Why is it so hard to get a tradesman?

[El Cid 212]

My daughter just postponed her decorator that was meant to come at the wekend. People/customers/trademen can all be unreliable, us older folk have maybe seen it all before. We tend to be at home and hopefully reliable.

[pattricia 574]

On 05/03/2021 at 15:29, Fudbeer said:

Yes pleased for them and fully understand their frustration with some customers  wanting multiple quotes for £100  jobs!

 

 

A good tradesman-always  has his regular customers. This is based on his quality of work and trust. Some people will actually let a person who is not Gas Safe Registered to install their boiler because he is cheaper than a qualified one. Of course when a fault occurs after the installation they have to then pay a qualified one to repair the fault, so it costs them more in the long run.! 

[enntee 10]

Since December, I have had 3 separate roofers come to look at a job.

Not big, 1 + 1 days. £800,

Each one discussed what would be needed to my satisfaction.

Each one gave me a price that I felt to be acceptable and we agreed that they would do the job.

We understood that it would need to wait for drier weather after the freeze, and would not be possible until the end of February/March at the earliest.

That was understood and agreed that they would drop me a price confirmation by email/post, then give me about a week's notice before coming onto the job.

There was no doubt. We had agreed a job.

 

Not heard from any of them again.

They were not in competition. I had agreed with one. Not heard from them after a month, so moved on to find the next.

 

None communicated with me again.

None have responded to my messages, calls, emails.

 

I just requested confirmation that I was still on their calendar.

 

Why are they so frightened of saying that they can't fit me in or don't want to do the job? 

Edited March 8, 2021 by enntee

[pattricia 574]

2 hours ago, enntee said:

Since December, I have had 3 separate roofers come to look at a job.

Not big, 1 + 1 days. £800,

Each one discussed what would be needed to my satisfaction.

Each one gave me a price that I felt to be acceptable and we agreed that they would do the job.

We understood that it would need to wait for drier weather after the freeze, and would not be possible until the end of February/March at the earliest.

That was understood and agreed that they would drop me a price confirmation by email/post, then give me about a week's notice before coming onto the job.

There was no doubt. We had agreed a job.

 

Not heard from any of them again.

They were not in competition. I had agreed with one. Not heard from them after a month, so moved on to find the next.

 

None communicated with me again.

None have responded to my messages, calls, emails.

 

I just requested confirmation that I was still on their calendar.

 

Why are they so frightened of saying that they can't fit me in or don't want to do the job? 

I also need a roofer this year, but also have to wait until the warmer, dryer weather comes. As with plumbers, there are roofers and there are roofers. Don’t forget  , the cheapest quote isn’t always the best. You are safer getting a roofer who has previously done work for a friend or relation of yours. Sometimes they don’t reply if they have too much work on.They are usually the best.!

[Guest]

I use the same plumber over and over, he was rated top on checkatrade where I lived when I first saw him, yep not always available immediately but always replies eventually and does a good job at a decent price. Funnily enough people talking about roofers I'll probably be after one towards the end of summer.

[mafya 240]

On 07/03/2021 at 04:10, 26b-6 said:

Many great EU tradesman living here but unless you can vetted they don't prioritise natives because of the discrimination they face.

So they face discrimination and also practice it themselves! 😂

[enntee 10]

On 08/03/2021 at 12:50, probedb said:

................  but always replies eventually .............

That's all I am asking for!  🤪

[alandrea0 16]

Because there are so few trades people / qualified trades people around.

The younger generation are more interested in playing games on phones and computers.

Even if you do find a so called trades person they tend to be poorly qualified and workmanship is poor, because they haven't had the experience or training.

Finding an experienced and well trained trades person these days is like trying to find gold.. More or less impossible in this country..

 

[Anna B 1,401]

7 hours ago, alandrea0 said:

Because there are so few trades people / qualified trades people around.

The younger generation are more interested in playing games on phones and computers.

Even if you do find a so called trades person they tend to be poorly qualified and workmanship is poor, because they haven't had the experience or training.

Finding an experienced and well trained trades person these days is like trying to find gold.. More or less impossible in this country..

 

Do you think that's because the old time served Apprenticeships have more or less finished, and it costs quite a lot of money to do fairly substandard and brief training courses? 

Just asking...

 

[Fudbeer 12]

On 12/03/2021 at 19:03, Anna B said:

Do you think that's because the old time served Apprenticeships have more or less finished, and it costs quite a lot of money to do fairly substandard and brief training courses? 

Just asking...

 

Could be,One thing for sure something has gone wrong.

If you don't know a few reliable ones chances are you are going to struggle or pay over the odds or both.

[pattricia 574]

My son lives in America and has the same trouble getting a tradesman as they do over here.

[nightrider 13]

On 12/03/2021 at 11:03, alandrea0 said:

Because there are so few trades people / qualified trades people around.

The younger generation are more interested in playing games on phones and computers.

Even if you do find a so called trades person they tend to be poorly qualified and workmanship is poor, because they haven't had the experience or training.

Finding an experienced and well trained trades person these days is like trying to find gold.. More or less impossible in this country..

 

Thats my experience. Would always go for someone in their 50's/60's over a youngster. The former almost always do good quality work. younger people seem to be 50/50 as to whether its good/bad.