[Closed] tradesmen letting you down. wankers ?

Maybe there's a reason?

I had heard that his dog died that morning.

There probably was a reason.

Doesn’t mean it’s a good one.

if you were a tradesman who could not get to appointments, would it be wise to leave a message on your phone explaining the reason you wont be attending the appointments.

it's surprisingly common! got completely stood up a couple of times this year - one of them apologised a few days later, the other i just never heard from again. Particularly annoying when you've stayed home from work to wait for them. Another guy came round to look at a job, said it would be in the region of 10K and that he'd send me a quote in the next few days. Never heard from him again.

I guess they must either have so much work they don't need it, or they're all completely minted...

Unfortunately it's a big problem in the private side of our work and I can understand peoples frustrations. Unfortunately a lot get away with it regularly as there genuinely isnt enough labour to go round in a lot of trades at the minute.

I've had it happen more often than not, usually after coming out to inspect the job. I'm pretty sure the last time I mentioned it someone on here said I was to blame as tradesmen hate working with people like me (seemingly because I know what I want).

Never left them abuse though, there are plenty of reasons why someone may have better things to do than phone every person they have an appointment with.

Bum his dug.

so i left him a delightful message, using a few choice words.

Classy.

so i left him a delightful message, using a few choice words.

An hour and a half after a missed appointment? :-O

Understand your frustration, but I'd be holding off making myself look like a **** for a while longer till I actually found out there wasn't a good reason.

We had the same thing a month or so ago. All very reminiscent of the times before the Polish plumbers displaced the lazy British workman.

thing is, i work on a trade counter, and i sit and listen to trades bloke fobbing customers off on the phone, telling em blatant lies, or just cutting the call off.
these very same trades blokes are the ones who fall out with you and take their business else where if you dont pander to their needs. that is business afterall.

moral of the story being, dont piss people off, or just do the job like you said you would. simple really.

I’ve had a few do that to me too...however I very much don’t feel the need insult them.

It's all a balance. Quality of work v timekeeping is a fine balance in my experience. If you want both, then get the wallet out.

Luckily I can afford to be relaxed on the timekeeping, so get the quality and just live with the sloppy reliability 🙂

I was to blame as tradesmen hate working with people like me (seemingly because I know what I want).

Actually, I’m to blame as the domestic market is the refuge of tradesmen* who hate working for people like me.**

*The ones who want to show up whenever they want, if at all, get fed in people’s houses, piss off home at half two because they “have another job to go to”, get paid cash on completion, don’t give a shit about repeat businesses and rarely have their work scrutinised by a professional.

** Professional scrutinisers

Definitely a gap in the market for other people to fill then..

Tradespeople who don't call to let you know they're late/not coming/never returning aren't really worth handing over your hard earned cash to.

And the cash in hand stuff, well... It's been like that for years ain't it. It works both ways though... "quote incl VAT and through the books = 30% more" or "cash only, no through the books = 30% less" and invariably the punter wants the cheaper option.. so it's a win win innit. Can't complain if you pay by cash and the Govt don't get their cut can you.

Either way, it's a whole load of wasted time.

I know how you feel Ton, had a tiler booked in for 4 weeks to do a job then he put it back 2 weeks, then another 2 weeks then said he didn't actually have time at all. For some reason he wasn't happy when I gave him crap feedback on Checkatrade (or whatever it was).
Shower went of in my tenants house, had a local guy come round who said what the problem was & that he'd be round the following week to fix it. That was 18 months ago & I'm still waiting. Got someone else & told him what the 1st guy had said was the problem. 'Yes well I need to check it myself' (fair enough) he came a week later & said it was something else so I told him just to crack on & do it as my tenant had been without a shower for 3 weeks. He sent me a call out invoice for £40 & I said I'd pay it all once he'd done the job. He asked me to pay beforehand so I did & I'm still waiting for him to come & sort it out.*
*Well not really cos after ringing him numerous times with no reply or return call I got a 3rd guy who finally sorted it.
The only reason he'd have an excuse for not calling you is if either he'd died or he had a death in the family.
Can't fault you for giving him a gobful

so i left him a delightful message, using a few choice words.

👍 I like. 😀

I mean how hard it is to let your potential customer know you cannot make it because you just saw a flying pig?

Well one thing's now guaranteed. He's not servicing your boiler.

Well one thing’s now guaranteed. He’s not servicing your boiler.

