To be so fed up with tradesmen?

[fieldofstrawberry]

We’re wanting to have a dishwasher installed in our kitchen, to do so involves removing a cupboard and adjusting a cupboard door for the dishwasher to fit in.

To date, I have had quotes from 4 tradesman. All have been very keen to do the work and have quoted quickly (prices between £300-£500 for the labour).

When we get to booking the job in, suddenly it’s radio silence. I don’t care if they don’t want the job, but why waste the time of coming round and quoting a reasonable price to then just drop off the face of the earth?

It’s so frustrating! I appreciate people want big jobs etc and this is really only 1/2 day or a days work, but for £300-£500 in this economy I wouldn’t be turning it down!

I’d rather these people said nope not interested instead of being such pains about it.

All of these companies have been well recommended and well reviewed, which just makes it worse.

I’m at the end of my tether now and thinking about just sacking off the whole idea, we wanted a dishwasher to make our lives easier not more stressful!

AIBU to think that I should’ve been able to find someone since Christmas to do a job like this? Why are tradesmen like this?

Ask on your local Facebook page for recommendations?

Two of the people we’ve had come round to quote were from fb recommendations :/

Sounds to me like they don’t want the job - they quote OTT for a half day job on the expectation you won’t proceed, and then when they do they disappear!

That's a ridiculous quote for installing a dishwasher!! I got all new worktops and a sink fitted for less than that- joiner charged me half a day rate.

I think they don't want the job so are pricing high so you say no

In fairness I assumed it was higher as it included some wrangling of the cupboards as well!

Obviously I’d rather pay less but if the only quotes we can get are very expensive then I’d still rather have it done than not so it’s quite difficult

Even the ones quoting these prices won’t do it anyway, argghhh so annoying

You'll find that they are busy on bigger jobs and projects. They will most likely come and do it when they find themselves with a gap of a day or half a day between jobs. So, say when a job finishes a day earlier than expected and there is a wait for the next one starting.

We found this with a small job we needed doing. It wasn't urgent as such but they just messaged us one evening and said 'Is it okay if we come tomorrow?' so it was more spontaneous.

You may find someone will do it but you may have to be patient.

Good Luck!

I’ve said to all of them that we’re really flexible and not fussed if they want to text last minute saying “can we come now?” when they finish another job, but that still doesn’t seem to have got us anywhere :/

Most tradesmen are hideously terrible at communicating which is so frustrating. You will likely get a text out of the blue from one of them when they are half an hour away saying 'we are coming' 🙄

I agree, its very frustrating, and you can't get away with it in any other business can you?

Good Luck.

But why even bother to quote. When you initially make contact they will be aware of the job so why not just say they're not interested. I've had this a fair bit and it doesn't make any sense.

Maybe they start with the best of intentions but just have too much work so end not bothering

Is there a Task Rabbit in your area? I've had a few jobs off here. People paid through the site. Reviews prominent.

This is my annoyance too! I’m quite clear in my initial request what it is that we want doing, so it would be fine if they just said sorry not interested. One of the people actually approached me!! And still got nowhere with him

I haven’t heard of this but i’ll have a look, thank you :)

I’ve found that FB recommendations are usually from family and friends, so not objective.

We are in a small cul de sac and when anyone finds a good tradesman, we share them with others. One in particular, has had lots of work from a few houses here.

I agree though, that it’s very frustrating to have jobs that need doing and get radio silence from people you contact. I would have thought effective communication would be really important if you want to keep your business going.

I hear you op, we have 2 tradesman related issues.
Carpet company to fit vinyl in the kitchen. Been round (twice), agreed what needs doing, finally gave us a rough figure and promised to get back with a date once they confirmed with the supplier the vinyl we want is in stock ..... that was 2 weeks ago.
A roofer who came round to quote us to replace the flat roof over the bay window/porch. We chased him, messaged back to say he was on holiday but would do it when he got back. Must be a bloody long holiday!
I hate tradesman (except our plumber who is busy but fabulous)

Can you send the plumber our way? 🤣 jokes aside it’s so frustrating! I don’t care if they don’t want the job, but just say and then I can ask someone else, rather than being in constant limbo

Do you have any elderly neighbours? If so, ask them who they use.

My elderly neighbours recommended friends they've worked with/trades people they've used who are retired now but still do the odd small job for beer money.

My carpenter is in his 70s and my electrician worked on nuclear power stations before he retired. They are polite, reliable, great at the job and cheap.

Another idea - do you have a Men's Shed near you? Ours is full of handy, mostly retired blokes. If one of them can't help you they might know someone.

I'm a tradesperson myself (gardener). I've no idea why so many tradespeople are so flaky. The quoting then not doing thing must be such a waste of time for them.

It’s not a difficult job so long as you have the right tools. You Tube is your friendly tradesman. 😁

Honestly if it was just the dishwasher installation, I’d probably risk my DIY skills 🤣 but as it involves moving the cupboards around I don’t quite trust myself

We have on one side but they’re so elderly we rarely see them to be honest! I’ve not heard of a Men’s Shed so I’ll have a look into that thank you!

yeah exactly, surely wasting time quoting jobs then ignoring people is a huge annoyance! Why not just decline the job in the first palce

OP - another option is a Repair Cafe. Like a men's shed drop in centre where handy folk do jobs for charity donations. Mostly it's stuff like taking a chair or watch in to be repaired but you don't know who you might meet there who can do your job for you.

Same here op - been wanting a quote for a new bathroom - they all come out then no quote - just radio silence

Sucks doesn't it. We had a plumber fitted a bathroom last month, one of the most stressful experiences ever. We'd booked in 6 months ahead , checked about 3 weeks before to make sure we're still booked in on agreed dates . We had taken two weeks annual leave to ensure access , and he cancelled 5pm the day before to say he couldn't start for two weeks. I had to juggle leave which wasnt easy as everything was booked for the original dates. He turned up at 9am and gone by 11am each day. Tried to add on costs for items he claimed weren't included in quote such as fitting a radiator ( even though he had given us a written quote that clearly said supply and fit radiator ). He'd mis measured the bathroom so he was short on materials. He took the wiring out from electric toothbrush point and didn't reinstate it . We'd ordered light up mirrors. He'd quoted for them so knew he had to fit them but he didnt wire up for them and just cut the cable. So we're left with an expensive non working mirror. Flooring uneven and clicks where it isnt flush to the floor. Wall panels scratched. On quite a few days , He'd promised he'd be back the next day and then didnt turn up, didnt answer the phone or reply to messages. A 7 day job turned into a 4 week job. Nightmare!!!