Is it just me?

A social group I belong to keeps an updated list of good local tradespeople and it is very helpful. They are all people that have been used by members of the group and proved they are good and honest. We are having our house painted just now and we got the painter from word of mouth, he doesn't advertise because he doesn't need to. He is excellent and half the price of most others.

I think a lot of these problems are worse at the moment because of covid. I have many friends who are tradesmen who had to cancel lots of jobs during lockdown and they are trying to play catch up.
They also had reduced income for long periods as people cancelled because understandably they did not want strangers in their properties and I am sure will be taking the larger more lucrative jobs to pull in more income and pay their staff if they have any. If they are a one man band they will drop smaller jobs to take on larger ones to make up for lost income. No help if you have a small job I know it is just how it is at the moment.

Saggi Where do you live?
The tradespeople sound wonderful!

A family member began a complete re-furb of their house in October 2019.

Almost immediately it became a nightmare as many goods needed were unavailable, for example, there was no plaster. Brexit was given as the cause for this (the plasterer eventually sourced a supply from Poland).

Shortly afterwards Covid complicated things further, no tradesmen/lockdowns etc., and 23 months later it is still not quite completed.

Many tradesmen say they'll arrive at 8.00 am then..... nothing. As others have written, a good job begets a great reference but I guess that as demand is outstripping supply, references are not as important as they used to be.

How short sighted of these people. They seem to overlook the fact that if they do a good job their customers are very likely to recommend them, and this way they could end up with very lucrative work. Thankfully my husband has always done all of our building work, plumbing, electrics etc. When this changes it sounds like getting the work done can be a nightmare.

I have formed the opinion that a great many traders think people who live alone are gullible or stupid. Some time ago when I lived alone I needed some work doing on my home. I did my research to get a general idea of what would be involved, then I invited a number of traders to come around, survey the job and submit quotes.
It was obvious with many of them that they thought I would be a pushover; a couple tried to tell me I needed other work doing which was NOT the case and others came out with technical sounding gobbledegook which they obviously thought I would find impressive and get fooled by.
Now, I usually depend on the recommendations of family and friends and I make a point of passing on the details of good traders, I found a fabulous decorator by asking a neighbour and he turned out to charge a fraction of the price recently quoted by another and did an amazing job.
My advice is to ask locally, talk to neighbours and find out just who is reliable, prompt and trustworthy.

Chewbacca you’re not alone in this dilemma. My son is a plumber and always turns up for every job he takes on, in fact several times the customer has told him he was surprised that he turned up. I’m still waiting for a carpenter to phone me for a job he promised to do six weeks ago, I don’t have his contact number.

All tradesmen are particularly busy right now, due to Covid. However, I agree that they are all very difficult to pin down. My neighbour has been trying to find a decorator for months.
My daughter bought a house, last January, which needed extensive renovation.Luckily she works with a lady whose husband does this, and he agreed to ‘fit her in’. Family and friends did all the preparation work. We ripped out the kitchen, doors bannisters and skirtings, and took off all the plaster down to the bare brick. (I quite enjoyed the demolition work) In spite of having umpteen other jobs on the go, the various tradesmen co-operated very well. Apart from the plasterer who did a rush job and had to redo some work everything went pretty smoothly. We all rallied round again and did all the decorating.
She had more trouble with the blind fitters, who had to come back three times.
Judging from all your tales of woe, she has been very lucky. I have a few jobs waiting, but I will wait until next year and see if things improve.

I'm so sick of putting right badly done work that I do everything possible myself. I never pay cash in hand. Why encourage people to avoid paying tax?

I appreciate the difficulties business's can and do experience
How long does it take to message? Use the phone if contractor is going to be running late ? or they need to reschedule due to maybe a product necessary for the work out of stock.?This IS planet Earth NOT Mars.

leeds22
How right you are
Having experienced nay needed many a ​ builder/painter/plumber etc you name them I've needed them over the years and wonder is it me? when they fail to turn up.

Same thing happened to me,with a plumber we used quite a lot. We only needed a small job done. He said he could come the following afternoon. He didn't come. In phoned him the next morning. He apologies said he'd forgotten he'll be there t that Afternoon. He didn't turn up. I'd rather he'd said he didn't want to do the job. Hence we called someone else who turned up on time the next day. Very annoying,

Gabrielle56

Ha ha! #likewise I waited since befor march 2019 for decent garden quote. Garden only 30ft X 20ft. For:gravel half; edge between gravel and grass bit; level 8x8 area and put 12 flags down. Quotes?: Between£4.5k.....and £850(he said he'd take old lawn away in his car!) Oh and also asked all if they could start by grinding out 12" round stump at ground level? Quotes for this:£150-£25...... Did any actually turn up to measure up? Nope! In end means DH ordered online stuff and did ourselves! Seepic. Costs? £380. Is it good?it's fantastic!

