Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 09, 2013 11:47 am Just wondering, is every single tradie is as lazy as koala? Almost every single one of them we hired turned out to be late for their job or not turning up at all and calling you on the day to cancel without good enough reason. It takes them forever to finish one job simply because they are not doing it right the first time or taking all their time sleeping in the garage instead of actually working. Then they have to come back to redo what they did before because it was wrong or incorrect. We haven't met even one of them who did the job right the first time. Knowing that they work for themselves I just don't understand, don't they need money? People are giving them their money and they don't want to work for it. Maybe it's just Aussie grown tradies or something... The only ones we were happy with is people who did our flooring. The guys were from Israel and Ireland. They did their job quick, no mess, no complaints... They often complain about someone else's job saying that it's wrong and the other trades don't know what they are talking about. The worst ones are paving people. It's been already 8 days since they were supposed to start, however we still don't have paving. First they complain about level of the sand then thickness of pavers then they can't work because it's school holidays etc. And they've been recommended as good pavers with huge experience. So we're yet to see tradies that are actually work and do their job properly. If we ran our business like that we would be on the street long time ago. I wonder how can they afford to be so fricking lazy... Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 2Jul 09, 2013 11:55 am we have had our share of bad tradies. but there are the good ones out there including our wonderful landscaper and the brickie we have which has just completed our retaining wall. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 3Jul 09, 2013 12:40 pm Tradies like those give all tradies the bad name. There are both bad and good tradies. For example, my fiance is a roof carpenter and about half of the jobs they get is to go and fix work that other tradies have done really badly. But him and his boss work really hard, all the time, not half days on Fridays or knocking off at 3pm like you always hear about. They even work on public holidays and in the rain. It's luck of draw I guess. Best idea is to hire tradies you have gotten recommended to you from people you know. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 4Jul 09, 2013 12:45 pm I think that is a bit of an unfair gross generalisation there. Whilst I agree there are some tradesmen that aren't all that reliable, sometimes we all need to be a little bit understanding. A lot of what they do is sometimes beyond their control (i.e. booking in times and then getting delayed because the plumber or the roof tiler got delayed or their supplier ran out of stock without telling them beforehand) and if they're working with large builders, these large contracts take priority (account management 101[?]). I always ask myself these questions also: - Am I expecting to pay bottom prices for top quality work? - Are my expectations in line with reality of how/when the work should be performed? - Do I speak to them as though they owe me the world? - Is my lack of knowledge in the field hindering my judgement on what is good/bad/acceptable? At the start of my build I admit certain things I went about the wrong way. I found out in the end the nicer you are to them, it is more likely they will respond in a positive manner. Saying please and thank you along with showing your gratitude goes a long way. Food for thought... Build #2 Builder: In-Vogue Design: Custom 2 Storey Build #1 Builder: New Generation Homes Design: The Monterey My Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60453 Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 5Jul 09, 2013 12:49 pm A lot of people are surprised when they take the lowest price and then get the worst quality job! Good Tradies charge more but because they are busy can't always start on time. A lot of tradies I have talked to over the years have many tales about bad customers and non payment of Bills! The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 6Jul 09, 2013 12:55 pm I think saying that all tradies are bad is incorrect for sure however it is like anything - a few bad ones can give many a bad name. This is from MY experience - please don't take it as having a go at you. I have generally found that the good tradies are hard to book because they always have plenty of work on. Sometimes you have to pay a little bit extra to get a good quality job. Which brings me to another point. Aussies are so price specific and will shop on price alone that they play tradies off against each other to get a lower and lower and lower price. Sure - they can simply say the price is the price but plenty of times once they have been beaten down they'll realise that there is no money to be made in a job. Now - from here you have two options: 1. You don't turn up (which plenty do). 2. You try and cut/skimp/do the job quicker so you can make a bit of money. Either way - the client isn't happy but the root cause of the issue still comes back to them in a way. Pay peanuts - get monkeys. Pay a touch more and you'll get a top quality job on time. Just my opinion. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 7Jul 09, 2013 1:00 pm We never settled for the lowest price. I know that you will pay for it later, but apparently it's not always the case. I agree with saying thank you and being nice to them but what do you say when they turn up and hour late and sit and play with their phone for another half hour. You are wasting everyone's time and then you will call me tomorrow and say that you don't want to work because it's raining. You know the forecast so do what you can today and have a break tommorow. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 8Jul 09, 2013 2:58 pm I'm just going to leave this here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv5XrG-qy0Q lol Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 9Jul 09, 2013 6:49 pm Maybe your just a bad judge of tradies that you've decided to employ, Maybe you've been tight with your budget and have decided to go with the cheaper quotes resulting in cheaper work quality, Maybe you dont understand the industrie and cant accept that there are many factors that put tradies behind schedule that are out of their control? Bit unfair.....sorry. ....very unfair to label or ask the question that you've asked. Maybe we should start a thread about customers who want extra work done for nothing, dont want to pay GST, want you to drop everything and have the job done by tomorrow, complain when the choices that they make dont look good but somehow its our fault because we should have advised them that they have bad taste, ask you for discount because your using their power source, ask you for discount because they found someone that can do it much cheaper....I can go on and on. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 10Jul 09, 2013 7:22 pm I think you have had a lot of bad luck. I agree with above, it's unfair to judge us tradies like that, it's a minority out there who like to take people for a ride and make a quick dollar. Running an hour late, well that just happens. Perth has crap traffic that's unpredictable, jobs can run slightly over time, there's no telling the future. Other things you mention are bad practice, yes. I'd argue you aren't using a quality business. Anybody working for a reputable company, whether it be them selves or another wouldn't be sitting on their phone, or saying they can't work school holidays. Thats what I'd expect from somebody who isn't going to give you a quality finish. Shows no professionalism. It may just be a coincidence the run you have had, or perhaps you are looking for your tradies in the wrong place. My build: viewtopic.php?t=62001 My Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=62001 Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 12Jul 09, 2013 10:05 pm I_love_parmies Maybe we should start a thread about customers who want extra work done for nothing, dont want to pay GST, want you to drop everything and have the job done by tomorrow, complain when the choices that they make dont look good but somehow its our fault because we should have advised them that they have bad taste, ask you for discount because your using their power source, ask you for discount because they found someone that can do it much cheaper....I can go on and on. Or the ones who expect you to travel to their place at your time and expense under the pretext of giving a quote when all they really want is a free consultation. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 13Jul 09, 2013 10:31 pm People are people ... in fact, it's really tempting to say "Gen Y are Gen Y" ... we had some reno's done nearly 10 years ago, not at particularly cut-rate prices, and the two 20-ish year-olds doing the majority of the work were like a pair of 9 month old Labrador pups or something. They were easily capable of doing a good job, and did when it suited; just couldn't be arsed, preferring to d1ck around with their big puppy paws & goofy grins chatting about their girlfriend's great breast implants or whatever. The builder was great, when he was here; his young proteges were talented but random. Mark-out where you want the bathroom fittings with little x's on masking-tape ... come back to find them all fitted in inappropriate places (but in grout lines, so no pesky drilling into tiles was required). Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 14Jul 11, 2013 1:24 pm Ok, so how do you deal with a$$holes who quotes you one price, you agree to that and then during the job they keep adding extra $50 for this, extra $100 for this and then "it's too difficult to do we have to add another $200". It's all while they already started and half way through. They keep coming up with extras that needs to be done. And while they doing their job they want me to top up their pocket on the daily basis. Finish the bloody job and then ask for money. Re: 99% of Tradies are bad ? 15Jul 11, 2013 3:01 pm AubinGroveFan Ok, so how do you deal with a$$holes who quotes you one price, you agree to that and then during the job they keep adding extra $50 for this, extra $100 for this and then "it's too difficult to do we have to add another $200". It's all while they already started and half way through. They keep coming up with extras that needs to be done. And while they doing their job they want me to top up their pocket on the daily basis. Finish the bloody job and then ask for money. We had a bit of this - we did a fairly major renovation in 2007, new bathroom, kitchen, laundry/2nd bathroom and a wall removed. For the kitchen and bathroom we employed a mob that sent their own tradies and everyday there were new costs and all the jobs were done so badly. In the end I didn't pay the final installment and whenever they said they would take action I said I would counter with the costs for the repairs of their so called work. I never heard from them again so didn't chase them for the money to repair the gas leaking under the house, nor the taps they had broken, nor the shower head and spout they had scratched because they used a wrench directly on the part. For the rest we hired a plumber and sparky (who were brothers) and builder, all were self employed one man shows, they showed up on time, cleaned up their mess and gave us a bill for what they quoted. Although we are looking to build a new house with a project builder now - for any other jobs I would be calling sole operators without any offsiders. http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Elvis has left the building... The site supervisor quit after 2 month on the project. I guess he was just instructed to bark at people, but didn't like when he was… 26 20901 You might be able to apply to divert the sewer at your expense. In NSW you would contact a Water services co-ordinator and they would give you advice as to whether or not… 1 16146 do not pay until you are satisfied with workmanship windows require flashing over the head archithrave and up under weatherboards 3 28281 |