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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 16, 2018 19:40:38 GMT
Loads of jobs not getting done around the house so time to get a pro or two in. I am neither confident or competent enough to do many of the jobs. Might even kill myself falling off a roof. Running my own company for many years I am used to getting quotes and work done and pretty good at it too. Maybe they look at me and see I am special  I can become an expert quite quickly on a temporary basis sucking in what they say. As you probably know prices can vary enormously. So a few guys in Checkatrade seems a good place after a good experience. Short listed 12. Too many. Cut it to 10. Yes I know a lot, bear with me. First one I contacted cannot do any work until next year. Need the work completed before winter. 1 down. Second one was a general builder who 'no longer does roofing' 2 down. Nice enough guy on the phone. No.3 came with 2 guys and a ladder, seem very competent and have quoted. Quite a lot of money. No.4 came without a ladder so we got mine out and he looked around. No quote yet. 1 week tomorrow. 3 and 4 both pointed out the previous 'expert' from a few years back put (bathroom) mastic on an *external* cracked tile ! No.5 came around twice. 2nd time with his roof specialist. "needs all the flashing replaced". All the others say the flashing is almost certainly fine. Hmmm. No.6 came around. No quote yet. 1 week Saturday. No.7 and 8 asked me to email details. Not contacted me yet. Doubt they will a week later No.9 looks good on Tuesday. Awaiting quote. He seems good. No.10 arranged to come 5.30 Tuesday. Didn't turn up. One thing I never understand is guys who travel, spent time looking around, take notes and never come back |
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Post by brian2957 on Aug 16, 2018 20:23:24 GMT
Yup , I had 2 different guys come to mine ( from a different but similar site ) to have a look at some drain repairs which I needed done a couple of weeks ago . Neither came back with a quote . Waited in for both too  Seems it's the same up here Mike and it's really annoying . I ended up taking matters into my own hands and doing the repair myself  |
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Post by MartinT on Aug 17, 2018 6:34:35 GMT
We were looking for a gardener and were impressed by the website of someone local purporting to do gardening and medium remedial work outside. She made a good impression on the telephone to Ruth who agreed to let her come for a trial. When I got back from work I could not believe the sight of this young skinny female struggling with my mower, who had already broken my strimmer. Not only did she not have a clue, she didn't have the stamina for the job and had brought no tools at all! She claimed to have a rechargeable hedge trimmer at home which our hedge would have minced in half an hour.
Then, when we were going to say "thanks, but no thanks", she sent us a note saying that it was all too much and our garden was too large, effectively sacking herself.
What a waste of our time.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 17, 2018 9:12:30 GMT
Finding good people is very hard. We are lucky to have one of the boss's female friends helping out in the garden. Intelligent, does planning, setting up and boy does she graft. If you saw her in normal clothes she is slight - solid muscle though. The tree surgeons we had last year via Checkatrade were brilliant. Luck of the draw, keep playing the numbers, which is a PITA and time consuming but gets there in the end. Over the years I managed to get good companies supplying my print company. However it took years to find most of them via a few nightmares Amazes me how some companies keep going. |
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Post by speedysteve on Aug 17, 2018 16:52:29 GMT
Check a trade is fake. No bad reviews go up.
Good ones are there too..
I don't like anyone doing anything, they all do a worse job than I could do. Several were down right bodgers!
Take the installers who I've had to have service our boiler. You'd think they could do a service right, nnno! Missed checking the lower CO2 value. Only checked the upper value. Result was, it drifted and the boiler was needing very regular resets!
You have to have it serviced by an accredited tradesman to get the 5 year warranty - Worcester Bosch
To measure this it you need equipment most of us would not have.
Worcester Bosch service agent we called it found the problem in no time! Fortunately no charge..
Don't get me started on a roof leak issue at the old house..
If you can get local recommendation then great, but it's no guarantee they will be any good!
