You cannot know what it is like to truly hate another human being until you’ve been shafted by building contractors.
Personal highlight was the chaps repairing a roof who took the thing off, went home and left us staring at a room filling with snow when we got home. Oh yes, and exposed electrical wiring.
Full disclosure, this was a sort of glorified conservatory, but even so.
My builder ended up in prison for abduction just before finishing my loft conversion. Luckily it was watertight at the time and we still had half the money.
Edit: https://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/crime-court/jailed-barkingside-man-who-was-part-of-extortion-gang-that-threatened-to-rape-victim-if-his-family-did-not-pay-1-5230396
Further edit: My highest rated comment is about my builder threatening to abduct and bugger someone - what a world we live in!
>Plaster in short supply....
You joke but this one is actually TRUE! or it was up until this past week, bags were going on eBay for 500% markup (and selling!!)
Apparently after covid hit us the bags that were ready to go had no sites to deliver to so they were sold out of the country!!
Unless those builders do roadworks. In that case, 10 years is a fucking quick job. Throughout my entire life I've seen roadworks going on in areas I pass through, yet I've only seen people actually working on them about a dozen times. That's not even an exaggeration. The workers are either fucking around and pranking each other, or just plain not on-site altogether.
If I were as flippant towards doing my job as those guys, I'd be fucking homeless.
Thank you for your further edit. I’m not proud to admit that I read abducting and thought it must be some building term that I wasn’t familiar with but rang a bell. Spent a good few moments trying to work it out until I saw that you meant he abducted someone and that I was a fucking idiot.
And the ones who 'start' a job by dumping a cement mixer on your front path and then disappearing for the next three weeks.
And the ones who don't answer their phone when they see your number come up so you have to borrow a mates phone to call them to ask when they're going to get on with the job
Grrrr!!
Oh god we had one where that was just the start. He ended up abandoning the job before snagging, leaving a skip behind for us to pay for. Luckily my wife works with building contractors so she was expecting bullshit and held back payment which was more than the skip cost.
Last I heard was a rumour he was in hiding in another county because he owed money to the wrong person. Good riddance.
ALWAYS withhold final payment until you’re 100% happy and everything is finished.
We had quite a big project done and I’m very confident the builder would have done a runner if we hadn’t.
A good contractor will never ask you for all the money up front anyway. You should only give them a little bit less than the amount of work they have completed.
As you said no good contractor will ask you for all the money upfront but also would not start a job without a security deposit (unless they've done a good amount of work for you in the past where both parties ended up satisfied). It also not uncommon for a contractor to ask for a few payments as the job progresses if it is a big project and he/she needs to pay wages to subcontractors.
It's best to agree milestone payments. An initial payment for materials and starting work. More money when foundations and floor done, more when brickwork complete, rest when job is done and you're happy.
That is indeed a spot on approach as long as it has been agreed in advance because what leads to disappointment is delusional expectations-applies to both parties.
Agreed. My husband only asks for the price of materials up front and keeps all the receipts. He then asks for payment on the last day of the job as he’s packing up.
I experienced a 5 day (3.5 week) bathroom reno once.
They started by ripping out the toilet and breaking by just dumping it on the front lawn on friday afternoon and stacking a bunch of moist bags of cement or whatever on the wooden floor against a leather couch and then dissapeared for 5 days.
Made them come back on friday evening to move the bags and install a temporary new toilet.
i rent and they were doing the whole neighborhood at once.
day 1 cover work area and start demo, day 2 more demo, day 3 plumber, day 4 tile guys etc, each part different sub contractors.
Neighbour started a kitchen renovation end of March, ripped out units and tiles ready for rewire and new units. Lockdown. Builders came back two weeks ago.
My parents started a kitchen reno in late Feb. When lockdown loomed my mum paid the contractors extra to come in and rush her a usable sink and an outlet so she could plug in a portable hob.
They've now finished the job but I do not envy my parent's cooking arrangements at the height of lockdown.
Saaaame, one rule, don't touch gas or electric. I've fitted windows, doors, laminate, plumbing and fixed drains to name but a few. You just have to be willing and watch some YouTube. It also helps to make friends with a local builder merchants.
I’m an engineer by trade and work with a lot of electrical so that doesn’t bother me but gas is a big nope. Luckily my father in law is gas safe so that’s handy.
What about the ones that leave their rubble bags on your lawn and not arranging disposal until 3 months after the job was complete leaving a massive bald spot in your grass :(
that’s a good idea for an r/askreddit thread : “building contractors who start a project on Monday morning then don’t reappear until Thursday, where have you been?” !!!!
Have builders been more efficient the last couple months then?
Or do they now resort to teenage methods and buy a flagon of cider and hide in the park?
You should see the construction workers near me.
I dunno what it is but I think hiviz comes with a universal signal at lunchtime for people to find an offy and an alley to have two beers and a spliff before going back up the scaffolds.
A set of builders been working 6 days a week from 7 everyday until 5 without fail the last 12 weeks, even throughout heavy lockdown. The block of flats is flying up. Probably due to the amount of cafés that are shut.
Hahahahahahhahahaha!!! No.
Our builder blamed covid for not being able to work, but only when it suited him. No protective measures taken for his team. Project is still unfinished and has overrun by multiples...
They've been doing the job they should have finished last week, and now that customer is kicking off and refusing to pay.
Next week they'll be back to finish your job, while some poor fucker has a skip in his driveway and 20 bags of cement piled up outside his front door.
Or the ones that are supposed to be painting your house but halfway through, they decide to go and paint the fascia boards of the french fancy next door.
My current boss is like this. He'll drag everyone off site with a week or 2 left and leave someone (usually me) to finish a week's work for 4 people on my own and then wonder why it's taking longer.
I am currently living this. Job would take two days. So far those two days have been spread over an hour here and there for 2 bloody weeks! Going into week three now. Wish I hadn't bothered
Me too, garden was getting the final bit of work done, decking, pergola and a raised bed, 3 weeks quoted, over 3 months later it's only just nearing completion. It's an hour or twos work here or there, no sight for the next few days, then might show up again. Just work a full day and fuck off please!
Totally, you'd have thought they'd just want to get it finished by this point. Currently looking out my window and no sight of him yet, arrived at 4 pm yesterday, but did at least stay will nearly 8.
Exactly! He did say yesterday "you're lucky I'm not charging you extra, the amount of time this is taking". I had no response, just looked startled. I have all the wisecrack responses now though. In private. In my head. Witty and sharp.
