Traders with too much work to care.

Franbern

I think it does need to be pointed out that the problems with tradespeople is not so much to do with the Pandemic as the fact that Brexit caused so many good plumbers, electricians, builders, decorators, etc. etc. to be told they were no longer welcome in the UK and to return back to their homes in Poland, etc.

We reap what we sew!!!!

This is true there were a lot of East Europeans doing small jobs and charging sensible prices too.

jenpax

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 ?

I have the money to pay for work around my house because I have not been on holiday nor dome much socialising for over two years! I expect many people are in the same situation.

StarDreamer

From time to time I have seen advertisements for handymen who have in the advertisement No job too small

Has anyone any experiece of wanting a very small job done and contacted someone advertising in that way and can say way happened please?

Do the mean it, or is it "Oh not that small"

For example, if you want one branch about an inch in diameter pruned off a shrub as it is growing out over the path at head height and it is gradually growing out further.

Will they do that or do they require bundling in a lot of other gardening?

I tend to save up unimportant minor jobs then as a local handyman who I’ve used before. He’s fantastic, very hard working, reliable and leaves the area very clean - but he is in demand! By asking him to do several jobs I think that it helps him by cutting down on individual journeys to do one thing at a time. Last time he came he reseated my bathroom sink, fitted a new smoke detector, fixed a broken tile on roof, fitted a key safe, mended leaking gutters, hung up some new pictures and fitted a rubber strip to stop leaves getting into my garage.

I did share his phone number with a couple of friends who now use him a lot - I’m not doing that again as he’s getting too busy now!! I don’t know what I will do when he retires in four years time!

I too have experienced this … they don’t get a second chance to quote.

We have been trying to get a new fence in our back garden for 18 months. We had some ridiculous quotes but were finally given a realistic quote which was £1500 less than the previous cheapest price. The job was scheduled for mid April but was only done last week. While he was working, four neighbours approached him to ask for quotes for jobs, he told us he gets at least ten enquiries a day on his phone for gardening or fencing jobs.

We have had an extension built, starting last February with DH project managing. We have a good local builder and he soon had the structure up. No problem getting brickies etc, but by Easter(21) , when we needed specialist tradesman, they couldn't be got for love or money.

Our builder said, that as, last spring, as everything opened up after COVID and all the housing developers started their sites again, all the sub-contractors went back to work for them. Why do an odd job for a private client when a developer would take them on for months doing 200 identical houses? He was having problems with much of his work because he was at lower end of the market, project size, not quality.

I think this is still what is happening.

Monica those developers have always been there. The difference to pre-pandemic times is that there are now so very many fewer qualified tradespeople, as we lost them all due to Brexit.

One of the great benefits of coming out of Europe, is that we now have far fewer of these people and therefore have to wait far longer for them and pay so much more.

Franbern around us there has been an absolute boom in housing, catching up with the lockdown and to make the most of a booming, rising housing market, although it is starting to close down.

In addition during the lockdown many people saved quite a lot of money (yes, I know many ended at Food Banks but many didn't ) and saved a lot of money and this money is being spent on making their homes and gardens more confortable. The number of kitchens being fitted and landscaping and fencing being done is amazing.

I must say that all the tradesmen we have hired, with the exception of one superb very specialist contractor, have been local tradesman, people who have lived in the village or area for decades and mainly work for private clients, but as I said, so much work is being done, supply is very limited.