Tradies you gotta love them

The tradies I use are all either friends I know from my local community or relatives of friends. It means I treat them with respect as I have to live with or near them in the future. The issue works for them in reverse. The fact that there is some respect in the process seems to remove most risks of problems.

I treat these guys with a degree of flexibility as I know they are trying to earn a living. So I don't moan about a delay in arrival. Then when on the occasions I have an emergency they remember this and treat me fairly too. I have applied this rule to sparkies, plumbers and chippies and never had a problem.

That can work against you though.

Two guys I knew in Sydney: one a plumber the other a tiler. Both good mates. The plumber got a big contract to do a heap of bathrooms in a block of units. The tiler hadn't done any tiling for a long time, reckoned his old man had taught him. He was out of work so the plumber offered him the tiling contract. Eight bathrooms later the plumber goes around to check the job. All the floors are flat and the floor wastes are proud of the tiles. They're not mates any more. :)

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Originally Posted by astrid

Whinge whinge bitch bitch,

I am always on time and always ring if I'm running late.
If you guys knew the number of times a tradie goes out to give a quote and the client dosent turn up,
Or they'll try to be smart and trick you over to look at a $50 job and then say they call you after easter.
half of a tradies hourly rate is to make up for the time wasters and smart a rses.

Astrid

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Well Said Astrid :2tsup:

Quote:

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Eight bathrooms later the plumber goes around to check the job. All the floors are flat and the floor wastes are proud of the tiles. They're not mates any more. :)

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Some common sense would mean you check during the first job.

I pay all me trade mates full goin rate when they do a job. No mates rates.
I know the job will be done right then.:)
Anyone who's a tradies knows their on going business costs.

I just paid my uncle whos a bobcat driver $200 more than what he had asked which was the goin rate. He had to travel. It was a dusty job.
Next time I ring him. He'll be down in a shot.

I have people ringing me up asking who did the work. It looks fantastic. They need a bobcat driver. He wouldnt travel that far under normal circumstances.

We always treat tradesmen with respect. My inlaws are always friendly and flexible with the tradies. We always offer them coffee, drinks and lunch. It is all well and good most of the times.

But when it comes to business they will always put themselves first and they always have a good reason for it.

Trouble is the bad tradies are giving the good ones a bad name. I have been fixing up my sister-in-law’s new house. Looking at some of the stuff done by the tradesmen makes wonder how do these people sleep at ngiht.

What will you do??

You are installing an air-con system.
You are going to cut holes in the floor.
You know some the floor boards will be unsupported and will collapse easily. (see the red area)

What will you do??

Will you,
1. Fix it for free because I am the one who cuts the hole in the first place?
2. Leave it but alert owner of the house of the problem (or offer to fix it with extra cost)?
3. Do your job and go. When they find out a few months late it is not your problem anymore?

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...1&d=1207791443

Should they have (or would they have) realised that that section of floor would need support post cutting and included the cost of said support in the original quote?

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Originally Posted by Wongo

1. Fix it for free because I am the one who cuts the hole in the first place?
2. Leave it but alert owner of the house of the problem (or offer to fix it with extra cost)?
3. Do your job and go. When they find out a few months late it is not your problem anymore?

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or

4. bang a few small nails through the plastic duct into the edge of the floorboards to support the cantilevered floorboards?

(What happened at my place:()

Here is another classic example. It sure looks great until the screw comes loss in a few months time.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...1&d=1207793620

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chrisp

or

4. bang a few small nails through the plastic duct into the edge of the floorboards to support the cantilevered floorboards?

(What happened at my place:()

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So it is a common practise then. It is exactly the same as my sister-in-law's new house.

Sorry to hear that mate.

I'm a bit surprised at how many ppl want to hit us with a big stick!

Where possible I always give a bracketed time ie "between 12 and 1" or if that's no good then I'll RBG ring before going.

Just like there are good and bad tradies there are good and bad customers. I wish I had a dollar for every time I'd been stood up or dicked around despite being on time and calling as promised. Sh*t happens hey.

It's damn hard work running a small business that provides trade services. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, everyone thinks they are your boss and nobody wants to pay. And let me tell you, of that 70 bucks an hour I charge I only end up with about a dollar of it in my pocket by the time you add up all the non-billable hours I had to do to support it.

