Trades - moan!!
Discussion
It can't just be me that suffers from this. It seems like every builder/plumber/electrician etc that I ever engage with is utterly hopeless!
In the past we've eventually found some core people that we can rely on 'enough'. But having recently moved, I'm starting from square one and I could do with a little bit of building work doing, some plastering and I need some electrics sorting. I've had a few recommendations for all. I must have called 10 different people now. Of the ones I've managed to speak to, I have had the usual, I'll call back with a time. Haven't heard a thing. Have been following up.
2 weeks of this crap. Not one person has got as far as even coming to quote. It's driving me nuts how much effort I'm having to put in just to get someone to take a look and give a price.
My standards are now so low that I would probably give a 5 star google review to anybody who just returns a call!
Rant over. Not asking for any advice. Just frustrated!
In the past we've eventually found some core people that we can rely on 'enough'. But having recently moved, I'm starting from square one and I could do with a little bit of building work doing, some plastering and I need some electrics sorting. I've had a few recommendations for all. I must have called 10 different people now. Of the ones I've managed to speak to, I have had the usual, I'll call back with a time. Haven't heard a thing. Have been following up.
2 weeks of this crap. Not one person has got as far as even coming to quote. It's driving me nuts how much effort I'm having to put in just to get someone to take a look and give a price.
My standards are now so low that I would probably give a 5 star google review to anybody who just returns a call!
Rant over. Not asking for any advice. Just frustrated!
If you can stand the inane dribble about bins and dog thefts, I have found local Facebook groups to be a great way to find trades. I've always had a good result from posting up "looking for somebody to..." requests - you get a good feel for how responsive they are from the ensuing conversation and you tend to only get responses from people who are actually available and willing to work. Definitely work a look, anyway.
deckster said:
If you can stand the inane dribble about bins and dog thefts, I have found local Facebook groups to be a great way to find trades. I've always had a good result from posting up "looking for somebody to..." requests - you get a good feel for how responsive they are from the ensuing conversation and you tend to only get responses from people who are actually available and willing to work. Definitely work a look, anyway.
had just the opposite when we tried fb , all the dregs that responded were available because no one else wanted them , all turned out to be chancers and cowboysi think anyone decent doesnt need the advertising and wont be sifting through facebook for work
I'm in the same boat. FB seems to be a good place for genuine feedback.
I've found and heard from trades that rate my builder type places - you get a firm in to do a big project and they put down each job separately to boost their ratings. I'd use these with a pinch of salt. A couple of builders have told me this. If you use them to identify firms, see reference sites etc. I also wandered around locally and knocked on doors to see who locals have used!
I've found and heard from trades that rate my builder type places - you get a firm in to do a big project and they put down each job separately to boost their ratings. I'd use these with a pinch of salt. A couple of builders have told me this. If you use them to identify firms, see reference sites etc. I also wandered around locally and knocked on doors to see who locals have used!
My fencing needs replacing so I went online and found two local businesses. I'd also kept a card that had come through the door from another so tried them too.
Fencer #1 said he'd be round on Saturday but didn't show up.
Fencer #2 came round and looked at the fence but no quote has appeared after 3 weeks.
Fencer #3 said he'd send somebody round that afternoon, but they didn't show up and a follow-up message was unanswered.
I appreciate that these people might be too busy to do it, or perhaps the job isn't big enough to interest them, but why can't they just say that rather than run away and hide?
Fencer #1 said he'd be round on Saturday but didn't show up.
Fencer #2 came round and looked at the fence but no quote has appeared after 3 weeks.
Fencer #3 said he'd send somebody round that afternoon, but they didn't show up and a follow-up message was unanswered.
I appreciate that these people might be too busy to do it, or perhaps the job isn't big enough to interest them, but why can't they just say that rather than run away and hide?
deckster said:
I have found local Facebook groups to be a great way to find trades. I've always had a good result from posting up "looking for somebody to..." requests - you get a good feel for how responsive they are from the ensuing conversation and you tend to only get responses from people who are actually available and willing to work. Definitely work a look, anyway.
I find that on local FB groups the reccomendations are mainly "friends or relations" of the person they are actually reccomending. It also bugs the crap out of me when they just tag someone, you click on that persons profile and there is no business details, just the profile pic of the guy stood there pi$$ed up with his mates in Ibiza. They then don't message you either so WTF are you supposed to do with that?!!Strongly relate to this.
We've been lucky enough to find a plumber/handyman type who used to be the guy who came round to our rented place before we bought. We figured if he was being used by the letting agent he must be worthwhile, and it turns out he's very reliable and professional. We also struck gold with a good electrician via Check-A-Trade.
