I’ve got a man coming round….

It appears as if I have been extremely fortunate in my choosing my company to do my new kitchen.. So pleased I decided to use a small local company who took over the whole 'project management' of this job = using their own plumber, electrician, plasterer, etc. etc. Two weeks start to finish.

Had I been persuaded by lush brochures and 3D pictures to use one of the national companies who then put out the work to different local fitters - I dread to think what would have happened.

Hopefully, this is the last really big job in my flat - sounds like a nightmare out there.

biglouis

I lived through the last housing bubble and saw the crash. There are many saying we are heading for another. Lots of people left in negative equity or with half finished projects. All these foolish people who have bought at the top of the market and/or ordered extensive and expensive rennovations may live to regret it.

Then the people who saw themselves priced out of buying a house by greed may get a chance at some of the properties that have to be reduced.

The 2008 crash was an accident waiting to happen, deregulation which allowed lending 125% of value to buyers that could not possibly afford cannot happen now. Let’s not scaremonger, there may well be a leveling off of house values and some sellers may well not achieve the price they want.

Lenders have been quite careful to “stress test” lending for interest rate increases and wage rises will help many with that. There will of course still be forced sales due to unemployment and relationship breakdown and a leveling off of prices will be a good thing.

I lived through the last housing bubble and saw the crash. There are many saying we are heading for another. Lots of people left in negative equity or with half finished projects. All these foolish people who have bought at the top of the market and/or ordered extensive and expensive rennovations may live to regret it.

Then the people who saw themselves priced out of buying a house by greed may get a chance at some of the properties that have to be reduced.

But why do they spend half-an-hour looking at every socket, give you their card and say that they will be in touch? Then nothing. Two electricians have not turned up, one not responded to emails. I too thought it was just me so it's reassuring to hear all these comments. Could they not have the courtesy to tell you they can't manage the job instead of leaving you hanging on? Checkatrade again! At least you wouldn't be hanging around waiting for them.

Different problem but I pranged my car in early March. Going through insurance but still driveable. Ive been told it will be at least the end of July before it will be sorted. As usual it’s all down to covid catch up.
Correct me if I’m wrong but people hardly used their cars during the lockdown so where have all these repairs come from that need catching up.

Grantanow there are serious staff shortages all over Europe not just in the U.K. There is a shortage of approximately 250,000 hospitality staff for the summer in European resorts. So not really Brexit.

My tenant needed the replacement cooker (sourced for free and collected himself) fitted. I managed to find a Gas Safe engineer to fit it only 2 days later! Expensive, but worth it IMO. Tenant is a really good one and I don't want to annoy him by making him wait.

Well he turned up on time and …… he was so sexy! In his late 40s, slim and a silver fox. I had to go for a cool shower ???
Never mind the tiling. He also has the same name as my husband which I found most bizarre.
Unfortunately he’s happily married with four grown up kids, not that he’d be interested in an old bat like me.
Joking aside, he’s very professional and I’m just waiting for a quote now.

My dad and brothers are handy and do all their own jobs and as a teenager I was advised to marry a handyman rather than a rich man!

Probably the only time I listened....?

Apart from the benefit of not paying labour charges, the bonus is the jobs are done to my timetable and COVID meant that every room has been updated!

Regarding scarcity of trades etc blame Blair for encouraging 50% of school leavers to go to Uni when only 5% went in DH generation and they’re all retired now with less replacements coming through.

Plumbers are like unicorns; some people believe in them but no one’s ever seen one. That’s how we felt last year moving to a new area.

All trades are at capacity and if they’re not perhaps they’re no good (lesson learned - naff plastering job). I even took to stopping and photographing every trade van with details on the side to build up a portfolio.

However after 12 months of planning the new kitchen is in! Ta da! Such a good worker and his “young lad”, a beautiful job, such attention to detail. I have made so much coffee for the workforce recently the smell of it makes me nauseous!

MaggsMcG

Grantanow granted Boris has been ridiculous but you can't really blame him for Brexit. The country voted.

Don’t you remember the lies, that bus?

Grantanow granted Boris has been ridiculous but you can't really blame him for Brexit. The country voted.

Not all tradesmen/women are ‘renowned for lies and bullshitting’ biglouis a rather sweeping statement.

Workmen are renouned for their lies and bullshitting. If you can find a good responsible one who keeps his promises you are lucky.

A relative of mine who rents had to fix up an appointment for a guy to come and do the electrical check. She set aside an entire afternoon and arranged for a nephew to come in case anything needed moving or lifting. Guess what? The electrician did not show up.

When she complained to the agent about the stress and inconvenience for two people she was told the electrician claimed that SHE has cancelled the appointment due to covid. She does not have any contact details for the workman so would have had to phone the agent to cancel even had this been true.

When she told the agent that she does not appreciate being made to look a liar and being talked down to she got a limp apology and a "what do you expect me to do" response. She is now planning to ring the landlord direct.

If someone I employed pi**ed off one of my clients like this I would be seriously displeased. I would at least send a nice bottle of wine or an Amazon voucher to the person who has been inconvenienced in this way. And the agent would get a good telling off too.

