To be at the end of my tether with my new bathroom

[constantlylactating]

Apologies for the length, I'm trying not to drip feed. Any advice gratefully received, we're at a bit of a crossroads with our tradesman I think, and I feel the need to ask for advice from anyone who may have experienced similar.

We bought our house last August, knowing full well that several things needed doing, one of which was replacing the bathroom. We finally got around to it this month, and after getting several plumbers/bathroom fitters in to quote, we settled on one that I found on checkatrade. He had very good reviews, and the photos of his work looked like the kind of vibe we wanted to go for. He was also very reasonably priced. We decided to also have a small toilet/sink fitted under our stairs at the same time.

We booked him to start the first week in May, we were hosting a party at our house this weekend just gone, and he knew when we booked the work in that was our hard deadline for it being done- it gave us 3 weeks, he said it would take two. I feel the need to explain this wasn't just a new suite, this was back to brick, re-plastering, the lot.

That first monday was a BH and he said that was fine. However the day before he said he would be unable to start til the Tuesday (he had a family emergency, which sounded quite far fetched, but who knows). The rest of the week went well, apart from he left a tap running in the kitchen as he couldn't turn the stopcock off properly. He didn't tell me, I turned the tap off, which caused water to start flooding through the ceiling below the bathroom.

The following week he didn't turn up on the monday and tuesday because he was unwell. Fair enough - I don't want germs in the house, we've got two young kids, whatever.

The work wasn't finished by the end of the second week as promised, so we entered week 3 (last week). He didn't turn up on Tuesday because his van broke down on the way to us. (wow he's unlucky, right?)

The work STILL wasn't finished by Friday of week 3, which was our hard deadline. He said it was just cosmetic things to finish off - and I will say this - my new bathroom is really beautiful. However, the toilet cistern needs adjusting as you can't flush it, and the shower mixer doesn't mix - so unless you want icy cold or scalding heat, it's beautiful, but unusable.

He PROMISED he would be back yesterday (bh monday) - I said are you sure, it's a BH etc, but he said yes. Yesterday comes and there was no communication from him whatsoever, he just didn't turn up.

He has now messaged to say he was in hospital the last two days, is being let out today, and will be back tomorrow to finish off. Without writing a big list here, he will not be finished in one day, there is still too much to do. He is also clearly very very unlucky...

Here's where I'm not sure what to do. We have paid him 3/4 of the final bill. This was his payment plan, and we did agree to it. I am also, as I said, really happy with the work that HAS been done. I'm perfectly happy to have paid for what has been done, it's lovely. We have not yet paid the last 1/4, and obviously won't be until the work is complete and we are happy. My question is, what do I do if this carries on, how long do I let it drag on for? Also, is he really just this unlucky, or has he been taking me for a ride this entire time? I think I know which it is, sadly.

YABU - it's fine, just wait it out, it's your own fault
YANBU - it's not ok, here's some advice.

It's impressive isn't it!!! I'd be more amenable if they told the truth and said there was another job to fit in because ours has run over.

Bathroom and kitchen places charge a fucking fortune though. We were going to go with Wren for our kitchen on one of their deals, it was going to be 4k for the units. For shits and giggles, I asked about instillation and the bill went to 10k. Madness. It doesn’t cost 6k to fit a few units and a worktop, my builders did in a day and a half (Ikea for cheaper in the end).

I have had a kitchen fitted by a company years ago and was still messed about by the fitters contracted by them. The company gave no shits, the fitters are self employed contractors.

I think my FIL has also used one of his parents going missing as an excuse, but can quite easily confirm that they are both long dead.

Think we ought to set up one of those sites like the are we dating the same guy, but are we employing the same builder, or builder bingo with the excuses and take a shot whenever you get one.

Another one hes used: my partners just been released from hospital and I've got to go get her. That's where she works, she wasn't admitted for anything. Others include: I've just been in hospital, translation: I've just been on a 2 night bender and now I'm too hungover. Its a bank holiday = I forgot and refuse to use a calendar because I know best and everyone's suggestions are beneath me.

You might as well let him finish now, I assume the party came and went so that is no longer a problem. You may find it difficult to get someone else to finish it off, good tradesmen are booked well in advance and don't really want little fiddly jobs.

This was our thinking too. A dodgy workman can go into hiding,block you etc,but a shop can't do that.

Builder bingo would be a dangerous game. You’d have cirrhosis before they had the plaster board up.

Agree. I’ve just had a joiner come in to fix the abysmal job that the one we got from Checkatrade did. Waited 6 months to get the chap I wanted, which was the right thing to do.

It depends though. We had a kitchen fitted by a company once. The fitters went awol after the first day. The company said there was nothing they could do, they were self employed contractors, so not directly employed by them. We had to wait 6 weeks with no kitchen for them to send other people.

Yes, 2 weeks is fine for an organised tradesmen who is actually working full days for 2 weeks.

We've had our main bathroom done twice in the nearly 30 years we've lived in our house. Different tradesmen each time, but both quoted 2 full weeks for the full strip back and reinstate, right back to a mix of brick (2 exterior walls) and wood partitions (2 interior walls).

Turned up between 8 and 9 each morning, no "bad luck" with grannies dying, van break downs, aircraft crashing on their house, or whatever other lame excuses some of them come up with! Stayed until at least mid afternoon depending on what he'd been doing, sometimes staying until 6 or 7pm to finish something, or going say 3pm if he'd finished what he'd planned for that day. No constantly driving off to the "suppliers" - he'd given us a "shopping list" of things for us to source, i.e. not just the main components, but also reminding us of things like edging strips to match the tiles/bath panels etc., and he had everything else he needed from his very well stocked van (pipe connectors, brackets, etc).