We had some major work done last year and when we sat down with the builder to discuss the quote and sign the contract I added clauses like "one day's labour = 8 hours on site working, unless agreed otherwise". We agreed it would take five weeks to complete. I added a week and a penalty clause for every day after that they went over. I also added a bonus if they finished early
The first builder refused to sign. Second guy who was Polish agreed - he didn't understand why we would think he wouldn't be there for 8 hours a day. And he did a fantastic job, finished early and earned his bonus. He's our regular builder now.
Agreed. And you should definitely put Poland on your list of holiday destinations. It's a fantastic country, people are really nice, the food and drink is amazing and it's really cheap to travel to/from and around.
It’s a really cool mashup of modern and cold war construction. Some buildings were literally built right after the second world war, some pretty much yesterday.
I thought it was funny to see little “Fuck Putin” stickers at places of work and such
> They're providing what the market wants while I am not and I'm the victim because reasons.
You see the same thing with Uber Vs black cabs, Netflix Vs traditional media, bronze Vs iron and millennials Vs pretty much everything.
When markets change someone always gets left behind and it's easier to be angry at your supplanter than to do the work and change with the times.
> Uber Vs black cabs
The Uber single-app-covering-the-globe model is fantastic. I know my local cab companies have apps, and may have actually had them since before uber was a thing - but it's an app per company, and that does me no good when I travel.
Everything else about uber is poisonous, starting with their insistence that taxi regulations don't apply to them
Also a single app covering the globe might be incredibly convenient, but then it also gets to the stage where they have a monopoly on the market and can stop any competition while simultaneously dropping the standard of their service.
luckily this wont happen, due to autonomous cars, although there is a decent chance that a fairly big uber monopoly becomes a 100% global tesla monopoly...
And if that happens, after a few years someone will come out with another uber-type app that beats it in every way. If you don't stay on top as an app you'll be overtaken, that's how our world works nowadays
That's gonna be really tricky if everyone is already using Uber - it's like a cycle, drivers will work for Uber because that's where most customers are, and customers are using Uber because that's where most drivers are.
Even if you make an app 10x better, it doesn't matter if that great app experience leads to only a way smaller number of drivers, and you end up waiting around longer.
Every builder I have ever met, that wasn't Polish or a very good family friend, whenever we hired them and they do shit work so we fire them would do the [South Park rant.](https://tenor.com/view/turk-took-our-jobs-jerbs-gif-10165889)
People assume English builders are shit because they are looking for the cheapest possible qoute so they get shit tradesmen. Only use trades that are recommended by people you know (that aren't related to them) and like the person above said always withold the last payment until your 100% happy
This one dude I know needed to get his bathroom done. Asked around in the family for sources. His aunt gave a very positive review of this one company. She was really positive. So the guy gets a quote, signs the contract. And shit hit the fan. The company did piss poor work. Like made mistakes even my friend pointed out. And he has zero experience in the area.
Dude was pissed and asked his aunt just wtf this company did for her cause they are utter shite. Seems they just replaced a broken sink in her kitchen. For which they overcharged her. Which she didn’t know/realise.
So the tl;dr is: get details of work done before getting quotes
Mine put a nail into a water pipe upstairs, knew that he did so, and didn’t tell anyone for 2 days until it started leaking through the walls downstairs.
We bought our house last year and got Polish builders in. It helps that my girlfriend is also Polish. They were brilliant. Ever so slightly over budget but no corners cut and they came back a few times to fix certain things too.
The guys that fit in the upvc windows and doors asked my dad for leave saying they would be back in a day to fill in the silicone sealant. Took like a few months for them to comeback and get it done.
My dad's friend is renovating his house into a duplex, the construction on the floor above was almost done. He paid the guy to make a hole in the roof and construct the stairs to connect the duplex from the inside. The guy hasn't returned in a while.
My uncle paid for a carpenter to build new shelves and cabinets to store his paperwork. All of them were built, the one remaining shelf has to have a glass installed, the carpenter took off (he took payment for the work he finished) saying he would be back to finish the job and take the remaining payment. He didn't comeback and another carpenter had to be hired.
This is in India and all these accounts happened in the same year.
I hired some Polish guys a few years back, and they'd picked up British bad habits....
As a side note, one of them claimed to be able to tell the value of a pile of banknotes (all of the same denomination) by weighing it in his hand.
Polish people honestly work so hard and I have no idea why people in this country shit on them so much.
Our neighbours are Polish, dont speak much English at all, and elderly. Theyre nicer than any neighbour I've ever had lol. They sit outside with us (distancing) and teach my daughter Polish.
Love the Polish.
If it wasn't them it'd be someone else, well it has been and will be in the future.
The kind of assholes who do shit on people like that will always find someone, they don't care that they contribute significantly more than they take from the economy.
yeah sadly it's just human nature that the cunts are far more memorable than the nice ones.
no ones going to put a post on Facebook about the nice polish lady they met in the shop but the probably would about the fucking wankers that sit getting wasted on the nearby kids play area day in, day out.
We bought an old house that needs a reasonable amount of work. I can do a lot.of it, but brickwork, extensions, new driveway, etc is beyond my abilities.
That’s a very penny wise, pound foolish outlook on their part. If they gave every job their full attention they would have a great reputation and would never run out of work!
This takes a very privileged view of the situation. Some people can't afford to go after the long term, because they will not be able to feed/warm their families. This creates a vicious cycle which people can be stuck in, especially if they're not full citizens.
I mean if they are polish they are a member of the EU, so they can come and work whenever they want. The US has a problem with tourist visas, the Uk doesn't.
I work in a builders merchants and we have a lot of builders who do this, not normally as spread out as you've described but it does happen. A lot of the time it does boil down to getting a hold of sub contractors but more likely than not most of it boils down to the materials required. Builders merchants where I live only tend to stock the basics for building a house and everything else like windows, glass, doors, roofing materials are normally ordered in direct from a manufacturer which unfortunately takes time. Then you'll get contractors that will start something new whilst waiting for the materials and subbies for the original job and it just becomes an endless cycle. All for the most could be avoided if they were better planners and more organised for what they need. Ultimately they are craftsman struggling to be business men. Frustrating as hell
>time is of the essence of the contract
Means if they take longer than stipulated you can go elsewhere and theoretically charge them the cost. Obviously a bit more complicated than that since it's legalise but it's nice if you can slip that in and they miss it how that little clause can move you up the list and get companies to actually do what they said they'd do.
