...ed Off...

[glenfield2]

Starting off as an young adult, I was broke and couldn't pay folk, even to service my car, so I learnt the skills. As a (new at the time) homeowner - it was a similar story. Sadly there were no Haynes manuals or YouTube for houses\homes then. LOL

Now, it's I don't trust many folk & the few that would do it right\well - the cost would still be eye-watering (they have bills to pay so I don't begrudge them anything), so I do stuff myself.

Way way back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s I did up our first couple of houses using ‘The Sunday Times Book of DIY’. Taught me the basics of wiring, plumbing etc and stayed on my bookshelf for years. Often wish house renovation was still as straightforward.

 

[rafezetter]

Holy crap Cozzer that's absolute sh*te - that wasn't going to work under any circumstance.

You do have recourse, depending on whether the people had a South Irish accent and preferred mobile living or not. If not then you can simply get a better tradesman to fix the issues then go through small claims to recover the cost. I wouldn't have them back to "fix" it under any circumstances.

Way too far for me to do, though if I had access to all these sorts of BS that required proper solutions, I would be making significantly more money than I am now.

Hmm, lightbulb...

I guessing it’s gone on since time began.

So not a lot really.

OFC there is - get references from other customers of the tradesman. ANY tradesman worth thier salt will gladly give contact telephone number of previous clients, or as I have done, call them directly and ask if they would mind.

NEVER go by slick photo's on a website, many are genuine, many are not and wheat from the chaff is almost impossible.

I would also say look at the quote itself, a thorough breakdown is more indicative of a workman who wants full transparency for the client AND themselves, because clients can be robbers too.

Personally, if a customer had done a little youtube surfing and wanted to know how I was going to go about it, I wouldn't mind going through what I would be doing, either at the beginning or on a day by day basis though I would remind them I'm on the clock and I may have to add to the invoice if too much time is taken - for the pernickity and pedants who will argue 3mm over a 5metre span DAMHIKT

Too many people don't do due diligence when it comes to tradesman - I know sometimes leaking water or similar forces a persons hand but most times the customer has the time to evaluate and many will make a judgement based on the wrong information.

We also know many people are cheapskates, a harsh word but reality just the same.

 

[woodieallen]

There are some tradesmen who are good & they will charge accordingly. I know a carpenter like this, but he now employs a couple of guys, He has rakes of work, Likewise a plasterer, of the three i asked for a quote for our extension, One turned up & looked like he had been dipped in the stuff. he was marginally the cheapest on price. Second guy was a prima donna who gave an astronomical quote. Third guy turned up on time to look at the job & wasnt himself covered in plaster. Likewise his van was clean & tidy. Not the cheapest but he got the job.
At 7:45am he & a lad turned up, ten minutes later the lad was mixing plaster at 8:00am they started plastering. ten minutes at lunch time for a drink of water & a roll & on again to finish at three. Fast clean & efficient & a fabulous job.
Its finding blokes like this that is the hard bit!

Keep their details. Then the next time you need a different trade, ask them for a recommendation. I find that guys like that develop links with other trades with similar-minded attitudes to work.