Why are so many tradesmen absolute s***

[faelavie]

It really boils my p*ss.

My house needs new fascias and soffits and a roof tile replaced as we're getting a lot of damp and now a leak in the bedroom. Posted an ad online, a roofer offered to come and provide a quote which he did. Organised a date to do the work. Paid a deposit.
On the day, the roofer cancelled as he said his apprentice let him down and he can't do the work alone. He said he'd contact us to rearrange.
Fair enough, these things happen.
A week later, no contact, no replies to texts or calls.

This isn't the first time I've had this kind of thing with tradesmen, and I'm just wondering why this business is full of such practices??

And yes I know there are good tradesmen out there - and that you have to hold onto them like gold dust.
And yes I know that there are some horrible clients out there too. I work with the general public and I know how rubbish that can be.

But how difficult is it to just get back to people or just send a quick text to update them on what's going on? Instead of constant radio silence.

If you don't want to do the work, if you're too busy, etc etc - just f'ing tell me and return my deposit so I can find someone else!

Jesus tittyf*ing Christ

@faelavie omg re your kitchen!

@lovelemoncurd OP has used Mybuilder and still had problems. I also found using Which trusted traders didn't help.

To echo a PP I'm so glad it's not just me too. I've had such issues since we bought our house, especially with plumbers. Luckily we've found good electricians and landscapers but we cannot find a plumber who is both responsive to messages and turns up, who also doesn't break anything. The only plumbers we have success with are the official ones from the shower brands we've bought. We need a new hot water cylinder and potentially new boiler and I'm dreading it.

I also find a lot of them don't treat your house with respect and I find that really stressful, wondering what mess they're going to make/what they will break.

@roastedsaltedpeanut lol at your descriptions of copious amounts of sugar and constant chatting! We've only had a couple who don't take sugar in tea and we had one guy who spent hours talking to us and we had to pay by the hour.

@Anordinarymum It's not unusual, many smaller tradesman will ask for one especially if they need to purchase materials for the job.

We are getting two bathrooms done, recommended plumbers managing all the other trades - neighbour used them - recommended by local plumbers merchant. Still the odd niggle - but they've been clean, easy to deal with, turned up when they said they would and told us if they couldn't.

Friends tried to get them for quote last week - couldn't even quote till March.

We are getting an extension built soon - again have a list of builders who have been used by people we know or recommended by the architect - who we've used before.

None of the people we have used or are thinking of using really advertise - not facebook or anywhere. It really is a case of asking people and hanging on to a good one!

Anyone can advertise as a joiner or builder or handyman....

I had endless awfullness when I first moved to the area and didn't know anyone - lots of shoddy jobs and people not turning up.

Why oh why does a tradesman ever say, "no, sorry, I'm too busy to do this job" or "no, I'm not interested" for whatever reason.

Instead they agree to do the job and give you a quote, and then you never hear from them again.

Agreed. Roofers have been the worst with me, just total repeat no shows.
Can count on about 1 finger the number of good experiences with tradesmen I’ve had.
Just picking numbers out of thin air, poor work or just not even showing up.
I’ve started doing most stuff that I can myself. Painting outside of house, sorting flat roof etc because I just find the whole dance totally tedious.

I have saved for ages to have a new bath and shower fitted.... I have no local recommendations so just not starting the process for the fear of getting someone shoddy... I don’t know where to start with finding someone reliable!

@CoronaIsWatching

Trades are good professions to be in, pretty well paid and always work around but for SOME reason like pp said, schoolkids aren't encouraged into them, and are seen as a fallback for kids who can't get good grades. So unfortunately the trades are full of a certain type

A certain type? What type would that be?

@chipshopElvis

We have just had an extention and it has been a nightmare getting anyone to come and do anything. Exceptions were the kitchen fitters and the tiler who were reliable, hardworking, honest and generally lovely. Plumbers, electricians and builders however, like hearding cats!

Wait till you need roofers and scaffolders - they make the others look like saints.

I think it's a combination of reasons... at least in my area, some trades like roofing are very busy and in demand, especially between autumn and early spring when people have roof leaks. They can afford to not offer amazing customer service because they know people are absolutely desperate to just get the work done.

It's also one thing to be a great at a trade and completely another to be great at running a business, too. I had a great plasterer do some work for me but he was really disorganised with admin and time keeping. Took ages to send me the quote (I had to chase), accidentally double booked his days (only found because I chased) but actually did a great job with the plastering.

I also think a lot of customers/potential customers mess them around a lot and this must affect them - the whole practice of getting 3 quotes for most jobs means tradespeople end up doing a lot of work for no pay when they travel to quote, put together the quote and then the customer doesn't choose them for the job.

