If there’s anyone who knows that ‘finding decent tradesmen is hard,’ it’s me.
Customer frustrations
You may be finding it tough to find the right guys (or gals) for your job and trust me I’ve been there. I feel your pain and frustration. I’ve been the one waiting in for people that never show up and keep you waiting in when you’ve got other stuff to do.
I’ve been the one waiting in vain for someone to get back to you when they said they would.
I’ve been the one clearing up after tradesmen who have left the place in a complete mess at the end of the day because they ‘just don’t seem to get that this is your home!’
I’ve been the one remedying the faults of others peoples shoddy work.
I’ve also been in more serious positions over money and payments with tradesmen, and have even been through the small claims court to reclaim money owed to me.
Trial & Error
In building my current team I have hired and trialled probably hundreds of different local tradesmen across many different disciplines over the past decade and I can honestly say that I’ve been genuinely impressed by the skill and attitude of only a few.
I’ll reiterate that point.
A few.
Probably about 5%.
1 in 20.
That means that if you have the same luck as me in sourcing quality tradesmen (and I do this for a living don’t forget) that you can expect 1 in every 20 people you call to invite into your home to be what I would call ‘excellent at their job.’
Bathroom fitters
And don’t forget, for a bathroom you may need several tradesmen:
- A labourer for ripping the old bathroom out
- A builder for fitting windows, knocking down adjoining walls and doing structural work
- A plumber to fit the bathroom suite & amend drainage work
- A tiler to prepare & then tile the walls and/or floor
- An electrician to install lighting, fans, underfloor heating, shaver points etc
- A plasterer to overboard & skim the ceiling or board out & skim the walls
- A floor fitter to fit vinyl flooring or equivalent
- A painter & decorator to paint the walls and ceiling or woodwork to a high standard
Who has the time or inclination to try and find that many people, especially in a field that’s so beset with unprofessionalism?
It’s like looking for a needle in haystack, and I do not envy homeowners tasks today.
Problems I’ve had looking for decent tradesmen
Although I now have a team of great guys, I’ve been through more people than you can imagine and had to deal with more incidents than you would believe.
So when I reiterate that I truly know how tough it is to find great tradesmen you know I’ve been there and bought the t-shirt.
Here’s some of the things that tradesmen (once on trial for my company) have tried to pull:
- A plumber tried to hammer water pipes flat under a customers floorboards and move a wardrobe on top of them to hide the resulting bump in the floor.
- A few kept me waiting / never showed up to an interview or start date (sound familiar?)
- A supposedly reputable waste disposal firm once fly tipped my rubbish after I had paid them to dispose of it.
- I was informed by one customer that the West Yorkshire police may be calling me because a passer by had complained to them that a workman had shouted out of the window at them.
- I once had a couple of plasterers skim an artex ceiling for me with inadequate preparation work, and had half the ceiling fall down a day later.
- I had another tradesmen start on a trial period only to disappear to a previous appointment 5 minutes later.
- I had a joiner ‘of 30 years experience’ put a door frame into an en suite stud wall that was 30mm wider at the top than the bottom. Maybe 1mm out per year of experience?!
- I had another ‘experienced’ tradesmen show up 2 hours late everyday on a week long trial period.
- I had a pair of plasterers take my customers’ ladders and blather them in plaster as they ‘thought they were mine’
And of course throughout all these trials and tribulations I’ve always put work right (and always will), regardless of who has personally done it – It’s my business after all and I am solely responsible for the work done under it banner.
The present & future
Thankfully, these issues are now a thing of the past, and you can avoid all of the dramas I had to endure in honing my current team over the years.
Although no-ones perfect, I think we’ve got a good balance of skills capable of carrying out any bathroom remodel, new en suite or downstairs toilet addition to a pretty high standard.
PS Don’t take my word for it though, instead have a look at my reviews here and here, and take a look through the dozens and dozens of case studies on this website.
What we do
We install quality bathrooms, en suites & downstairs toilets from start to finish, with all the bits in between taken care of.
We provide advice and guidance during a free site survey, and we have a blog (where you are now) with lots of articles that cover frequently asked questions and show you examples of our recent work.
We install bathrooms from start to finish, supplying all the necessary trades and project managing the whole process, so you don’t have to!
We work to detailed, itemised estimates with fixed costs, so you can budget properly without fear of unexpected skyrocketing prices.
Our focus is on doing a proper job for a fair price in a reasonable time..
To get started, fill in the call back form and I’ll ring you back and come and see you.