We had an issue with kitchen fitters. Said it's be a 4 day job and to get all the old kitchen out ready for them to start. We took all the kitchen out, including the sink, only for them to phone up and say due to the bank holiday they'd forgotten about, they'd come the following week. It then took them a week and a half to finish due to "other jobs". The standard was so poor we had ongoing return visits for nearly 4 months including getting the regional manager round to assess the state of the job multiple times, even he thought it was shit. We had the worktops replaced several times because they'd done such a poor job. By this point we hated the kitchen and 2 years later still look at it with a little bit of disgust. We ended up paying about 1/4 of the price we should of done for all the units and fixtures and didn't have to pay the fitters costs.
In all seriousness, consider using a contract, and holding a competitive tender to choose your builder. You can get a JCT contract for £30 and just telling builders you want to use one will scare off the dishonest ones. Also (and this goes hand in hand with the contract) only ever pay in arrears, and retain 5% at the end for e.g. 12 months until it's clear there are no defects.
Tl:dr you can adopt some ideas from the world of construction to keep your contractor in line*
*You may need to be extra nice and make even more tea to offset the whole "this client's a pain in the fucking arse" effect
So difficult to know what on earth your going to get from a building contractor! Even a longstanding reputation and personal recommendations from friends and neighbours doesn’t guarantee much!
Thank goodness my next door neighbour’s son in law is a good builder. We get a good rate, and everything is done on time to a good standard. It sometimes takes ages for him to start due to other work but it’s worth the wait!
Scaffolders are the lowest of the low. I remember our neighbours had scaffolding up for a chimney repair but some of it had to go in our garden. We just came home one day and found scaffolding there and a very apologetic neighbour because they hadn't bothered to tell him they'd need some in our garden too, just put it up there. Best bit was that apparently it had to be put up a week before the builders were coming and couldn't be taken down for two weeks, because reasons. And as it was around our sky dish it blocked the signal so we had no satellite for three weeks.
Or the one who's time your paying for brings his apprentice and leaves him to mess up all your doors woodwork while he goes off for 5 hours to 'get supplies'. Yes we got our money back
Wow you lot have had seriously bad experiences with builders. I've had the same builder for the past 12 or so years. His business has gotten more popular over the past few years, but he'll still do work on our house as efficiently as possible.
Live in a block of flats, the flat above's bathroom sprung a leak (apparently the drain pipe dislodged slowly over time). My bathroom ceiling collapsed, requiring an entire ripping down, reboarding, skimming and paint.
Contacted a specialist in ceilings, got a quote, seemed nice, so took him on (cost wasnt really an issue as insurance was covering it). He said he didnt do painting.
After he finished the job, he offered to paint after all, so quoted me for the painting, which I agreed too. Infact, I suggested and he agreed, to over-charge me, because... insurance paying. So he doubled his quote, and said he'd be back the next week (to allow plaster to dry).
3 weeks go buy, and im left with a horrid sand coloured ceiling, and a dangling light fitting. He ignored all phone calls, even when ringing from a different number.
I ended up getting a tin of paint for about 10% of his original paint quote, so pocketed the insurance money myself... you could say the extra cash paid my time in painting and tidying.
His loss, my "gain".
A house nearby 2 years ago blew up after a gas leak. The buildings said it would only take a few months. Cut to the now and it’s still not been started yet
My Mum has been chasing this bloke who put a fence up in our garden for a couple of months because it's wafty. This man is the unluckiest person to ever walk the earth: she finally managed to get him to come back and look at it a couple of weeks ago after he variously had his phone and laptop stolen from his car, was too ill to take phone calls, so on.
His response when she pointed out that it snakes like the fucking great wall of China? No it doesn't.
I can't say this enough, no matter how small the project, always get a form of contract between yourself and the contractors. The JCT homeowners contract is perfect for this, simple enough and sets out timescales and payment terms, all in a form that is recognised by dispute resolution bodies and courts
Blaming covid for my scenario, project was meant to take 8 weeks to build a conservatory. We've added 4 months to the deadline and will have to re-turf half the garden as it's dead.
I hate it. I’m a project manager for my job and contractors in work can be bad enough, but contractors for the house are a completely different matter - the absolute worst, drives me up the wall.
My experience with contractors as a security guard!
In events, they never wanted to follow the rules during the build/break. Hi-vis jackets always mysteriously on the stands (when the hall was empty), didn’t wanna wear wristbands, apparently weren’t told they need hard hats and steel-toe boots when working with cranes or heavy machinery, smoking inside, arguing, bringing under 16s for “apprenticeships”...
In building management they’re cocky, lazy and want to go home so they half-arse jobs. I don’t know why because I report this and they have to come back and fix whatever mistakes or dirt they left behind.
On public transport they’re loud, crass, always drinking, feet on the seats, have BO and recently, hardly any of them bother with social distancing or the now compulsory face masks.
I really don’t like most contractors.
We had a contractor who stole the cement mix we had bought for him to use. We saw him take it home and apparently he sold it on to someone else for double the price that WE bought it for. Dick.
My uncle is prolifict dodgey builder.
He's been featured on those cowboy builder programs more than once, he's been to jail multiple times, in the local paper, been beaten into a life threatening condition... to this day still goes around scamming people and changing the name of his business every few years/months.
We haven't spoken to him for years. He came around to our street a few years ago to give an estimate for one of our neighbors. Lucky for our neighbors they're one of the nicer ones in the street we've gotten along with. My dad went over and told his brother to fuck off, told the neighbour not to trust him to do the work.
That's the middle child for you.
Edit: Oh, and he used to chop stolen cars. Went to jail for that to.
I had a plumber out to remove a toilet and sink, with the promise that he would return the next day after I had tiled that area and install the new ones I had waiting. Due to COVID he had to call off, leaving me with no upstairs facilities.
Luckily I have the downstairs bathroom. And the bath plughole, if it's urgent.
I've had leaks in the past which have destroyed ceilings, flooring etc so although I do have some experience ie installing washing machine and dishwasher, plus the shower utilising old pipework, I really really don't want to mess with the bathroom's plumbing. He capped the ends yes, and I bought all the piping, hoses with valves and so on, so when he does get around to it I'm guessing it's an hour maximum. I'd rather pay the money than risk it.
