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OT: Getting a tradesman

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AnthonyL laid this down on his screen :

Full of chancers, didicoys etc.. Find tradesmen from personal recommendations, make sure they have an actual address and a landline number.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield, Esq.

yup got that all the time

I make it clear to people that I want a job don't "properly". By which I don't mean skilfully (that's a given), but I mean with a perfect finish.

If that means that it will take you longer and therefore cost me more, that's fine by me.

Some traders read into this that I'm going to be an awkward customer who niggles over the bill, when I'm not like that at all. (I paid the guy that I did get in, for the extra time that he took, fixing his own mistakes - all I wanted was the job done right. The extra 300 quid was neither here nor there.)

Reply to
tim...

and insurance

Reply to
Robin

You probably dodged the bullet there.

Reply to
alan_m

AnthonyL snipped-for-privacy@please.invalid posted

Whereabouts are you? Here in East Devon we get that all the time. It wasn't so bad in London, provided you were prepared to deal with people you didn't know.

Reply to
Algernon Goss-Custard

Avoid any channel where the trader pays for space. So RatedSitheads an TrustedTurds and CheckATwat are out.

Also, when someone does turn up (you'd be surprised) nail them down on every aspect of the job - including what *they* will actually do.

Personal experience (added to others personal experience) has taught me that the person that comes round and you give the job to may very well not be seen again. Well not until you open your front door and there they are hand outstretched for the money. And then you suddenly remember you never saw them once when the job was being done.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

I've had reasonable success on MyBuilder.com

That is to say, I got a couple of responses and then looked them up online and contacted them directly and got a plumber out of it. With plumbers it's easier because most of them are Gas Safe.

Flat roofers, ooh er. Does your local council have a trusted trader scheme or business directory?

With that amount of work though it would probably be worth a general building contractor who has a flat roofing division to quote as well, rather than just a couple of blokes with a lorry.

Owain

Reply to
Owain Lastname
<snip>

But haven't we (the population in general) brought this upon ourselves to some degree because we get several quotes and often / generally go for the cheapest, meaning we rarely get the best? That's not to say the most expensive quote will be / guarantee 'the best' of course, often far from it but by trying to force people to offer price work on work that is often difficult to predict, better on T & M? Again, T&M is fine if people are working a efficiently as possible, often not the case, especially with many 'British' builders (compared with Polish etc)?

Yup, seen that loads of times ... they just want an 'easy job' and won't take on anything where their 'best efforts' might be tested.

Quite. However, even when you do have 'a gentlemen's agreement (if not a legal one) with them re some specific aspects, you can't always guarantee that will be honoured.

When having the DG windows installed I asked them to bolt *all* the windows in, however small (rather than just use foam) and in return they would all be treated by as much tea and pizza they wanted. They agreed, enjoyed the tea and pizza but were about to 'just' foam in a couple of windows because 'they don't normally bother to bolt in the small ones'? Once reminded they bolted them in, but ...

The Co also fitted the windows in 3 phases, as the holes became available (all part of the agreement) and the last batch was ready just before xmyth. Because we don't 'do' xmyth, I spoke to the Co and said 'if' your fitters wanted to fit them xmth eve / day (even), I would be happy to pay their over / extra time.

They cam xmyth eve and did the last batch then said I had said I was going to pay them in full (not just the overtime). Not wanting them to lose out I paid them (it was only £300 or summat) and when the Co re-opened in the new year the Boss couldn't agree I'd only offered to pay any 'extra', not the whole lot. At the end of the day it wasn't worth taking it any further and I did call them back under the guarantee to replace a sealed unit that cracked on it's own.

Daughter had just had some new appliances fitted in the flat she rents. 3 re-visits so far to fix issues created by these so called 'Registered tradesmen', things that likely wouldn't have happened (water / gas leaks) had her 'unregistered' Dad done them?

Mate got a guy to fit a new WM and because he wasn't going to be present himself, asked him specifically to test it (offering to pay for any extra time).

