Traders with too much work to care.

As advised don’t hire the rude one and word of mouth is best but waiting is inevitable…

How are you going to coordinate with someone like that? Get another one if you can.
We have been waiting for the painter to come since we booked him a year gone New Year. He came at Easter leaving colour charts but we have heard nothing since.
We have had trouble getting tradesmen since we came. No one will tell you if they have a good one. We have one we rely on he suggests others and does the initial phoning.
My DD who has recently moved house and is having trouble with plumbing and electricity. I Blacked out the whole house with my hair dryer when we visited. When she phones they are initially fine and friendly when she gives the address they say sorry.
She did eventually get one to come he said to emphasise her name and that they are new occupants. The previous woman was a right 'Cow" his words, not mine and the house is black-listed in the town and known for all its faults.
It has a name but only uses the number,I said it should be called 'The House of Mysteries".

My brother is a fireman - used to be a plumber, has been contacted by lots of people asking him to do work. He’s currently renovating his own house and from previous work has a reputation for being a perfectionist. He could easily double his wage.

I’m in a housing association property. I’ve waited three years for my disability hand rail to be replaced. It was flimsily drilled in to the tile and fell off after two weeks. Causing half of the times on the wall to fall off. . . . Still waiting.

Unfortunately many tradespeople seem to think these good times are here to stay so it does not matter about being rude to customers. But things will slow down due to the cost of living crisis and they may regret it in the future

Giving him a bad review and explaining why might make him reconsider his attitude. Plenty of people who DO want the work I'm sure.

Missisef With his insolence would you have wanted the likes of him in your property.? Console yourself with the thought maybe you had a lucky escape ?

I asked a local trader to come round to measure for supply and fit of blinds.
After chasing them I eventually got an appointment and they didn't show, next day an email saying the blinds "had been fitted"!
I don't really feel inclined to go with a company who are so disorganised so using John Lewis, much more expensive I'm guessing, but reliable.

katie59 My husband used to fit kitchens, is supposed to be retired, age 76, keeps getting asked back to everybody he's ever worked for. Most of them say the prices for fitting kitchens given by companies which sell them, are about 3 times what they expect.
The problem is, EU workers, who were here in thousands, are not coming back, and nobody has considered training young people leaving school.

I don't quite understand. Do some people call tradesmen 'traders'? Surely a trader is someone who sells items?
Watching an Australian soap recently I heard builders being referred to as 'tradies' in fact 'hot tradies' as they were so attractive!

I had an electrician who insisted the entire house needed re-wiring. He did none of the checks I expected and seemed to give an opinion off the top of his head. So I asked another (recommended by a friend) for a second quote. He did a complete EIRC inspection and announced that it only needed a new consumer unit and a few other remedials. Not a re-wiring at all. He was professional and polite and the work only took one morning.

Ive got a plumber coming in next week to re-seat the bath. Hes done a couple of jobs for me in the past on the boiler and managed to fit me into his schedule.

When you find a good tradesperson they are worth looking after. I know hes partial to a chocolate biscuit so I will be getting some in.

Being rude to clients just because you are "busy" is never a good idea. There may come a time when you are less busy and then it will be your turn to chase jobs. A professional person does not need to be told that.

This is happening to us too. We have recently moved house and are renovating it throughout. Tradesmen come and measure up for the quote and then you never hear from them again. Why not just say, it is too big a job, too fiddly or whatever?

I have decided to project manage the job and they don't make it easy to co-ordinate all the trades. It is very exasperating.

If I was you I wouldn't even consider him to come into my home for any kind if quote...Why not try and source a site where people have had bathrooms fitted and go by photos and genuine reviews....

There is another side of this. I sit down every morning to reply to enquiries. I get 4 responses

Sorry out of my budget
No reply
Yes please
Can I have further details, I am not a time waster

As soon as I get the last reply I know they are not going to buy. We will go back and forth asking more details until there is just silence.

