why can't we get tradespeople?

[caoraich]

DP and I bought a house a couple of years ago. Have finally saved up enough to have needed work done on it. We can't seem to get anyone to do the work, though!
People come, give quotes and seem very positive then either don't get back to us or need loads of chasing and put work off to the point we are annoyed and cancel

This has happened with garden landscapers, plumber, plasterer.
The only one who's been decent has been an electrician we found on gumtree but he's gone back to Poland now.

We get recommendations off a local neighbourhood website and ratedpeople etc. but don't know any other homeowners for word of mouth recommendations. We live in Glasgow.

What are we doing wrong!?

I have a horrible, sneaking suspicion it might be because I'm a woman and do most of the organising - DP works somewhere that mobile phones have to be left outside/at home so it makes sense as I can pick up voicemails. Plus I work from home a couple of days and so am often the only one in when tradesmen (they've all been men) arrive to give quotes.

Please someone tell me I'm wrong about that - but what are we doing wrong trying to find someone to do all this work!?

(NB we live in an unremarkable but in need of modernisation 1950s semi)

Advice from experienced renovators appreciated

That's really helpful to hear Cookingongas [scribbles notes on what to say next time ]

Moved back to UK 2 years ago and DH and I said we wanted to support our local community by giving them the business even if we had to pay a bit more because all we saw in the press were local people being out of work and being undercut. Tried to get a room converted, bathroom taken out, garden landscaped, barn painted and drive done in resin. They either didn't turn up to do the quote or did turn up and never give the quote afterwards. We had a garden work on our garden fortnightly and one week he just stopped coming.

The local people here moan about foreigners all the time taking their jobs. If I could find some "foreigners" to do the job I'd give it to them at the drop of a hat.

On the plus side DH and I have learned how to garden, paint barns, dig up drives and put down gravel, plants hedge and make cabinets!!! We have saved a fortune.

Really useful to get the view from the other side thanks cookingongas.

I had a whole house renovation

Builder (finally found through a friend of a friends husband) ended up working on the house for 13 months. We took all bar 2 walls down and remodelled it completely.

The size of the job is not the issue.

Cookingongas what part of the country are you in?!

Thanks so much for your advice everyone!

I think part of the difficulty is we really don't have a timescale, and cookingongas that's really useful about the payment stuff. I always feel a bit awkward about that so don't ask in too much depth. Have no intention of not paying!

However I took your advice and gave the most recent fence/landscaping company a (totally random) deadline and asked for payment details the first time I spoke to them. They start tomorrow (fingers crossed).

(PS cookingongas we're needing some plumbing done too if you happen to be in scotland )

Caoraich if all falls through re: fencer/landscaper I can PM you details of the people who put up my fencing last year, they were fantastic and will get our work again (once we've saved up!). Can also give you details of a plumber who has done work for me and my friend.

I live in the southside so they should be able to reach you too!

You're not alone OP, it's taken me ages to find reliable tradespeople. I went through a long phase where I couldn't get anything done, and I used to think I was doing something wrong too. (My boiler conked out in November a few years ago and it took me almost a week to get someone to even come and look at it.) Now at least I have a reliable plumber and heating engineer.

You just need to be persistent, chase up if needed and not take it personally. I doubt it's because you're a woman (although that might tempt some of them to quote higher prices than they would otherwise).

I live in a rural part of Scotland and I know there's a dire shortage of tradespeople here, so I end up doing a lot of things myself (or co-opting one of the dc). Not up to electrics or plumbing though.

I'm in South Ayrshire and can recommend some tradesmen for you.
I know a plasterer and a painter/decorator.

I got a yellow pages yesterday

*Also, just saw the stuff on paying. I've always made a point of paying on the day I receive an invoice. I think having a reputation as a good/fast payer helps in the long-run (not helpful til you actually manage to get people in though!)

Would agree with the comment above about how you come accross to the tradesman. They are all turning work away on a regular basis, and although it shouldn't be that first meeting is as much about them deciding if they see any value in completing the work for you, and if the perceived hassle will be worth the time and money when compared to all the other jobs they have to pick from.

If you are vague in you requirements - not worth the hassle.

If you chase a quote before I have had time to prepare it - not worth the hassle

If you start talking about "best price" or "discount - no chance

Slag off all the previous people who have done work for you - no thanks

Change the time of the initial appointment tent - nope

Etc etc

YABU, OP. I've had a similar experience with multiple trades over the last few years. And I've noticed that if my Dad dealt with them, because I had to be out at work, there was a very different response. And don't get me started on people who do quote and arrange dates to do the work, then never turn up or answer their phone again!

