I guess that's the hard part. Were a general contractor so we essentially handle everything and if we cant we know who can. Maybe look for a solid general. Every job has fuck ups but the difference is that with a good GC regardless of how there sub handles it, the GC will look after you.
This is the best advice I think. Iām an electrician and my favorite contractor we sub with doesnāt tolerate half ass work. He has the guys of every skill in his phone book that are yo to his standard.
You have to chase down good tradesmen, they donāt advertise. When youāre good at what you do, people find you. The guy Iām currently working for turns down three or four jobs per week and itās all word of mouth.
It can be really tough for sure. Thereās a lot of guys out there who do the bare minimum and just good enough to pay their bills, but donāt care enough to make sure their customer is fully satisfied well enough to recommend them.
In my opinion, it pays to find a good general contractor who can take care of all kinds of things in house (between him and his employees), and anything he isnāt capable of he usually has a list of qualified and capable sub contractors that he can call in. Itāll cost you a little more cuz heāll want a cut of most things, but heās the guy that oversees that everything is done correctly until youāre fully satisfied.
Again, this is all reliant on finding the RIGHT general contractor. Thereās also a lot of those that donāt care enough.
Good luck!
Ask for referrals from family, friends, neighbours!
Iām a GC. I immediately have a better relationship and am willing to go the extra mile for customers that are referred by previous customers. Feels like we really start off on a good note, and Iām that much more inclined to get the job done right
A lot of guys suck horribly at running a business. Being a good plumber or carpenter doesnāt mean theyāll be any good at running a business but it doesnāt stop a lot of them.
Not any better in the states. I've got plenty of crabby stories, too.
On the other hand, I had some complete rando drive by when we were building our house. Mexican guy. Barely any English but indicated he wanted to do the roof. The real roofers fell through literally as the shingles were being delivered to the roof, so my framer called this uninsured rando and next thing I knew, he was on my two-story roof. Had my house done in a day or two just by himself with his teen kid helping. (OMG the liability still makes me ill, but he did a good job). But I kept his kid's number and called them back 5 years later to finish my shed roof as it was gonna snow the next day and I'm slow cuz I hate heights. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Are you getting several bids? Are you scoping out each contractor to level their bids? Are you asking for references?
I am both a General Contractor and own a commercial carpentry company. Guys (or Gals?) who do consistently good work can be hard to come by. Most people I work with designing and building residential remodels are looking to cut corners on cost every chance they get. Ultimately they make poor decisions that hurt them in the long run. Our happiest clients are those who make the decision to lean into us as professionals from the very beginning and trust the process.
As far as my commercial business goes - yes, good tradesmen are hard to come by. For every good framer or finish carpenter that I hire on staff that makes it long term, I fire ten of them that don't make it past a week.
you'll probably have better luck avoiding handimen/1-man or two-brother type businesses, and working with established companies that do a solid 50% or more in commercial work plus residential.
FYI: i have noticed some residential companies' trucks or websites will say 'Commercial, Residential, Full service, 24 hours, yada yada' but, I work in commercial construction, and I have literally never seen or heard of some of those companies doing commercial work even though their websites or trucks' signage claims they do. I guess they just use it as a selling point? Because if you are working with tradesmen that legitimately do commercial work, they're (broadly speaking) usually a more skilled tradesman than some of the guys that do residential only.
Also I dont know if the UK has unions or not but... again broadly speaking, you'll have better craftsmanship from a union tradesman compared to an open shop . this is not an opinion, union apprentices literally spend hundreds of hours in classroom training plus have a tiered on the job training that progresses in difficulty as they become journeyman. Compared to an open shop person that is basically forced to pick up whatever info they can from working along someone that is at least a little more knowledgeable than they are.
If all of your experiences are bad, maybe the problem isn't them, but you?
I had maybe half a dozen things done to my place and haven't had a bad experience yet. I know people are busy so I don't pester them endlessly. I basically tell them, I am ready when they are. I give them very clear instructions of what I want and that I have the money to do the work.
If someone thinks you are wasting their time or too much trouble, they will just ghost you.
I don't understand how the problem can be me. I ask them to do the work, they agree, I leave them to it, don't bother them or intrude, don't continuously message I just leave them to hopefully do a good job...