I despise estate agents almost as much as I do politicos. They are utterly corrupt and useless.

We’re lucky as we have an extended network of tradesman friends from our local pub, we still have to wait, unless it’s an emergency. They all know each other and have never let us down, nor family and friends we recommend them to. However, they’re all in their 50’s, no youngsters, but a couple do have apprentices.

For landscaping jobs, have you consulted the nearest horticultural college. They may have contacts with past students. Or students might like holiday jobs or supervised work experience.

My husband does a handyman job and quotes as quick as he can. He is honest and tells them the price and when he can do it honesty is still the best policy. People keep his card and recommends him so everyone is happy.

It’s a nightmare I had someone to fit a new bathroom, he told me it would take a week but it took a month as he started the job then wouldn’t turn up for the next couple of days and make silly excuses.
And yes I was giving him choccy biscuits and sandwiches.?
I told him when he finally finished that I wouldn’t recommend him to anyone that his work was really good but his time management was awful and he agreed that he had taken to many jobs on so was unable to finish any of them on time.

Some time before lockdown our shower thermostat became unreliable. A local chap came and said he'd order a new thermostat, then vanished despite several approaches from us. Lockdown had started when it dawned on us he wasn't coming back... THEN, our pipes started howling and rattling every time we used the hot tap; only silenced by a deodorant cylinder of exactly the right size wedged under the tap handle by which time lockdown was over but all the plumbers were too busy in much larger and more lucrative projects. Since then we've had to stop using a dodgy light switch and electric socket which we have isolated - still no-one available. We are both in our 70's but relatively fit and well. However we were forced to contact our local Care and Repair project when DH stabbed a hole in the toilet porcelain trying to fix the seat which had been wobbly for ages. We felt justified in so doing as the toilet is too low anyway and is now leaking every time it is flushed. There is also a pointed part of the hinge sticking up. The Care and Repair plumber visited the next day and has promised to prioritize fixing the toilet and the taps and will get someone to assess the shower now providing dangerous temperature extremes so that I am mostly washing at the sink like my grandma did 70 years ago. However, he said, they are so busy that they can't promise when.... We fully understand that we will be paying for the work as we do not qualify for assistance via the occupational therapy team and certainly don't expect to jump the queue. I just hope the house doesn't burn down or that neither of us breaks a hip trying to balance on the now even lower toilet without impaling ourselves on the hinge of the missing toilet seat or gets badly scalded while showering.....

I booked to have my roof dry brushed to remove moss and spray anti moss on it told it would be £240 chap came and started his boss arrived 5 mins later told me I needed a complete roof as mine would collapse in days ( I don’t think so it was checked from the inside all looked ok) . Told I had to spend £20k to make it safe as I refused and only wanted the work done I requested within 5 mins all silent on the roof they had walked off the job. They were suppose to be a friendly local family firm according to website but a broad Irish accent in leafy Hampshire, not convinced!
So back to my searching even the council recommended contacts are false they will only take on big jobs £20k even though they advertise small jobs no trouble

I finally found someone to help in the garden after asking on our local 'Sell and Seek'. He came very quickly and quoted £15 an hour - I nearly knocked his hand off.
He seemed polite, young but very shy.
He did a splendid job clearing my weed infested flower beds, edging the lawn and strimming round the trees, got rid of the brambles coming over from next door.
He had no knowledge of plants however and I had to show him which were weeds and which were flowers. He had no suggestions or ideas about what to do next, no helpful hints or tips.
Then (and don 't judge me on this please) I found out the two people who recommended him were his Mum and his Auntie, and turns out he not qfuite the 'full shilling' and they were desperate to find him something to do. That sounds an awful thing to say, when I don't know what his problem is, I just wish I'd known before I employed him.
I'm very sympathetic about his need to work and earn and keep busy, and I applaud this, I would be doing the same thing if he were my son, and I really like the lad.
But he's not quite what I was looking for.
And I can't tell him to stop coming.
I feel I stand over him and order him about and its uncomfortable. So do check up.

It's a consequence of Brexit: all the Poles and other EU tradesmen went home as they felt unwelcome here. Blame Johnson. I have found it impossible to get a joiner, carpenter or floor layer - just one came to view the job and simply never sent in an estimate despite two reminders. We laid an oak floor ourselves as otherwise it would never have happened.

A neighbour was waiting ages on a guy to do a job. Finally he got word of a date so he booked time off work so he would be around only for the guy to phone that he got a bigger job, that paid more money and nearer to home so he wouldn't be coming. Just told him straight, no lies.
A builder friend of mine has gone to work at a new build site as it steady and pays more. He fits wee jobs in an odd day, but mainly for people he knows. His son worked with him for a couple of months, complained the work was too hard and applied for a desk job instead. No wonder tradesmen so hard to find.

Just be careful friend of mine as just being ripped off by someone who used someone else account. She got ripped off £1.500 she got his photo off cctv and being to police and he’s known by them for doing it with a few companies and they told her lots of ppl are falling for the same scam

Well when we're all drained of money paying for food and fuel and can't offer work, they'll be only too eager then!