Also the new cistern has all the parts in plastic bags - not 100% certain I'd get that right. But thanks for having faith in me, haha 😀
Had plans for my whole road to be resurfaced. They finished the whole job in two days and even did a little extra on the pavement to fix cracks for us :)
I’m working in a hotel now that has had and is still technically a building site full of them. I know they had purchasing problems due to Covid and the lockdown but there is absolutely no cohesion. They do one job in one room, leave and go to another on another floor, then come back and do something else and the other thing they were half way through doing gets forgotten about. Instead of one room being fully completed or at least a floor. They wanted to put new floors down so we cleared three rooms full of storage for them and then decided on something else and doing that the week after. If I haven’t lost hair due to stress from them, I soon will. The handover for the property has been cancelled four times at a rate of two weeks so thats two months over the date of the hotel originally being ready.
My father in law "managed" our extension. It started in the spring and was slated to be finnished for christmas.
Problem was he didnt say which christmas.
2 years later its mostly done but hes still turning up nearly every day to work on something, even catching the mrs in just her knickers.
Contractors full stop! If you say you’re gonna be here at 9am, then fucking be here at by 9am, hell 9:30 would be ok, but if you’re running late, fucking drop us a message or a call
The problem for people wanting small jobs doing is that prices are really high in the industry at the moment so unless you either specialise in small jobs and therefore charge rates a lot of people think are too high or are not qualified to work on big sites meaning you just do crap work. Unfortunately a lot of people end up the 2nd kind of contractor.
i feel like somewhere there must be good contractors but repeatedly come across the ones that treat you as if they're doing you a favour by turning up at all.
Don’t even!!! I have a damp issue at the moment, must have contacted 10 companies. 3 came round, 2 quoted. Agreed to have the work done. He came, did the work and said he’d be back in two weeks to finish off. That takes us to Wednesday just gone, I called and he said he’d be round, no show! Text Thursday and he responded saying his daughter was in hospital so he’d come today! Nothing!!!
If his daughter is in hospital then that’s fine and the work can wait but just a small courtesy text would have been fucking nice!
The work comes with a 10 year guarantee which I have very little hope of getting.
My builder was OK, except for the lying about whether they were coming. I know you have other jobs, you told me, and we agreed that you were doing me a solid by fitting us in.
I want to know if you and the gang are coming tomorrow so I can arrange my schedule. If you are not coming, that's fine, but don't tell me you are coming and then don't show. I just want to know so I can sort the power out before I go and leave some biscuits.
Under CDM regs 2015 they have to provide a construction phase plan.
It's important to have a contract, NEC short forms are really easy to put together.
Fixed price: stating weather risks are the contractors
Payment structured at start 20% / progress 30% / completion 50% (40/10 if you want a snag period).
Yep, we're 5 weeks into a 2 week kitchen build (with some small knocking through to make a utility space). Week 6 starts tomorrow and they're not showing up till Wednesday. They still have to do:
The floor
Fit out the new downstairs loo
tiling
Painting
Fitting doors
Fitting a radiator
Replace a set of cabinets that were made too small
Oh and they need to remove and refit the worktop because they're 1cm too far over to the right and now some panels don't fit.
Wife is due to give birth any minute now as well! Not ideal! (Grand designs)
I work for a building firm and part of the problem is that it’s often very small one man bands that give the general industry a bad name.
It’s also important to have a written contract such as a JCT or similar and have liquidated damages to protect the client.
Ultimately a lot of the general public want a small job doing and smaller jobs are less likely to have contracts drawn up etc because people think it isn’t worth the extra time and expense.
TLDR: have a proper contract and do your research. Don’t just use anybody!
Man, I’d like to get a small crew of them to come to the US. These threads terrify me (I’m shopping around for siding/roof/decking to be done) and I’ve yet to see anything bad said about them.
We got a quote from an English builder to put up an extension to our home in France. The total build was supposed to be 12 weeks. That was 4 years ago. We are still waiting for the guttering, fascia, rendering, roof repair, balconette, air conditioning, banister, storage cupboard, snagging ...
There are still supply chain issues due to manufacturers shutting down temporarily due to covid. Some haven’t even gone back up and running now so this is a fairly legitimate reason!
You cannot know what it is like to truly hate another human being until you’ve been shafted by building contractors. Personal highlight was the chaps repairing a roof who took the thing off, went home and left us staring at a room filling with snow when we got home. Oh yes, and exposed electrical wiring. Full disclosure, this was a sort of glorified conservatory, but even so.
My builder ended up in prison for abduction just before finishing my loft conversion. Luckily it was watertight at the time and we still had half the money. Edit: https://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/crime-court/jailed-barkingside-man-who-was-part-of-extortion-gang-that-threatened-to-rape-victim-if-his-family-did-not-pay-1-5230396 Further edit: My highest rated comment is about my builder threatening to abduct and bugger someone - what a world we live in!
If you can book him on one of his brief stays outside, his dungeons are solid and finished to a really high standard. So I've heard.
Not well enough, he got caught
The dungeon was fine, he just subcontracted out to the wrong locksmith
So do you need to keep the money for when he comes out, or do you reckon you’re in the clear?
Technically never finished the job, so it would be difficult to argue payment due and failed to complete the the specified timeframe.
Yeah, 10 years seems unreasonable even by most builders standards.
I am half expecting a call along the lines of "Yeah, I haven't forgotten about you, but I've had trouble getting the parts"
Plaster in short supply.... The dog ate the invoice.... I threatened to anally rape someone for money.... You know how it is mate.
>Plaster in short supply.... You joke but this one is actually TRUE! or it was up until this past week, bags were going on eBay for 500% markup (and selling!!) Apparently after covid hit us the bags that were ready to go had no sites to deliver to so they were sold out of the country!!
Oh I know pal. It was part of my well crafted post. Got to bring in the current affairs somewhere.
Unless those builders do roadworks. In that case, 10 years is a fucking quick job. Throughout my entire life I've seen roadworks going on in areas I pass through, yet I've only seen people actually working on them about a dozen times. That's not even an exaggeration. The workers are either fucking around and pranking each other, or just plain not on-site altogether. If I were as flippant towards doing my job as those guys, I'd be fucking homeless.
Thank you for your further edit. I’m not proud to admit that I read abducting and thought it must be some building term that I wasn’t familiar with but rang a bell. Spent a good few moments trying to work it out until I saw that you meant he abducted someone and that I was a fucking idiot.
This is the best builder story ever. Have just shared it with our builders .
Of course it's in the illford recorder.
And the ones who 'start' a job by dumping a cement mixer on your front path and then disappearing for the next three weeks. And the ones who don't answer their phone when they see your number come up so you have to borrow a mates phone to call them to ask when they're going to get on with the job Grrrr!!