Find someone else? I bet there more tradesman around that is honest and qualified?

All very reminiscent of the times before the Polish plumbers displaced the lazy British workman.

This. I've had zero problem with no shows since the Eastern Europeans turned up. Conscientious, fast, reliable & treat my house with respect.

“quote incl VAT and through the books = 30% more” or “cash only, no through the books = 30% less”

That's freaky, I had a quote this weekend on exactly those terms. I can honestly say having bought a fixer-upper house that's involved a ton of tradesmen this firm was the first to offer a discount for cash and it was 30%. Why 30%? They're taking all the risk by skipping the tax don't they want a cut of the savings? Also it wasn't a small firm, surely once you get to ~10FTEs working for cash doesn't make sense?

Don't just blame the building trade, i went to 4 vehicle repairers, need a small white bolt on wing, inch wee dent on the door a headlight and two bits of plastic trim. Only one let me know and he was just shy of £1500, the others seemed keen as in their words straightforward Transit repair. Im sure the wing comes no need to paint

Sadly for some, there are too many little old ladies out there to be ripped off to be bothered with actually having to turn up somewhere on time and do a proper job.

That's a wide generalistaion of course, there are lots of great tradepeople out there providing great service and value for money. Unfortunately they're the ones that tend to be booked up months in advance so if you need someone out in a hurry you're stuck playing cowboy roulette.

Best to learn to do things yourself until as a country we get out of the mindset of sending all our young people to univeristy in order to exploit them, and get a lot more of them into trade apprenticeships.

One thing I find surprising in the west is the popularity of DIY shops.

In the far east only tradesmen visit DIY shops or sadistic hobbyists because we have many trademens around who charge reasonably. Yes, we have cowboys too and one of them was our neighbour who was a tradesman who fleeced us for a three grands. The wife apologised later on but we did not recover any of our cash as he gambled them all away. Lucky for him we are nice people.

Best to learn to do things yourself until as a country we get out of the mindset of sending all our young people to univeristy in order to exploit them, and get a lot more of them into trade apprenticeships.

Yes, but it is not glamorous working as tradesmen innit ... they want to sit in nice office.

Me mate started as a tradesman then progressed to big projects ... now he play golf ...

We rarely have this drama on site. That's probably because they aren't one/two man bands, In fact come to think of it I do use a fabrication guy who is a one man affair, does my stainless handrails and other bits and Bob's from time to time and hes a ****er for delaying. Maybe it was time folk went to the bigger outfits but you'll probably be paying more, with the vat always present as well, might not cost you another day off work though...

“quote incl VAT and through the books = 30% more” or “cash only, no through the books = 30% less”

That’s freaky, I had a quote this weekend on exactly those terms.

My Mrs owns a Property Renovation company in that there LunDun, it's common business practice and also the "£25k up front, cash, to start the Job Mr XXX/YYY Mrs AAA/BBB" and that simple "policy" is pretty much the deal these days. It was 20% about 10years ago, but rates climbed when people started reporting building companies to the Immigration Service for employing "immigrants" and consequently builders said "well Mr XXX/YYY, it's simple, I have to secure the workforce and you have to pay for it if you want the job done" And the punter wants the job done so they pay up front for it. My Mrs has been involved with some very famous and some very wealthy clients over the years, some you'd know, some you wouldn't, and they've all done business by these unwritten "rules of the trade" SO, at every level people accept cash in hand deals.

There are plenty of very good "english" builders out there, but they're too busy these days to quote for anything.. and you can't blame them can you.

Never requested cash up front for a single job in 25 years. Rarely work for the public though.

Why 30%?
20% income tax + 9% Nat insurance if your not a ltd company.
Or thats what I paid on any income.

I’ve got the flip side. Guy turned up when he was supposed to, serviced the boiler, 6 weeks later still hasn’t sent an invoice despite being chased up several times.

I’ve got the flip side. Guy turned up when he was supposed to, serviced the boiler, 6 weeks later still hasn’t sent an invoice despite being chased up several times.

I reckon that is because you have golden bollocks.

I'm the same. Had the boiler fixed weeks ago by a bloke that turned up on time and did the job that he said he would, and still no invoice.