On the flip side, finding someone to fix our roof was a challenge. Several people who didn't turn up at all, others who turned up and then either refused to quote because it was a town house (despite my telling them in advance!) or said they'd quote and didn't. We had one guy who quoted, we accepted the work, and then he disappeared for six weeks. We found someone else, got the work done, and then the first guy got back in touch and said he could come round "tomorrow". Gave me 20 seconds of abuse when I told him that actually it had already been done!
We've been lucky enough to find a plumber/handyman type who used to be the guy who came round to our rented place before we bought. We figured if he was being used by the letting agent he must be worthwhile, and it turns out he's very reliable and professional. We also struck gold with a good electrician via Check-A-Trade.
On the flip side, finding someone to fix our roof was a challenge. Several people who didn't turn up at all, others who turned up and then either refused to quote because it was a town house (despite my telling them in advance!) or said they'd quote and didn't. We had one guy who quoted, we accepted the work, and then he disappeared for six weeks. We found someone else, got the work done, and then the first guy got back in touch and said he could come round "tomorrow". Gave me 20 seconds of abuse when I told him that actually it had already been done!
Daggerpie said:
deckster said:
I have found local Facebook groups to be a great way to find trades. I've always had a good result from posting up "looking for somebody to..." requests - you get a good feel for how responsive they are from the ensuing conversation and you tend to only get responses from people who are actually available and willing to work. Definitely work a look, anyway.
I find that on local FB groups the reccomendations are mainly "friends or relations" of the person they are actually reccomending. It also bugs the crap out of me when they just tag someone, you click on that persons profile and there is no business details, just the profile pic of the guy stood there pi$$ed up with his mates in Ibiza. They then don't message you either so WTF are you supposed to do with that?!!
I only ever contact trades who have responded directly (agree that the "my Kevins great hun xxx" type posts are unhelpful) and clicking through to their profile offers a good first-pass filter. And if they don't respond to your message then fine, they don't want or get the work!
Daggerpie said:
deckster said:
I have found local Facebook groups to be a great way to find trades. I've always had a good result from posting up "looking for somebody to..." requests - you get a good feel for how responsive they are from the ensuing conversation and you tend to only get responses from people who are actually available and willing to work. Definitely work a look, anyway.
I find that on local FB groups the reccomendations are mainly "friends or relations" of the person they are actually reccomending. It also bugs the crap out of me when they just tag someone, you click on that persons profile and there is no business details, just the profile pic of the guy stood there pi$$ed up with his mates in Ibiza. They then don't message you either so WTF are you supposed to do with that?!!Last year, we needed a new boiler. We had a recommended plumber look at it a few times to see if he could identify an obvious fault. Refused to charge us anything but couldn't fix the old one so we asked him to quote for a new one. Weeks went by, we kept pushing for a quote and felt slightly obliged to use him as he was a nice guy and he'd already put in the leg work. Never heard a thing. Had to use another guy who was excellent and luckily he will come to our new place as well as he knows he'll get the work so isn't wasting travel time.
I realise these people probably all have more work than they need so maybe feel like they simply don't have to put the effort in but... It seems like anybody competent at their trade who puts in the tiniest bit of legwork, proper website, proper booking/calendar system, proper quoting system, a bit of effort to get some online reviews in all the right places, well you'd think they'd be able to charge quite a decent premium over all the competition and still have a queue around the block for more work. Total contrast to many small businesses I know who have to work their socks off just to get enquiries and even harder to convert to orders.
We did a complete house refurb from July to Christmas Eve 2019. Very lucky with trades people on the whole . . . started with what turned out to be the world's most meticulous chimney/roof guy, then a carpenter / problem solver who in turn recommended other great plasterers / tilers / etc.
I think if you find one good guy in a particular trade, they recommend other good people. Cowboys bring in fellow cowboys!
Electrician and central heating engineer I just picked from Check-a-trade and have used them again.
Only problem we had throughout was tiling the kitchen floor with a very textured (like woven fabric) floor tile. Tiler - whose work everywhere else was faultless - thought he knew better than the instructions, and didn't use the temporary sealer before grouting. Took two evenings on our knees with toothbrushes and brick acid to recover from total disaster to not-quite-perfect, but he was so distraught we couldn't get angry!
I think if you find one good guy in a particular trade, they recommend other good people. Cowboys bring in fellow cowboys!
Electrician and central heating engineer I just picked from Check-a-trade and have used them again.
