God I love Aussie tradies!

[Flatandhappy]

Realised at 9pm last night when trying to wash up after roast chicken that our main boiler had finally given up the ghost so no hot water in the kitchen and 2/3 bathrooms. Called a plumber at 8.30am this morning, really cheerful friendly guy arrived at 10am. Not bothered by having to cut down half a banana tree for access - DH who was wfh offered to help, told no need. New super energy efficient boiler installed and tested just before midday. Cut tree left nearly stacked. I also love the fact that when you offer tradies coffee/tea they usually tell you they are self sufficient and they wouldn’t dream of coming through the house without checking if you want them to take their boots off. One of the many things I love about living here 😊 I get so fed up with some of the casual anti Aus stuff people spout on MN.

But but but........spiders! Snakes! Other animals intent on killing you!

😆

How funny seeing your post! I'm in NZ and have been talking to a friend who has tradies in at the moment in the UK. She said she offers them a cup of tea every 90 minutes!! I've had heaps of tradies here in the past few years and I think only one has taken up my offer of a coffee. They just get on with the job, and yes they offer to take their boots off.

I have lots of lovely tradie stories.

I’d just moved to NSW and changed the rego on my car. It was the start of Covid times, possibly between lockdowns, I can’t quite remember. Anyway, the new licence plates were delivered to my house and I had no idea where the tools were. My neighbour was having new flooring installed and I popped over to ask if I could borrow a screwdriver for 5mins from the trades working there. Boss man said ‘I’ll do you one better, you can borrow him instead’. He sent his apprentice over to do the job for me. They were both lovely people.

I was absolutely shocked when a plumber asked if he could have a mop to clean his muddy foot prints from the floor of the utility room. There was the teeniest bit of dirt on the floor, more likely from my cats than the tradie who had offered to take his boots off but who I had told not to bother. He also did the job in about twenty minutes rather than the five hours plus long lunch break I had expected. (I had been expecting UK tradie standards).

Also here to spread the tradie love!
We have used an electrician a couple of times for things like installing new lights and electric blinds. One Friday I was cooking a birthday cake for my son for the next day and managed to trip everything. Tried to get it back on but damage had happened somewhere.
This lovely electrician came out at 9.30 on a Friday night and installed a new something or other because he said “can’t have a boy without a birthday cake”.

I cannot think of a single tradie we’ve ever used who hasn’t been pleasant, friendly, hugely competent and reasonably priced - and we’ve used loads over the years.

I also share the tradie love. I’ve even had a couple that didn’t even charge me, one that fixed my garage door (it wouldn’t open) and another that fixed my leaking retic. Now they weren’t here more than ten minutes but I still expected to pay them! And how I love the fact that the just get on with it and you don’t have to make tea, although I do always offer water on a hot day.

I've been here for nearly 20 years and only had one rorting tradie (a splendid story I will regale you with later) and one a bit ordinary as they say here.

The rest have been utterly wonderful and YY to that business of taking off their boots when coming into the house. Also the not requiring tea, though the lads who laid new underlay and carpet in my upstairs rooms (steel roof and warm weather) were grateful to have bottles of cold water ferried to them.

I still remember the tradies who worked on our kitchen and bathroom renos, having their lunch using the outdoor setting in the front garden and corrupting the local magpies, feeding them sarnie bits.

I asked a tradie about this once, they told me that as apprentices they are always told to turn down offers of teas and coffees because they are there to work. However the British tradies who have immigrated to Australia then get confused because they don’t get offered tea and coffees. So now I if I have a bunch of tradies round I listen for any British accents and offer bucket loads of tea.