Quite few Bodged jobs posted lately.

[macten]

Some of the silly prices I've come up against around here suggests it's all price driven at the moment.
Must be bodge jobs too 'cos their price can't possibly include the correct prep and materials, unless they are working for £20 a day.

 

[martin1c]

Price will always be a consideration. The only way to combat it is to spend more time with customers at quote stage and explain exactly what you do and how you are going to go about completing their job. You can soften customers up like this as the bodgers don't know what they're doing so they won't be able to give explanations to customers. Another trick is to use your website/flyer to point out things that you always do such as use correct adhesives (not cheap ones), use water-proof backing boards, tank all wet areas. My website says that all wet areas are tanked, it's not an option and I find people ask me about it at quote stage because the feel like they are getting something extra.

 

[macten]

... but when they say, 'ooh I'm not bothered about all that just want it done cheap' you know you've wasted your time and diesel!
Some people just don't see the false economy in the service they are buying.

 

[martin1c]

... but when they say, 'ooh I'm not bothered about all that just want it done cheap' you know you've wasted your time and diesel!
Some people just don't see the false economy in the service they are buying.

I think it's better to find out about people like this as early as possible so as not to waste any more time on them. I use their telephone manner as a guide to what they are like too. Anyone who starts the call off with 'what it is....', I've lost interest or anyone who immediately tells me they want a cheap price. Some people are just not worth bothering with and that's one of the benefits to being self-employed. Anyone I don't like, I don't work for.

 

[Spud]

you are not going to drink champagne if you only are prepared to pay for a lemonade

 

[nybor62]

i think sometimes we are our own worst enemy, giving out advice far to freely , i will help anyone out , but how do we determine that its genuine call for help , or another so called tiler who dont have a clue what they are doing and just picking our brains
i recently sent a pm to someone looking for a tiler on here , who lived quite close to me got quite a few replies asking for advice which i gave , but nothing came of it
so was this a genuine search for a tiler or just fishing for information, i think the latter as when i offered to go and view the job , he said i dont want to waste your time can you just give me a price , obviously i cant with out viewing ,

 

[merit]

dont you find as well that ,if they have a go themselves, they can live what the bathroom looks like ,yet if they got a real tradesperson in they wouldnt accept it,ive priced for bathrooms and ensuites in same house before ,customers phone back .and say they have had the en suite done ,but could you come and do the bathroom,buy cheap pay twice

 

[Colour Republic]

Don't rule out crap tradesmen regardless of how long they've been doing that trade.

I see a lot of posts that slate 'Jack of all trades' or 'multi-trades' but I personally know 3 'multi-tradesmen' that could wipe the floor with 80% of tradesmen that only stick to one trade. All trades are bursting at the seams with guys that are crap or just average at what they do, you try and find someone that goes that extra mile with real craftmanship you'll struggle. I know because I look and try out people all the time.

It takes a certain mindset to become great at what you do. Many people learn their trade parrot fashion and have no real understanding of why they are doing something or why this works and that doesn't. So when they are faced with something new they don't know where to start or how to solve problems.

Multi-traders (ok good ones) have a massive advantage over single trades, they see 20 steps ahead, things are done in such a way it doesn't have a negative effect down the line. It's the reason I became a multi-trader, I was sick of finishing or altering the work done by the trades that had gone before me. I rip out a lot of properties and it's rare for me to see something that couldn't have been done better but when a do find some beautiful work I give them a silent nod and wish i had their number!! It's seeing something where somebody has not taken the easy option and spent considerable extra time even if it means the finished product is only slightly better. Attention to detail and all that.

I would love to spend more time on the designing and project management side of things and not always be on the tools but it's very hard to put together a big team of exceptional tradesmen, i've been trying for years.

This year i've subbed out more jobs or tried new tradesmen then ever before and almost always there has been a problem so i'm going back to turning away work rather than the head ache. And these are all tradesmen that have told me they have 15-30 years experiance.

So keep in mind that for all the bodge jobs you see where somebody is out of their depth, a lot of it is also from single trades who think they are better than they are. It's not as simple to blame it on plumbers taking on tiling, or plasterers taking on decorating. As I say all trades have their fair share of tradesmen that couldn't give a damn and they have been doing it that way for 15 years+

It's always gone on but maybe now people are picking up on it more as they are short of work and feel that work was rightfully theirs. The industry won't change from within, keep educating the customers and let them make an informed choice.

 

[macten]

Multi-traders (ok good ones) have a massive advantage over single trades, they see 20 steps ahead, things are done in such a way it doesn't have a negative effect down the line.

So so true.

 

[MTiler]

Surely a lack of pride has something to do with it. Pride in your work, in your house. Having pride to say thats my job, I did that, I deserve paying. Or if you did it yourself, pride to say what a good job I did.
Not how quickly I did it or how cheap it was

Some bodge jobs Ive re-done they certainly have had a lack of pride, its unbelievable. Most have been done by builders and its been rushed, no care taken and usually the grouting is awful.
Customers need to be educated that even though it can be a pain to get in separate trades, most just do that one trade and they stick to what they know. But its much easier for them to get in a builder who'll get bods in for them or do it all themselves, but in the long run it can end up costing more when its bodged. Obviously not all builders are bad.
I dont understand why customers spend alot on tiles and then get a muppet in to fix them. lol Ive seen it all too often

missyT