Just a rant about tradesmen

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Does your local council run the Handyvan scheme, ours does . My mother in law has used it several times

Thanks for replies, but they nearly all talk about the problems of finding tradesmen or getting them to actually quote. Do you have communication problems once you have actually agreed / contracted them to do the work, as in my OP?

We use a combination of Checkatrade, referrals from friends and the neighbourhood local app. Before we did this we had a few dodgy experiences but now everyone we use has been recommended so things work out well. We were new to this area so were not sure of who to use. Now, we are.

I only use "old school" tradesmen. There are plenty left and are not hard to find; because they all know each other . They share good customers between them.

. If I need a plasterer, I ask my joiner or plumber to recommend one. Invariably, this will be a scrap of paper with a scribbled phone number, and " Tell Bob Tony gave you his number". This tells Bob that Tony rates me as a customer.. Nine times out of ten, Bob will say "Hello Jam, Tony mentioned your name, what can I do for you? " I know Bob will offer a fair price and his workmanship will be top notch.

I’m in the North East Cariad just outside Durham City.
All my ‘people’ are local, although my oven cleaner chap and chimney sweep are from over the river, in Newcastle.

I belong to a street WhatsApp group which has a spreadsheet of reccomended tradesmen, very handy!

My husband was a self employed joiner and he got most of his work through word of mouth, only advertising in the Thomson Directory. Now I am on my own I try to use small local businesses. I got a plumber to service my boiler and fit two new radiators. He came and did it promptly and he was reasonable. A few days later I noticed a damp patch under one of the new radiators and found a leak in a pipe. I called him, no answer. I texted him,no response. I messaged him again and he said he was away and he would come when he got back. After a week I called another firm, also local, but larger. They came straight away and all it was they needed to tighten a joint. I still haven’t heard back from the first chap. That was in March.

Out of interest - could people indicate:

a. Which part of the country they are in - as some areas are better or worse than others

b. Whether these experiences were pre or post-Lockdown (as in I suspect things are also being worse (at least in some areas) apres-Lockdown.

I need a cooker cleaner and an electrician to do work ahead of our house move. I have rung or emailed about 5 companies/franchises abotu the cooker - not one response.

I found an electrician, who gave me a price and said contact him when i wanted te work done. I haveemaailed him three times since we exchanged contracts - I am still waiting for a reply.

My husband is a handyman and gets lots of repeat work and referrals he always turns up and even when he had kidney stones phoned a client from his hospital bed!

My mum has asked two carpet companies to quote for Karndean flooring, none have bothered to get back to her- not cheap jobs!

As I’ve said many times on here, you can’t get a good, reliable builder, since Covid. I find most just talk BS, lie, full of excuses or just don’t bother to turn up.
Now they want London wages for doing a fraction of a days work.

I’ve been in the same boat - but then, miraculously, it’s all come together! I’m actually amazed and now, I’ve a shortlist of tradespeople I use and would recommend. The painter is booked, as is the carpet cleaner and the burglar alarm service is due this month too.

I think finding someone to do small jobs is hardest - they don’t really want to do them and estimate huge costs. Someone wanted £500 to re-cover my shed roof - a two hour job. The builder who had done some work here did it one Sunday morning and charged £200.

Similar experiences here, even with word of mouth recommendation. It is discouraging some much needed redecoration.

As I've mentioned before my husband is a plumber and electrician and when he was self employed he always contacted customers if circumstances beyond his control meant he couldn't make an appointment

BUT a few weeks ago I contacted 5 painters about painting our garden fence. 1 was very condescending and talked to me like I was a complete fool, 3 arranged to visit but never did, thankfully 1 did arrive at the time arranged and although a bit pricey he's (hopefully) going to do the job at the end of June

Why do these people advertise if they don't want the work?