So sick of trades people

[Hoodlumboodlum]

I've needed quite a lot doing on my house recently and I'm so stressed by it all, not helped by trades people who have no concept that people can't sit in their house 24/7 in the hope they'll turn up. The latest one took took 2 months to put together a quote (only guy locally who responded). He then cancelled twice and then last week said he'd come mid week next week. I've no idea if he means tomorrow or Thursday. Whether he means morning or afternoon etc. He's not responded to messages so may just turn up. I can't find anyone else, the work desperately needs doing.
I can work from home most days luckily but I do have high value external meetings and can hardly do that with sawing, drilling etc so it's useful to have a good idea of when people will turn up.
It's infuriating.
Aibu to expect a little bit of organisation and understanding of the real world even if they can't pin down the exact hour they'll arrive.

Sadly there are so few competent tradespeople around these days that they hold all the strings. I had some fab work done a couple of years ago but I took a big risk because they were the only company that actually turned up and quoted. I found it better to pull all the jobs together into one lot and look for an all trades company who appointed a project manager.

They do it because they CAN. Demand is higher than supply in your area. Luckily I’ve found one who is able to give a quick initial quote (a round number pulled out of thin air) but at least he’s able to do it. Vs pretty pdf on email after 2 moths of chasing

Hey OP. I totally get the frustration. I have started mentioning in my initial emails or texts. That I need an accurate date and time when they’ll be here. If they are 1 hour late- they don’t have to bother - I’ll get someone else. I had one turning up at 8pm one day when he said he’ll be there 9am. I didn’t bother answering the door or calls. They’ll soon learn you can’t play with my time.

I understand how you feel, and I feel the same way about all the mess around that messes up my work schedules, but how do you actually find someone else? They know that we can’t usually find someone easily, so it just wouldn’t work in practice ☹️

Oh OP it’s so stressful isn’t it?

My home needs a lot of work, which I can afford to pay for, but the stress of dealing with tradespeople means I’m going to sell it and buy a new build.

You do have to have a bit patience. Yes workmen turn up hours late but you do realise jobs don't always go to plan? You do realise that sometimes they are stuck in a hole, or up a ladder or urgently have to get the cement used up before it dries up and goes to waste? Sometimes you are the previous customer he has had to stay longer for because the job took longer because nobody knew that under the flooring there was a big mess needing to be fixed. Or whatever

Yes it is as irritating as hell when you wait in all day but try and arrange your day so you'd be in anyway. Whoever tells the to naff off if they are an hour late will live in an unfinished house forever