Do builders not want work?

[MurderOfProse]

I live in London. We need a bunch of odd jobs doing around the place (greenhouse removed, guttering fixed, cladding sorted, fence panels etc etc) - we're talking a low four figure sum. We got in a few people for quotes. They all seemed nice enough, enthusiastic etc!

But none of them came back with the actual quotes despite promising us "early next week" each time. We had to chase them up and it took a good few weeks to get anything out of them. Then we went with one of them and they said they'd send stuff in the post for us to sign - nothing after two weeks. Rang them up one afternoon, no mention of stuff to sign and asked if they could start the next morning (errr, no! we still need to empty the greenhouse!) so they said they'd ring back with availability for next week. You guessed it - not a sausage so far. Getting a little fed up of chasing them so we can give them our custom!

Have we just been unlucky or are builders just snowed under with work right now and can be picky as hell?

Same problem with plumber for me, had lots round managed to get 2 quoted and one of those we had to chase.

Do you need a builder for those jobs? Is there not a local handyman who will do them, we have one that advertises in local paper. The cladding is different but other stuff should be ok.

Technically I think the builders we picked are also handymen too - they're small businesses with a bunch of employees so presumably handymen deployed where necessary! The greenhouse is more of a conservatory-style greenhouse so quite big and tall, hence thinking we'd need a builder especially with the cladding. It made sense to get one person in to do the whole lot particularly as it's been such a hassle just getting a quote.

Weird, isn't it? Clearly there's no recession in the property maintenance trades! Nobody wants to answer their phones either.

I have a few builder/plumber friends and have braved asking this question a few times.
Firstly builders will almost always come to look at the job. They need to keep a constant steam of work going and they have to weave all the jobs in with each other (hence why they somtimes don't turn up when they say they will, usually because the electrician didnt show or another job ran late, etc).
If they have been to see but not quoted they either a) dont think the job is high enough value b) cant fit it in or c) are waiting to see if another better job pans out first.

We got sick of it so always gave a budget and a good brief before they came, that way if they didnt turn up we knew what was putting them off. Recently I have used ratedpeople.com. Much simpler, they read the brief, check the budget and ring you if they are interested.

It does seem odd and it appears to be a nationwide issue, I live in the North west and plumbers really aren't interested and I have no idea why, it is a reasonably big job so might not be worth their while, or not as worth their while as emergency call out fee jobs.

if they were efficient and businesslike, they'd be running profitable large businesses.

For some reason builders are always disorganised and inefficient.

Not to defend builders as there are some shockers out there, but unless they're big enough to have one person who does nothing but project manage, visit prospective projects, and produce quotes and tenders, it's not easy. They have to be on site all day (doing hard physical work), whilst also dealing with staffing, subcontractors, suppliers and customers. Plus work evenings and weekends going to see prospective jobs when they know that there's only a small chance of getting it.

And even if they do get it, the client knows times are hard and will try to negotiate down, or supply stuff themselves (thus cutting out any margin the builder would have made). And if it's a client who doesn't quite know what they want, or hasn't got enough money once the price comes in, they have to do the quote all over again....

I'm not a builder, I'm an ex-designer who used to spec out projects. I would say that you need to find a builder big enough to have a project manager. Yes, it will be more expensive but it should be better run and you're less likely to have to keep phoning for a price.

"if they were efficient and businesslike, they'd be running profitable large businesses."

at that comment, on behalf of all small business owners!

Even a very good small builder can be busy on his current one or two jobs, and have to keep up with paperwork and planning in his "spare" time.

You could try asking if he has an email address so he can just send a quote by email (you send him a reminder first) instead of typing it out and posting it. And ask if he expects to have capacity to do the work in the near future or should you approach someone else. Or text him your details to save him trying to find the bit of paper he wrote it on when he was half way up a ladder.

"Yeah, I'll put a quote in the post tomorrow, and I can start work Monday"

"I'm sorry, I'm fully booked at the moment and can't fit you in. I can contact you when I can schedule it, if you like?"

