am i being unreasonable to be p****d off?

[unknown88x]

so we are having some work done on our home, husbands best friend of 20 years has a plumbing company, very good work… gave us a quote (it was no cheaper than other companies however, didn’t expect a discount everyone has to make a living - but wasn’t more either so wasn’t taking the mess!) my issue is we are being treat like friends not paying customers…. husbands best friend is not turning up when he’s supposed to, not answering messages & not completing work in time frame to coincide with the dates we’ve made for other trade men to begin (eg. tiler) ! it’s getting to the point where i feel like saying we don’t want him to continue … but this may sour the relationship …. regret now having friends company doing it as be more likely to be honest/complain if it wasn’t a friend. just feel like we are being taken the p*ss out of!

how would you handle it?

Husband needs to have a meeting with his friend, try and be formal about it, and explain that he needs to change his ways and behave properly.

Hoping this will do the trick. In other works give the guy a chance to reform his ways.

If not then start looking for someone else (not easy).

How much work has he done and how much have you paid him already? Can another workman pick up where he's left off? I think those questions are key to deciding your next actions.

If you are trying to preserve the friendship, on the assumption that you can afford to walk away, I'd say something like "Obviously you're really busy with work elsewhere at the moment, so we're thinking it might be better to use another plumber because we're working to really tight deadlines. I don't want to stress you out while you're clearly so busy, so just thought that might be easier all round."

I know it's not strictly true and I wouldn't take this approach with other tradespeople, but if you want to keep them as a friend I'd try this. Protects their ego and still gets you out of the arrangement.