Why are tradesmen so unreliable

I had a handyman who I used for 8 years , did majority of my jobs . Met his wife children etc . He was my go to . My friend needed some work done in her garden it was a big job , I recommended my man , he went along and gave her a quote and discussed money . A few weeks went by and I asked was the garden finished and shocked to hear he had taken the majority of the money and left the garden and her in a bad state . Sadly she paid most up front trusting him , a year on she is still trying to get her money back . We later learned he has done this to numerous people . Having known him and used his services for years I'm still in shock because I was lucky he didn't steal from me . Now I have learned not to recommend tradesmen because I feel awful . My poor friend has never blamed me but it's an awful situation

Why Brexit? I think they charge extortionate amounts because they can, therefore more choosey, I partly blame Covid, due to lockdown many people decided time to get jobs done. I’ve never seen as many skips & loaders around our way as during Covid.
I am lucky my husband can do everything, & I absolutely appreciate that he can as you never know the minute when he can’t.

Too few tradesmen for too many customers.
I blame Brexit.

However good they are, they take on several jobs at once. They start off well, then, after a while, they can't come Monday or Tuesday to finish off part of your job because they have another one up the road.
And so it goes on

I think you are right in getting recommendations from people rather than look on your local social media sites.
Any retired person competent in DIY could keep themselves very busy by doing the odd jobs that the bigger companies don't really want, hence the excuses. Are there any groups you belong to or neighbours you could ask and perhaps have a look at the work they did?

I speak to either one and they always have an excuse. Busy week, few emergencies. Ive waited nearly three weeks so they are obviously prioritising recent jobs over mine. Think it’s called cherry picking. I’m beginning to feel like I’m stalking them.

I had a guy I used regularly then, all of a sudden, no replies.
After a while his sister messaged me to say he'd had a heart attack and was recovering.