How do you get builders to come and do work?

[BuildMe]

Just that really. We have just moved into a new house and need some work doing. About £25k worth, within permitted development so no planning permission required. We're ready to start immediately, funds are available.

I ring builders that have been recommended to me by friends and family, they come fairly quickly and promise to email a quote. I send a polite chasing email and sometimes get a reply saying 'next week' and sometimes I get nothing. After a second polite chasing email (a few weeks after initial contact), I give up and try someone else. This has happened 4 times. I know they're busy and it's not a big job but I feel like we're never going to get anything done. Am I missing something in builder etiquette that means I'm being ignored? I always offer them tea and biscuits

I think the problem is email. In my experience tradespeople don't do email in the way those of us who work in offices are used to. My electrician will do it but he clearly feels it's a bit 'weird', and it generally takes ages for him to get back to me if I start an inquiry over email, he's not too bad once we are merely going back and forth on the finer points of a job!

You have to phone. Text seems to be acceptable in my experience, but I would start with the phone.

I'd make sure you stress that you can wait as long they need, or fit in around another job - I got some work done a couple of years ago when the weather was bad, so the guys had to stop work on the extension project they were currently on. Most builders should want a few flexible smaller jobs to fit in around this kind of downtime.

Agree, phone then text, not email.

Tbh getting any trades people to do any work is the reason I just couldn't really face an extension that dh has started talking about.

It's them that have requested my email address and said they'll email me! I took that to mean it was their preferred method of communication but I will try ringing too. The tips about being able to do it in had weather are good thank you, it's all indoors although we can't really cope with stop-start as it will be quite disruptive.

You just have to keep looking until someone eventually gets back to you, provides an acceptable quote and the actually turns up to the work. IME on average, you have to contact a minimum of 6, 3 might turn up and 1 will issue a quote but won't commit to a start date. It would be so much easier if they just said they weren't interested or were too busy. Unfortunately it just takes forever to find someone reliable. I don't think there is an easy way of finding someone. I contacted a plasterer through Check a Trade, he came round and had a look, gave me a load of old flannel about how great check a trade is, how reliable he was etc, etc and I never heard from him again.

I've had best success in finding reliable people through one of two ways:

• personal recommendation
• Which Trusted Traders

I've just had a dreadful experience with a Which Trusted Traders, however - but in the main it's been extremely positive.

BuildMe they will want your email address to send you a quote but that doesn't mean they want to speak to you on email (i.e. they want to use it to contact you, not the other way around).

What work is it? I'd guess they realise it is too small a job for them to bother quoting when they come round. Could you try a handyman or lone builder instead? Do you know anyone who has done a similar size project who could recommend someone?

There's some structural work so needs a full-service builder unfortunately. Those I've already tried have been recommendations but I'll just have to keep trying new people. Seems they just don't need the work. One said on the phone they wouldn't accept any new work in 2017. I will try phoning too. I similarly didn't want to move anywhere that needed major works like an extension and thought this would be easy enough to get someone to do. How naive!

So frustrating! Would it be possible to add more work to it? Like decorating, refitting kitchen or bathroom or a patio. Stuff you had planned to do anyway (obviously!) but if you do it all at once they may be more interested?!

I could try but TBH I don't know what difference it would make, there's loads of little jobs to do but they won't add up to much compared to e.g. 80k+ on a new extension. It is really frustrating, we can't get on with anything in the house until the major work is done and living with the previous people's crap decisions is doing my head in!

I'd expect to have to wait a while for someone decent to have a slot. I wonder if it's the time of year, i.e.they are booking big jobs for the summer months?

They've all said they're booked up until September already if they're taking bookings for after that for bigger jobs and basically don't want ours we're not going to ever get there. My concern is like a pp found, if I keep pestering to send a quote they'll do that to avoid burning bridges but then never book the work in as they don't actually want the job. I wish they'd be a bit more upfront about it!

Yes, I can believe they are all booked up until September. I'd suggest telling them you can wait til autumn/winter, when they won't be wanting to do the bigger jobs.

I'd also be up front with them about your approx budget and ask explicitly if the job isn't attractive to them because of the size/time of year. It does sound as if they are hoping you'll go away and find someone else so they don't have to turn you down.

On the other hand, I do know a good builder who's just moved into the area near-ish Thetford/Kings Lynn if that's any good to you!

My own builder (not the same person, I live in West Yorkshire) is probably booked up most of the way through 2018 by now, joyous!

Definitely get off email and on the phone.

