Rough as f... tradesmen

Discussion in 'Just Talk' started by peter palmer, Jul 19, 2019.

  1. peter palmer

    peter palmer Screwfix Select

    Are there any decent tradesmen left? every job I see now looks rough in one way or another. It ranges across every trade nowadays, obviously I spot cowboy electrics the most and there are plenty of them but its the other trades too, nearly all the plastering is dog rough, they can't cut a socket box out of a board to save their lives then try to patch it up with scrim, sockets rock about because the skimming isn't flat. I was at a job yesterday and he'd had the whole downstairs tiled, my god it was bad, you could trip over the joins in some places, skirting's were a tile upstand but he'd not put any trim along the top so its just the rough end of the tile showing with a gap between each one where the grout had fallen back.

    Personally as I get older I wan't to do less things whether its with my house or car/van, my neighbour is a painter and decorator (so he says) and kept mithering me to paint my kitchen, so in the end I let him do it and he did it in a the week I was working away, I have just fitted some under cupboard lights which shine down the wall, I can now see how rough it is, its full of marks, bits and fluff where the roller has picked up bits of **** from putting it down, what a ******. The thing is he bigged himself up as the best decorator in the world.

    Another one recently, the aircon in our van has stopped working, I looked at it, made sure the compressor worked, then pressed the valve down to see if there was any refrigerant in it, nothing, so its obviously leaked out somewhere, so I took it to the local garage who specialises in that sort of thing, he hooked it up to all his fancy machines, did a vac test and pressure test on it and said yea its got a leak somewhere that will be £50, **** me I already knew that, so I ended up having a look myself, took the condenser off, pressured it up with a concoction of pipes I found in the shed and sure enough found a pinhole leak in it in under an hour, ordered a new one of Ebay and fitted it. If ATS hadn't have been doing an aircon fill cheap then I was going to but the manifold gauges and dodgy gas and do that myself as well.

    The above garage also put two new tyres on our van and said the pads were low so he would change them for us as the wheels were off anyway and then charged us about £100 to swap them, pads are £25 from Europarts and I've even got a piston wind back tool in the shed, Tyres wer't the cheapest either, could have got them way cheaper elswhere. So it seems that even though I wan't to take things a bit easier I've got not choice than to carry on doing everything myself, the old adage is true, if you want something doing then do it yourself.

    So rant over, how do these dodgy tradesmen get all this work and they're not cheap either, it must be because they relentlessly badger people that they are the best until the customer falls for it.
     
  2. furious_customer

    furious_customer Screwfix Select

    I'm sure there will be lots of theories as to why standards have fallen so far - maybe the rush to get everything done quickly and the move away from traditional apprenticeships hasn't helped.
    Perhaps also the influx of foregin labour who's qualifications and training can't be verified.

    I was reading about the DG One lesiure centre in Dumfries and Galloway recently - a branch new £17 million lesiure center that has been closed due to construction defects. I downloaded the report and they arent complex engineering issues but simply bad tiling, plumbing, electrics etc. The repairs have come to £19 million so far.
     
    Deleted member 11267 and Heat like this.
  3. gas monkey

    gas monkey Well-Known Member

    concur sir very well said
     
  4. Hans_25

    Hans_25 Screwfix Select

    Its not just the UK and certainly not foreign labour https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-48527308

    I've always considered good trades to be a rarity, which is why I do as much as possible myself and where I do get trades in, the job is very carefully specified so we both know what is expected. Even then things go wrong.

    Got a tiler in to do the bathroom, is the brother of the (great and wonderful) chap I have used a lot. While the tiling work was OK it took many months for the job to be finished, turned up to do the siliconing without the correct colours despite me texting him telling him exactly what was needed. Tile adhesive was all over the place and the bath is scratched where he's tried to get it off.
     
  5. Heat

    Heat Screwfix Select

    Work is terrible nowadays.
    Too many people pretending to be tradespeople.
    Various reasons for the bad workmanship, - little or no training, or incorrect training, or just a bad attitude to making money with the least effort.
    Plumbing has become a joke and lots of people posing as experts.
    Usually if you can find a completely honest, considerate person, - they are worth holding onto.
     