Took us just about a week and we feel so cool! Landscapers? Pfaff!!!!

Ha ha! #likewise I waited since befor march 2019 for decent garden quote. Garden only 30ft X 20ft. For:gravel half; edge between gravel and grass bit; level 8x8 area and put 12 flags down. Quotes?: Between£4.5k.....and £850(he said he'd take old lawn away in his car!) Oh and also asked all if they could start by grinding out 12" round stump at ground level? Quotes for this:£150-£25...... Did any actually turn up to measure up? Nope! In end means DH ordered online stuff and did ourselves! Seepic. Costs? £380. Is it good?it's fantastic!

Similar experiences. Very difficult getting reliable tradespeople. Constant promises to call that never materialise. Estimates that never arrive. My son and DIL needed a roofer to repair a leek on their dormer type house. Nightmare. Promises from roofers to call to estimate, who never called. A couple who did arrive never got back to them with estimate. Took them months to find someone. I understand they are busy and can pick and choose their jobs, but they just need to say they are not interested in the job. So frustrating.

Definitely not just you. We pay on the nail, feed them tea and coffee, listen to their banter but still we drop off their to do lists. We’ve kind of given up and use bigger firms, they charge a bit more but they do arrive and get the work done.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I don’t think the modern tradesmen have any pride in their reputations anymore. My husband was in business for over 40 years and he always insisted people were notified of a delay in attending an appointment if it happened. Jobs do over run but most people are understanding when they are made aware. It’s the not turning up at all that is annoying. As has been said, there are so many new properties going up tradesmen can cherry pick jobs.
I was widowed 2 years ago and have to get tradesmen in to carry out jobs my husband would have done. I feel like a sitting duck for any rogue tradesmen that has no conscience about ripping off an old lady. It’s happened twice now leaving me dreading anything conking out or needing repaired. Recommendation does not always work either.

OH just got 2 part time/occasional jobs here as a handyman gardener for local people who couldn't find anyone after being let down several times.
He's not a gardener but cuts grass trims hedges puts in plants puts up shelves sweeps up etc. Didnt want to take away trade from local workers but as jobs are small nobody wanted to do it. He's happy as it's given him an interest and a bit of extra money

I put a job on Rated People weeks ago, not even had a reply as yet , giving up and doing something alternative myself.

Recently my husband was in respite for six weeks after my TIA…. I’m his carer and needed to recover a little. While he was away I decided to try getting a lot of work in house done ….as he hates people coming in!
I had a new boiler fitted …. three rad taps replaced…. a step built outside my patio door…. A new window fitted …. a window lock replaced…. safety handles fitted to outside back door ….a key-safe fitted for morning carers. And I landscaped my back garden ( myself) as a aid to my recovery.
All the work, other than garden ,I outsourced to different companies . They came to quote on time …. explained what was needed, what was required, and waiting patiently for me to get back to them.
When they carried out the work: they arrived on time … did a full days work… hardly accepted tea/biscuits,… cleared up the mess …. and ALL called back after a couple of days to ask if I was pleased with the job. Didn’t submit their bills until I was totally satisfied. Mostly got through My Builder , except the boiler re-fit which was ‘word of mouth’.
An excellent summers’ work… by a lot of professional men and women.

Find a woman to do the jobs...more likely to turn up. Or you could ask at your local college where they are training people...you are bound to find a student to do it...checked by tutor of course. You could do the tiling yourself...look on YouTube...it is not to difficult.

Can I just say on the other side of things I work for a kitchen and bathroom company sometimes the tradesman hit a problem and is delayed they are normally on tight schedules and if you want a small job doing you may get over looked for a bigger job

This is obviously a widespread malaise!! Have called people advertising their trade - no replies! Recently three firms made appointments to do the work the had already looked at but failed to turn up, let me know they would not he coming or answer my text messages.
Have tried ringing people who have been recommended by others but with the same result. Perhaps the Govt is handing out too many incentives not to go back to work!
Eventually found a lovely, trustworthy Dad and Son workforce. Will guard them now!!

I was advised to use the website local heroes for a boiler problem. It was excellent. The man came the same day and sorted it at a very competitive price.

My friend is a builder and has so many jobs to do it will take him year to clear them all. Also the price of materials are getting ridiculous and jobs he had priced at the start of the year have to get repriced. He tried to get his son to join the family business ,but he started with BT as the work is easier and money far better. As tradesmen retire I don't think many young folk learn the trades so they are getting a bit thin in the ground too.