One is true, the other isn't.

Which is the efficient and businesslike thing to say?

And which is the one your builders said?

The trouble is people want to pay 'tesco value' but still want the Harrods job done and we are run a small business sick to death of spending hours viewing jobs, pricing them up, organising specialist trades to be told that John boy down the road will do it for half the price! Sometimes you view a job and its not worth the hassle, its a non profit maker, all the running around days before, waste management etc. Builders need decent sized jobs to cover the overheads and what a lot forget is the day before (on a sunday) all the preperation, H&S stuff, materials, stress and frantic stuff that has to be done and that has to be costed in.

What a decent builder should say is - no thanks instead of lying. Its a hard life being self employed and after a hard day spending evening after evening viewing jobs and pricing up when your absolutely knackered its easy to let one quote slip.

We are not builders, we are groundworks and definately not inefficient because we cant be for money sake. Yes there is a real recession out there but odd jobs dont make money as you need to cost in a good profit margin per day before you price in the job. What I cant understand is unemployement when jobs like this could make a one man band a nice little earner!

I would consider trying Mybuilder.com you can post the spec and get an inital quote - worth a try and may attract the only people who want to quote.

Well, exactly. We didn't even try and haggle with the builder we went with, and it wasn't the cheapest either - it was the one we liked the attitude of more as he seemed the most enthusiastic and helpful. We're happy to proceed with a little bit of notice (12 hours later is not quite enough, but a day or two would have been fine!) but for all the good that did! We're dream customers, pretty much, so it's not an issue with us.

They all issued quotes by email. After we'd rung them a few times first to chase it up

We asked each one if there would be issues fitting us in and they all said no, but I wish they had told the truth as presumably this is what is causing the issue. Unless they really are just that flaky, but how can you run a business like that and still make money?

Will definitely consider some of the suggested websites next time we need work doing I think!! Thanks!!

Same problem here when I tried to get someone in to do work. (It's about 3 days worth of work, so small but not too small). In the end, I got hold of a builder from a friends. I rang upwards to 10 builders, got only 2 quotes, and 1 of them was from my friend's builder. All the advice says get three quotes, I've never managed to find that many who'll even quote me!

Good luck.

Builders don't seem that keen to do a collection of small jobs. And also taking away the greenhouse. That would probably cost them money to dispose of. A handyman as in one man firm would probably be better in this case I think. Those no job too small adverts. As for a larger firm with employees it probably wouldn't be very profitable.

OP I think the biggest problem you have with finding people willing to quote is where you live.

The economy of the south east is by far and away the most active in the UK and this is reflected in tender prices as just one measure - generally 10% - 30% higher than the UK average.

In less economically privileged areas contractors are (usually) keener.

Forgot to say that I heartily agree with bacon

My husband is a builder.

Whilst he will, for old, favoured clients, do a job lot of small "handy man" type activities, they are not the projects he would typically take on, as he would need loads of them to keep busy, and they don't generate the margins he needs to successfully run his business. They present little opportunity for him to subcontract work out to his preferred Electrician/Plumber/Bricklayer etc. It's much more worth his while to take on larger jobs that take longer.

My husband is a very efficient, honest, perfectionist building professional, that gets work from personal recommendations, and never lets anyone down. Ever.

I still find it a bit odd - I mean, we tell them what we want over the phone, so they can tell us then if it's not appropriate or tell us a white lie or whatever about being too busy if it's not worth their while. But they still insist on coming round in order to give the quote, then vanish! Yet when pressed they'll give a quote, but then show no interest in any of it.

Ironically if they did a good job we have a whole load of other things that need doing too that we would have passed their way.

As mentioned we could get in both a builder and a handyman given we need a builder for some of it, but for us at least it made more sense to just get one person in to do both given that person could physically do both jobs. Clearly that's where we're going wrong..!!

I've never needed builders (or handymen - DH is pretty good at most stuff but this was beyond us due to the equipment e.g. big ladders etc needed) before so it's come as a bit of a surprise. Maybe it is just the SE economy.