OT annoying tradesmen

[Bill Wright]

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Bill

[stephenten]

I had some quotes in to refit the bathroom.

I said that I would like all the plasterboard also taken off and replaced with aquapanel before tiling all the walls.

I also said that I wanted no more ply to be used on the floor before tiling rather than plywood.

I pointed out that when the old tiles are taken off, the existing plasterboard would be damaged. He said it's not a problem once tile adhesive is spread on(!)

My wife then got an email a week later saying he was not going to quote for the job as he prefers to do it his way rather than do it exactly what I asked for....

Whatever happened to listening to the customer?

[spuorgelgoog]

If Lindt made chocolate labradors they could sell them all year round in Britain.

Owain

[Brian Gaff]

I personally find they are interested, but there are so many jobs they tend to look at what is most lucrative but often just forget to get back to people, as after all it all takes time and time is money if you are self employed. I think just don't take it personally, but do take advice from others who they use if the job seems good. So many so called tradespeople are maybe great at one thing but rubbish at another. The worst jobs I've come across seem to be shower fitting, or bodging more like it. Brian

[Scott]

What's the solution then? Not to get tradesmen for small jobs? Reverse quoting- make them a high offer at maybe double market value? Get the person who recommended them to do the chasing up? Bad reviews (though I think you can usually only post a review after the work is finished)? We have a company here called Polbuilt employing only quality Polish tradesmen. Give them preferred supplier status?

[Marland]

Did they share them or did you just get a creme egg.

GH

[whisky-dave]

I heard a similar thing regarding chocolate starfish. but I think that was linked with the pink pound.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If you tell a decent tradesman how to do a job, you are laying yourself open to taking the blame if anything goes wrong.

[stephenten]

Well some of the tiles had already fallen off revealing damaged plasterboard.

His suggestion was to use one coat plaster to repair the damaged PB and then tile on top.

I said to him this is our forever house and I would prefer the plasterboard taken off and insulation put in the stud partition and reboarded with aquapanel. Retiling in 20 years time would be easier and cheaper as the aquapanel would not need replacing.

He was proposing to use 12mm plywood for the floor before tiling over. That is twice the thickness of no more ply and would have created a step into the bathroom.

Furthermore, plywood goes mouldy and the adhesive fails if it gets damp. This does not happen with no more ply.

I wanted a bathroom that was durable and more resistant to the damp conditions typical of bathrooms.

Basically the long and short of was is that he wanted a quick in and out job using cheap materials.

Another one I notice with tradesmen is that they refuse to use customer supplied materials, they prefer to supply their own materials. I suspect they add a profit margin to the materials and fob us off with "we use better quality materials than what you can buy!"

[Jac Brown]

There isnt one. If there was, we would have found it in the hundreds of years we have been getting work done on our houses since we stopped doing everything needed on our own house or just told the staff to fix it or were so stinking rich we didn't care about what the trades people would charge.

Don't expect many to bother with a quote if you insist on getting multiple quote before any small job.

Have enough of a clue to know what needs to be done with a small job and just ask for a rough quote that you will be happy to see not be feasible if the shit does hit the fan with the small job and when the individual you ask to do the work saying it will cost about what you expect, tell him to do the small job right away and don't fart around getting anyone else to quote.

[Mark]

Very true but first you have to find that elusive decent tradesman who because he has so much referral work from previous happy customers has his phone permanently switched off ;(

-

[Scott]

People can and do get work done in their houses so it cannot be an impossibility.

How would one tradesman know he is not the only person being asked?

Generally this is my approach. However, I think the original question was how to get the bug**rs to turn up at all.

[Marland]

It is a perfectly reasonable stance to take, things made cheap often don?t give as good results or are more awkward to use and many customers will just look at the bottom line and buy the cheapest materials or items possible and quite likely with bits missing such as a washer which on its own will be worth pence but cost pounds to obtain in the middle of a job and the consequent delays. It people want to go down that road and just want some labour then there is nothing to stop them getting some workers from an agency or while they are still here the East Europeans etc that queue in various places for casual work and project manage them. At least then you can be in charge of your own balls ups.

