Certainly slower than I thought!
Having the hallway laminate floor in my flat replaced due to the flat above having a leaky toilet a few weeks ago. Not a big area at all. The guy has been here since 9:30 and is still not finished! Took him over an hour to take the old flooring up, has spent more time on the phone than working and has now been joined by his mate to give him a hand, work has slowed considerably since. Guessing they're dragging the hours out as it's an insurance job. They're only 3/4 the way along the hallway now and still have to refit the storage heater and do the beading round the edge.
Meant to be going to my sister's at 5.
I'd imagine insurance would be a fixed price job, not by the hour. No reason to slow time it.
Perhaps it's one of those jobs that's all in the prep and once they get going on actual fitting it will all zip in, maybe...
There's been a guy working in the house opposite mine 07:30 to 18:30 6 days a week since the beginning of April.
I estimate how long building works take for a living and based on the amount of hours he's put in, I reckon he must be building a massive subterranean lair for a super villain.
has spent more time on the phone than working
what time of day did you (or the insurance company) call him to arrange this work?
I won't be throwing stones from my glass house, as I'm WFH right now, while being on STW
If he'd done it already you'd be on here moaning about a slap-dash rushed job 🙂
Should've done it yourself with your awesome super-fast skillz. Maybe the fact that you're lurking in the background reporting his progress on the internet is making him nervous?
Having said that, i'd much rather have a plodder who leaves a perfect finish than someone who 's finished for lunchtime and pisses off , leaving a total bag of shite behind him.
Concentrate on the workmanship. That's what you've paid for.
Very, very slowly...
I made a huge mistake earlier this year. It seemed like an good idea, but not knowing anything about the 'Trades' I got tucked up really.
I agreed for a plasterer to skim a large room in my house, it's two rooms knocked into one (dining and living). "Shouldn't take more than 2 days, plus materials. £110 a day". The floor was covered in an old ratty carpet that was going in the bin in a few weeks so he didn't have to worry about that.
Great I thought, in the end it cost £1600.
His MO was - arrive between 08:00 and 09:00 depending on how late he'd been up the night before.
09:00 to 10:00 coffee, unpack, arse scratching time.
10:00 to 11:30, slowly pick off the old wallpaper carefully with a Stanley knife to "save the walls".
11:30 to 13:30, eat lunch, smoke weed, drink more coffee.
13:30 to 15:00 slowly pick off more wallpaper...
15:00 to 15:15 tidy up.
15:15 scarper.
That said more than once we came home lunchtime to see how he was getting on and he's gone and taken all his tools with him to "get lunch" - but somehow did no work in the afternoon.
That's the last time I paid any Tradesman by the day, I'm sure there are loads of honest hard working ones out there, but 'once burnt'. I've been called a fool by a Plaster I actually know I was a mug for letting him work that way (why put so much time into stripping wall paper to save plaster you're going to cover???) and that it should have taken 3 days or so.
what time of day did you (or the insurance company) call him to arrange this work?
I didn't. it's a rental so the management company have handled all of that. Most of the phone calls have been from his wife or kids, nothing to do with his job.
Concentrate on the workmanship. That’s what you’ve paid for.
It's not the best.
If he’d done it already you’d be on here moaning about a slap-dash rushed job
He said it would be done by 1pm so I planned my day around that. Plus I have no real say in the quality, the management company are coming round tomorrow at 9am to inspect the work before signing it off.
I'm actually amazed at the speed of the some of the guys who've done work here. Ripping the bathroom out including taking up the floor took less than an hour. New floor and stud walls fitted the same same day. Youngish lads, all younger than 30 - plumber, tiler, spark.
I heard that someone who works in an office was a dick once too.
Funny old world.
Oh, the guy who did the "hardwood" laminate floor in our hallway took 2 hours, did a shit job, looks rough around the edges, made loads of excuses, was rude to my Son when he came back to fix them, fixed half of it and left again.
I'd quite happily rip it all out and start again, but my Wife likes it and hasn't spotted the issues I've seen.
Day rate is fine if you know and trust the tradesman. It'll take as long as it takes to do the job right. It can cost more asking for an exact price rather than an estimate as they're bound to add more 'just in case'.
The phone thing gets on my nerves though. It seems to be accepted practice as they're sole-traders or whatever and might miss work. I'm in 'the trades' and my phone stays in the car and is checked at lunch. The only people who won't leave a message for you to call them back are generally scammers and call-centres.
@P-Jay - Yeah he's done you up like a kipper there, if he's working on a day rate. Always go for fixed price then it's in their own interest not to string the job out. By comparison we've just had our hall and landing re-skimmed as the original Victorian era plaster was knackered. It's taken the plasterer 3 days to do it in total at a cost of £360.
I think if some of the guys are subbies from bigger companies, which they may well be if it's an insurance job, then they do take the proverbial and take as long as possible on a job. Stop supplying the tea and biscuits and they'll soon migrate to somewhere more welcoming 🙂
I would have sacked him after the first joint.
Not a tradesman, but I have fitted a fair number of laminate floors - one of my favorite jobs. And I do it well. I'd have said a hall would be finished by 5PM, cutting around the door frames, possible pipework and base of curved stairs is the most likely challenge. I don't like the beading effect and prefer the look of thin cork strip. Cheap flooring takes longer. A nice sharp new blade/saw is a must.
