ring DP at work and ask him to pass on a message to me, even though he had my number

I’m always very clear about the work I need doing so it’s not like I keep changing my mind and messing them about, and none of the jobs have been especially complex, nor too small to bother taking on.

Is it me? Or do I just live in an area with REALLY shit tradies? Not limited to one trade either; I’ve had similarly shit experiences with builders, roofers and plumbers so far!

Sadly similar here. We tried a female plumber for a couple of small jobs, but just as unreliable and flaky as her male counterparts. Not only that, but she wouldn't do any "heavy" work, like replacing a radiator or boiler - all she wanted to do were small jobs. One of the jobs was to repair a leaky pipe - it started leaking again a couple of days later, but she never came back to try again - happy enough to take the money for the first botched attempt, but just ghosted us when we asked her to come back and do it properly.

I detest those terms too. I thankfully never hear them in my area but I cannot bear Australian slang and it is best avoided whenever possible.

@Jabtastic

meaning that only the absolute bottom tier are seeing trades as an option

This is the real problem. It's like a race to the bottom in terms of "type" of person going into the trades. And that's just the ones wanting to do it properly via apprentice schemes. There's also the "underclass" of unskilled/unqualified ones who are like the wild west with shoddy work, probably also engaged in tax evasion/benefit fraud, etc., but getting work because there are so few decent tradesmen so people are desperate and take who they can get.

We need a national drive to improve the quality of people going into the trades, improve the quality and availability of training, and tackle the incompetents/fraudsters, all the entirely change the landscape of manual/skilled workers.

Who made you the language police?

The same person who appointed you as the thread police.

Yeah I found @ThinWomansBrain 's comment about the term 'Tradies' being offensive really odd too. She hasn't even been back to acknowldge that she was wrong. (Because the word is not offensive. Loads of people use it.)

Now another poster is at it too! 😂

@IHateWasps · Today 13:38

You are being very unreasonable to call them “Tradies”. I have never heard anyone use that term in this country before. Please keep that dreadful Australian slang where it belongs.

LOL, are you normally this offended at nothing? And the irony of you slating people for using what YOU class as an offensive term, and then going on to bash and berate Australian slang! Just because YOU can't BEAR it, that doesn't give you the right to tell others they can't use it!

As for the OP's issue, I feel your pain OP. I have had nothing but trouble with tradies for the past 3-4 years, so much so that me and DH tend to do most stuff ourselves now.

@zov I prefer to use professionals to carry out any work that needs doing in my home, haven't experienced the problems outlined by the OP, but you do you.

You'd probably be surprised that a number of people have agreed with my post,

You know when you've lost the argument, when you have to tell people that LOADS of people have 'liked' your post. 😆

I would like to see proof @ThinWomansBrain that a lot of people have liked your post saying 'tradies' is offensive and demeaning, but I doubt it will be forthcoming. My guess is it's less than 5. Especially as a heck of a lot of people have disagreed with you/told you that you're wrong in their posts!

@IHateWasps and @ThinWomansBrain are clearly bonkers.

I thought it was just me dealing with this! I've just had a toilet that was 'fixed' last week flood through a ceiling. A door won't close after some carpet was replaced. A painter sloshed paint all over a vinyl floor while painting walls. Then half painted a wall I didn't want painting amd made even more mess trying to clean up. Electrics that were quoted to take a week took 4 months. Rubbish left everywhere. Endlessly frustrating.

Do you know what irony actually is? It appears not.

I did not say that I find it offensive, just incredibly irritating but I have only ever heard of Australians using the term.I do detest Australian slang though. It is lazy, juvenile and unpleasant to the ear and it is disappointing to see it becoming increasingly popular in this country.

i was badly affected by my experience with roofers. The first was clearly coked up to the eyeballs, then I was ghosted by another and finally manipulated into giving a large cash deposit to the last one. He didn’t do job properly and I had to get someone else in at huge expense. Oh - the second and third were related. I was too unsettled to let Check a Trade know as the roofers knew it would be me and that I live alone.

*I did not say that I find it offensive, just incredibly irritating but I have only ever heard of Australians using the term.I do detest Australian slang though. It is lazy, juvenile and unpleasant to the ear and it is disappointing to see it becoming increasingly popular in this country8

How is it lazy? For that matter how is any slang lazy?

It’s a huge problem because we lost the traditional apprenticeships and technical colleges. Then, there was the boom in university places for all, rather than the workplace. The message was that to be a success, you needed a degree and a white collar job. We also were inundated with cheap Eastern European labour. All this happened over the course of a good 15 years, all at the same time. So, we are left with a lot of chancers unfortunately. The types of people that would never have been employed as a tradesperson in the past because they don’t have the brains or skills. Hopefully things will change as young decent people will realise there is a sensible and lucrative career to be had. There are some good ones out there though. Don’t fall for the trades who advertise all over social media either.

New fence -2500 FFS

Get a grip love.

Stop taking the mick, Mick.

My DH is a tradie. He would not behave as you describe, but I know a lot do.

In these parts this is 'The Pembrokeshire Promise'

Where are you????
Might move there 😂

@YachtMistress Shropshire.

I am very very lucky that I have a great reliable electrician and plumber currently (I am a landlord) who I am very grateful for, however this hasn't always been the case.

I had an electrician come to my house following a flood. The heating system was broken, it was winter, I was freezing, lights not working and the house had just been sold when a lodger caused a flood. It was so so stressful. He did the job, left and everything went off about ten minutes later. He refused to come back too. Eventually agreed to two days later, didn't turn up.
I left him an honest review and he had a go at me for 'damaging his business'. I told him I'd take the review down if he finished the job. He never came back and I ended up having more expense to get someone else.

I've also had someone mess me around, saying he'd turn up then not, over several days, repeatedly during another stressful time due to a boiler failing. Eventually he told me he 'was a busy tradesman and these things happen' -well don't fucking say you'll do the job, then?!

I am at work but I have many more examples. I am rubbish at anything DIY-wise but I have taken to painting my own rooms, I am not great, but i am not bad-looks perfectly fine so it'll do.

Update…I spent a morning watching tutorials and did it my damn self

You have my sympathies we did a full gut reno. And it was exhausting. The excuses for doing poor work (“your dad has used the sink wrong” - eh??) and they all just slagged one another off (“the tilers bodged that hasn’t he”) etc. It really made me resentful. Totally unacceptable tbh. When you pay for a service you expect decent work done with integrity. Didn’t have one good experience. They had an excuse for everything - even the paint drops on the brand new wood floor. I’m very easygoing and try my best to be kind but they had me in tears on more than one occasion.

The low point was when we were left in a freezing house for an entire weekend because the builder didn’t drop off the hive thingy which he had assured us he would. Didn’t give a shit about my 85 year old stroke victim father. No text no phone call.