Have you used architect or structural engineer along the way of drawing up plans? If so, get them to contact builders or at least use their name when calling.

It's a minefield, especially if you are in the SE because the good ones all have work coming out of their ears and the bad ones are.....bad.

I rang 5 people for quotes, 3 didn't even bother returning my call, 1 eventually quoted on the back of a fag packet with no detail on the work to be done and the last could start virtually the next day so I didn't want to touch him with a barge pole.

I've reverted to plan B- personal recommendation and wait until they can fit us in.

You need to find one that's worth waiting for (by word of mouth) and book them.

Easier said than done I know!

Feel your pain. It's so wearing. Have found it massively limits your ability to get several quotes for comparison purposes. You just have to keep trying to find someone and hope you hit lucky I think.

You need to talk to them. And don't be afraid to ask them direct questions about how realistic it is for them to really want the job. Most of these people are not savvy about the commerciality re their business (I'm in the industry) and are scarcity minded (and shit at admin). I don't blame them, given how quickly and hard a downturn affects them. But that means you don't always get a straight answer. (I am forever grateful that the bulk of our work is up north where a straight question largely gets a straight answer.)

That said, there's a shortage of trades for the amount of work going on. And most of that work is better paid (or with better future prospects) than yours, sorry. S'economics, innit?

But from their perspective a detailed quote will take a bit of time in their evening off to prepare. So if they see the job is likely to only cost 25 k and they are fully booked for 100 k projects why would they bother writing a quote? Not helpful, but realistic 😔

I've heard of this happening a lot lately. I moved recently and had a series of small jobs, some of which required carpentry. I'd moved away from my old builder and tried to find someone local. In the end I had to ask the builder from my previous location. He's popular and gets booked up months in advance. I've waited 7 months for work, by which time I've usually turned him into an odd jobs man with the list of things!

This recently happened to me in the South West. After much perseverance it took 4 months to get a builder! I was gobsmacked.

It can be so frustrating when you're ready to part with wads of cash and no-one seems interested!
Try going via the 'CheckedAndVetted' website. Once you've found someone local who seems to have a good reputation, you can contact them via the website. Your message gets passed directly to them and as they are the ones who've registered with C&V anyway, they know that you can leave a review accordingly and I'm sure this encourages them to get in touch quite quickly.
Ideally, they want people to see they are reliable etc., you get them on board to do your job, then leave a glowing review, which in turn will hopefully secure further work for them. Win win situation.
I've used the website twice and have been pleased with the service I got (electrician & builder on separate occasions).

We have bought a kitchen and paid a fortune to use their contractors because we couldn't get any of our own. Even then we had a 2 month wait.

I agree with Poirot - DH is a builder and he spends his weekends quoting, they're really detailed.

Builders will be most keen if your budget is realistic (even if it's not in the 100k area, small local firms should be interested), and if you can tell them that you have detailed plans including how the work needs to be finished. It'll also help if you will be moving out during the work if it's internal stuff!

Thanks for all the tips, I'm going to call them this week and try and have a frank discussion. We'd actually agreed that they'd provide ballpark budgets for now and get us booked in for September then we have the time to get the final plans drawn up and structural calculations done to do a full budget but I haven't even got that far. I suspect I'm not going to get anything concrete but just told again how busy they are. My worry is we choose someone and wait six months and they never start. Hopefully as they've been recommended they'd at least be honest about that. Getting architects and structural surveyors is another problem as they're just as busy, they don't return calls either. Building is clearly the career to go into!

I found similar issues getting a builder to come and do some work on our place.

But then I found out that Ratedpeople makes their registered members actually pay them for work leads! So if you get a quote from someone on that site, then it's because they've paid the site money to provide you with a quote (which I guess makes them more likely to turn up for your job if you accept them).

The builder I eventually chose to do our work told me that tradesmen will pay anywhere between a few quid to hundreds of pounds for a lead (depending I guess on the budget the customer is prepared to place on the work). You don't get as many leads, but at least the ones you do get are genuinely willing to do the job.

You need to phone them and you need to chase. Nature of the trade is that they tend to have a beat up old Nokia that doesn't get emails, because you can guarantee they'll drop it/get paint on it/it'll fall off a roof.

I used to work on the trades and services section of a local newspaper. Chasing advertising and proofs via email was nye on impossible. I'd say always follow up any quotes etc with emails etc but I'd do the main brunt of communications via phone or text.

They're also notorious for not having voicemail as well.

And don't even try and call them on a Friday afternoon (most tradesmen I know are down the pub ).