Tradesmen time wasters maybe OT

[Moonraker]

I am sick and tired of replying to adverts for services, getting an answer phone, leaving a message, then getting no call back. If they do call back a percentage make an appointment they don't keep. why do they go to the trouble and expense of advertising if they do not want or need the work? At the moment I am trying to get gardening work done,I have called 4 peeps to date and only one response! As this is D-I-Y perhaps I am being OT/ Sorry, but as there plenty of tradesmen posting here maybe they have an explanation.

[Brian Gaff]

Gardeners seem to be one of the worst. For a start at least around here so called gardeners seem to be anyone between other jobs. They seldom know much about plants and can just about wield a lawn mower without cutting their toes off. Brian

[Moonraker]

I am a keen D-I-Yer and gardener, or was. Sadly age has started making some jobs difficult to impossible. Ah well much better than the alternative I guess.:-))

[Brian Gaff]

Yes, well being blind I'm a bit stuck as well.

Brian

[Mentalguy2k8]

I assume that they listen to all the messages when they get home and only call back the jobs they fancy, the easy money ones. If you're leaving a message and saying that it's a small 1-2 hour job or it's something unpleasant, they probably won't bother. I know a few builders and building maintenance guys and even in the current economic climate they're able to pick and choose their jobs.

Personally, I keep an ear out with all the people I know, I'll either know someone who can do the job or get a recommendation for someone reliable who has done work for a friend. I think the checkatrade website was mentioned the other day, might be worth taking a look there.

[The Medway Handyman]

It amazes me as well TBH. I make a point of calling back even if I can't do what they want. It's simply polite to do so.

Advertising is my second biggest expense after the van and as you say, why waste the money?

There are certain people I don't call beck deliberately however. Because I know in advance that they will not want to pay my rates.

Other traders will know what I mean.

[stuart noble]

They're waiting for the message that sounds like a little old lady with piles of money

[Bob Eager]

That checkatrade jingle is *so* annoying.

[damduck-egg]

If I am guessing what you mean many will think it normal to haggle or try to renegotiate the rate/what was supposed to be included after the job has started. Because that is the culture of their origins. You almost need a lawyer to draw up a contract for changing a ball c*ck,because if you don't the fact you didn't repaint the wall where the dripping overflow stained it will be reason to withhold payment, because by taking on the job of fixing the fault you were expected to fix all consequences of it.

G.Harman

[Dave Liquorice]

Maybe beacuse they are pissed off with other tradesmen so start to ask "awkward" questions to try and find the grain of wheat in the bucket full of chaff.

[The Medway Handyman]

Spot on.

[Dave Liquorice]

As an experience tradesman one would surely used wording similar to "Replace faulty ball c*ck only" in the quote/estimate(*). Then when you arrive at the job and spot the staining check with the client if they want that "made good" as well renegociating the price at that point before proceeding.

(*) Some estimates/quotes I've had have been so open you could drive a whole fleet of buses through them. The worst is something like "works as disccused" apart from being able to say almost anything was "discussed" it doesn't inspire any confidence that the trader was paying any attention in the first place and may even have got jobs mixed up...

[Tim Watts]

I have talked to two roofers about a retile+insulation.

The first was helpful - but was a bit vague about how to handle a sudden downpour - and thought some 5mm thick "space foil" funky stuff was as good as severla inches of celotex. I checked - it wasn't.

The second one said a load of stuff, and when I said some stuff (techincal - had been researching the area), he said some different stuff that agreed with me and contradicted the first set of things he's said. The BS meter went off so that was that.

The only good paid professionals I have ever had were a plasterer who did a load of skimming - he was helpful, especially about price - told me exactly how he'd like the first application of PVA done so I wouldn't have to pay him to do it (effectively wasting a day of his time at my expense doing no actual plastering).

The other was a floor tiling job where the bloke was delighted to discuss the finer points of products, appraise my previous wall tiling work and offer some excellent tips if I wanted to save time on any future floor work I might do myself - a real craftsman...

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

I don't think TMA would sound like that. Unless he's Matilda at the weekends.