I would have **** him off after the first joint.
That's pretty generous. I just give them biscuits.
Most of the phone calls have been from his wife or kids, nothing to do with his job.
I take it back. There have been enough threads on here about tradesmen that never answer calls, or come round to quote
Do people really smoke weed at work? Nothing against it, but it bloody stinks. I would never go into a customers house stinking of weed. I've met a few alchy tradesmen, sitting in the van with a can of carling etc.
Stop supplying the tea and biscuits and they’ll soon migrate to somewhere more welcoming.
Only offered one drink and he didn't like the offer so the biscuits have stayed wrapped up.
A nice sharp new blade/saw is a must.
He had to 'nip out' first thing as he'd run out of sharp jigsaw blades!
Doesn't help he doesn't believe in the virus being anything more than a way for the govt to control us (hence no mask) and I stopped really talking to him when he tried saying that he was breaking the local lockdown in Caerphilly every day, so were all of his mates. Compared to the workmen at my parent's house who have been super-efficient when there (their company controlled where they worked), followed safe procedures, tidied up etc he's very poor.
If I was paying the bill he'd have been politely asked to leave hours ago. Or I'd have done it myself.
Do people really smoke weed at work? Nothing against it, but it bloody stinks. I would never go into a customers house stinking of weed. I’ve met a few alchy tradesmen, sitting in the van with a can of carling etc.
We've had people smoking weed at work. Usually out the back or in their cars, sometimes in the toilet. It stinks, and anywhere indoors still stinks days later. Can't have people working when high so they get sent home or sacked immediately. And what's up with pot heads pretending to be fishing in tents along the side of canals these days?
We’ve had people smoking weed at work. Usually out the back or in their cars, sometimes in the toilet. It stinks, and anywhere indoors still stinks days later. Can’t have people working when high so they get sent home or sacked immediately. And what’s up with pot heads pretending to be fishing in tents along the side of canals these days?
I think they're fishing, just smoking weed whilst they do.
And what’s up with pot heads pretending to be fishing in tents along the side of canals these days?
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/police-arrest-two-after-drugs-13317386
"Officers swooped on the Brickfield Ponds area in Rhyl after seeing known drug users heading to the area.Initially officers could not find anybody doling out drugs. So they talked to two fishermen on the banks of the pond.
A spokesman for the North Wales Police team in Rhyl said: “They had all the gear, tent, waterproofs, top of the range rods, bite alarms, enough food for a week. We were a bit perplexed about why they had travelled all the way from Liverpool to Rhyl just to fish (they couldn’t hide their accents).
“And our suspicions were raised further when we saw their knives, hardly typical fishing knives. After realising their lines weren’t even in the water we decided to investigate their story further...
Detective work at its finest! 😀
About the only way I can imagine you can make fishing interesting.
Do people really smoke weed at work?
The guy who shifted our gas meter for transco did, guess what - it was leaking the very next day 😳
He was smoking a cone whilst moving a gas meter?
(!)
Lunacy aside. Imagine the good work the police could get done if they didn't have to spend their time chasing after people smoking a bloody plant... Ludicrous Benny-Hill like situation really.
Well they've finally finished, only 4 hours later than they said. The work looks good on the surface but you can see where corners have been cut (badly). So long as the management company is happy tomorrow I'll be fine with it, moving out soon anyway.
I want to buy my own place but having to find quality trades is one issue I'm glad I don't have to deal with!
I work round the corner from a well-known builder's merchant. Lots of their employees walk down the road with a joint or two on lunch hour. Great idea when they're handling fork lifts etc!
Limmy's "The Plasterer" sketch is a scarily accurate representation of tradesmen
has spent more time on the phone than working
I've never had a tradesman who didn't "work" like that
Officers swooped on the Brickfield Ponds area in Rhyl
Never mind that this caught my eye LOL. Which one of you lot was it?
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/moment-pink-vw-camper-van-18936580
Mmmmmm wonderful simply wonderful.
Nearly posted that one as a caption competition !
Owner now seeking £20k crowd funding !
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/owner-vw-camper-flooded-tide-18941738
singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-slow-can-a-tradesman-work/#post-11382688
You get what you pay for and £110 a day for a plasterer is bottom of the barrel.
As a tradesman we don’t work for domestic clients at all, too many want a job cheap or without the VAT. They are happy to accept a price but question how many hours it took after. They have no concept of overheads as they assume vans, tools, insurances, accountants and materials are all free issue and every penny they pay you goes straight into your personal account. The general public on the whole get exactly the tradesmen they deserve 😁
They have no concept of overheads as they assume vans, tools, insurances, accountants and materials are all free issue
Whilst I take your point and the general public is basically entitled gits, I'd assume that you didn't need a new van and set of tools for every job either.
The kit I've got to do my job (and DIY around the house) I've amassed over decades. Some of the screwdrivers in my toolbox were my granddad's. Sometimes I've had to fork out for a specific tool to do a job, but I'd wager that's a more common problem for say a car mechanic than it is for a plasterer.
A self employed tradesman is doing well if 50% - 60% of their working time is chargeable. The rest goes on admin, doing estimates, chasing suppliers etc.
Haven't been lucky enough to witness their speed yet. Hardly any seem available, and find some that are or will be, and then have chase for quotes and dates.