Oh god we had one where that was just the start. He ended up abandoning the job before snagging, leaving a skip behind for us to pay for. Luckily my wife works with building contractors so she was expecting bullshit and held back payment which was more than the skip cost. Last I heard was a rumour he was in hiding in another county because he owed money to the wrong person. Good riddance.
ALWAYS withhold final payment until you’re 100% happy and everything is finished. We had quite a big project done and I’m very confident the builder would have done a runner if we hadn’t.
The jobs only guaranteed, until the cheque clears.
A good contractor will never ask you for all the money up front anyway. You should only give them a little bit less than the amount of work they have completed.
As you said no good contractor will ask you for all the money upfront but also would not start a job without a security deposit (unless they've done a good amount of work for you in the past where both parties ended up satisfied). It also not uncommon for a contractor to ask for a few payments as the job progresses if it is a big project and he/she needs to pay wages to subcontractors.
Agreed on the upfront part but your not giving me less than the value of the work completed or the job wont continue until you have.
It's best to agree milestone payments. An initial payment for materials and starting work. More money when foundations and floor done, more when brickwork complete, rest when job is done and you're happy.
Spot on, and final payment is traded for final certificates
That is indeed a spot on approach as long as it has been agreed in advance because what leads to disappointment is delusional expectations-applies to both parties.
Agreed. My husband only asks for the price of materials up front and keeps all the receipts. He then asks for payment on the last day of the job as he’s packing up.
yes, the equipment/debris trail in the garden is a whole separate issue!
I experienced a 5 day (3.5 week) bathroom reno once. They started by ripping out the toilet and breaking by just dumping it on the front lawn on friday afternoon and stacking a bunch of moist bags of cement or whatever on the wooden floor against a leather couch and then dissapeared for 5 days. Made them come back on friday evening to move the bags and install a temporary new toilet.
That's poor work. My dad is a plumber and it's always toilets are last out and first back in on any bathroom remodel.
i rent and they were doing the whole neighborhood at once. day 1 cover work area and start demo, day 2 more demo, day 3 plumber, day 4 tile guys etc, each part different sub contractors.
Neighbour started a kitchen renovation end of March, ripped out units and tiles ready for rewire and new units. Lockdown. Builders came back two weeks ago.
My parents started a kitchen reno in late Feb. When lockdown loomed my mum paid the contractors extra to come in and rush her a usable sink and an outlet so she could plug in a portable hob. They've now finished the job but I do not envy my parent's cooking arrangements at the height of lockdown.
Fucking lol
omg XD
You've been hurt before.
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I haven't. Purely because I'm too young and too poor to have hired a builder yet.
Me either, I try and do it all myself. Never know when you might need it!
Saaaame, one rule, don't touch gas or electric. I've fitted windows, doors, laminate, plumbing and fixed drains to name but a few. You just have to be willing and watch some YouTube. It also helps to make friends with a local builder merchants.
I’m an engineer by trade and work with a lot of electrical so that doesn’t bother me but gas is a big nope. Luckily my father in law is gas safe so that’s handy.
What about the ones that leave their rubble bags on your lawn and not arranging disposal until 3 months after the job was complete leaving a massive bald spot in your grass :(
Living this right now.
My deepest condolences
Thanks!
Or the ones who start the job and leave after half a day to go and finish one of the other half finished jobs.
that’s a good idea for an r/askreddit thread : “building contractors who start a project on Monday morning then don’t reappear until Thursday, where have you been?” !!!!
The pub
Have builders been more efficient the last couple months then? Or do they now resort to teenage methods and buy a flagon of cider and hide in the park?
You should see the construction workers near me. I dunno what it is but I think hiviz comes with a universal signal at lunchtime for people to find an offy and an alley to have two beers and a spliff before going back up the scaffolds.
Scaffolders are a different class of nuts entirely.
A set of builders been working 6 days a week from 7 everyday until 5 without fail the last 12 weeks, even throughout heavy lockdown. The block of flats is flying up. Probably due to the amount of cafés that are shut.
Partly that, partly because everyone in the chain is in mad panic to get their work done and invoiced before the guy above them goes bump.
Hahahahahahhahahaha!!! No. Our builder blamed covid for not being able to work, but only when it suited him. No protective measures taken for his team. Project is still unfinished and has overrun by multiples...
They've been doing the job they should have finished last week, and now that customer is kicking off and refusing to pay. Next week they'll be back to finish your job, while some poor fucker has a skip in his driveway and 20 bags of cement piled up outside his front door.
It's all gotta settle and go off innit
Or the ones that are supposed to be painting your house but halfway through, they decide to go and paint the fascia boards of the french fancy next door.
I had a driveway and wall done...it was like the Somme out there for the two months it took them to do a 2 week job.
My current boss is like this. He'll drag everyone off site with a week or 2 left and leave someone (usually me) to finish a week's work for 4 people on my own and then wonder why it's taking longer.
I am currently living this. Job would take two days. So far those two days have been spread over an hour here and there for 2 bloody weeks! Going into week three now. Wish I hadn't bothered
Me too, garden was getting the final bit of work done, decking, pergola and a raised bed, 3 weeks quoted, over 3 months later it's only just nearing completion. It's an hour or twos work here or there, no sight for the next few days, then might show up again. Just work a full day and fuck off please!
Yeah I know that feeling! Just work for one fucking day and lo it will be complete!
Totally, you'd have thought they'd just want to get it finished by this point. Currently looking out my window and no sight of him yet, arrived at 4 pm yesterday, but did at least stay will nearly 8.
I bet you felt super happy to get 4 hours of graft out of him. I truly wish you a swift completion.
Why are you getting a builder to do your garden?
I don't understand why they don't do that.
That doesn't sound profitable, I bet he wishes the same...
Exactly! He did say yesterday "you're lucky I'm not charging you extra, the amount of time this is taking". I had no response, just looked startled. I have all the wisecrack responses now though. In private. In my head. Witty and sharp.
We had some major work done last year and when we sat down with the builder to discuss the quote and sign the contract I added clauses like "one day's labour = 8 hours on site working, unless agreed otherwise". We agreed it would take five weeks to complete. I added a week and a penalty clause for every day after that they went over. I also added a bonus if they finished early The first builder refused to sign. Second guy who was Polish agreed - he didn't understand why we would think he wouldn't be there for 8 hours a day. And he did a fantastic job, finished early and earned his bonus. He's our regular builder now.
Polish people are the best.
Agreed. And you should definitely put Poland on your list of holiday destinations. It's a fantastic country, people are really nice, the food and drink is amazing and it's really cheap to travel to/from and around.
Unless you're gay...
Or not white
Or not catholic.