@Zebrahooves

Why oh why does a tradesman ever say, "no, sorry, I'm too busy to do this job" or "no, I'm not interested" for whatever reason.

Instead they agree to do the job and give you a quote, and then you never hear from them again.

The reputable/honest tradesmen DO tell you upfront if they're too busy. They're the ones who don't advertise. They work from personal recommendation and repeat business. We have a small building firm in our village (two brothers) - the only advertising they do is a couple of signwritten vans. If you want them to do anything, you book them a year or two in advance. They book you in their diary and turn up on the appointed date, however far it was booked in advance. If they get behind on jobs, they put in longer hours to catch up. You could almost set your clock by them. They're not cheap, in fact, you'd call them expensive, but the quality of work is second to none as is their attention to detail.

We also have a plumber/heating engineer in the village too, who's the same. He even paints the copper pipework after he's fitted it to match the skirting board or wall or whatever. He's another true craftsman, and yes, the same, he never advertises and you book him months in advance.

Tradesmen who are constantly advertising everywhere are the ones to avoid (unless a new start up of course), as they clearly have no repeat/recommendation business which is a massive red flag!

I'm not justifying it, but I think because they are self employed they just take the job offering the most money. ££££££ money at the front, ££ smaller paying jobs at the back of queue. So you've just been dumped for a better offer.
I also don't think craftsmenship necessarily goes hand in hand with organisational ability, so that may also be a factor too.

Agreed. Getting my kitchen done in dec, first time I have done so. Man has own shop, was great at first, helped with anything I was unsure about, hounded us to get booked despite us not showing exactly what wanted and pay deposit as he was getting very full apparently. My being naive books in thinking we have plenty time and pays deposit. All of a sudden he's off the radar. Reads but doesn't reply to messages, is very blunt if he does. Like a different person. I'm now panicking and really stressed as the showroom is now closed. I'm angry that I let myself get pressured into it. Would cancel and go elsewhere if I hadn't paid deposit. I'm going to end up hating it I can see it.

I'm sorry this has happened OP. We gave up on building a very small but incredibly tricky extension because out of 15 builders I called to ask for a quote 5 turned it down without seeing the site (fair enough, I appreciated their honesty). 10 builders came to see our house and all said they would be interested at the time. Not one came back to me, even to turn down the job.
I ended up having to ring a couple to ask why they hadn't come back to me. Turns out they didn't want to quote because it would mean paying a quantity surveyor £200. One guy knew that the price would come in around 50k (20k over our budget) and therefore didn't bother. Why couldn't he just have sent me an email to that effect?!?
I wasted an entire year searching for a builder.
And don't get me started on the feckless, lying scum who did our rewire.... Thankfully his workmanship was good, but only when he showed up.
I think that when tradesmen are in their apprenticeship there should be mandatory courses on the basics of customer service and how to run a business.

[quote faelavie]@Anordinarymum It's not unusual, many smaller tradesman will ask for one especially if they need to purchase materials for the job.[/quote]
I have never paid a deposit for any trade job. Anyone worth booking will have a trade account.

I wouldn't expect to ever see your deposit again and would be very surprised if you haven't been scammed this time.

Completely agree. i've been waiting three weeks for a quote for replacing a bath with a shower cubical. not very impressed.

I believe this , our next door neighbours are having their roof done and other bits to the front of the house and the scaffolding has been up nearly 2 months (I think) and the roofers have been there a maximum of three times since.

When they are there they spend most of their time sitting on the top part drinking tea (this bit looks directly into my bedroom ). If I was next door I'd be furious. They appear currently to have invested in permanent scaffolding , no actual work being done. Maybe I'm wrong maybe the scaffolding is just a stylistic choice for them. I mean I like the industrial look but it seems excessive.

I've had a few absolutely shoddy tradesmen lately, real garbage. Got them off checkatrade and my builder.
The last one had no bad reviews and had been trading for 20 years, I tried resolving it with him and he said if I dared to put a complaint in he's sue me in court and I'd have to pay damages etc. i reported him to checkatrade along with his email and he was taken off the site but most people would be too scared to give a bad review and would just back down - shocking behaviour.

My ex is a tradesman and he is the epitome of unreliable, lazy, and non-communicative. To be fair to him, almost every other trades he works with are exactly the same! Acts like he's doing you a favour turning up for work! The

Yup. We need a few v small electrical jobs doing. Nothing complicated but working with electrics is something we choose not to do ourselves. Found a tradesman through an advert in a community magazine, he came to look at the work. No problem - half a day at the most. That was a month ago and I never heard from him again despite many calls (all to voicemail) and texts.