Sadly the first retired so we had to find another for the second, and now he's retired too! So we're left without a reliable plumber/gas engineer/bathroom fitter.

Completely the opposite with our two kitchen refurbishments, where even using large reputable local kitchen fitting firms, both took weeks longer than promised, a succession of "subbies" as we later found out neither firm have their own installation staff, crap standard of work, typical workers not turning up when promised, then being stroppy and unreliable - i.e. turning up at 10, and beggaring off at 12 saying they were going "to the suppliers" and simply didn't come back - ever!

We're wanting the bath to be taken out and replaced by a large walk in shower, but, Jeez, it's hard finding someone! Must have phoned around a dozen and made appointments for a handful to come and quote, but only one turned up and he didn't seem to have a clue and some of the things he said we clearly made up nonsense, so he's off the list. We're just about to try another batch to call to try to get to quote. It's all soul destroying.

It's so difficult isn't it - sounds like the larger companies can be just as bad as the sole traders.

I wouldn’t touch Checkatrade with a barge pole either. DH is self employed and ditched them pretty quickly. Useless lot.

We have recently had our garden done. We were quoted two weeks for the work. He turned up promptly on the first day, worked without a break until 4.30 and it was the same for the next three days. Fridays he uses for doing the books and pricing jobs, but we knew that from the start.

If he wasn’t on site, he was fetching more soil and plants, or taking away rubbish. It took the time he said it would, did a great job and I’d recommend him. Unsurprisingly, he’s booked until the end of the year.

Getting quotes is tedious and time consuming and half the time, they aren’t what you need, or they don’t reply, or turn up, or actually quote.

I desperately need my bathroom done, bath out and decent shower put in plus total updating of the suite plus storage and any decorating. No other facility available, just one bathroom. 🙁

I've been putting myself off with the stories I've heard from other people and on here.

It's probably easier and less stress to just move house.

Same here. We only used it once. He did a decent job on a small roof repair, but I caught him putting our slates over and above what he’d used in his van. Never again.

Lost me at found on checkatrade that's a big mistake in my mind. - regardless of reviews, wouldn't trust anyone on their

The amount of builders that have shit excuses. The third time I was told no one could turn up because they had to attend the funeral of a workmate's wife who had died of brain cancer, I just said, 'Builders' wives have seriously bad luck with brain cancer, don't they? It's epidemic.' He looked shocked that his crappy, emotionally manipulative excuse had been called out.

We've had some great tradesmen - all on local recommendations though

This sounds like my builder. Lovely chap and does a good job but don't book anything you need done by a deadline. I swear he has his own parking spot at the local A&E.
Advice wise, if he's done a good job I'd grit your teeth and continue, someone else might be just as flaky and most people don't want to pick up someone else's half finished job.

Just some solidarity here - we are also into week 4 of a 2 week job that should have started and finished in April! The real kicker for us is that it’s the same guy who did our other bathroom 2 years ago which was a much bigger, more complex job and he completed on time, no issues to a very high standard.
This time had been a comedy of errors from him (fell through our ceiling!) the shop we bought the goods from (didn’t place the orders in time then delivered it to the wrong customer!) and DH not ordering the right tiles(!)
Crossing everything we don’t go into week 5…

Oh lord, I'll cry if we go into week 5 haha!

Ours was done in a week, start to finish and we are still very happy with it. Perhaps more difficult if any plumbing needs moving but apart from replacing the bath with a walk in shower we didn't have any major changes.

I don't think it's that easy to find a company that actually employ the tradespeople. We chose all our fittings from Bathstore and got them to quote for the work but they just subcontracted it out but with a big mark-up for the labour and any additional items. One item in particular (RCBO?) would have cost less than £40 to buy but was included in the quote at £450!

Do we have the same builder? I feel like I’ve just lived through this exact scenario. Same excuses, same dramas. Is there a script somewhere that they get this off?!

I think it’s a module in the apprenticeship to be honest.

Module 3: “Correct use of a circular saw.”
Module 4: “Sorry love, my mum had a stroke yesterday and I had to crawl to New Zealand and today, my van has been crushed beneath the overloads mothership and I have to have it towed to Jupiter so their insurance can repair it” and other outlandish excuses.

It's the modern blight of them using subbies instead of having their own staff.

We've used the same carpet shop for decades and always been happy as they would fit using their own staff, but the last time we used them it was a shoddy job (staircase, hallway and landing) - it came loose on the stairs within a week - turned out they'd used a different/new subbie for the first time and they said they won't be using him again (nice of them to use us as guinea pigs!). If we'd have been content with random subbies, we'd have gone to Carpet-right or similar.

Same when we had a boiler replaced. We'd previously used a reputable local plumbing showroom firm and had been happy with them. First day, and the fitter guy came late, which wasn't a good start, then spent the next couple of days whinging about how little the showroom were paying him and humming the "mission impossible" song. Then he beggared off quickly on "completion" without showing us it was all working. It wasn't! Kept cutting out. Then we noticed a leak coming through into the lounge ceiling from upstairs! Again, same story, showroom owner full of apologies and said it was the first time they'd used him and wouldn't be using him again - as if that helped us! He hadn't even filled in the boiler installation checklist - if he had, he'd have seen that the readings etc weren't right as he'd screwed up the installation! Again, nice of the firm to use us as guinea pigs.

Unfortunately the blight of over-use of subbies will only get worse now that Rachel has made it more expensive to employ staff, so it will just push more firms into using subbies instead to avoid NIC, onerous employment rights, etc.

It's terrible isn't it!!