Tradesmen's mess!

[Lobster]

Just wondering, do people generally expect tradesmen to take their waste away with them at the end of a job? What do the uk.d-i-y tradesmen do?

I'm not talking about the sort of stuff which would readily be taken away by my local bin men, no issues with that; I realise trades need to pay to dispose of it, but instead I end up with having to load the stuff into my clean(ish) car to take it down to the tip instead. I've just had some plastering work done, and have found the guy has left me with about 6 bags full of plasterboard scraps, surplus plaster and other rubble, which to me doesn't seem particularly reasonable!

This isn't meant to be a rant (well not really!) or dig at anyone, I'd just like to know what normal practice is. I just don't know whether I'm being too soft not asking them to remove their rubbish and am being taken advantage of, or whether it would be considered totally unreasonable of me to request it.

I suppose it's maybe something to clarify with them upfront - certainly I have done so myself on relatively large projects - but it seems a bit churlish to introduce this into negotiations on smaller tasks.

Would tradesmen regard it differently doing a job in a private home, as compared with a multi-trades project where they could consider themselves to be subbies (even where there's no on-site skip?)

Thanks David

[Peter Crosland]

Probably because he would need a licence to transport the waste that costs around £133 for three years.

[Sparks]

Really!

Would that apply to gardener type people?

A friend is a landscape gardener, would he require a licence to take away grass cuttings etc?

If so, what is this licence!?

Sparks...

[BigWallop]

You bought the excess materials, so it should be you who gets rid of them. Don't you think ?

ROFL !!!! I am only joking of course, but as you said, the tradesman has to pay at the local tip to dump rubbish off, but you could put it out in black bags and the guys would lift is for nothing for you.

Would you rather pay extra for the tradesmans time and tip fees, or would you just like him to leave your house as tidy and clean as possible, and leave you with a couple of black bags to put on your kerb side.

I always clean up in the house, and put the rubbish into bags or buckets before I'm finished, but I don't go all to get rid of the stuff for the customer. I think most of them are clever enough to do that part of the job themselves. :-))

[rrh]

I certainly do and I have found (after a ten-year absence from the UK) that the - admittedly few - tradesmen I have employed since my return are much better at doing this, or at least clarifying whether they will do it or not, than before. Doubtless a result of the charges introduced over the last few years.

I understand your reluctance to bring this into your pre-job discussions but it matters. If it's a small job just do it orally. Good tradesmen shouldn't mind an open discussion about what is included in their quote and what isn't. And you have to be fair to them. A roofer recently told me that it would cost him about £35 to tip (legally) the cubic metre of rubble which I had paid a total of about £42 to have collected from my house in one of those skipbag things you can buy these days - that's the cost of the bag from B&Q plus the later charge for removal.

[Mike Taylor]

You obviously used a bona fide tradesman that pays his taxes and assuming he was registered charged and paid his VAT didnt you? You had a written quote didnt you? On that fully written quote did it mention to clean and clear away the site of all debris and rubbish arising (or something similar)? In that case why didnt he do it? If it is not the case why did you employ him?

[Lurch]

On 10 Jun 2004 11:42:11 -0700, [e-mail] (Lobster) strung together this:

I will usually take away the rubbish if I can get rid of it at home but if there is a fair amount of it then it gets left at the job, usually in a tidy manner somewhere. If I have to take it away it costs me the time, transport costs and the local tip trade waste fees to get rid of it which would roughly equal that of a small skip by the time I'd finished,, so it gets left for the customer.

[Mary Fisher]

I'd expect that to be included in the price of the job.

They'd have no qualms about taking away lead piping or the like, especially in the current market.

I once saw a local 'builder' who seems to get all the jobs in our street (except from us) dumping concrete waste in the green (recycleables) bin of a neighbour. The binners wouldn't take it, the householder had to take it all out of the bin and find someone else to do it (she had no car and was a single, old woman).

That sort of irresponsibility is a disgrace to the trade.

Mary

[Lurch]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 21:21:36 +0100, "Mike Taylor" strung together this:

Have you got some sort of mental problem?

[Set Square]

It is entirely reasonable to expect the tradesman to remove his rubbish. I always make this an explicit requirement when I write job specs. when requesting quotations.

[BigWallop]

Not that he knows of. :-))

[BigWallop]

That I'd have to agree with Mary. To leave the rubbish just dumped out in the street or in an unsuitable container is a real crazy thing to do. I always carry a roll of heavy plastic rubbish bags so I can at least make sure the stuff is in a suitable state for removal by the bins people.

[Mike Taylor]

No I am just a competant contractor that believes in providing a quality service for my clients. I provide a fully explained estimate with terms and conditions of the contract. These do two things.

1. Safeguard my payment to the best of my ability from fraudulent clients

2.Ensure that my client knows what they are getting for what money What did you see wrong with what I put down?

[BigWallop]

It's OK to price for bulk waste removal from a large job, but we're talking a couple of rubbish bags full of dust and paint tins here.

[Lurch]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 20:42:45 GMT, "BigWallop" strung together this:

I bet he's the sort of person that wonders why people don't go out of their way to help him all the time! Sounds like some of my more nightmareish customers.

[Lurch]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 21:42:04 +0100, "Set Square" strung together this:

It is entirely reasonable to expect them to remove it if it is in the specs and they have agreed to it but not neccesarily if it hasn't been explicitely agreed upon beforehand. When I've worked for larger firms in the past with skips back at the yard, and when I had a bigger van, then I've usually taken as much of the rubbish back to the yard. Now I'm not with a large company with a yard and a skip and only have a small van it's a bit more difficult to get a large amount of rubbish into an already full van.

[Mike Taylor]

so do you not in your quotation add in a skip or alternatively in your written estimate state you have excluded the removal of rubbish?

[Lurch]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 21:48:40 +0100, "Mike Taylor" strung together this:

It was this bit here "If it is not the case why did you employ him?". It seems to imply that if the contractor doesn't automatically provide a full written quotation stating that every single piece of rubbish will be removed is not worth employing. It's not a statement that someone in the real world would make. It's not always possible to remove all the waste from site, unless you're going to allow for it in the price of the job, then the customer complains that the job costs too much, that is if they agrre to it as there will probably be other trades tendering for the job who don't.

[Mary Fisher]

What a silly comment.

'Making good' was always part of a contract in my experience - and has been when we've done work for people.

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

What I saw was absolutely right and responsible. I'd employ you on those terms.

Mary