I’ve got a man coming round….

Most tradesmen near us seem to be really busy, it's quite difficult even getting them to quote. And even when they have quoted it can take months for them to fit you into their schedule. Most seem to have websites where you can ask for quotes, but they don't monitor them so you never get a response.

It can be difficult getting jobs done even in an emergency.

We invited quotes for a small job recently. We used one of the trading sites and also a recommendation I found on FB. the quotes ranged from £1,500 to £450.........not much difference is there. Plus the most expensive couldn't supply any recommendations or photographs of previous work.
I don't think you can beat personal recommendations from f family and friends.
On the other hand, I am waiting for a hairdresser to message me back........it might be considerably longer before I get a response to my enquiry.

Same here. I'm waiting for a decorator (recommended by a friend) to quote. He's due any minute.
We've had numerous quotes, some of them personal recommendations, and have contacted some to do the job and they seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth.
A neighbour had a garden bloke to wash and seal her patio who had laid our front path last year. He was slow and we said we wouldn't recommend him but he was the only one who returned her calls.
Our carpenter friend has asked that we don't pass on his number as he can't keep up with work and doesn't need new customers.
?

Honeysuckle. I am convinced a lot of the good feedback if from their friends and family, so not convinced.

We started building an extension in February 2021. The main building work was done quickly and efficiently - we have been using the same builder for 25 years, but, in September when we started to want finishing trades, it became almost impossible to find them. Our builder was having as much trouble as us.

I think, in the Autumn of last year all the big building companies started working on the big housing sites, they certainly did in our neck of the woods and what tradesman wants to, for example, take a 2 day job to lay, sand and seal the wood floor in our new kitchen, if they can get a 3 month contract laying floors on a new estate? In the end DH did the job himself.

We have spent nearly 6 months trying to find a landscaping contractor to take on the fairly big job of digging out and laying a new patio, so far without success.

A roofer in our family got thoroughly fed up with all the days wasted on quotes. He'd use decent materials and make a very good job of the work - so was never the cheapest quote - the one that many chose.

Now, he has a contract roofing new houses - a 'doddle' by comparison, steady work and good wages. On his days off, there's plenty of small repair jobs (on those cheap efforts).

The problem, Hetty that for jobs like roofing (or landscaping) you need to have a range of quotes, because many an elderly person has been persuaded to accept and pay many times the price of a job, because they have gone with the first person who quoted.

We are in the fortunate position where, over 25 years we have got to know tradesmen, whom we trust and like, so are able to use them without looking for other quotes, but with our landscaping work, for example, it is a major project and is going to be very expensive and we do not know anyone who can do it. So if we are going with an unknown person we want two quotes.

Will we just go with cheapest? no in a case like this we will be going through them with a toothcomb, because, inevitably they will suggest different ways of doing the work and we need to make sure that every contingency is covered. Price is not the only reason a tradesman doesn't get a job, lead time comes into it. One company, who were not asked to quote said they wouldn't be able to do the job until November.

I too have had a carpenter do some work that asked not to be recommended as he was too busy.

I have a man around at the moment for a couple of weeks.

Wish he’d stop talking!!!

The handyman coming next weekend asked us to provide a price for what we thought the job was worth, that threw us! Looked up handyman rates, went for an hourly rate in the middle, and he was very happy with that!

I have lost two tiles off my roof . I have had 3 people recommended to me , each one has arranged a time and date and each one hasn’t turned up . I really don’t want to use anyone not recommended as there are so many rogue roofers . I suppose I will have to contact them yet again and try and get them to turn up . Trouble is it’s a small job and no-one can be bothered.

My daughter has waited nearly a year for a new bathroom, due to start last Monday. Plumber rang to say the tiler and the joiner had both let him down. As a previous poster said they are working on commercial sites rather than small domestic jobs.

On a friend’s recommendation we saw a decorator back in March. They are beginning the work on 1 August. We still haven’t agreed on the paint!

Our roof was being replaced in April, now possibly May or June. I won't hold my breath.

It does get very dispiriting when people just don’t turn up to look at a job or if they do, you never hear from them again. I could have kissed the one who turned up on time, emailed his quote when he said he would and got back to us when he promised to give us start and finish dates. I don’t know why those who don’t want the work can’t have the good manners to say so rather than not turning up or, having done so, disappearing into thin air.
Let us know how you get on with your young man Honeysuckle.?

I'm waiting for the fifth joiner/shed repair man to come and give us a quote for work to repair our summerhouse. It was wrecked by storm Arwen. None of the other four that we've approached have come to look at it, and I'm not holding out much hope for this one.

We need a new bathroom, ‘total gut job’ which apparently is what is needed.
Have had many people come out to look and quote, none of them have bothered to come back with a price.
They are all on building sites building new homes.
However, we have a chap coming out next week to have a look and give us a quote to do the job, let’s see what happens,

Oops we ended up going to Wickes and choosing a bathroom. They appointed a local company to do the work. The builder said that they preferred to work this way as they knew there would be steady work and that they'd be paid. Once we'd got them through the door we negotiated on other work.

Honeysuckleberries
Read this. It might help you to understand how Checkatrade works. TrustPilot operates in exactly the same way. They are businesses.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5507384/checkatrade-is-it-reliable

There are just not enough skilled tradesmen to do the work, East European migrants have also not returned which makes it worse.
Far too many children are going to university when they could earn at least as much being a plumber or electrician etc

Basically anyone who is any good is anbsolutely booked up for months on end catching up after the pandemic, it's horrendous! My Mum desperately needs a new kitchen as it turns out all the plumbing runs uphill behind the cupboards, we have found someone but they are expensive and it won't happen for months yet!

I am on the books for a builder to do some alterations to my house so that I can have some space to myself and a downstairs bathroom - his costs have also gone up from when I first spoke to him last year by £1k a square metre!

B9exchange

The handyman coming next weekend asked us to provide a price for what we thought the job was worth, that threw us! Looked up handyman rates, went for an hourly rate in the middle, and he was very happy with that!

B9exchange we have a lovely handyman who is very reliable, takes pride in his work and always does an excellent job. He’s been our ‘go to’ for so long that now we never even have a quote as we know he’s the one for the job.
After he did quite a big job for us I went to pay him and he said ‘Just pay me what you think is okay.’ ?‍♀️
After a bit of a discussion we settled on a price we were both happy with and I paid. When my husband found out the amount he said I’d robbed him blind.
Luckily the next week he was working next door and I was able to give him more money ..... which he was very loath to take.
Reading other people’s problems I feel we are very lucky.

Have had some new cushionfloor installed recently, the fitter said he is reluctant to go far to do quotes as the price of petrol means if he travels very far but doesn’t get the job….