We're just finishing a large renovation, having taken on a recommended local builder who has reliable tradesmen working for him.
The plasterer, electrician and plumber are fine but the builder's project management is very disorganised and often nobody turns up when we expect them.
So far it has overrun by two months and we know he's started on another project so we come bottom of the list for his tradesmen.
Prices for some work are ridiculous, he quoted £9K+ ("at a discount from £15K") for decorating but I held my ground and it's been done for what DH says is a reasonable price.
What I find so irritating is his constant excuses for not turning up.

We needed some new drains dug for our dishwasher washing machine and sink and to connect to the sewer. No one wanted the job as they couldn't get a digger in and they would have to be dug by hand. With the advice of a retired builder we dug them ourselves and laid the pipes etc. and the builder connected to the sewer. Took a week of hard digging, but we now have working drains.

We have the same problem in France. We email to request quotes for something or for a job, and get absolutely no response at all. It is only through friends who know someone - then we say that we have been recommended by XYZ - that we have been able to get a result. It is a right pain!

I agree with Sherry1 Thu 30-Jun-22 11:57:03 post.
Word of mouth is the best way of finding a good tradesman.
That's how I've found mine. All perfect.

It amazes me how many people have the money to get work done! We have just had a pandemic and now cost of living crisis, so where are all these people coming from ?

Luckily for us, our neighbour recommended a good tradesman. I would recommend him. I wanted to use local tradesmen in our village and cancelled our insurance cover for appliances. The reality was - there were no local tradesmen willing to do these repairs and breakdowns. I promptly reinstated my insurance cover for heating and washing machine. I now know that if anything breaks down - at least an engineer will turn up and complete repairs.

We have a Care Network organisation where I live which keeps a list of Safe Traders. These traders have to contact prospective customers within 5 working days of receiving a referral. If they keep missing the target, or have complaints made about them, they would simply be removed from the register. The organisation regularly checks up with customers . I always go through them if I have a job that needs doing, small or large and they usually have someone on their books who can do it.
I wouldn't tolerate the way the OP was treated.
Good luck with finding someone suitable who does a good job and treats you with respect.

My friend is a builder and he's having to turn down work as there are not enough hours in the day. Also he prices a job with materials and when he gets around to do the job everything has gone up in price again. I think your tradesman was rude and I couldn't cope with that attitude and that's before he starts!

I live in Bedfordshire …. ivdd we never had trouble getting or hiring tradesmen…. sometimes I have to wait …but the longest was 6 weeks! If a tradesman is busy…. He’s good!

Such a common problem. Some tradesmen will say right away that they can't take any more work on. That's fine. But so annoying when they say they will come to take a look and don't turn up. Even worse when they come and promise an estimate. You wait and it never arrives. Back to square one. I can usually live with a wait so long I'm in their diary. But difficult to get that far.

We have the same problem where I live (a fairly remote village in the very North of Scotland). We wanted our windows replaced and upgraded to Triple Glazing, as it's extremely windy here even in summer. Found a firm in November (based about 80 miles away) who quoted said the work could be done around February as the windows are not standard sizes and would need to be made. The fitters finally arrived at the end of April, but the work is dreadful. I've sent letter after letter, email after email without response, and we are left with two windows that won't open at all (one of these arrived broken) and two more for which the ventilation is not complete. The bay window has gaps left between each angle (at windowsill level), and one of the coverings (between the angles) for the bay has already been blown off on a windy day because of the gaps at the base of the windows. Basically, straight windows have been fitted, each with straight sills, leaving the brickwork exposed at each angle.
I've now submitted a claim to the Small Claims Court (Sheriffs Court) to get back £5,000, which is the maximum that the Court can award (the total cost was over £12,000). Even if the original company come back now to do the required replacement windows and repairs, I would not trust them to do the work. I want to employ someone else, but who, how and when remains to be seen.

n.b. I've also written to "Rip Off Britain" and had no reply.