What a time to be a Tradesman

O

On_a_beach

New member
They’re that busy, they can’t even be arsed to respond to invites to quote for work.

Ive tried Yell, Check-a-Trade, My Builder and Facebook recommendations, all to no avail.

I’ve got an external painting job that needs doing and a budget of £1,000 circa.

Reached out to no fewer than 10 Tradesmen. Got one courteous response saying, “not accepting any work for the foreseeable future.”

Enjoy the good times whilst you can boys and when people start spending their spare cash on holidays again, remember the potential customers you didn’t have the common decency to reply to.

Anybody experiencing similar?

Rant over.
 
I have mates that are tradesmen so can generally jump queues when I need to.

where are you based?
 
Yes it's difficult at the moment. The only people I've managed to get a response from were those I told that they'd been recommended to me by someone. Even then it will be months before they are available but at least I'm in the queue.
 
On_a_beach said:
They’re that busy, they can’t even be arsed to respond to invites to quote for work.

Ive tried Yell, Check-a-Trade, My Builder and Facebook recommendations, all to no avail.

I’ve got an external painting job that needs doing and a budget of £1,000 circa.

Reached out to no fewer than 10 Tradesmen. Got one courteous response saying, “not accepting any work for the foreseeable future.”

Enjoy the good times whilst you can boys and when people start spending their spare cash on holidays again, remember the potential customers you didn’t have the common decency to reply to.

Anybody experiencing similar?

Rant over.
Click to expand...
Yes, people just not turning up or not replying.
 
Had a water leak in floor took 16 plumbers before i found a lad who actually answered & came & sorted it ........none of the previous 15 even bothered to reply .........but like said earlier , people remember them & will act accordingly,
 
I was let down a few times by people saying they would come to price work then never turned up, that’s more frustrating to me. Should be honest from the get go if they are too busy.
 
On_a_beach said:
They’re that busy, they can’t even be arsed to respond to invites to quote for work.

Ive tried Yell, Check-a-Trade, My Builder and Facebook recommendations, all to no avail.

I’ve got an external painting job that needs doing and a budget of £1,000 circa.

Reached out to no fewer than 10 Tradesmen. Got one courteous response saying, “not accepting any work for the foreseeable future.”

Enjoy the good times whilst you can boys and when people start spending their spare cash on holidays again, remember the potential customers you didn’t have the common decency to reply to.

Anybody experiencing similar?

Rant over.
Click to expand...
So what do you want them to do? Work 24/7? Cancel other jobs to fit you in?

Why have them come to give you a quote on a job they wont be able to commit to or do a rush job that you wouldn't be satisfied with!!
 
Better looking for a firm rather than a one man band. A firm will have a number of decorators and have someone who will definitely call. Might not be tomorrow but they will respond. There rates will possibly surprise you as most one man bands are having peoples eyes out now as they know people have money to spend.
GV decorators in Mbro are pretty good and reliable
 
supermfc said:
So what do you want them to do? Work 24/7? Cancel other jobs to fit you in?

Why have them come to give you a quote on a job they wont be able to commit to or do a rush job that you wouldn't be satisfied with!!
Click to expand...
That’s not what the op said. All the tradesmen have to reply is “not accepting any work for the foreseeable future.”
Why do so many People have to rant at each other. ( Rant over 😜)
 
supermfc said:
So what do you want them to do? Work 24/7? Cancel other jobs to fit you in?

Why have them come to give you a quote on a job they wont be able to commit to or do a rush job that you wouldn't be satisfied with!!
Click to expand...
This is the exact post I was going to post but bit my tongue.
If tradespeople have work booked in they have work booked in, the aren't usually going to work 7 days a week.

I mentioned the other day that a friend of mine is currently quoting jobs 50% higher than he usually does and people are accepting the quotes and asking when he can start. He's squeezed a few in on various weekends but has work booked all the way up till the end of 2022.

It's just the nature of the beast at the moment, lads and lasses who weren't allowed to work as normal for the thick end of a year now taking advantage of people not going on holiday and using those funds to renovate houses etc. If anyone of us on here was a tradesman (I'm sure there are probably a few on here) would do exactly the same and charge extra.

Agree that folks should be more polite and say something along the lines of "sorry, we've got no space in the diary" etc etc.
 