I'll chase him again and check to see if I too have precious metal goolies.

that’s tradesmen for you*.
when i was having my kitchen done i just went out half an hour after the appointed time and had a coffee. you waste my time then i’m going to waste yours.

obviously if you are waiting for a boiler fix or water leak you can’t do that. in just about any other business you would lose customers but because of demand they get away with it.

*not all are like that but in my experience about 70-80% will not turn up and go off radar. Even if you tell them “i don’t mind if you are not going to make it today as one of the other jobs has issues or it means you can wrap up a job before coming to mine but just let me know so i don't sit there waiting"

Monday morning appointment for a tradesman?
ton, surely you must know that many tradesmen love that 6+ pint feeling on a Sunday....but just don't have your constitution.

I love these threads where 99% of people think we’re all crap, and the other 1% can’t believe it when one actually turns up on time and does the job he/she has quoted for.
When you get served a bad meal at a restaurant do you then just post a thread saying ‘all restaurants are crap!!’

It's good the swear filter doesn't apply to the url.

Boilerman is excellent, turns up on time and sends proper quotes and invoices.  Electrician is just the same as is our builder.  The same can be said for the flat roofing company we used to replace our felt roof with GRP.  It has taken many years to find people I trust though.

However on the flip side the two companies that I tried to hire to install our wood burner were rubbish, one no show and no answer to calls and the other did such a crap job when he turned up I had to rip it all out and do it myself and the company that I hired to install our conservatory that then leaked were rubbish in sorting out the inevitable leaks and had to be chased continually.

When you get served a bad meal at a restaurant do you then just post a thread saying ‘all restaurants are crap!!’

in a thread about eating out or recommendations for restaurants you will get some reports of poor service or food. will be way less than reports of no-shows in a thread about tradesmen though.

why do you think they have a bad rep for not turning up? is it a myth started on the internet or based on peoples experiences?

*not all are like that but in my experience about 70-80% will not turn up and go off radar.

I think you're being a bit harsh here.

For me it's only been 66% this year.....

I love these threads where 99% of people think we’re all crap,

Unfortunately that is the experience of a lot of customers nowadays. Rare to find someone you can trust to come and do a good job.

I love these threads where 99% of people think we’re all crap, and the other 1% can’t believe it when one actually turns up on time and does the job he/she has quoted for.

On the other hand, all you have to do to be at the top of your profession, with as much work as you can do by word of mouth alone - is show up.

If ever there was a case of setting low expectations and then pleasing people by exceeding them, then this is it.

It's tough, isn't it. Going "all tradesmen" is just a rash generalisation and obviously untrue, but it can be shockingly difficult to find someone honest and reliable.

I had some work done in my bathroom a couple of years back (the bath split, with hilarious consequences). I got a personal recommendation from a mate who'd just had a new bathroom fitted, the job he'd done there was excellent. The chap came round, gave me a quote, I agreed, then at some point he must've decided that the work was beneath him as it wasn't a full room and subcontracted it out to some other bloke who made a right pig's bladder of it.

And don't get me started on roofers. How hard can it be to get someone to patch a leaky gutter and fix a couple of broken tiles? I've had four different ones out now and the $%^&ing thing still drips. Seems if it's not a four-figure job no-one's interested.

this firm was the first to offer a discount for cash and it was 30%. Why 30%? They’re taking all the risk by skipping the tax don’t they want a cut of the savings? Also it wasn’t a small firm, surely once you get to ~10FTEs working for cash doesn’t make sense?

20% VAT
Employers NI
Employees NI
Employees income tax

Invoice the materials to a different job so they get paid for twice etc

Also they get the job in the first place, the profit margin is only the same if you assume they would have got the job if they quoted the higher figure.

A mate of mine set a business up, first venture as a tradesman. After 6 months he told me all he had to do was turn up on time, dressed appropriately and reasonably competent...he was getting 100% acceptance.

Then he got a bit over confident, started taking the piss and charging way over the market.

Turns out others had taken his place. Seen it happen so many times, you are only as good as your last job.

Worst thing about moving up north was leaving our reliable plumber. Took six years but finally found a decent one up here.

Unfortunately the good sparky has retired in the meantime.

I am one of those tradesmen who turns up on time, gives written typed estimates, look tidy clean jeans and sweatshirt/jacket, always give a receipt, tidy up afterwards, and have a few boxes of chocolates and biscuits for my elderly customers stored away for the week before christmas to hand out.

Yrs and we do occasionally get a customer who cancels on the day for work to start, strange how many sick kids are out there, even if thy dont have kids.