My father was prompted to retire after 50 + years in the building industry by a dispute with a customer who was also a long term friend , it was the latter factor that made him break the rule of using customer supplied materials. It was only an internal door which turned out to be second hand, was way too big ,splintered and in heck of a state which took hours to make presentable with repair work needed where door furniture had left marks which took a lot of filling and sanding to hide .

Those hours would have made the final bill far more than if a new door had been obtained and the tightwad was already moaning about the time the job was taking , Dad said to him ?I?m to old for this malarkey ,finish it yourself ?and walked out . Next day he decided to hang up his tools . Neither spoke to each other again and it wasn?t till both had died that my Mother and the wife who were the real friendship resumed it.

GH

[alan_m]

A friend of mine used to do a lot of plumbing work and his bugbear was fitting taps and such like supplied by customers. Often these fitting were purchased very expensively but were of poor quality.

Another point of contention was that customers assumed that he could beat the price they have found with hours on line to find the cheapest supplier and with any cost of he had for ordering etc. coming for free.

[stephenten]

I was actually buying better quality materials than what the tradesperson would buy... And yet they would not quote simply because they would not make any money on the supply of materials as well as the labour of the job.

For instance I was quoted 2 grand for a viallant 832 boiler plus a grand to fit it.

A quick phone around the plumbers merchants revealed I could get exactly the same boiler delivered to my front door for less than a grand. When I pointed this out he said he did not believe I could get it cheaper than him.

So I showed him the quotes and I said if I got the boiler he could fit it for me for the grand he quoted. He told me to foxtrot Oscar!

[Jac Brown]

But they don't all get multiple quotes and choose the one they decide should be used to do the work.

so it cannot be an

No one ever said it was impossible, JUST that there isnt any 'solution'

Doesn't need to know, they are free to assume that and will most likely be correct with that assumption even if the individual asking for a quote doesn't say that it is getting other quotes in an attempt to encourage that particular tradesperson to provide a more competitive quote than they would otherwise do.

No it wasn't. And there in no 'solution' to that problem either.

[Scott]

[snip]

Maybe no solution but some must have found a successful approach since lots of work is carried out in domestic premises.

I phone up and ask for a quote and tradesman if 'free to assume' I might get another quote if his is too high. Are you suggesting: 'Don't bother with a quote, mate, just come round and do the work and I'll pay you whatever you ask'? If you want any work done at your place, just let me know :-)

To remind you: 'It is hard enough to get anyone to take an interest, but what really hacks me off is those that come, suss the jobs, say they will quote then disappear into the yonder, never to be heard from again.'

This is not restricted to the process of obtaining quotes.

[Jac Brown]

Yes, most don't bother to get a collection of quotes.

Most don't even do that when buy a major appliance or getting one repaired either. Same with their car.

No, like I said, I think a better approach is to work out by reputation who is likely to be able to do the job properly, ask them how much they will do it for and make it clear that you wont hold them to that quote if it turns out to be much harder to do that is expected because of some detail not initially visible.

And have a reasonable idea of what the job should cost so you can work out if that reputable tradesman has got a lot more work available than he has time to do, and is happy to charge a lot more if you insist on him doing the job when he can. Although the best of the tradesmen will just say that they have too much work queued up and that they can't do it.

If you want any work done at your

That's complaining about those who say they will quote and don't.

Sure, when things are busy work wise, it can be hard to get those with a good reputation to do your job even if you trust them to not rip you off price wise.

[John Rumm]

Some will want to have "ownership" of the whole project - it saves arguments when a material is not right or delivered faulty etc.

Others will want the customer to pay for the materials to save them the bother of ordering and stay under the annual VAT registration threshold.

[Bill Wright]

Delicious.

Bill