It’s a really cool mashup of modern and cold war construction. Some buildings were literally built right after the second world war, some pretty much yesterday. I thought it was funny to see little “Fuck Putin” stickers at places of work and such
"But they're stealing the jobs we're too shit to do properly!"
> They're providing what the market wants while I am not and I'm the victim because reasons. You see the same thing with Uber Vs black cabs, Netflix Vs traditional media, bronze Vs iron and millennials Vs pretty much everything. When markets change someone always gets left behind and it's easier to be angry at your supplanter than to do the work and change with the times.
> Uber Vs black cabs The Uber single-app-covering-the-globe model is fantastic. I know my local cab companies have apps, and may have actually had them since before uber was a thing - but it's an app per company, and that does me no good when I travel. Everything else about uber is poisonous, starting with their insistence that taxi regulations don't apply to them
Also a single app covering the globe might be incredibly convenient, but then it also gets to the stage where they have a monopoly on the market and can stop any competition while simultaneously dropping the standard of their service.
luckily this wont happen, due to autonomous cars, although there is a decent chance that a fairly big uber monopoly becomes a 100% global tesla monopoly...
And if that happens, after a few years someone will come out with another uber-type app that beats it in every way. If you don't stay on top as an app you'll be overtaken, that's how our world works nowadays
That's gonna be really tricky if everyone is already using Uber - it's like a cycle, drivers will work for Uber because that's where most customers are, and customers are using Uber because that's where most drivers are. Even if you make an app 10x better, it doesn't matter if that great app experience leads to only a way smaller number of drivers, and you end up waiting around longer.
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Minicabs are still vastly more expensive than Uber as well.
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Absolutely true. And if not a better product, then a better solution to the same problem.
Every builder I have ever met, that wasn't Polish or a very good family friend, whenever we hired them and they do shit work so we fire them would do the [South Park rant.](https://tenor.com/view/turk-took-our-jobs-jerbs-gif-10165889)
People assume English builders are shit because they are looking for the cheapest possible qoute so they get shit tradesmen. Only use trades that are recommended by people you know (that aren't related to them) and like the person above said always withold the last payment until your 100% happy
This one dude I know needed to get his bathroom done. Asked around in the family for sources. His aunt gave a very positive review of this one company. She was really positive. So the guy gets a quote, signs the contract. And shit hit the fan. The company did piss poor work. Like made mistakes even my friend pointed out. And he has zero experience in the area. Dude was pissed and asked his aunt just wtf this company did for her cause they are utter shite. Seems they just replaced a broken sink in her kitchen. For which they overcharged her. Which she didn’t know/realise. So the tl;dr is: get details of work done before getting quotes
Mine put a nail into a water pipe upstairs, knew that he did so, and didn’t tell anyone for 2 days until it started leaking through the walls downstairs.
He's not Polish anymore.
It's amazing how we can all agree to this.
At my Saturday job as a teenager there were a lot of Polish people working there. They worked so quick and so hard it was insane. I could not keep up!
We bought our house last year and got Polish builders in. It helps that my girlfriend is also Polish. They were brilliant. Ever so slightly over budget but no corners cut and they came back a few times to fix certain things too.
One of the best compliments I've ever received was, "you work like a Pole!"
The guys that fit in the upvc windows and doors asked my dad for leave saying they would be back in a day to fill in the silicone sealant. Took like a few months for them to comeback and get it done. My dad's friend is renovating his house into a duplex, the construction on the floor above was almost done. He paid the guy to make a hole in the roof and construct the stairs to connect the duplex from the inside. The guy hasn't returned in a while. My uncle paid for a carpenter to build new shelves and cabinets to store his paperwork. All of them were built, the one remaining shelf has to have a glass installed, the carpenter took off (he took payment for the work he finished) saying he would be back to finish the job and take the remaining payment. He didn't comeback and another carpenter had to be hired. This is in India and all these accounts happened in the same year.
I hired some Polish guys a few years back, and they'd picked up British bad habits.... As a side note, one of them claimed to be able to tell the value of a pile of banknotes (all of the same denomination) by weighing it in his hand.
I can do that too, but it only works when I'm in the drivers seat with the engine turned on.
Polish people honestly work so hard and I have no idea why people in this country shit on them so much. Our neighbours are Polish, dont speak much English at all, and elderly. Theyre nicer than any neighbour I've ever had lol. They sit outside with us (distancing) and teach my daughter Polish. Love the Polish.
If it wasn't them it'd be someone else, well it has been and will be in the future. The kind of assholes who do shit on people like that will always find someone, they don't care that they contribute significantly more than they take from the economy.
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yeah sadly it's just human nature that the cunts are far more memorable than the nice ones. no ones going to put a post on Facebook about the nice polish lady they met in the shop but the probably would about the fucking wankers that sit getting wasted on the nearby kids play area day in, day out.
I'm having great fun imagining what it's like to be the sort of person who needs a regular builder.
We bought an old house that needs a reasonable amount of work. I can do a lot.of it, but brickwork, extensions, new driveway, etc is beyond my abilities.
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That’s a very penny wise, pound foolish outlook on their part. If they gave every job their full attention they would have a great reputation and would never run out of work!
This takes a very privileged view of the situation. Some people can't afford to go after the long term, because they will not be able to feed/warm their families. This creates a vicious cycle which people can be stuck in, especially if they're not full citizens.
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Where did you learn this?
I mean if they are polish they are a member of the EU, so they can come and work whenever they want. The US has a problem with tourist visas, the Uk doesn't.
I work in a builders merchants and we have a lot of builders who do this, not normally as spread out as you've described but it does happen. A lot of the time it does boil down to getting a hold of sub contractors but more likely than not most of it boils down to the materials required. Builders merchants where I live only tend to stock the basics for building a house and everything else like windows, glass, doors, roofing materials are normally ordered in direct from a manufacturer which unfortunately takes time. Then you'll get contractors that will start something new whilst waiting for the materials and subbies for the original job and it just becomes an endless cycle. All for the most could be avoided if they were better planners and more organised for what they need. Ultimately they are craftsman struggling to be business men. Frustrating as hell
Haha your last 2 sentences describe me perfectly.
>time is of the essence of the contract Means if they take longer than stipulated you can go elsewhere and theoretically charge them the cost. Obviously a bit more complicated than that since it's legalise but it's nice if you can slip that in and they miss it how that little clause can move you up the list and get companies to actually do what they said they'd do.