Only problem we had throughout was tiling the kitchen floor with a very textured (like woven fabric) floor tile. Tiler - whose work everywhere else was faultless - thought he knew better than the instructions, and didn't use the temporary sealer before grouting. Took two evenings on our knees with toothbrushes and brick acid to recover from total disaster to not-quite-perfect, but he was so distraught we couldn't get angry!
Gad-Westy said:
I must admit that seems to align with my experience of facebook. I'm not actually a member (a rant for another day!) but we've had recommendations to my other half on there and I don't recall any leading to any success.
Last year, we needed a new boiler. We had a recommended plumber look at it a few times to see if he could identify an obvious fault. Refused to charge us anything but couldn't fix the old one so we asked him to quote for a new one. Weeks went by, we kept pushing for a quote and felt slightly obliged to use him as he was a nice guy and he'd already put in the leg work. Never heard a thing. Had to use another guy who was excellent and luckily he will come to our new place as well as he knows he'll get the work so isn't wasting travel time.
I realise these people probably all have more work than they need so maybe feel like they simply don't have to put the effort in but... It seems like anybody competent at their trade who puts in the tiniest bit of legwork, proper website, proper booking/calendar system, proper quoting system, a bit of effort to get some online reviews in all the right places, well you'd think they'd be able to charge quite a decent premium over all the competition and still have a queue around the block for more work. Total contrast to many small businesses I know who have to work their socks off just to get enquiries and even harder to convert to orders.
To be honest mate, you're better off asking on here than Facebook. Facebook will largely find you the people that have organised their family and their mates to recommend them, or people recommending their facebook business page from their personal account. Last year, we needed a new boiler. We had a recommended plumber look at it a few times to see if he could identify an obvious fault. Refused to charge us anything but couldn't fix the old one so we asked him to quote for a new one. Weeks went by, we kept pushing for a quote and felt slightly obliged to use him as he was a nice guy and he'd already put in the leg work. Never heard a thing. Had to use another guy who was excellent and luckily he will come to our new place as well as he knows he'll get the work so isn't wasting travel time.
I realise these people probably all have more work than they need so maybe feel like they simply don't have to put the effort in but... It seems like anybody competent at their trade who puts in the tiniest bit of legwork, proper website, proper booking/calendar system, proper quoting system, a bit of effort to get some online reviews in all the right places, well you'd think they'd be able to charge quite a decent premium over all the competition and still have a queue around the block for more work. Total contrast to many small businesses I know who have to work their socks off just to get enquiries and even harder to convert to orders.
If you ask locally for a cleaner you'll get 90% recommendations for one person, she is terrible - lazy and no attention to detail. We used her briefly, we have friends that used her recently and were also disappointed. When we used her we would get messages from her asking us to recommend her on Facebook within minutes of someone asking the question. Was a total pain in the arse when we wanted our keys back too.
Anyway, I can recommend a heating engineer, a plasterer, an electrician and a roofer if you drop me a message. Plastering needs booking in early though, I had to wait three months and do all the plasterboard myself.
paulrockliffe said:
Gad-Westy said:
I must admit that seems to align with my experience of facebook. I'm not actually a member (a rant for another day!) but we've had recommendations to my other half on there and I don't recall any leading to any success.
Last year, we needed a new boiler. We had a recommended plumber look at it a few times to see if he could identify an obvious fault. Refused to charge us anything but couldn't fix the old one so we asked him to quote for a new one. Weeks went by, we kept pushing for a quote and felt slightly obliged to use him as he was a nice guy and he'd already put in the leg work. Never heard a thing. Had to use another guy who was excellent and luckily he will come to our new place as well as he knows he'll get the work so isn't wasting travel time.
I realise these people probably all have more work than they need so maybe feel like they simply don't have to put the effort in but... It seems like anybody competent at their trade who puts in the tiniest bit of legwork, proper website, proper booking/calendar system, proper quoting system, a bit of effort to get some online reviews in all the right places, well you'd think they'd be able to charge quite a decent premium over all the competition and still have a queue around the block for more work. Total contrast to many small businesses I know who have to work their socks off just to get enquiries and even harder to convert to orders.
To be honest mate, you're better off asking on here than Facebook. Facebook will largely find you the people that have organised their family and their mates to recommend them, or people recommending their facebook business page from their personal account. Last year, we needed a new boiler. We had a recommended plumber look at it a few times to see if he could identify an obvious fault. Refused to charge us anything but couldn't fix the old one so we asked him to quote for a new one. Weeks went by, we kept pushing for a quote and felt slightly obliged to use him as he was a nice guy and he'd already put in the leg work. Never heard a thing. Had to use another guy who was excellent and luckily he will come to our new place as well as he knows he'll get the work so isn't wasting travel time.