Am having work done at the moment.
Lots of different things.
Have employed a local team of builders with a good reputation.
They have a couple of plumbers, tilers, plasters, electrician etc etc.
I email the guy in charge, he sends the right people for the right job.
They are brilliant, turn up on time, give a fixed price per job.
Yes they are expensive, but if you pay for monkeys etc etc.

Find the first trades person, and be reasonable with them. Talk about how full their order book is and suggest that you can be flexible and fit in with them. If it is a small job say you would be happy for them to do it a day or two's notice. Things happen, deliveries don't arrive, people let them down and they usually like to have work in reserve.

Trades people tend to know other trades people. So once you have established one working relationship you can get recommendations.

And as others have suggested, recommendations go both ways. People sometimes ask me for details of my builder. I will then brief him. Some, quite reasonable, people seem unable to put themselves in the shoes of a tradesman. One memorable example was someone I knew off the school run, who was in tears because there had been a disaster in the home they were just moving into. Small children, no water. My builder stepped in and worked that weekend. He did some more jobs for her, and was about to start quite a large refurbishment job, when she ditched him with about three days notice because the quote from a Polish builder was cheaper. They were well off so it was not a question of money. Poor builder was left with no work and having to pay staff.

I am now very careful. I either suggest that the person will be straight forward, or suggest the builder is careful, only takes the work if he needs it and adds a cushion to the quote (its central London and there are a surprising number of really well-off people who feel they have to win some sort of negotiating battle, when actually the tradesman you want is often better at carpentry than negotiation).

If a tradesman has put himself out and done a good job, I will add a bonus. I suspect this is unusual but it works and pays for itself in that a quote next time round (I am a landlord) will probably be lower.

I find that block managing agents and letting agents (though not the big Central London firms) often have a good list of trusted workmen, and will share if you ask nicely. Again I make sure to take something in for their office if they go above and beyond, say by magicking up someone in an emergency.

Oh, and always order some parking permits and have them available. (Our street is £4.00 per hour!)

I have this problem. I understand that people may not want a small job, but then why come and quote when it's obvious what the job is from the phone conversation? And why promise to come if you're not going to instead of saying you can't take it on? I run a small business in a completely different field but also involving quoting and I would never behave like this.

I think it is supply and demand - good old fashioned economics! If there are not enough people to go round, the price goes up. Sadly a lot of MN posters really expect to pay rock bottom prices and this is virtually impossible. Be realistic about hourly rate and don't listen to Kirsty and Phil. Their building quotes are a joke! Get plans drawn up, communicate effectively and agree a price. Expect that things may not be straightforward and have a contingency budget. Offer a reasonable run of work to make the job worthwhile.

The yellow pages is online.

Unfortunately some of the worst work I've had done has been via fb local page recommendation. My.honest experience is that UK trades either are 'experts' and charge a lot (£3k to fit a simple bathroom! I didn't hire him) or are generalists and do a poor quality job. The guy I had from E Europe worked to a reasonable standard and charged reasonable money. I've not found anyone else who can do that!

Yes to the FB local page recommendations: I've noticed that it's primarily mates that all recommend their mates when someone is looking for a plumber/boiler service person/electrician/etc. Hard to trust them as referrals when you know they're all friends and hang out at the local pub together...

I've had this problem over and over, drives me nuts!

I've had more success uploading my jobs to ratedpeople.com then trades people have to pay to bid for your job so seem more keen to come out. Plus they have reviews and details etc to see.

Beware - I agree on Facebook recommendations. I've had to ask people not to recommend me- I am too busy to monitor tags and such the like. I can't imagine who has got the time to fit that in.

By all means recommend me and give my card/page/website and have people contact me, but the amount of times a week I get tagged in Facebook "recommend a plumber" etc is shocking (40+ a week), and to be honest of the people who recommend me only 30% have used me! The rest are school friends and distant family, which is an unfair recommendation.

Agree with bubbles, a lot of home renovation/ decoration programmes a la Kirsty and Phil give unrealistic expectations, IRL prices are often higher.

The truth of the matter is that all the good people are busy and have plenty of work. You are unlikely to find them on crummy websites such as rated people etc. They wouldnt lower themselves and dont need to. A lot of the issues stem from

a) Being very busy
b) They often keep their "office" on the dashboard of their van. They often have poor back office support especially is they are a sole trader.

The real answer is to try and plan and book well ahead so that you can be fitted in to their schedule.

Buy cheap,buy twice. The high quality guys wouldnt bother bartering or ringing you back if you say, oh well bert bodgit said he would do it for x/y/z £.

Why would they? If you go to the dentist and they say that filling will be £40,you dont get out of the chair and say,,oh can you price match phil McCavity down the road..