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Post by stanleyb on Aug 17, 2018 17:08:58 GMT
Don't even talk about boilers. Mine started cutting out, so I asked a friend to look at it. He couldn't figure out the fault, so I called a plumber that he knew. The plumber quoted me £2K for a new boiler, and explained why it couldn't be fixed. As an engineer I didn't swallow any of that. So I did a search for the service manual of the boiler on-line. Then I started to compare the fault symptoms with similar faults mentioned on-line. It turned out to be a blocked pipe that passed condensation from the boiler to the overflow system. I paid my friend £100 for his help in then taking the boiler section apart and cleaning the pipe. Saved £1900 just like that.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 17, 2018 17:22:37 GMT
We have a great boiler guy. If we persuade him he will also do small plumbing jobs.
I do the DIY I'm competent with
Sure I could do some of the other work but it would take me an age and I might mess it up badly.
Looked up the boiler problem I had last winter.
Google says "Bad news". Needs all sorts.
Turns out to be an intermittent circuit board fault. Needs a reset about every 3 months - one button push
Google and Youtube can help, but won't erect a tower, strip out tiles and other to find a roof leak
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Post by dsjr on Aug 18, 2018 9:50:02 GMT
One advantage of living in a small seaside town is that the traders are known, their reputation going round the town and if they're no good, suddenly find themselves out of regular work. The really good ones can be pricey though here, but you generally get a good job done.
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Post by Slinger on Aug 18, 2018 12:29:39 GMT
Check a trade is fake. No bad reviews go up... I'd heard that. I found this piece of advice, on "Mumsnet" of all places. Someone else there let on that their "ex" had "a contact" who deleted anything negative about his business. A common complaint seems to be that Checkatrade don't allow you to review tradesmen who repeatedly don't turn up. If they don't turn up there's nothing to review is their standpoint. As per normal, there will be good and bad traders there but the general opinion is don't rely on Checkatrade reviews to differentiate between them. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 18, 2018 15:51:10 GMT
No way of posting guys that say they will turn up and don't - or the Charlies that do turn up and don't quote !
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Post by zippy on Aug 18, 2018 16:03:04 GMT
We also suffered getting a quote for some minor electrical work, the electrician not turning up to do the work on the day arranged, then telling us that he can't do it unless we also had the consumer unit replaced (£400).
(this was all done through one of those 'proper tradesmen' sites - won't use them again, though our main trouble here is finding anyone to even quote for work.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 18, 2018 18:27:46 GMT
A good sparky I have !
And can recommend if you are anywhere near Chertsey, Surrey
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Post by Stratmangler on Aug 18, 2018 20:50:23 GMT
One thing I never understand is guys who travel, spent time looking around, take notes and never come back It's because they don't want the job. It's usually too much of a pain in the arse, and expensive with respect to outlay for materials, and they've sussed out whether or not you're likely to open the moth sanctuary sufficiently to make it worth their while.
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Post by MartinT on Aug 18, 2018 21:50:52 GMT
I think the answer for some workmen is far simpler. They have no fucking idea what providing a service actually entails and how to secure a good reputation and repeat business.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 19, 2018 8:54:53 GMT
One thing I never understand is guys who travel, spent time looking around, take notes and never come back It's because they don't want the job. It's usually too much of a pain in the arse, and expensive with respect to outlay for materials, and they've sussed out whether or not you're likely to open the moth sanctuary sufficiently to make it worth their while.
Should have said take *copious* notes, ask intelligent questions, seem genuinely interested. One or two didn't seem quite so invested but here we are now with most of them calling over a week ago and not a peep. Disappointing as I liked a couple of them and they seemed to know what was needed. Contrast yesterday, maybe Put a load of cardboard boxes on Freecycle. Chatting to the guy who came to collect What do you do ? Decorator. Come and have a look at various. He came in and gave good advice. Will try him out when I get quotes in for decorating - which can now be a lot less than I dreaded it would be. |
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Seems it's the same up here Mike and it's really annoying . 
