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caricature
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Devon,England.
Joined: Jun 2014
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13-01-2018, 11:35 AM
1

Quotes and lack of.

We are looking to have some internal alterations done which involves knocking through a couple of load bearing walls and alteration to convert the garage into a utility room,all this is done with an architect and the council have approved the regs for it.So a couple of weeks or so before Christmas I got in touch with a couple of local building firms,one has responded with an estimate and the other I've yet to hear again from,are they that busy? I think I'll be in touch with some more.
Nice indoor dry jobby until the better weather comes I'd have thought.
Any one else have problems recruiting tradesman?
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Longdogs
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SW England
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13-01-2018, 12:08 PM
2

Re: Quotes and lack of.

Hi Caricature.

Since moving to Devon I have discovered that recruiting tradesman is a bit of a nightmare. They don't call back, don't turn up and obviously don't know how to use a phone. I never had this problem when living in the SE, I was a tradesman myself and know that if I had acted in this way, I wouldn't have lasted five minutes due to the competition.
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Azure
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South Glos
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13-01-2018, 07:25 PM
3

Re: Quotes and lack of.

It is the same here in the West Country, South Gloucestershire & Bristol in particular.
I have two tradesmen who are excellent Local Builder /Plumber, and an Electrician
Others sometimes ignore Emails and do not turn up or phone and make contact six months later.
They are only interested in easy work and will paper over three lots of old paper and say it is the modern way .
also put floor tiles over old ones.
In the north of England tradesmen always kept their word
To day I have been waiting two hours for a tradesman and no phone call
When finally contacted as Mobile was switched off has decided to call on Monday instead. Not a good start.
A handy man was asked to change an exterior bulb all of five minutes work, and said he could do it next week!

Such is Life
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Rhian
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North Wales
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13-01-2018, 10:38 PM
4

Re: Quotes and lack of.

I lived in Cornwall for 18 months in my early 20s
When you wanted stuff doing there the workmen came back with "we'll be there dreckly"

There was nothing direct about their response!
Dreckly I discovered is like the Spanish manãna

It means whenever. .
...it only took about 2 months of living there for me to be as laid back as the natives!
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13-01-2018, 10:48 PM
5

Re: Quotes and lack of.

Caricature, I entirely sympathise with you.
I could write a book on the people who have let me down.
It makes me so angry, these people don't deserve to get work.
If they are too busy and can't do the job, just be honest, and flippin' say so.

Little riles me quicker than people who say they will do something and then don't.
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Cheshire. UK
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13-01-2018, 10:54 PM
6

Re: Quotes and lack of.

Basically, I don't think any of them are so hard up that they are desperate for work. They're probably too busy fitting out their newly acquired properties for the rental market.

It's amazing really, how this practice seems to be so far and wide.

The funniest one I heard was a friend who was 60 yrs of age, and for various reasons wanted her garden landscaped to removed the grass and to be laid with stones. Her garden was the size of a postage stamp. She asked the 'guy up the road' to give her a quote, as he'd done a number of jobs locally.
£12,000 for the job !! She said it was too much (which you would ) He came back the next day and said he'd do it for £6,000....... which she said was also too much. He then told her it would be a good job and last her at least 50 yrs !
She told him, it was hardly likely she'd be around in 50 yrs. and 'no thanks' .

I;ve been trying to get someone for my fence for almost 12 months. They keep saying they'll come and don't, so it's worth trying another. The same damn thing happens .

Sometimes I wonder if the small guys don't have the money to lay out initially, and who in their right mind would pay out up front these days ?
 

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