Builder, Who'll Actually Turn Up?

[Beechwood_S6 101]

39 minutes ago, top4718 said:

There's a vast shortage of tradesmen, the best ones are booked solid and a small job like yours is sadly probably more trouble than it's worth, harsh but reality I'm afraid.

Sometimes it works the other way around as well, needed a plumber doing  a refurb we were looking for new bath, tiling, new taps and changing shower screen etc  loads said they could do smaller jobs,  as they earn more doing multiple small jobs a day than taking on a bigger job, so it was easier just keeping the bath,  changing and the taps,  new screen, it obviously cost us less and moved the project along, we've never had problems finding trades  we pay a premium and pay immediately the jobs done, by bank transfer.

 

So far in the last week had new patio laid, electrics all new sokets, switches and wired smoke alarms, plus the plumbing also had the loft staircase repaired doors hung, all the trades  were new to us and independent, most did a good jobs, any  snagging I've done myself.

 

It'll be a top to bottom refurb in under 4 weeks if the carpet fitters are on point.

 

Normally I'd have done all the work, but the time scale is tight due to a Sept commitment.

 

Often overpaid on a few trades, but worth it to have jobs done, especially trades giving up their weekends deserves to be well rewarded.

 

We pay for materials and between £300-£500 day rates depending on the  trade.

 

 

 

[top4718 838]

1 minute ago, Beechwood_S6 said:

Sometimes it works the other way around as well, needed a plumber doing  a refurb we were looking for new bath, tiling, new taps and changing shower screen etc  loads said they could do smaller jobs,  as they earn more doing multiple small jobs a day than taking on a bigger job, so it was easier just keeping the bath,  changing and the taps,  new screen, it obviously cost us less and moved the project along, we've never had problems finding trades  we pay a premium and pay immediately the jobs done, by bank transfer.

 

So far in the last week had new patio laid, electrics all new sokets, switches and wired smoke alarms, plus the plumbing also had the loft staircase repaired doors hung, all the trades  were new to us and independent, most did a good jobs, any  snagging I've done myself.

 

It'll be a top to bottom refurb in under 4 weeks if the carpet fitters are on point.

 

Normally I'd have done all the work, but the time scale is tight due to a Sept commitment.

 

Often overpaid on a few trades, but worth it to have jobs done, especially trades giving up their weekends deserves to be well rewarded.

 

We pay for materials and between £300-£500 day rates depending on the  trade.

 

 

 

You're paying quite a premium rate there I don't think many would have the means to pay that, not knocking you if you can but it's out of reach for the majority.

[Beechwood_S6 101]

29 minutes ago, top4718 said:

You're paying quite a premium rate there I don't think many would have the means to pay that, not knocking you if you can but it's out of reach for the majority.

I get that especially with the cost of living, we had a budgeted £20k for this project, but have made a lot of saving on materials and even with paying £1,500 + materials on the patio laying 2 day job, £1,250 plumbing materials included the whole project finished  will be under 8k. 

 

If it wasn't time sensitive its would have been half that.

 

Weve been frugal in some places like sanding down worktops and painting kitchen cupboards,  its helped the budget a lot.

 

We just like to value someone that shows up and does an honest days graft, so we dont mind paying the extra for their reliability.

 

The ops job, I  would expect to pay £160 plus materials 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Beechwood_S6

[Padders 2,891]

23 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

The job is probably the problem. Its tiny, and they likely wont see it as worth bothering with given the demand out there at the moment. Maybe try a generic handyman instead.

I agree with that HHR.

Some of the prices quoted on here are ridiculous...

Easy access, and half a dozen corner ridge tiles replacing and cementing down?

If that was me, I'd do it myself no problem...

I toyed with the idea of doing it for her (free of charge) cus I've nowt better to do..

But I'm not prepared to work on someone else's property.

How long would it take?  I'm not a builder but I'm guessing a couple of hours max.

£50 to a geriatric handyman should cover it...

 

Just had a thought, how about old Cuttsie?

Edited August 3, 2023 by Padders
added.

[Beechwood_S6 101]

53 minutes ago, Padders said:

I agree with that HHR.

Some of the prices quoted on here are ridiculous...