So yeah sometimes we're late and sometimes we're not. It's the customers that show some respect that get the good service, and the whingers that get to wait til I'm ready.

I'm proud to be a tradie and wouldn't change careers for quids.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wongo

What will you do??

You are installing an air-con system.
You are going to cut holes in the floor.
You know some the floor boards will be unsupported and will collapse easily. (see the red area)

What will you do??

Will you,
1. Fix it for free because I am the one who cuts the hole in the first place?
2. Leave it but alert owner of the house of the problem (or offer to fix it with extra cost)?
3. Do your job and go. When they find out a few months late it is not your problem anymore?

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...1&d=1207791443

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or just tell the owner that they are not bearers:D Seriously, I would hit you for extra from the beginning, ie, at the quote stage or as soon as I found out that would need to provide additional support.

In general, this thread highlights what I love about the homeowners. Always ready to bitch about how much a tradie earns and always looking to screw them down on the price. Is it any wonder that many tradies take short cuts when the they face idiots who have no idea.

Not having a go at you Wongo because I know you are a decent bloke, but how many people would tell the tradie to stick it up his rear end if he asked for more money to provide some blocking between the joists. That is why they do it, to avoid the arguments. It is wrong I know but understandable.

Nothing worse than dealing with desk jockeys who spend all day on forums and think they know it all. They do, just ask google.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wongo

Here is another classic example. It sure looks great until the screw comes loss in a few months time.

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...1&d=1207793620

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I would properly use these

http://www.macsim.com.au/products/An.../anka_plug.php


As far as the original post goes I would tell the owner they need to get chippie in to do the bracing then it becomes there problem.

Similar problem when I (a sparkie) need to pull roofing sheets of to run wires though.
I tell the owner (Client) they need to get a plumber/roof person in to remove replace the sheets (Or I build the cost into the quote) then if the roof leaks its not my problem.
After all its there trade

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Originally Posted by autogenous

No one gives a crap. Theres always one whingin bitch :U
If you have been waiting all day. Ring the trades person and ask where they are "if" you have an appointed time. If they don't answer after 3 rings. Lock the house and go where you were goin.
End of rant

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by autogenous

Whinge whinge, bitch bitch. I dhate to turn up to Wolfies place. Another 2 hours advice , $10 worth of mobile calls and $20 worth of fuel wasted.

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EXCUSE ME.
First of all I am not a female dog and as such cannot be a bitch. I take great exception to be called something like that.:((

Note to self: Add rudeness to my vent about tradies.

Secondly, I was NOT asking for a quote, I was waiting for the material to be delivered and the job done. I sat there all day waiting, thinking that MAYBE another job had delayed them.

Thirdly, before we retired, we ran a painter and decorator business, so I know all about clients asking about quotes and not calling back, hence I would NEVER EVER waste another person's time but neither would I accept an outrageous price or bad workmanship.

On the other hand I HAVE been waiting 6 months for a roofer to call me and give me a quote for replacing my roof.

Mind you, the small place where I live, we cannot pick and choose.

Wolffie

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nev25

Similar problem when I (a sparkie) need to pull roofing sheets of to run wires though.
I tell the owner (Client) they need to get a plumber/roof person in to remove replace the sheets (Or I build the cost into the quote) then if the roof leaks its not my problem.
After all its there trade

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Hopefully, you are young and willing to learn. In the same situation, I, the client, suggested to the electrician that I was happy to call in a roof plumber and he said that he was perfectly competent to do the job, it happens so frequently that he could not work effectively otherwise. He did not charge extra, it was up to him to choose the best access way for the job.

All anecdotes may provide some fun reading, but do not shed any new light on the topic. Just think of a grid where the client/tradie interaction is between two people who broadly fall into these categories:

Tradie:
1) Good worker - does a honest day work for a honest day pay
2) Skimmer - can do a good job but quotes triple and only deals with suckers or people in desperate need
3) Hacker - cuts corners, mostly because of incompetence and/or greed

Client:
1) Sucker
2) Competent - know what they want and are prepared to pay a fair price
3) PITA - don't really know what they want but it has to be cheap.

You know the joke of the people in the mental asylum who laughed when one of them shouted a number? They knew all the jokes already, so they had numbered them and did not need to tell all the story again. In this asylum now we can shout: 1-3! 2-1! :D