I realise these people probably all have more work than they need so maybe feel like they simply don't have to put the effort in but... It seems like anybody competent at their trade who puts in the tiniest bit of legwork, proper website, proper booking/calendar system, proper quoting system, a bit of effort to get some online reviews in all the right places, well you'd think they'd be able to charge quite a decent premium over all the competition and still have a queue around the block for more work. Total contrast to many small businesses I know who have to work their socks off just to get enquiries and even harder to convert to orders.
If you ask locally for a cleaner you'll get 90% recommendations for one person, she is terrible - lazy and no attention to detail. We used her briefly, we have friends that used her recently and were also disappointed. When we used her we would get messages from her asking us to recommend her on Facebook within minutes of someone asking the question. Was a total pain in the arse when we wanted our keys back too.
Anyway, I can recommend a heating engineer, a plasterer, an electrician and a roofer if you drop me a message. Plastering needs booking in early though, I had to wait three months and do all the plasterboard myself.
If I have to chase someone for a quote more than once, I just move on.
If they can't be bothered to get back to me they don't want the work enough, so either it's not profitable for them or they're too busy, either way it then gives them the opportunity to waste my time with a laughable quote that I'll just reject by not calling them back like they did to me.
As long as you're not in a hurry, the ball is completely in your court to get someone that engages properly, takes time to explain the works required, split the estimate in detail and is well prices, I will take that person 10 times out of 10 over the cheapest quote.
We have a plumber (who is here today coincidentally) a roofer and an electrician that do all of the above and I feel like a needy insecure girlfriend about them in case they stop doing work for us at some point in the future.
If they can't be bothered to get back to me they don't want the work enough, so either it's not profitable for them or they're too busy, either way it then gives them the opportunity to waste my time with a laughable quote that I'll just reject by not calling them back like they did to me.
As long as you're not in a hurry, the ball is completely in your court to get someone that engages properly, takes time to explain the works required, split the estimate in detail and is well prices, I will take that person 10 times out of 10 over the cheapest quote.
We have a plumber (who is here today coincidentally) a roofer and an electrician that do all of the above and I feel like a needy insecure girlfriend about them in case they stop doing work for us at some point in the future.
Edited by TimmyMallett on Friday 9th April 13:27
I posted on the local Facebook page 2 years ago, looking for someone to put up 10 fence panels, 11 concrete posts, and some gravel boards.
Stupidly, I accepted the quote from a chap who replied himself, not from the 2 or 3 that were recommended by someone else.
He talked a good job, turned up when he said he would, and did the job in 2 days.
It was only when one of the posts started to lean over that I realised he hadn't bothered filling the hole with postcrete or concrete. The whole lot will have to come out at some point.
He got his just deserts a couple of months ago - 27 months in prison for ripping off a couple of pensioners, dodgy work building extensions that had to be demolished and rebuilt.
Stupidly, I accepted the quote from a chap who replied himself, not from the 2 or 3 that were recommended by someone else.
He talked a good job, turned up when he said he would, and did the job in 2 days.
It was only when one of the posts started to lean over that I realised he hadn't bothered filling the hole with postcrete or concrete. The whole lot will have to come out at some point.
He got his just deserts a couple of months ago - 27 months in prison for ripping off a couple of pensioners, dodgy work building extensions that had to be demolished and rebuilt.
I've got a general handyman that was recommended to me and he's brilliant, turns up when he says he will and generally pretty quickly.
Can turn his hand to most things and if he can't usually knows someone who can.
I always pay him straight away and he's reasonable on cost.
Good trades are like diamonds, hard to find amongst the s
te.
Can turn his hand to most things and if he can't usually knows someone who can.
I always pay him straight away and he's reasonable on cost.
Good trades are like diamonds, hard to find amongst the s
te.RVVUNM said:
I am sick and tired with the trades people around my house recently to price a new porcelain patio. I always start off by explaining what I want and if it's not for them walk away now. "No, it's a job I am interested in" them sweet FA comes back. Three off them so far. Grrrrrrrr
A few mates of mine are builders and every single one of them is absolutely shocking for not returning calls to people, not turning up to jobs etc etc. One of the things I've noticed is this point made by RVVUNM; my take on it is that even if they cannot do the work for whatever reason, they just cannot turn it down. My mates are all exactly the same.
Bain of my life at the moment too, it seems being competent at a trade and competent at customer relations are two traits that a single human is incapable of possessing. We even had an electrician thats a friend of the family promise to turn up twice to quote, didn't show for either and then when chased again said they're to busy to commit to doing the work.
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