The thing is  trades like anyone leaving their house for work, get their earnings instantly Taxed, 3rd of earning end up with the government in one way or another, fuel parking and tool ware replacement  etc everyday  running costs as well they need to eat pay their own bills and costs, the recent hikes in the cost of living prices are high for everyone, £50 jobs are unlikely  to be picked up by regular trades. 

The Days of £50 cash in hand have dwindled 

 

On a side note just had 2 qoutes on a cleaning a shared house £1,200 and £3,000 due to one problem tenant that moved in at the beginning of the year, after i did the decorating, new beds and mattresses, carpets, furniture, turned out hey'd been using their room as a toilet. 

 

 

 

[top4718 838]

2 hours ago, Padders said:

I agree with that HHR.

Some of the prices quoted on here are ridiculous...

Easy access, and half a dozen corner ridge tiles replacing and cementing down?

If that was me, I'd do it myself no problem...

I toyed with the idea of doing it for her (free of charge) cus I've nowt better to do..

But I'm not prepared to work on someone else's property.

How long would it take?  I'm not a builder but I'm guessing a couple of hours max.

£50 to a geriatric handyman should cover it...

 

Just had a thought, how about old Cuttsie?

It's like someone said earlier, if I send someone to do a small job that takes a couple of hours and there's nothing else for them that day I still have to pay the tradesman for the 8 hours, factor in the H&S aspect with it being roof work and the costs easily rack up.

[FoxLady 121]

Interesting, the things that all of the above has thrown up.
I don't know if ab6262's daily rate is regarded as expensive in today's terms or not, and as it's not my property, I'll leave the owner to decide...but at least he/she's given a ballpark figure to be considered.
But what about the others who've been approached over the months? Those who answer the phone, take the details, but then don't show up. Why not just say "Sorry, not for me", rather than string people along?
That said, re-read ab's comment - "you probably won't want to pay a builder's rate for the day...", and HeHasRisen's comment about the job being "tiny"...so what?! There was no mention of wanting the job "done cheap"!  
 

[HeHasRisen 3,416]

4 minutes ago, FoxLady said:

Interesting, the things that all of the above has thrown up.
I don't know if ab6262's daily rate is regarded as expensive in today's terms or not, and as it's not my property, I'll leave the owner to decide...but at least he/she's given a ballpark figure to be considered.
But what about the others who've been approached over the months? Those who answer the phone, take the details, but then don't show up. Why not just say "Sorry, not for me", rather than string people along?
That said, re-read ab's comment - "you probably won't want to pay a builder's rate for the day...", and HeHasRisen's comment about the job being "tiny"...so what?! There was no mention of wanting the job "done cheap"!  
 

This is my huge gripe too, just be honest, maybe they just want to be polite but IMO just not turning up when they said they will do is ten times worse.

 

The point about the job being tiny was perfectly relevant as Tops has fleshed out the point. If your mate wants to pay a full day for 2 hours work, great, this certainly wouldnt apply to the vast majority of the population and tradesmen know this.

Edited August 3, 2023 by HeHasRisen

[fools 447]

@dan2802 might be able to help

[Anna B 1,417]

So what are we supposed to do?

[HeHasRisen 3,416]

22 minutes ago, Anna B said:

So what are we supposed to do?

Well you could... 

 

- do the job yourself

- find a family member to do it

- be prepared to pay a full days wage for a 2 hour job

- wait until you have a days worth of jobs doing and then contact someone

- try and find a handyman-type person who may charge by the hour and do multiple jobs in one day

- the example in the opening post sounds like a job for a tiler so keep trying every single one until you find one who may come out for 2 hours work and charge for 2 hours work. 

 

The above list is not exhaustive. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by HeHasRisen

[FoxLady 121]

16 minutes ago, Anna B said:

So what are we supposed to do?

Exactly my point, Anna B!

Let the problem get worse, until it becomes a "big" job, and then find that the builders are "way too busy" with other big jobs - "Should've 'phoned earlier before it got so bad"!

The annoying aspect is that they make the assumption that everybody wants it doing at next-to-nothing rates, which is not necessarily the case. 

This particular job might indeed be a breeze for someone who knows what's what - and if paying a day's rate is unavoidable, so be it - but to tar every prospective customer with the presumption that they'll pass out at hearing that it's not going to be "fifty quid" is simply ridiculous.