Builder 45 minutes late with no text or call and now wants to come

[rosecin]

I had a small job in the garden that needed doing and the builder was booked for 3pm.
No text or call to say he was running late etc.

I deleted my address from WhatsApp as he hadn’t read the message yet at 15:39 and then he calls.

I didn’t answer as I have kids to look after etc and this has caused me a massive inconvenience today and my whole day was arranged to accommodate this.

AIBU to block him and find someone else?

It's not impossible at all. I use big companies like Aspect, Fantastic Services etc and they manage it just fine.

They do a few things that aren't really complicated:

They build in some contingency - unlike your average individual trader who just overbooks themselves, allowing an hour when they know full well it's more likely to be an hour and a half.

They specifically give you a window of time for arrival so you know what you're expecting - usually no more than an hour

They actually value the time of their customers and don't just assume you can't possibly have anything else to do that day and proactively phone you if there is an issue

When booking in the appointment, they ask you if you have any timings you need to work around so you can tell them for eg if you need to do the school run or have an important meeting online

If they are late, they actually apologise, rather than tell you they're just more important than you

Workmen are often rude like this op! Fair enough running late but at least let you know they are running late! Mind you you will be pretty lucky if you even get one that bothers to turn up!

any communication from a tradesman is a positive in my experience 🤣 he sounds like a good one

Of course that's unreasonable. If you were busy you could have messaged him to say dont bother today.

You have no idea what made him late

My hospital appointment last week had a 1.5 hour delay to get an (essential to the appointment ) x-Ray and another 1.5 delay to actually see the doctor. With a two hour journey there and back.

I could have walked out but I assumed everyone involved in the clinics was doing their best and I needed the appointment and wasn’t going to cut my nose off to spite my face.

Perhaps not the best analogy, but I would have completely factored in a modest 45 min delay if I was you.

45 mins for a b

I've waited a couple of hours beyond the appointed time at hospital appointments before now, and once had a tribunal hearing listed for 2pm and we didn't get before the judge until gone 4.

Doctors, dentists, hospitals and tribunals are all public services though. Builders are individual commercial providers.

Indeed.

The big difference is that you're not paying the doctor or the judge (unless you're going private or bribing them.)

With a tradesmen you're supposed to be a customer, not that you would know it from the way you get treated

I'm probably missing the point entirely here @rosecin, but for the planting part of the task you are actually quite lucky to have stoney ground, as most plants like free draining soil - unless they are bog type plants. So all you need to do (unless you want a very big flower bed) is dig up - with a spade - the top layers of soil, and store it in a strong black bag in a shed or your garage, and use a handful of that stoney soil in the bottom of plant pots in the future.

You will then need to fill in the space left by the dug up soil, with top soil, which depending what type of flowers/plants you are planting, will probably need some type of 'treated' additives, or it might need to be an acidic soil rather than an alkaline one. The labels on your plants, and the soil that you buy, should have what sort of conditions they need, etc.

If your children are toddlers or infants, and you bought them tiny children's gardening kits, they would probably love to help you, and/or daddy - in fact if you have a big enough plot, children often seem to enjoy planting their own seeds, and watering them, and watching them grow. Light gardening really can be a fun activity for all.

Unless your "builder" is a hobby gardener he might not know anything about garden management, and his brawn might not be too helpful on it's own! Also, and this is only personal, I would be too embarrassed to ask someone who calls himself a builder, to do something as easy as putting hanging baskets brackets up. During my period as a single Mum I was quite proud of teaching myself things like that, and how to re-tile my bathroom, and change fuses, and wire plugs etc. and that was before the Internet, well maybe Pacman had started on PCs, but it was definitely before YouTube et al.

Sorry OP, I started this ages ago, but then my husband brought our dinner in - he is my carer as well, and has to all the jobs now, as I am virtually bedbound these days, how I wish I could still garden and do DIY! Anyway we just finished our very nice meal recently, and I have come straight back here before I get on with learning the foreign language that I am currently studying - aren't Smart phones wonderful, well within reason...

However you decide to tackle your present problem, please don't forget to make some time for whatever your family do for fun, as at the moment you sound very busy. Here are some 🥀🌻🌷🌾 to start you off! 😉

Yabu here. The job takes as long as it takes and you need to be flexible when you waiting for builder or plumber.

I had to have the plumber out today. He said he'd try make it for around 11am. I was truly shocked and amazed when he arrived at 11.25am.

Now this is one plumbers crack I do not mind., 😀

Yabu. People that work with their hands, in environments where there is dust, rubble and with tools that can cause accidents or damage if not handled properly don't necessarily have their phones into heir hands at all times 😏. Jobs are unpredictable and sometimes run over, and it's not like they are going to do a runner and leave everything unfinished....

In my experience tradesmen are often running late, especially towards the end of the day. They're out and about at a couple of other jobs that over run and get stuck in traffic.