Also a few years ago, spent most of the night at a hospital, my auntie was ill,then she died,customer rang up next day screaming abuse because i was 20 mins late, to do a small 30 quid job,she got told forefully what she could spend her 30 quid on, lessons in being polite.

It's the same in work, if you want someone to do a job which requires them to sit in a nice warm office and tap away on a keyboard all day, 2 a penny, honestly I could throw a stone out of the window and hit the second rebounding off the first.

If I want someone to do anything ghastly that requires a practical skill or heaven forbid a non-climate controlled environment, or worse a LADDER! You better know a few good ones and hope an pray they can actually turn up and do the work.

It's not that they're bad workers, far from, it's they're bad communicators, it's really hard to know how long a job will actually take and if you're in the habit of booking a day to do a 4 hour job in case it runs over you'll go bust very quickly, but rather than say they'll be late, they just turn up late and by late, I mean 2 days later.

Honestly if you've got kids who want to work in the exciting world of IT Support, tell them if they want to work 1st Line they'll be paid a pittance and flat out all day resetting passwords, adding printers and yes, asking people to turn it off and on again.

But if they can terminate a Cat lead and use a drill, they'll never be short of work and the money is far better, and they get to give me pain all day, every day.

You know when you have a tradesman round and they're on their phone a lot and you get frustrated that they're not concentrating on your job?

They're being courteous and reliable by answering the phone to customers. You can't have them only be courteous and attentive just to you.

It can be difficult to manage all these demands and some are better at it than others.

I always answer the phone to customers, turn up on time and all of that. On the other hand I've done a lot of quotes with detailed drawings for people who I've never heard from again.Can work both ways.

Mouthing off on Facebook at someone after a couple of hours is maybe not great though. 😀

waiting for a tradesman to come and service my central hearing boiler.

May be that he answered but you couldn’t hear him because your hearing needs servicing?

Mouthing off on Facebook at someone after a couple of hours is maybe not great though.

It’s amazing that in 20 years of work as a manager of people I’ve maybe had one or two instances of people not phoning in sick using the correct procedures (Normally ring within 1hr of start time generally) even from people who had cancer, people who have had car crashes, people who have had a death in the family etc etc. And those one or two have phoned later in the day with a very good reason why they didn’t ring earlier. And this is out of hundreds and hundreds of instances.

So why can’t these “professionals” do it? Surely they have a diary which says “Mr Smith, boiler service 9am” and they just have to let that person know.

I’m sorry but there is no excuse for not contacting someone to inform them what’s going on.

You know when you have a tradesman round and they’re on their phone a lot and you get frustrated that they’re not concentrating on your job?

There’s this new invention I’ve heard about called an answer machine, I think they even allow you to put your own greeting on it too to explain when you will ring back - maybe at a time when someone else isn’t paying for a service you are supposed to be providing.

“Hi it’s Smith Plumbing - I’m working for a customer right now so I can’t answer. Leave a message and I’ll ring back at lunch or the end of the day.”

A couple of years ago the plumber we'd booked in didn't turn up.
He was fitting a new bathroom so it wasn't a small job. After waiting for 2 months for him to be able to do this in the first place (as he was booked up) it was frustrating.
An hour later I got a phone call to tell me his father had been rushed into hospital.
After years of putting up with a curtain fitter that I use regularly for work and all his bad excuses, I was not happy.
A few days had passed and I called the plumber. Sadly his father had died, so in this instance it was a bona fide reason for not turning up.

Been waiting on the central heating guy to finish fitting an outlet valve cover for 8 years now

I’m sorry but there is no excuse for not contacting someone to inform them what’s going on.

I agree with this. I wonder why he didn't?

And those one or two have phoned later in the day with a very good reason why they didn’t ring earlier. And this is out of hundreds and hundreds of instances.

Did you ring them after an hour and abuse them on their answer phone?

I had reason to use 5 electricians in a short space of time this summer and a plumber. Experience/satifactions/value varied wildly. My conclusion is that facebook is the best place to find someone - the reviews are there to read, dated and an objective FB algorithym tells you how responsive they are to messages.

I will never use ratedpeople.com again

WOM is good but I think falls down where good = busy and if you are in a rush you can be left hanging.

For balance I've had plenty of folk working in offices not return calls they promised to.

Makes you think.