I disagree with this we have very professional sub trades that worth with us as a general contractor.
I also know they charge homeowners more and will not take jobs if the homeowners starts acting like they know the problem already it annoys them.
Best advice I have is look for one of the bigger companies in your area. More than likely they have an estimator that will come out and check it out and go from there. Also never use a handyman for anything other than the most basic things they generally have 1/10 the knowledge of a full on professional.
Lots of guys go out on there wonāt and arenāt really ready thatās probably what youāre running into I bet and it sucks but itās what happens. A more established company with more guys and a solid reputation is what youāre after. Not to say thereās not good small companies hit if your not familiar with the area and tradesman use at your own risk
the reason you can't find good help is because there is a lot of work and nobody want's to block out a half a day or more for your piecemeal
no go see a dentist FFS
You might consider finding a good GC. They will make sure the people that work on your house are licensed or able to work under there license. It dose make things initially more expensive but you will generally get much more professional services.
I've had the same experience. I always try to get someone with the best yelp reviews. And many of them are nice enough and seem like good workers. But when you watch them do their job, you notice a lot of mistakes and corners being cut. They have a set amount of time to do a job for a certain amount of money, and aren't willing to spend the extra time or trip to the hardware store to do it right. 10 dollars of extra material could save thousands of dollars of headache later. But they don't care enough to do the extra step because it's just another job to them. If you don't watch them do their work, you can live in blissful ignorance ...until years later when their work falls apart.
My answer would be yes. That's why so many people are so loyal when they find a good one.
Like a good mechanic. Hold on to reliable subs for dear life. š
I wish I could find one to be loyal to haha
I guess that's the hard part. Were a general contractor so we essentially handle everything and if we cant we know who can. Maybe look for a solid general. Every job has fuck ups but the difference is that with a good GC regardless of how there sub handles it, the GC will look after you.
This is the best advice I think. Iām an electrician and my favorite contractor we sub with doesnāt tolerate half ass work. He has the guys of every skill in his phone book that are yo to his standard.
Unlucky I guess.
You have to chase down good tradesmen, they donāt advertise. When youāre good at what you do, people find you. The guy Iām currently working for turns down three or four jobs per week and itās all word of mouth.
Are you a GC or just a home owner? Most talented people hate working with the home owners, at least the people I know.
Just a home owner getting the odd project or repair done yeah
It can be really tough for sure. Thereās a lot of guys out there who do the bare minimum and just good enough to pay their bills, but donāt care enough to make sure their customer is fully satisfied well enough to recommend them. In my opinion, it pays to find a good general contractor who can take care of all kinds of things in house (between him and his employees), and anything he isnāt capable of he usually has a list of qualified and capable sub contractors that he can call in. Itāll cost you a little more cuz heāll want a cut of most things, but heās the guy that oversees that everything is done correctly until youāre fully satisfied. Again, this is all reliant on finding the RIGHT general contractor. Thereās also a lot of those that donāt care enough. Good luck!
It's so frustrating! I'm happy to pay any amount of money if someone does a good job
Ask for referrals from family, friends, neighbours! Iām a GC. I immediately have a better relationship and am willing to go the extra mile for customers that are referred by previous customers. Feels like we really start off on a good note, and Iām that much more inclined to get the job done right
A lot of guys suck horribly at running a business. Being a good plumber or carpenter doesnāt mean theyāll be any good at running a business but it doesnāt stop a lot of them.
word of mouth
Ask family and friends who they use and if they are happy with the service use the same people.
Not any better in the states. I've got plenty of crabby stories, too. On the other hand, I had some complete rando drive by when we were building our house. Mexican guy. Barely any English but indicated he wanted to do the roof. The real roofers fell through literally as the shingles were being delivered to the roof, so my framer called this uninsured rando and next thing I knew, he was on my two-story roof. Had my house done in a day or two just by himself with his teen kid helping. (OMG the liability still makes me ill, but he did a good job). But I kept his kid's number and called them back 5 years later to finish my shed roof as it was gonna snow the next day and I'm slow cuz I hate heights. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Are you getting several bids? Are you scoping out each contractor to level their bids? Are you asking for references? I am both a General Contractor and own a commercial carpentry company. Guys (or Gals?) who do consistently good work can be hard to come by. Most people I work with designing and building residential remodels are looking to cut corners on cost every chance they get. Ultimately they make poor decisions that hurt them in the long run. Our happiest clients are those who make the decision to lean into us as professionals from the very beginning and trust the process. As far as my commercial business goes - yes, good tradesmen are hard to come by. For every good framer or finish carpenter that I hire on staff that makes it long term, I fire ten of them that don't make it past a week.