You can't choose your tradesmen, your tradesmen chooses you. If they can be bothered to show you the courtesy of explaining that their plans have changed or they've had to prioritise another job etc.
 
is this lets have a dig at tradesmen day??? im a plasterer and work with another plasterer we are both self employed, we haven't put our prices up and don't have any plans too, if someone rings up to have a look at a job we give them a time that we will turn up and are prompt!!!,if we are too busy, we woill tell them it will be x amount of weeks, so if they can wait ,we would go and have a look. please don't tar everyone with the same brush.and yes we are busy, so don't ask:):):):)
 
brattleboro said:
is this lets have a dig at tradesmen day??? im a plasterer and work with another plasterer we are both self employed, we haven't put our prices up and don't have any plans too, if someone rings up to have a look at a job we give them a time that we will turn up and are prompt!!!,if we are too busy, we woill tell them it will be x amount of weeks, so if they can wait ,we would go and have a look. please don't tar everyone with the same brush.and yes we are busy, so don't ask:):):):)
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A good post for balance. Can you fit in a bit of pattering in my kitchen?

The truth is an op that said "got a quote for house painting today but they can't fit me in for 4 months" wouldn't have got much traction. Moans and gripes are just more interesting.
 
I've been having an extension built onto the back of my house since April, we're nearly there, but there's been weeks where no work has been done as we were waiting on supplies etc. Each of the tradesmen that come in say they;re all so busy they have to turn work down.

The tiler that the builder had lined up stopped taking calls, but luckily I managed to get another one in who managed to squeeze my 2 and a half day job in to tile a 50 SqM kitchen diner. if he'd let me down, we'd have been screwed for another month at least.
 
Lightweight said:
That’s not what the op said. All the tradesmen have to reply is “not accepting any work for the foreseeable future.”
Why do so many People have to rant at each other. ( Rant over 😜)
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Yeah but they're probably getting lots of messages on a daily basis, and are busy during the day working. It can be frustrating if you need work doing but it's understandable.
 
Let's be honest we screw tradesmen down to the minimum margin. I don't know how decorators make a living, they have to compete with, your mate and DIY.

Good luck to them.
 
Near the end of having a small extension on the back of my house.
Builder quoted me for the walls and roof then asked if was OK if I got trades in to do the rest as he was sick of chasing them. Stupidly, I agreed. That was last August.
Work started in May. Footings, to roof and knock through took 3 weeks.
Since then, my original plumber, plasterer and joiner all disappeared on me. Trying to get other trades in to replace has been a nightmare. All too busy, and all quoting ridiculous prices from when I originally priced up the extension last year. Original budget has grown by 30%.
Kitchen has been fitted for 3 weeks, still have no water, waiting for plumber 2nd fix.
Electrician turned up today, for 3 hrs. Got hob, wine cooler and dishwasher working then said he'd be back tomorrow. No oven still.
Cant get someone to render the outside.
Very frustrating.
 
The_Tiler said:
Near the end of having a small extension on the back of my house.
Builder quoted me for the walls and roof then asked if was OK if I got trades in to do the rest as he was sick of chasing them. Stupidly, I agreed. That was last August.
Work started in May. Footings, to roof and knock through took 3 weeks.
Since then, my original plumber, plasterer and joiner all disappeared on me. Trying to get other trades in to replace has been a nightmare. All too busy, and all quoting ridiculous prices from when I originally priced up the extension last year. Original budget has grown by 30%.
Kitchen has been fitted for 3 weeks, still have no water, waiting for plumber 2nd fix.
Electrician turned up today, for 3 hrs. Got hob, wine cooler and dishwasher working then said he'd be back tomorrow. No oven still.
Cant get someone to render the outside.
Very frustrating.
Click to expand...
I feel your pain, we've not had a kitchen at all for about 2 months. The build was relatively quick, it's just been everything else beyond that. We managed to get the washing machine temporarily plumbed in last week. We owe friends lots of dinners when we're done. They've been feeding us and washing our clothes for ages.

First world problems, I know. Woe is me, making my house bigger etc etc. I do realise I'm very fortunate in that I'm able to do it. I think that's why I've not been too stressed over it.
 
London_Boro said:
I feel your pain, we've not had a kitchen at all for about 2 months. The build was relatively quick, it's just been everything else beyond that. We managed to get the washing machine temporarily plumbed in last week. We owe friends lots of dinners when we're done. They've been feeding us and washing our clothes for ages.

First world problems, I know. Woe is me, making my house bigger etc etc. I do realise I'm very fortunate in that I'm able to do it. I think that's why I've not been too stressed over
Click to expand...
 
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