He turned up, ran the machine, water everywhere. Called the guy back, and without a hit of apology or offers of a refund admitted he'd forgotten to open a piece of drain pipe (possibly not cut the end off the hard plumbed spigot on the waste trap)?

This is what he did for a living?

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

and then contact all of the ones you find that way and never get a reply, yes?

BTDTGTTS.

Seems like the only ones who are actually available are the ones who nobody wants to use.

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Because all the tradesmen are chasing the top 20% that give a whopping markup over the remaining 80% with lower profit.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

If you didn't pay for that then the builder did. Guess whose side they'll take if there's a dispute ?

I bet you didn't see many (if any) bad reviews did you ?

Reply to
Jethro_uk

East Midlands city/suburbia. Adverts galore in the local monthly magazine, Yell etc - none of them say "we don't bother".

Reply to
AnthonyL

Mate sold his guest house down there because getting trades to turn up (and getting down there from London to meet / supervise / pay them) was such a PITA.

He arrived as agreed to meet heating guy at lunchtime on Tuesday the

5th and by 2pm he still hadn't arrived.

He rang the guy, asking where he was and he said: 'Oh, is it Tuesday ...'.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

But the builder paid for the ad in the local paper, the flyer through the door. I doubt the local paper or the Royal Mail are going to arbitrate your dispute.

The ad in the local paper might contain 'testimonials', but everyone knows they would only print the good ones. The same might go for 'Trader' websites. They're just advertising.

That said, perhaps those sites are the modern equivalent of 'getting someone out of the Yellow Pages'. Which had its horror stories but wasn't necessarily bad, back in the day.

Theo

(although I have to work really hard to convince someone that 'reviews' aren't always what they seem)

Reply to
Theo

I think part of the problem is that feedback can only be left when a job is done. You don't hear from all the people who have been let down.

I phoned a guy on Thursday for a repair to a gate. Great reviews. He seemed distracted while I was speaking to him. He said he would need to look. I offered to send him photographs first. He said he would get back to me. Now it's Tuesday. I don't suppose I could leave a review saying he was 100% unreliable - avoid.

Reply to
Scott

I'm on both sides of the fence. I was a tradesman all my working life. Now I'm an OAP who needs tradesmen.

Firstly, I have to say that personal recommendation is the way to go. A good tradesman will know this. I relied on it entirely. I never advertised.

The fact is that the trades are busy at the moment because lockdown is giving people ideas about getting the house fixed. So if the guy says he won't be able to do the job for a few weeks, accept it, but ask if he can pop in and have a look within a few days.

I think a lot of this comes down to people skills; both the ability to understand the other person and also to know how to behave towards them. Remember that in this climate you have to advertise yourself as a good customer. Be friendly but not silly about it. Be prepared to chat. Build a relationship. This sounds cynical but actually I do find other people's stories interesting, and I enjoy chatting with tradesmen. It's really nice as well to build up a relationship that can last years and make future jobs much easier.

I admit I have the advantage that having been a tradesman myself I can see the other man's point of view, and that helps a lot.

If you go into the thing with the attitude that it's 'them and us' you are doomed to fail. It isn't 'them and us', it's two people with aims that should combine rather than clash. Tradespeople are human beings.

Above all, be reasonable about things. Everybody has off-days. Everybody has things on their mind sometimes. Everybody makes mistakes. Don't nit-pick.

Bill

Reply to
williamwright

Another search engine ...

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Reply to
Adrian Caspersz

And ? They also don't have any relevance to the builders competence and probity. Or otherwise.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

But even then, if the customer isn't happy, the various trader-led websites ain't gonna let them post a bad review, are they ? It's starts with having to get the tradesman back to fix the problem(s). That's 6 months you won't get back. And by the time it's clear the problems won't be fixed the websites policies still won't let you post a bad review. Not when they need the trader to pay them.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

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