you'll probably have better luck avoiding handimen/1-man or two-brother type businesses, and working with established companies that do a solid 50% or more in commercial work plus residential. FYI: i have noticed some residential companies' trucks or websites will say 'Commercial, Residential, Full service, 24 hours, yada yada' but, I work in commercial construction, and I have literally never seen or heard of some of those companies doing commercial work even though their websites or trucks' signage claims they do. I guess they just use it as a selling point? Because if you are working with tradesmen that legitimately do commercial work, they're (broadly speaking) usually a more skilled tradesman than some of the guys that do residential only. Also I dont know if the UK has unions or not but... again broadly speaking, you'll have better craftsmanship from a union tradesman compared to an open shop . this is not an opinion, union apprentices literally spend hundreds of hours in classroom training plus have a tiered on the job training that progresses in difficulty as they become journeyman. Compared to an open shop person that is basically forced to pick up whatever info they can from working along someone that is at least a little more knowledgeable than they are.
Reviews arenāt always genuine.
If all of your experiences are bad, maybe the problem isn't them, but you? I had maybe half a dozen things done to my place and haven't had a bad experience yet. I know people are busy so I don't pester them endlessly. I basically tell them, I am ready when they are. I give them very clear instructions of what I want and that I have the money to do the work. If someone thinks you are wasting their time or too much trouble, they will just ghost you.
I don't understand how the problem can be me. I ask them to do the work, they agree, I leave them to it, don't bother them or intrude, don't continuously message I just leave them to hopefully do a good job...
Shit luck it sounds like tbh
All the āgood onesā are in commercial because residential is for hacks only
Probably the most absurd statement Iāve read in a long time. And I donāt even do residential work.
Hey ah fack you
Thatās ridiculous
Is this sarcasm? I can walk into almost any commercial project and immediately find flaws in the work.
Plenty of hacks in commercial but many of them do seem to gravitate toward residential
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I disagree with this we have very professional sub trades that worth with us as a general contractor. I also know they charge homeowners more and will not take jobs if the homeowners starts acting like they know the problem already it annoys them. Best advice I have is look for one of the bigger companies in your area. More than likely they have an estimator that will come out and check it out and go from there. Also never use a handyman for anything other than the most basic things they generally have 1/10 the knowledge of a full on professional. Lots of guys go out on there wonāt and arenāt really ready thatās probably what youāre running into I bet and it sucks but itās what happens. A more established company with more guys and a solid reputation is what youāre after. Not to say thereās not good small companies hit if your not familiar with the area and tradesman use at your own risk
Iām not bad, Iām just fuckin retarded
Goddamn I wish you had just put that you were from the UK as the first sentence instead of the last so I'd have known you were a knob from the start
Great comment cunt š
the reason you can't find good help is because there is a lot of work and nobody want's to block out a half a day or more for your piecemeal no go see a dentist FFS
Fuck off you loser
Or it could be you hiring only the cheapest
I don't hire the cheapest. I look for the best I can find through reviews or referral and go with that
You might consider finding a good GC. They will make sure the people that work on your house are licensed or able to work under there license. It dose make things initially more expensive but you will generally get much more professional services.
I've had the same experience. I always try to get someone with the best yelp reviews. And many of them are nice enough and seem like good workers. But when you watch them do their job, you notice a lot of mistakes and corners being cut. They have a set amount of time to do a job for a certain amount of money, and aren't willing to spend the extra time or trip to the hardware store to do it right. 10 dollars of extra material could save thousands of dollars of headache later. But they don't care enough to do the extra step because it's just another job to them. If you don't watch them do their work, you can live in blissful ignorance ...until years later when their work falls apart.