Checkatrade?

[Merlin5]

My builder has let me down on a small job of replacing a couple of fence panels, and he's not interested in another job of cleaning a gutter which seems to be blocked because water is coming over the top of it when it rains. I've got a handyman who did a good job of putting my shed together a few years ago and I've asked him about the fence. He said he's happy to do it but says it might be difficult to get the panels at the moment. He's also not sure if he's got a long enough ladder to attempt the gutter cleaning.

I'm a bit cautious about randomly finding someone to do these jobs in case they're useless. If I go through checkatrade, is that a good option or will they charge a fortune? Anyone here had experience of checkatrade?

 

[Merlin5]

Its honestly hit and miss! I used one from there with glowing reviews and they only half fixed the problem and never come back to fix.

So checkatrade doesn't give any security for rubbish tradesmen? Did you go through the complaint process or leave negative feedback for the company that let you down?

 

[Merlin5]

I’m not totally surprised your not able to attract decent tradespeople, the two jobs you have listed are pretty small and could easily be done DIY. Quality trades people don’t tend to be attracted to that type of work because it doesn’t pay very well and are not doubt have plenty of better paid work on the cards.

Hang on, who said I can't attract quality tradespeople? That's like saying no one can get a quality gardener to turf their small garden because they're only interested in landscaping acres at the back of some mansion. I haven't even contacted anyone else yet except my handyman who will do a good job if he can get the fence parts and ladder.

Broadly speaking you're right, skilled workers can often afford to turn work down. But if checkatrade really does have quality tradespeople, then there's plenty of fence and gutter specialists advertising on it. There surely has to be a few where no job is too small who'd be happy to take my money, ever if it's only £400 to £500.

It's only one person that's let me down, my builder. He's just come out of lockdown and has got himself bigger work so decided he's not interested in my little jobs. He's not even that good to be perfectly honest. Some of his work has been very nice, some of it is quite shoddy. But his prices were reasonable and he refurbed my flat in 2012 and 2016.plus some other smaller jobs..

Climbing over 40 foot to my roof, not to mention not owning a ladder that would reach, plus replacing fence panels, gravel boards and posts are easy DIY jobs? Maybe to some people, but not to me! There's certain DIY I've taken on, and there's other jobs I'd rather pay for.

I omitted to mention though that the fence panels are my neighbours fence so he's paying for it. He doesn't live there and I said I'd arrange it with my builder as his price would be good. So it's not a DIY job that I'd need to take on anyway.

 

[Merlin5]

Checkatrade is a business that makes money charging companies to be listed on it (average is over £1k per year) so their vested interest is keeping the trades people happy not the end customers.

Someone I know that joined got fed up with some companies blocking negative reviews and commented than anything below 9.5 is pretty bad.

On the flip side, given the number of people that chase down the cheapest price for every job and get lots of quotes its understandable that trades people can be reluctant especially on smaller jobs.

Fair enough. Well sounds like checkatrade is not all that. If my handyman can't do one or either of the jobs, I'll try and shop around for some local tradespeople in my area that come recommended.

 

[Merlin5]

Oh no it wouldn't be £400 - £500 per job. My builder quoted £350 to do the fence which my neighbour was happy to pay. This was back in February. Then we had lockdown and everything stopped. Then I contacted my builder a couple of weeks ago to ask if he's working again and available to do the job and he said yes. Then a week later I chased him up and he said he's too busy and that doing the fence would have been to help me out as it wasn't worth anything to him. So I said to him "That's fine you're busy. Don't do me any favours, I'll get someone else."

But yeah, neighbour pays for fence and the guy who owns the upstairs flat will go 50/50 with me on any gutter repairs. So it shouldn't cost me much at all really.

There's actually a tool hire shop in my street, I'll ask about a ladder.