Why are tradesmen so elusive?

Ive been looking for someone to quote for replacing the floor in our wetroom for the past couple of months. Contacted several companies so far & not one has come back to me.

You do get the feeling some just don't want the work.

If anyone knows of someone in the Redditch/Bromsgrove area who is trustworthy & reliable please feel free to let me know
 
Quite a few times struggled to get tradesmen interested in doing jobs, unless they of the travelling fraternity who leave the little green cards with rented phone numbers and addresses and give you a strange smile if you offer to pay other than cash.

Been there done that with the phone call that goes to voice mail and never gets returned. There's a fair few jobs you can do yourself but some when you need to get a professional in.
 
I have had very similiar experience with both plasterers and electricians lately, but finalyl got one of each who are great, took a while though.
 
Just learn how to do it all yourself. Only thing I did pay someone to do so far is fit the boiler. Everything else had been much easier than expected after a bit of research and practice.
 
robj20 said:
Just learn how to do it all yourself. Only thing I did pay someone to do so far is fit the boiler. Everything else had been much easier than expected after a bit of research and practice.
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Whilst I agree with the general sentiment of this statement, the OP is looking for a roofer. I am a fairly confident DIY'er, but I'd never want to work at heights on the roof. Jobs like that are much better left to professionals with the right equipment (and insurance cover!)
 
ci_newman said:
Whilst I agree with the general sentiment of this statement, the OP is looking for a roofer. I am a fairly confident DIY'er, but I'd never want to work at heights on the roof. Jobs like that are much better left to professionals with the right equipment (and insurance cover!)
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Easier than you think. The exception there would be getting a firm into put scaffolding up as though it's doable from ladders it makes it much more difficult and time consuming.
But roofing itself is easy enough. Especially the newer stuff that doesn't require any mortar.
 
Quite lucky with things like this I guess, got a few joiners/builders in the extended family so got plenty of contacts and all have done excellent work so far. :)
 
Called 7 decking company's locally, 1 replied, he turned up, told me hes 65 now and wants a pay rise (high price) and then he was booked until January but doeskin want to work in the winter.

70sq meters of decking
 
So I've been having trouble finding someone to do work on creating a raised patio. They come seem happy at the time and then never send a quote.

Eventually back in July I did find someone who sent a quote (all be it with a reminder prompt), we accepted asked a couple of questions about the slabs we'd like and just awaited a confirmation start date.

This confirmation took some time to get and I did manage to get him to mention a date of starting on the 24th of this month about 3-4 weeks ago.

Seeing as it's only two weeks away I'm seeking reassurance it's going ahead as planned, texted a couple of days ago asking for confirmation. No response yet!

I'll give it another day or so before I try to call him, but why is it so hard dealing with trades people? This type of experience has happened multiple times to me over the years!

So what do you reckon, is he going to turn up?
 
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Tricky situation, it does sound like hes busy at work and when you come home after physical intensive labor you may not have the will power or energy to pick up a phone and text back even, but it is unprofessional also.

Have had similar myself with tradespeople, it does boil down to making direct telephone contact imo but I think you did the right thing giving it a few days and its good you are trying to make sure the jobs on rather then last minute no one turning up.

I think stick to calling him in 1-2 days time to find out and good luck.
 
By the way I thought I would post this youtube link to carpenters daughter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8G0RjpLU1c

Its just wacky since I have noticed were not alone in this world, it appears all trades people are simply charging 3-4x the actual cost of labor.
Ie front drive building cost is 1.5K-2K roughly in building material for an average sized drive, but cost of overall driveway ends up 5K-6K, for 1-2 days work.

Even the carpenters daughters mentions she gets unbelievable quotes of 5-6K for a tiny patio, 5 minutes after shes DIY the whole thing. Yes its back breaking
and hard work but it does appear with youtube and some time and energy or youth you have to do as much as you can yourself sadly.

I wish the above was not the case !
 
Had to get out entire fence replaced recently, contacted about a dozen places, 1 wanted photos so he could quote over the phone, 1 actually booked a time to come see me and never did. The others... nothing.

Ended up having a neighbour of a friend come and do it. He's partially retired now and up until recently was a Which trusted trader, but just does jobs now to pay for whatever he wants to do next. Wasn't cheap, but instead of using pre-made panels he did them all from scratch. Pressure treated timber throughout and custom made to fit. Then helped us put our new shed up, which was good as it turns out that me and the other half couldn't life most of the panels buy ourselves. We went a bit overkill...
 
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