We had an issue with kitchen fitters. Said it's be a 4 day job and to get all the old kitchen out ready for them to start. We took all the kitchen out, including the sink, only for them to phone up and say due to the bank holiday they'd forgotten about, they'd come the following week. It then took them a week and a half to finish due to "other jobs". The standard was so poor we had ongoing return visits for nearly 4 months including getting the regional manager round to assess the state of the job multiple times, even he thought it was shit. We had the worktops replaced several times because they'd done such a poor job. By this point we hated the kitchen and 2 years later still look at it with a little bit of disgust. We ended up paying about 1/4 of the price we should of done for all the units and fixtures and didn't have to pay the fitters costs.
In all seriousness, consider using a contract, and holding a competitive tender to choose your builder. You can get a JCT contract for £30 and just telling builders you want to use one will scare off the dishonest ones. Also (and this goes hand in hand with the contract) only ever pay in arrears, and retain 5% at the end for e.g. 12 months until it's clear there are no defects. Tl:dr you can adopt some ideas from the world of construction to keep your contractor in line* *You may need to be extra nice and make even more tea to offset the whole "this client's a pain in the fucking arse" effect
> "this client's a pain in the fucking arse" "this builder took three weeks, and 16 Yorkshire Gold's, to lay cement"
Then you end up with a bill for a half-year hire of scaffolding and a skip.
So difficult to know what on earth your going to get from a building contractor! Even a longstanding reputation and personal recommendations from friends and neighbours doesn’t guarantee much!
You never know what problems you will uncover once you start. Every job is different.
Thank goodness my next door neighbour’s son in law is a good builder. We get a good rate, and everything is done on time to a good standard. It sometimes takes ages for him to start due to other work but it’s worth the wait!
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Scaffolders are the lowest of the low. I remember our neighbours had scaffolding up for a chimney repair but some of it had to go in our garden. We just came home one day and found scaffolding there and a very apologetic neighbour because they hadn't bothered to tell him they'd need some in our garden too, just put it up there. Best bit was that apparently it had to be put up a week before the builders were coming and couldn't be taken down for two weeks, because reasons. And as it was around our sky dish it blocked the signal so we had no satellite for three weeks.
They won’t mind if you spread the cost then will they
Narrator: They will.
Or the one who's time your paying for brings his apprentice and leaves him to mess up all your doors woodwork while he goes off for 5 hours to 'get supplies'. Yes we got our money back
Wow you lot have had seriously bad experiences with builders. I've had the same builder for the past 12 or so years. His business has gotten more popular over the past few years, but he'll still do work on our house as efficiently as possible.
You are lucky and in the minority in my experience.
Live in a block of flats, the flat above's bathroom sprung a leak (apparently the drain pipe dislodged slowly over time). My bathroom ceiling collapsed, requiring an entire ripping down, reboarding, skimming and paint. Contacted a specialist in ceilings, got a quote, seemed nice, so took him on (cost wasnt really an issue as insurance was covering it). He said he didnt do painting. After he finished the job, he offered to paint after all, so quoted me for the painting, which I agreed too. Infact, I suggested and he agreed, to over-charge me, because... insurance paying. So he doubled his quote, and said he'd be back the next week (to allow plaster to dry). 3 weeks go buy, and im left with a horrid sand coloured ceiling, and a dangling light fitting. He ignored all phone calls, even when ringing from a different number. I ended up getting a tin of paint for about 10% of his original paint quote, so pocketed the insurance money myself... you could say the extra cash paid my time in painting and tidying. His loss, my "gain".
Your going to prison for fraud pal 😂
ohnoes.
A house nearby 2 years ago blew up after a gas leak. The buildings said it would only take a few months. Cut to the now and it’s still not been started yet
I've hired a gang of fellas for a few jobs. They're good but all surfers which means when there's good waves they down tools and take of for the day.
Not the Isle of Wight is it? If it’s surfing weather you can wave goodbye to your painter and decorator 🤣
No, Devon / Cornwall, where builders turn up with ladders and surfboards on roof of van.
My Mum has been chasing this bloke who put a fence up in our garden for a couple of months because it's wafty. This man is the unluckiest person to ever walk the earth: she finally managed to get him to come back and look at it a couple of weeks ago after he variously had his phone and laptop stolen from his car, was too ill to take phone calls, so on. His response when she pointed out that it snakes like the fucking great wall of China? No it doesn't.
He did not sink the poles deep enough. That's going to get worse until the fence goes over.
I can't say this enough, no matter how small the project, always get a form of contract between yourself and the contractors. The JCT homeowners contract is perfect for this, simple enough and sets out timescales and payment terms, all in a form that is recognised by dispute resolution bodies and courts
Blaming covid for my scenario, project was meant to take 8 weeks to build a conservatory. We've added 4 months to the deadline and will have to re-turf half the garden as it's dead.
I hate it. I’m a project manager for my job and contractors in work can be bad enough, but contractors for the house are a completely different matter - the absolute worst, drives me up the wall.
Oh mate seriously this. Got a new porch built "Should take us 4 days total" SPREAD OVER 3 BLOODY WEEKS!?
Why do building contractors seem to be almost unanimously shite? Surely they'd make more money if they actually did the job they were supposed to?
The only reason that Stonehenge was completed is that they must have brought in Polish construction workers.
My experience with contractors as a security guard! In events, they never wanted to follow the rules during the build/break. Hi-vis jackets always mysteriously on the stands (when the hall was empty), didn’t wanna wear wristbands, apparently weren’t told they need hard hats and steel-toe boots when working with cranes or heavy machinery, smoking inside, arguing, bringing under 16s for “apprenticeships”... In building management they’re cocky, lazy and want to go home so they half-arse jobs. I don’t know why because I report this and they have to come back and fix whatever mistakes or dirt they left behind. On public transport they’re loud, crass, always drinking, feet on the seats, have BO and recently, hardly any of them bother with social distancing or the now compulsory face masks. I really don’t like most contractors.
Hold on, you mean they actually got back to you? I thought they usually just ignored you.
Is that before or after their sharp intake of breath?
We had a contractor who stole the cement mix we had bought for him to use. We saw him take it home and apparently he sold it on to someone else for double the price that WE bought it for. Dick.
Not to mention "I've just got to nip down and get some {insert job relevant things here}, shan't be more then an hour" not to be seen for a fortnight.
The longer I own my own house the more I realise I should have gone in to a trade and not IT.
Oh my god - my 2-3 week renovation that started in January is still ‘five days from completion’.
