Low opinion of the average contractor reinforced by personal experience

[bluethrunthru]

aye but part of the problem would be to do that I'd need a report from a professional confirming the state the DB was left in by contractor one and a cost to put it right. Contractor 2 was going to do that when he came back - quite important as he also made the DB safe so a new pair of eyes now would not get the full picture.

As Yoassarian said its a hell of a catch that Catch-22

 

[bluethrunthru]

Never heard back from 2 so had a chat with HMRC on Friday...

 

[franksinatra]

It is a sad and all too familiar story. There are some great contractors out there but there are many who have little interest in doing a good job and there remit is to undertake shoddy work which they know is of a sub-standard and ensure Building Control and the homeowner dont find out.

Another problem sadly is the homowner in a lot of instances. They take little interest in the work, do not ensure the work is inspected by Building Control, pay the contractor before the work has been signed off, take the builders side in arguments with the surveyor, but then want the Council to fight their battles rather than confront the builder themselves when it all inevitably goes wrong.

 

[Bluemanc100]

I asked for a tiler on Rated People , guy called me to discuss the work. I explained that although I was capable of tiling myself the reason I had posted the job was because the tiles are like wooden floorboards and 900mm long. I therefore had no special tools to cut them...

Guy accepts the work and turns up on the day in a van advertising his joinery skills.. he Is a Scottish guy trying to build his business as a "jobbing builder". I.e. A jack of all trades and master of none.... he set up his bench outside and his specialist tool was an angle grinder....

He assumed he would get the job done (tiles down and grouted) in a day and midday told me "you got a gold clock for the price we agreed"... that suggested he should have come out and looked at fhe job first... his loss

Ended the day with tiles down and agreed to come back the following week to finish...I paid him up for the day then proceeded to lift ~4 tiles which were an abortion (luckily I had spare) and proceeded to finish the work and grout myself, I also had to renew the toilet innards which leaked afterwards as he had loosened the whole toilet to get tiles underneath (I'd have cut round the pedestal) which added another £25-30 to the job... at least I know it's all brand new now..

I realise that nobody will be a perfectionist when being paid but I did expect a certain level of capability.... I simply left no feedback

 

[City Hobgoblin]

Had a Hotpoint washer which ran well for several years until it stopped working.

Called in the official Hotpoint repairs team, £80 call-out fee plus £35 for the work.

Maybe a year later it packed up again. Decided to get a local repair guy out. He had a look and showed me how the Hotpoint chaps had deliberately crossed a couple of wires over, causing a short after a few months of usage and vibrations during the spin cycle.In other words, sabotage in order to generate more £80 call-outs plus labour.

He fixed it for £25 and no further problems for several years.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Funny old week. Contractor 1 accosted me in the local supermarket as Trading Standards had been on - told him if he wanted I would start shouting his name and that he was a potential killer due to his lack of skill and he literally ran away. Last night number 2 rang-- he has "been busy" ( presume somewhere with no phone or e-mail ) but he will be round in the morning with my VAT invoice and to sort out the DB. I wonder.... has he heard from HMRC?