Am I expecting too much from the carpenter I hired?

Oh wow I've just re-read, £800 is absolutely daylight robbery and completely mental. YANBAC.

:edit: the pictures... I reckon could do a better job and I am really, terribly bad at DIY :eek:
 
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Agreed it’s tough these days. We got handyman, maintenance man (call it what you will) to source, fit & adjust a new garden gate that didn’t conform to any standard size. Basically end of garden entrance is some random width, height with slightly wonky walls. Took him half a day, then all the adjustments after the fact once he found more little quirks. He had a wealth of knowledge about all the mistakes people make fitting gates in schools and all sorts, didn’t complain and fitted a great top quality lock to boot. Felt like a carpenter would have been overkill and you just needed a good experienced handyman.

We’ve found word of mouth, Facebook Community Groups best, you have hundreds, thousands of local people offering up names (though be careful of family members name dropping) and still do your homework.

He also dug up two huge plants for us when he asked. Was £345 all in but gave him extra for the garden stuff and fact he sweated it out in blistering heat.

We’ve told one or two people not comeback when a job has turned into a total farce as well.
 
Ali195 said:
Agreed it’s tough these days. We got handyman, maintenance man (call it what you will) to source, fit & adjust a new garden gate that didn’t conform to any standard size. Basically end of garden entrance is some random width, height with slightly wonky walls. Took him half a day, then all the adjustments after the fact once he found more little quirks. He had a wealth of knowledge about all the mistakes people make fitting gates in schools and all sorts, didn’t complain and fitted a great top quality lock to boot. Felt like a carpenter would have been overkill and you just needed a good experienced handyman.

We’ve found word of mouth, Facebook Community Groups best, you have hundreds, thousands of local people offering up names (though be careful of family members name dropping) and still do your homework.

He also dug up two huge plants for us when he asked. Was £345 all in but gave him extra for the garden stuff and fact he sweated it out in blistering heat.

We’ve told one or two people not comeback when a job has turned into a total farce as well.
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£400 for half a day? Is the annual revenue for a single handyman really £150k+ nowadays? Do I need to change jobs?
 
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Zefan said:
£400 for half a day? Is the annual revenue for a single handyman really £150k+ nowadays? Do I need to change jobs?
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Parts and included. Gate was custom made to fit the measurements, plus nice key lock, then all the minor adjustments to make it sit just right. New posts for it to bolt against, handles etc. So take off a hundred plus easy. Some jobs I’ll do, and I do a lot of plumbing and electrical stuff, wood work but was glad to pay what he was asking.
 
adidan said:
It's a minefield with tradies, good ones that also don't rip you off are like goldust nowadays.
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It's near impossible to do anything about it either.

Try and find someone for a job and the only outlet to do so, (if you don't have a network that can recommend anyone) is the sites like checkatrade or find a builder or whatever they're called.

I tried looking locally for some work and really struggled getting any interest.

But then when you post the quotes or price paid on a forum such as this you then get the inevitable criticism that you were ripped off. Which is true but there is failure to recognise and have sympathy that there was nothing you could have done about it.

Its a real problem if you need a small to medium size job doing that's just outside of your DIY ability.
 
Don't worry, the painter will sort it. 99% of jobs nowadays the painter is left to sort the mess out.
 
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[ do the 'trade' review sites have any credibility/guarantee - checkertrade , airtasker - I suspect not
after hearing a bbc article about google, promoting adds from fraudulent unqualified master locksmiths that rip perople off - sounds like the wild west;
parents had bathroom refit by a sub-contractor backed/guaranteed by B&Q which did turn out well, they have the muscle to blacklist/arbitrate rogues ]
 
Ali195 said:
Parts and included. Gate was custom made to fit the measurements, plus nice key lock, then all the minor adjustments to make it sit just right. New posts for it to bolt against, handles etc. So take off a hundred plus easy. Some jobs I’ll do, and I do a lot of plumbing and electrical stuff, wood work but was glad to pay what he was asking.
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Fair enough, I suppose you're really paying to replace your time rather than his. Wild that it's so high for a sort of semi-skilled job, makes me wonder what corporate stress is for (I was already wondering this).
 
Zefan said:
£400 for half a day? Is the annual revenue for a single handyman really £150k+ nowadays? Do I need to change jobs?
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Cue mandatory "But we have overheads like a van and tools". Yeah, I bet that rusty Transit is costing you tens of thousands isn't it mate.

TBF the limited experience I've had with tradies, they do seem to leave expensive tools behind on every job. So I guess being disorganised is costing them a bit.
 
radderfire said:
I think it's quite a mediocre job, but you haven't been ripped off. I think you have been overcharged for the quality of work they can achieve. If it was real craftsmanship, then £800 would be fine.
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It is an absolute rip off job and is beyond mediocre. It’s poor and that’s being polite.
If it was a real craftsman fitting a full set of spindles and posts you could maybe argue that 800 quid for a days work wouldn’t be the worst price ever but 800 notes for that?? Proper rip off I’m afraid.
 
jpaul said:
do the 'trade' review sites have any credibility/guarantee - checkertrade , airtasker - I suspect not
after hearing a bbc article about google, promoting adds from fraudulent unqualified master locksmiths that rip perople off - sounds like the wild west;
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The trade review sites cannot be relied upon. In theory, a review site sounds a wonderful idea, but the various economic incentives involved behind the scenes do not result in a reliable service, e.g. the best trades have no need to advertise, those that overcharge customers the most can most easily afford more advertising etc. Creating a reliable online reviews site is actually very difficult.

As for Google, all their advertising services are mostly automated, so it's not like they are approving the businesses that are advertising. For anyone that didn't know, emergency locksmiths in big cities can be absolute rip off merchants. I had experience of this shortly after leaving University, when I didn't know better, and got locked out of a bedroom, and in retrospect could have easily got in myself, but an emergency locksmith came out and charged me £125 to replace the lock on the door, which at the time was a lot more than it is now - an absolute rip-off!
 
radderfire said:
As for Google, all their advertising services are mostly automated, so it's not like they are approving the businesses that are advertising. For anyone that didn't know, emergency locksmiths in big cities can be absolute rip off merchants. I had experience of this shortly after leaving University, when I didn't know better, and got locked out of a bedroom, and in retrospect could have easily got in myself, but an emergency locksmith came out and charged me £125 to replace the lock on the door, which at the time was a lot more than it is now - an absolute rip-off!
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I've seen/heard of people charged north of £500 recently :eek:
 
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