To be disgusted by this attitude?

[Tennischamp2]

The attitude towards tradesmen on this site. They are so often presented as sub human - primed to rifle through knicker draws and destroy the porcelain.

In my experience they have only ever been respectful people wanting to do a good job.

Is it snobbery?

Maybe. I've never had a tradie nosy around my house. They come in, are polite, do the job and leave. I wonder if people are trying to save a buck and just get any random in that they find.

Yeah, it's wild and not something I come across in my or other cultures. Either v Mumsnet or British, I don't know.

Agree. Too many people seem to think all tradespeople are uncouth working-class oiks who need a close eye keeping on them at all times otherwise they will skive off and might steal the family silver and do massive shits in your guest toilet (and then have the temerity to dry their hands on your fancy guest towels). Rank snobbery.

I see the same repulsive attitudes towards nannies and cleaners. In my experience it’s something people do when they are relatively newly wealthy; looking down on people and treating them as lesser reinforces their sense of themselves as having “made it”. It’s sad and embarrassing.

I’ve dealt with dozens of tradies over the years and can count the number that I’d recommend in one hand.

Most have terrible time management, poor communication and often need to be forced into completing the job to a decent standard after it’s already way behind schedule.

Been flooded by them, stolen from and spun so much BS that’s it’s laughable.

So unfortunately there are way too many cowboys in the industry. This is not just my experience but also that of friends and family too.

People can only speak from experience. I've had a mixed bag; some have been great, really helpful, over and above. Others have been unreliable, shonky work, asking me to choose between two technical issues in which I have no expertise, that sort of thing.

I’ve never seen tradesman vilified on here . A good one is worth their weight in gold .

You’d never hear that from me. I thought the world of every one of the men who built our extension etc for my disabled daughter. One was an ex chef from a Michelin starred restaurant. I do not think they are anything less than a mixed bag of people like any other profession. Ask me what I think of medical professionals though - I have stronger views that are less positive.

I suspect it’s less to do with snobbery and to do with having a stranger, usually a strange man, in your house.

Most of the tradesmen I have had in my house have been polite, efficient and respectful.

But I have also experienced rude, sexist arseholes.

My worst experience was a man, standing over me yelling at me while holding a hammer in his hand. I had very young children in the house and felt extremely vulnerable.

The same is true of most professionals, mostly good with a few bad. But I’m not alone in my home with most professionals so it feels different.

I’d hire female electricians, plumbers, tilers and plasterers if I could.

I’ve had some good and bad experiences. Most just get on with their job, but we did have a builder pissing in our garden years ago, another that read some of our opened post and one that made creepy comments to me.

We are landlords so we now have some great tradespeople that we use regularly.

I’ve only ever seen performative, almost comical “I’m best friends with my cleaner, I take her on holiday, and I signed over my house to my plumber” posts on here. Plenty of those posters will post here agreeing with you OP. Can I ask you to link to specific threads full of the types of comments that concern you? You should be able to if it’s so rife, right?

DH and I are tradespeople. He's a decorator, I'm a gardener.

We don't encounter this in real life. Our clients seem very pleased to have us working for them and treat us very well. I'd say many of our clients become almost friends. We have long waiting lists.

Whilst I'm working in people's front gardens the general public seem really chatty, interested, polite and more than willing to lean over the fence and natter.

Perhaps we only hear about the wrong 'uns on here.

there have been numerous tv shows/episodes of shows dedicated to cowboy builders which there wouldn't be necessary if they were all upstanding honest blokes
You also wouldn't need websites like check a trade(r?) If we.could trust them all.not to rip.us off

They are just people.

Some are good at their job but shit at communicating.
Some are lovely people but shit at their job.
Some are rude AND shit at their job.
Some are good at their job, good at communication and nice to chat to.

I'd say it's an equal split. If you hired 4 random tradesman tomorrow chances are you'd get one of each of the above.

That's why word of mouth recommendations are like gold dust.

@lCircleYou "I’d hire female electricians, plumbers, tilers and plasterers if I could."

I'm part of a group of tradeswomen in my area. We're gardeners, a window fitter, locksmith, painter, landscaper, plumber and decorator. We're all rushed off our feet with long waiting lists.

I really, really wish more women would go into trades. It's amazing to me they don't as they're really interesting, satisfying and lucrative ways to earn a living. Also, they're the kind of jobs that can fit around family life especially if you're working for yourself.

There was a thread recently by someone asking if they should hire a portaloo so the workmen they'd hired didn't have to use the bathroom, lots of people said yes as tradesmen were vile and would scooch their arses across the carpet instead of using toilet paper after taking a nuclear shit. (I may have paraphrased!)
Also see the one where people thought that workmen wouldn't be able to resist using a client's toothbrush to scratch their balls and arsehole with.
This place is very anti tradespeople.

I’ve only experienced one bad tradesman, and after renovating/decorating 3 houses I don’t think that’s too bad. Some were better than others but you find that in every job.

The post above saying you probably only hear about the wrong'uns on here is true.

No one's going to start a thread on MN saying 'D'y'know what? My electrician is good'.

We hear about the bad stuff cos it's interesting/shocking.

My DH is a tradesman. I have respect for anyone trying to earn a living. But over the years (big house reno) we've had a few shockingly bad trades people here.

Given the nature of this site, you are only likely to get unhappy or negative experiences here. In the same way as with experiences with men whom the poster has been unhappy.

I wouldn’t except a trades person go steal from me, they earn considerably more and probs wouldn’t want my crap.

but I’m amazed at your statement “In my experience they have only ever been respectful people wanting to do a good job.” You’ve been very lucky. I’ve had consistently dreadful service from every single trades person I’ve ever had the misfortune to experience. Apart from one plumber. He’s a good un.

My biggest gripe about tradesmen is actually getting one interested in doing work for me. It is virtually always difficult to find someone.

And as an older woman living on my own my experience is of being treated, a lot of the time, as stupid.

I also think it depends on what type of area you live in. I have found tradesman often treat you much differently when i have lived in a poorer area.

I know not all tradesmen are poor or have bad attitudes but my experience of really good ones has been rare enough for them to stick out in my memory as the exceptions rather than the rule.

I'm not a snob. I worked for a short time as a Cleaner and was on the receiving end of snobbish and pre conceived ideas about Cleaners. So I would never make assumptions anout anyone just because of their trade or profession. But the truth is I have had enough bad experiences with trades people to approach having any work done with trepidation.

My DP is trade. If it makes you feel any better, it cuts both ways. Him and his mates complain constantly about the disgusting state of the houses they're expected to work in, about people agreeing a price then half way through offering less, or finding fault to get a discount, or giving sob stories about not being able to pay. Men who've not the first clue about the job standing over them, offering 'advice'. Being expected to mind kids with toy tool sets because 'he's obsessed with builders at the moment, you don't mind, do you?' And more. Much much more...

Ugh. Have to admit that sounds equally nightmarish! Especially the kid with the tool kit. 😖People are strange.

Mn skews aspirational lower-middle class in its outlook, which I think is behind much of it. The rest is explained by how much a lot of Mners hate having anyone in their house, and other oddities like thinking it’s terribly rude to move your bowls outside your own home loo.

That’s fantastic! If you were in my area I’d be on your waiting lists!