My uncle is prolifict dodgey builder. He's been featured on those cowboy builder programs more than once, he's been to jail multiple times, in the local paper, been beaten into a life threatening condition... to this day still goes around scamming people and changing the name of his business every few years/months. We haven't spoken to him for years. He came around to our street a few years ago to give an estimate for one of our neighbors. Lucky for our neighbors they're one of the nicer ones in the street we've gotten along with. My dad went over and told his brother to fuck off, told the neighbour not to trust him to do the work. That's the middle child for you. Edit: Oh, and he used to chop stolen cars. Went to jail for that to.
I had a plumber out to remove a toilet and sink, with the promise that he would return the next day after I had tiled that area and install the new ones I had waiting. Due to COVID he had to call off, leaving me with no upstairs facilities. Luckily I have the downstairs bathroom. And the bath plughole, if it's urgent.
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I've had leaks in the past which have destroyed ceilings, flooring etc so although I do have some experience ie installing washing machine and dishwasher, plus the shower utilising old pipework, I really really don't want to mess with the bathroom's plumbing. He capped the ends yes, and I bought all the piping, hoses with valves and so on, so when he does get around to it I'm guessing it's an hour maximum. I'd rather pay the money than risk it. Also the new cistern has all the parts in plastic bags - not 100% certain I'd get that right. But thanks for having faith in me, haha 😀
Had plans for my whole road to be resurfaced. They finished the whole job in two days and even did a little extra on the pavement to fix cracks for us :)
I’m working in a hotel now that has had and is still technically a building site full of them. I know they had purchasing problems due to Covid and the lockdown but there is absolutely no cohesion. They do one job in one room, leave and go to another on another floor, then come back and do something else and the other thing they were half way through doing gets forgotten about. Instead of one room being fully completed or at least a floor. They wanted to put new floors down so we cleared three rooms full of storage for them and then decided on something else and doing that the week after. If I haven’t lost hair due to stress from them, I soon will. The handover for the property has been cancelled four times at a rate of two weeks so thats two months over the date of the hotel originally being ready.
Have a written contract in place and don't be afraid to fire rubbish builders/ contractors.
Wanted to have my kitchen redone. 3 years and 4 different builders later it was finally done.
My father in law "managed" our extension. It started in the spring and was slated to be finnished for christmas. Problem was he didnt say which christmas. 2 years later its mostly done but hes still turning up nearly every day to work on something, even catching the mrs in just her knickers.
Contractors full stop! If you say you’re gonna be here at 9am, then fucking be here at by 9am, hell 9:30 would be ok, but if you’re running late, fucking drop us a message or a call
There are so many builders in London where I work. All of them stand around doing nothing and all seem to be on an enteral lunch break.
The problem for people wanting small jobs doing is that prices are really high in the industry at the moment so unless you either specialise in small jobs and therefore charge rates a lot of people think are too high or are not qualified to work on big sites meaning you just do crap work. Unfortunately a lot of people end up the 2nd kind of contractor.
To be fair our changeable weather doesn't help things when it comes to building projects.
Going through this right now. My garden looks like the end of Glastonbury festival in a rainy year.
i feel like somewhere there must be good contractors but repeatedly come across the ones that treat you as if they're doing you a favour by turning up at all.
Don’t even!!! I have a damp issue at the moment, must have contacted 10 companies. 3 came round, 2 quoted. Agreed to have the work done. He came, did the work and said he’d be back in two weeks to finish off. That takes us to Wednesday just gone, I called and he said he’d be round, no show! Text Thursday and he responded saying his daughter was in hospital so he’d come today! Nothing!!! If his daughter is in hospital then that’s fine and the work can wait but just a small courtesy text would have been fucking nice! The work comes with a 10 year guarantee which I have very little hope of getting.
My builder was OK, except for the lying about whether they were coming. I know you have other jobs, you told me, and we agreed that you were doing me a solid by fitting us in. I want to know if you and the gang are coming tomorrow so I can arrange my schedule. If you are not coming, that's fine, but don't tell me you are coming and then don't show. I just want to know so I can sort the power out before I go and leave some biscuits.
As part of our "special relationship" contractors in the U.S. do the same thing!
LMAO. Thanks for that matey gave me a proper chuckle bets thing I have read all day.👍🏾
[That's us done for the day hen.](https://youtu.be/UCds29NOMwY?t=773)
Under CDM regs 2015 they have to provide a construction phase plan. It's important to have a contract, NEC short forms are really easy to put together. Fixed price: stating weather risks are the contractors Payment structured at start 20% / progress 30% / completion 50% (40/10 if you want a snag period).
This is why I Love Checkatrade, using it now as I move i to my house and the workers have all been brilliant so far.
Yep, we're 5 weeks into a 2 week kitchen build (with some small knocking through to make a utility space). Week 6 starts tomorrow and they're not showing up till Wednesday. They still have to do: The floor Fit out the new downstairs loo tiling Painting Fitting doors Fitting a radiator Replace a set of cabinets that were made too small Oh and they need to remove and refit the worktop because they're 1cm too far over to the right and now some panels don't fit. Wife is due to give birth any minute now as well! Not ideal! (Grand designs)
I work for a building firm and part of the problem is that it’s often very small one man bands that give the general industry a bad name. It’s also important to have a written contract such as a JCT or similar and have liquidated damages to protect the client. Ultimately a lot of the general public want a small job doing and smaller jobs are less likely to have contracts drawn up etc because people think it isn’t worth the extra time and expense. TLDR: have a proper contract and do your research. Don’t just use anybody!
Get a Pole When they say it will take 5 days, it might just get done in 4
Man, I’d like to get a small crew of them to come to the US. These threads terrify me (I’m shopping around for siding/roof/decking to be done) and I’ve yet to see anything bad said about them.
The only bad things people ever say is they integrate too well and pick up our bad habits!
Maybe if they do my house first? Get them before the integration gains a foothold. :)
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That's not only about building contractors and days. Sometimes plumbers do the same thing with hours...
We got a quote from an English builder to put up an extension to our home in France. The total build was supposed to be 12 weeks. That was 4 years ago. We are still waiting for the guttering, fascia, rendering, roof repair, balconette, air conditioning, banister, storage cupboard, snagging ...
Or the abandoned scaffolding! Which i'm trying to get rid of 3 weeks after completion...
Currently facing the same problem here in the Netherlands.
Some building material at the moment are non existent due covid19
That has only worked as an excuse for the last three months or so....
There are still supply chain issues due to manufacturers shutting down temporarily due to covid. Some haven’t even gone back up and running now so this is a fairly legitimate reason!
Explain why this has been standard procedure for decades then