What is it with the British small tradesman??


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Phoned a plumber last Thursday...boiler playing up. Said he'd come 9am next morning. Arrived on the dot spent half hour stripping the boiler and found the faulty bit...."I'll get one and see you Monday...no problem"

Monday comes...no plumber...phoned him and got answerphone. "Hiya Paul here,have you got the bit? give me a bell please!"

Monday afternoon...not a peep...Phoned again early evening...answerphone.

Next morning...answerphone..."Hiya Paul again...any news for me.....Nothing! Two more calls made...no answer.

I've phoned another plumber...said he will call tomorrow. Now the first one came,checked it out for half an hour but is now hiding behind an answerphone. WTF!...he's spent half hour of his own time sussing it out and now he's been alien abducted.

Over the years this has happened time after time...always small self employed outfits...plumbers,sparkies,chippies...How do these blokes stay in business??

What's wrong with "Sorry too busy!" or "Sorry the job just wouldn't pay me!" So I can go elsewhere. But no,run and hide and hope I'll go away.

No wonder the Poles have done so well over here...I've heard they at least are reliable.

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Seems to be the luck of the draw. I tried to get a tv aerial socket in my mum's bedroom a couple of weeks ago. Two blokes from different companies both failed to appear and no contact after waiting in. The third was fine, did the job and didn't overcharge.

I had a plumber/heating engineer for years who was always reliable and reasonably priced. Then he became unreliable and expensive. Junked him for another who we've had for the past four years, always reliable and reasonably priced. Now he's started to go the same way......

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How come so many homeowners have no idea "how to" do modest repairs?? Fair enough, changing a slate or tile on a 30 foot high house is deffo a pro job, but small repairs are way within the means/skills of the average person.

I built my own house, fair enough it's taken me a few years and I'm on the last bits now, I engineered and built my own roof trusses, dug and built the piers, installed the propane lines, tested and no leaks, installed the plumbing, wiring, fair enough I am an electrician by trade, even fitted the dry wall and "mudded the joints.

I replumbed my well house after I'd built the housing for it, I built my workshop approx 58 ft by 35 ft by 10 foot ceiling.

Next week I'll be cutting the wood for bathroom and kitchen cabinets, joining them, drawers will have dovetailed side joints, doors will be raised panel style.

I love doing stuff myself, get great satisfaction from seeing the end results.

I rebuilt two chain saws with short block engines, do my own welding, and if I can rescue an electronic appliance, TV etc, I'll do it.

People say they "can't" do this that and the other, nonsense, if you have a resonable amount of intelligence, nothing is beyond you, all it takes is application.

I'm sure the NCB instilled "nothing is impossible" into me, I was taught to "walk around" an impossible job, look at it from all angles then apply myself to it.

ie...One afternoon shift as an apprentice, I was assigned to Tommy Shaw, he had a bad hernia and was waiting to go into hospital. We were given the task of recovering 100 yards of armoured cable, I might add it was bloody heavy!! I was panicking, how we going to get the cable Tommy, your hurting bad and that just leaves me...Easy, settle down lad...It was!! We made the conveyor belt do all the work.

The only job I ever called a tradesman in was when I was refurbishing a house we lived in in Australia, I wasn't conversant with sewage lines to septic tanks, so I paid a mate to do that section for me.

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well ,call yasen handy..........and can't sort sewage lines to septic tanks............dear oh dear............

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Great if you're the handy type..not all are. I have no experience with the building trade so wouldn't attempt most of those jobs....and of course gas work is a big no no nowadays anyway.

But to be fair it's got to be each to their own...I have made things that others would find impossible without years of experience, but wouldn't expect the transplant surgeon down the road to be able to match my skills or me his.

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Not much different here in Italy. About 15 yrs ago we had a radiator that wasnt functioning. Cold at the bottom hot and top. Called the plumber he eventually came . Its silted up I told him. No no no he said itneeds bleeding. No its silted up. NO No No. Ok fix it. After huffing and Puffing he eventually managed to get it open and whoosh ....the amount of silt that came out was unbelievable. All up the curtain the wall and the floor. Good job we had tiles on the floor can you imagine a carpet. I was furious but all he said was well I wouldnt have believed it. Needless to say we never called HIM again.

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#7 thats why i'm nearly 71 and still working lizzie,..........got to keep paying folk to do jobs about the house.... :) ..........i really do not want to be handy...at any price......thats why i mostly sit by myself in the bar/pub...........in case some bloke wants to tell me what he's built or mended recently.......lol'

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In all my time on Nottstalgia I've always been impressed by Ayupmeducks as he has a wide knowledge of most things. I have to admit that on some topics I haven't a clue what he's on about because I don't have the knowledge that he has. If ever I was marooned on a desert Island then Ayupmeducks is the man that I'd want with me.

Whether he'd want to be there with all the jobs I'd find him is another thing. :biggrin:

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Always kept my word when I ran my own business, kept to the quoted price. I was always so busy I had a hard time keeping up. Also got a lot of repeat business and never had to advertize as time went by. Seemed that in later years the problem became a lack of integrity. I heard so many stories similar to yours Pooh.

Just lately I've found you tube to be great source of "how to" videos. I mostly use them for car repairs so far.

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ayupmeducks is great,..........he's never offended at my banter,.......luv the bloke.....just don't want to drink with him..........lol

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#5. Ayup. Gas work ? Surely you have to be registered or something, or, every Tom, Dick or Harry would be blowing up houses all over the place !

Whether you think you are competent or not just doing a "little job" !

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Some jobs I have to see how they are done by the fellows who do it Ben, then I'm alright doing the job.

I'm a tight wad, I hate paying folks to do things that I could tackle, might "tek" me a bit longer first time around, but once I've got the hang of "summat" next time it's done quicker.

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Not here catfan, only if you do it as a contractor are you required to be registered, bonded and insured.

I'm not about to slip up with propane, first a leak would cost a few hundred dollars, 500 gallon tank outside, second big risk of fire or explosion.

When I tested my joints, I had one leaky joint, soon corrected that.

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First forget CORGI they no longer hold the gas register, so being a member of CORGI means bugger all.

The rule is quite simple if the area you are working in has gas sensitive parts you have to be registered to prove competence, one problem is people don't really know what is meant by 'gas sensitive'. Yes we all know about the fuel gas get that wrong and it goes bang, but in the regulations the exhaust gases are also covered and this is the one that catches most people out and the one that cause's most fatalities. The last roofer I reported for working on what he called a chimney was fined £2200 plus costs, it had a gas fire in the bottom so it is then classed as a gas flue. The gas appliance has to be removed and the supply sealed until the work is finished, the appliance is then refitted and the appropriate tests carried out.

Ayup would have a real culture shock if he ever was daft enough to come back here, with all his experience and knowledge he would not be allowed to work until he had taken a shed load of exams, all at his own expense of course.

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Somehow, I can't see me flying back there, I'm settled where I am, it was hard enough keeping up with the ever changing Coal Mines Regulation Act of NSW thanks.... No sooner had I got conversant with the 1913 edition as amended, than they introduce a completely new one, which was amended every couple of months.

I'm happy in retirement, whatever that is....

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^Same here Ayup, it would seem twice a year every year the gas, electric and building regs change, and on top of that they are now making great plays on the duty of care side of things.

To give you an idea of how far it has gone you now need a qualified electrician to put up an outside light. Not that these things are ever bought to the public's attention, you only find out when something goes wrong and your home insurance is invalid. They even changed the colour of cable cores a few years back to help identify when jobs had been done as the rules weren't retroactive.

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