We've now found someone else who by coincidence I know his fiancee and prospective MIL and he knows this. Hopefully that will keep him in line

@Elzbells Well I've managed to contact him and the work is booked in for next week. I guess we'll see?
You'd think being top rated on Checkatrade and Ratedpeople would be reassuring, wouldn't you, but as a PP said... I think some are scared to leave bad reviews.
Paying deposits to tradesmen is really not unusual, if you read around. It does vary, as does people's willingness to do so.

Tradesmen are the worse BUT wtf you Gave a deposit? How naive - sorry op, I feel for you by why would you do that. Any job wherewe’ve needed materials my husband or I have gone with the tradesman to use their discount// know what to get- pay but have it shipped to our add so we have the materials.

The last few jobs I’ve had done they’ve wanted a deposit 🤷‍♀️

It’s not just tradesMEN by the way. I needed the outside of my house painted during lockdown #1. Got a couple of quotes and decided to go with a female painter, because I thought she would be less likely to mess me around and I felt safer with a tradeswoman (had couple of slightly unnerving episodes with tradesmen before). She wanted a deposit to book me in for a specific date as it was a big job and needed to be tied in with other work.

Day before due to start she messaged to say she’d hurt her back and it would be 6 weeks before she could start! Obviously this was a major problem with other trades starting, she then offered for a friend to come and do the painting (!) or said her back might be better in 2 weeks.

The next day I looked on her personal FB page, to find she had built a rockery at home the day before and was currently drinking wine in the garden and sunbathing! I contacted to ask for a return of my deposit so I could book someone else and got a load of abuse about how difficult life was for her and she had spent the money so I couldn’t have it back. CAB couldn’t help as she closed the business that day.

Thankfully I found a brilliant painter but as I had to pay for all the building works with a loan it will annoy me for years to come every time I have to make the repayments.

hmm I've never paid a deposit either... Although for bigger things like a new roof and an extension we've paid weekly in arrears, which is fair enough as some of the materials are very expensive (steel beams etc).

In my experience it's a mixed bag. And everyone has mixed abilities in some way. We have a very good builder, who is reasonably priced, brilliant at his work, scrupulously honest, but quite slow... to the point where you can double any time frame he gives you. But as long as you know that (and the friend who recommended him told me this) it's fine. You just nod and smile when he says something will take 3 days!
Similarly we've found a good decorator (after a bad experience with a different one), who is not brilliant at communication, and takes ages to give quotes etc, but once he starts the job, does a beautiful job and pretty speedily!

It's not just you. Every two or three years I decide we should do a bit more on the house and hope it won't be as bad this time!! In Feb we asked a builder to do the drive...still waiting for a test pit to be dug and it's now November! Not quite given up on him yet but getting there!! Then we had the roof done, new facias, sofits and guttering. Roofer said it would be two weeks work. Waited from Feb to July for the roofer and scaffolder. The roofer took 6 weeks and the scaffolder left the scaffolding up for another 6 weeks after he had finished! Roofer also put all the square drainpipes up slightly wonky so the corners didn't match up. Sent hubby up the scaffolding to straighten them. Then new en suite. Again two weeks work. Now well into week three and still not finished. Plumber keeps having to go off to other jobs, look after his nephew for the day and other excuses to leave early. He also wrecked in £300 worth of shower boards, completely failed to fit them so now Ihave had to order new ones and in doing that he scratched my new shower tray. He also drilled holes through my new drawers and toilet unit (he thought they were being joined together..they weren't!) and yesterday whacked my newly plastered and painted walls so I'll have to polyfilla that bit when he finally finishes. Oh and getting rid of all the rubbish was apparently not in his quote and we have had to take 6 carloads to the tip.

Oh god this reminds me of the decorator MIL hired for us. We were paying but it was her friends man and MIL is pushy.

He was AWFUL. When he did show he would spend huge chunks of the day talking loudly on his phone instead of putting up the no pattern wallpaper (simple job) in the completely empty rooms (again, even simpler job!) and when he did spend five minutes of his £10 an hour working time, he cut at least 2 feet of wallpaper off the top and a good two feet off the bottom too. It wasn't patterned. There was no matching required. Just rolls and rolls of the exact same paper to be painted later that would have very little wastage.

Each day DH and I would lug two bin bags of useless wasted wallpaper (paid for by us) outside for disposal.

To make matters worse, he'd see his mate's going by and yell obscenities out of the window, laughing to his mates. Ie. "Oi Gazza ya fat bastard! You'll need to run faster than that to lose that fucking gut!"
"Oi Oi Deano! Where'd the fuck you been lately?! Too busy shagging yet new bird?! You coming to the Pub later?"

Yeah. Such a great first impression we have to the neighbours before we even managed to move in.

I'm almost jealous of you guys who just had no shows. We did give him his marching orders as soon as we could. Politely of course. We made up a lie about my brother offering to do it for free as he had time off work as we didn't want him to get shitty with us.