    Deleted member 11267 and Hans_25 like this.
  6. Muzungu

    Muzungu Screwfix Select

    Good God that's bad! http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/media/20076/DGOne Inquiry Report/pdf/DG_One_Inquiry_Report_Bookmarks.pdf
     
    kitfit1 likes this.
  7. masterdiy

    masterdiy Screwfix Select

    fc, it only cost £17 million to build in the first place.
    It seems someone is making money out of this.
    Of course its easy to spend other peoples money. :eek: They should call the contractors back & make them do the repairs at their cost, not the tax payers.

    peter, whole heatedly agree with you.

    Done this



    To this

    Had to completely remove floor, reset floor beams, new floor, new rad, tidy up electrics, ++
    All done by me alone, (except carpet). I still see the odd fault, but I'm not a pro.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    +1

    Couldn't agree more!
     
  9. gas monkey

    gas monkey Well-Known Member

    Mr m you mentioned carpet
    did absolutly everything on one job and i mean every thing pulled back so wife convinced me to have carpet fitted all underlay and grips done
    two men all day ok paid
    half a day job shocked me not streched stapples hanging out etc
    got so angry relaid it with a bad back made it beter so only good thing about job
    did not want them back in hse
     
  10. Heat

    Heat Screwfix Select

    This is sure to offend some people on here, but just occurred to me when reading some of the threads that there are trades people (of some alleged sort?) on here asking questions of jobs that clearly are not of a trade that they have much, if any capability, yet it is paid work for a customer!
    No wonder jobs are a mess.
    Must be often greed to not simply bring an experienced genuine tradesperson to do a job and just do any prep work you can to help.
     
  11. JOMEL

    JOMEL Screwfix Select

    Bad Jobs
    I hope not to rant on to long.
    I agree with the RUFF tradesman now.
    I am 85 trained as a plumber full 5 year appentiship left it 50 years ago.
    But I can still spot a S*** job. Wife just think I am to fussy.
    On the Air Con chat.
    I have a Toyota Camry I purchased in 1995. I still run it 125,000miles on it now
    I decided 3 weeks ago to have all the shockers changed I specified Toyota parts.
    Total for the 4 was £350. I asked for a quote from Toyota for fitting just out of interest.
    The quote was £680 plus maybe 2 hours at £110 per hour if the had a problem
    getting the older bolts out.
    I have used a local garage for years.
    Quote £190 for fitting maybe £20 if a problem.
    I bet the Toyota engineers dont get £50 an hour.

    Years ago I would of just replaced them myself.
    SHOUT from the corner YOU ARE TO OLD NOW
    You know who that was lol.

    If the job in S*** tell tham hold back cash,

    Johnny M
     
    masterdiy, KIAB and Heat like this.
  12. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Never too old!

    My friend was having a house renovated, her grand dad had row with the young plasterer,& he then gave him a masterclass in plastering,old chap was 85!
     
  13. furious_customer

    furious_customer Screwfix Select

    I think this ad says it all...
     

    Attached Files:

    gadget man and Heat like this.
  14. Heat

    Heat Screwfix Select

    2 years wouldn’t even be enough!
     
    Deleted member 11267 likes this.
  15. Muzungu

    Muzungu Screwfix Select

    I thinks this explains it all!
     
  16. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    It's used to be called pride in your work, that is sadly lacking today by so called chancers who do it all but know **** all.:(
     
  17. kitfit1

    kitfit1 Screwfix Select

    ALL the main contracted construction company's, along with ALL their in house civil engineering teams failed to give any evidence to the inquiry :mad:
    It simply beggers belief that in this day and age the law allows major civil engineering firms like Kier to just wring their hands and walk away scot free. Off course trousering £M's in profit from the taxpayer.
     
    KIAB and Muzungu like this.
  18. gas monkey

    gas monkey Well-Known Member

    Kier needed cover for a lad when his wife went into labour early
    would have done it but they wanted me to do courses on the lap top at £15/£20 a time until i had satisfied there competancy requrments as they were unable to open my qulification file
    took them to site showed the hard copes
    the pricipal contractor was a chap I have managed when he worked for me and was fully aware of my tickets and experiance told me it was a paperwork exercise and had to be done
    walked
    it is becoming a joke when a lie put on paper is now belived as you could have done the computer courses and got the job without ever actually doing a thing
     
    PhilSo likes this.
  19. CGN

    CGN Screwfix Select

    My work is brilliant...
     
    KIAB and Astramax like this.
  20. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Yes I know, you already told me!.................twice:D
     
    KIAB and gadget man like this.

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