Am I right to be suspicious of Plumber/workman my husband has hired to do our bathroom?

[Lauracrazygirl]

Ok long story short.

My husband has been looking for tradesmen to redo our bathroom.

He found one on our local Facebook page My husband has just told me "years of experience, good reviews and can start work the bathroom 2 weeks today"

I said "But how can he start work when we haven't pick out any of the fittings etc? What if something is not available? Also isn't a little suspicious he's available so quickly?"

My husband said another client cancelled so he's that's why he's available so quickly.

But I don't know...In my experience good tradesmen are busy and booked out months in advance and he just so happens to be available?

Am I wrong? Am I overthinking this?

I would be suspicious too, if he is that busy he would probably contact his other clients and ask if they would be happy to bring their jobs forward or possibly take the week off and have a holiday. Also do not rush buying your bathroom fittings, take your time and yes, not everything will be in stock including tiles and may take time to be delivered.

I have never found a good tradesmen where I live through other people raving about them on local Facebook groups. Idk if I have higher standards or what the deal is. Every single one of them had been crap.

Where are these reviews coming from?

So many reviews can be paid to be faked these days.

And no, I don’t trust the “client just cancelled” line. Good tradesmen are so hard to find that I would expect any home owner to cling onto a booking for dear life.

I'd be looking for a personal recommendation tbh, yes, dodgy to be available in a fortnight....

You would think that if the chap really was that good, when the cancellation came through, he could pick up the phone to any number of people who have pleaded to get a call if any jobs fall through.

Why then agree to do work for a complete stranger?

Really dodgy. I had to wait 6 months for mine to be started

Good tradesmen are as rare as hens teeth and are always booked up. 'Client has cancelled' is a very old line and definitely not one I would trust!

Well dodgy…sorry. Get a personal recommendation.

Run away from this one! Plumbing isn't a job you want bodged.

What everyone else said.

Is he on Checkatrade? We won’t consider anyone who isn’t on there as Facebook reviews etc can be fake or from friends.

We were getting some garden landscaping quotes and after showing one tradesman what we wanted done he said “no matter what anyone else has quoted you I’ll undercut them and I can start tomorrow”. Needless to say we didn’t choose him.

Checkatrade suppresses negative reviews and isn't to be trusted

I wouldn't always be suspicious of a tradesperson who can start quickly. My partner is a tradesperson and has a few people working for them. Recently clients having been cutting down on the work they want doing after quotes accepted - seemly to make the job cheaper.

As staff are employed when this happens they are moved onto other jobs, sometimes rapidly after quoting ad otherwise they would not have consistant work for all the team.

You are always right to be on your guard however, just wanted to share a bit of the other side from the trade person view.

Agree with this....Checkatrade is not to be trusted. The one time we used someone from there was a disaster and our negative review disappeared. Will never use them again.

On a different recommendation note, aren’t there local WhatsApp groups called Up My Street or something like that (which are meant to be a hive of crazy) where bad tradesmen get utterly shamed? Do any good ones make it through those groups?

Had our bathroom redone by someone who could get us in quick due to a delay on another project. Had absolutely no problems getting the fittings we wanted, I went and picked them out then he sourced through his supplier. No issues with the work done

Pretty much this. I wouldn’t worry about a plumber being able to start in two weeks. Surely that’s a good thing rather than a six month wait? I think it’s also important to bear in mind that a lot of trades work with each other and it’s extremely common to have delays on jobs due to waiting on other trades to finish their bit. For example, electrician can’t second fix the electrics until the plastering is done, plasterer can’t finish until all the walls are up. Builder can’t finish putting up the walls because their is a delay with the steels being welded etc.

I know we inadvertently delayed our plumber by fannying about over what radiators we wanted. They took a week to arrive and presumably our plumber got in other work to fill the gap in the meantime. So sometimes it is client’s indecisiveness as well.

Also, a lot of the time it is simply easier to tell clients they had a job cancellation rather than go in to the ins and outs of why they can fit you in at short notice.

True.

The only way with the trades, is to know what needs doing and to have a good idea on what's the best practice to get it done (usually involves a lot of research online). The next step is then to find a builder who proposes to carry out the work within the best practice guidelines - that's surprisingly hard to find in itself!
No day-rates.
No payments upfront (the only exception being the materials delivered to YOUR property with invoice attached).
Outline ⬆️ in contract.

Then give them some time to show good workmanship and adherence to budget&timelines. Watch like a hawk, have full knowledge on what's getting done, be prepared to ask for a second opinion if needed.
Most importantly - be prepared to let them go on the spot, if doubt about the standard of work arises!

Generally I go through 2 sets of builders (the no-show and the bodge cowboy) before the third one will get the job done well.

And yeah, it's a LOT of work to avoid getting robbed blind. Hence I do everything but gas and roof myself these days. Though I've been on my roof too. Desperate times, desperate measures.

I only engage tradespeople who are recommended by people I trust. I'd rather wait ages than engage an unknown.

Maybe it's not he can actually start in two weeks but can come give you a quote? Go over what you want etc

He's a tradesman. This is MN.

Barricade your downstairs bog immediately and call 101

I wouldn’t be suspicious. It might well be he pencilled in another job that hasn’t happened etc and holiday season is coming up so lots of people on hols and may not want jobs done at the moment.

Just let him do the quote etc and see how you feel then.

I agree with you 100%. Ask him for the contact numbers for the other work he has done and call them to see whether you can visit to look at his work. If there's nothing to hide, he will be open with you.

I had my ensuite completely refurbished last summer. I used a tradesman who was recommended by the family-owned bathroom supplier I bought my fittings from. He was amazing but my supplier let me down numerous times - stuff not ordered, wrong size etc but it all came together in the end. Other tradies were quoting me 6 months of a wait, but this guy was able to fit me in inside a couple of months. I was surprised.

Still in a dispute though as supplier offered a generous discount to compensate for all the issues, and has now gone back on his word.

Just echoing the Checkatrade warnings - we had a terrible experience with a plumber and Checkatrade refused to publish our negative review unless we had actually been to court and won the case! That's how it works: you read glowing testimonies because that's all that's allowed. And of course trades pay for their entries. I can't understand why Checkatrade is still being allowed to operate like this.

I had no idea Checkatrade worked this way. Are there any more reliable sites?