Why are you folks soo crazy?
I've received quotes ranging from £1200 all the way to £4500!
Some think materials will cost around £1000 whilst others think they'll be £350.
I've had to approach 20 plasterers to get 4 to even come out and quote, despite all saying they want the work. A few even made a commitment to come and look at the job after giving a ballpark quote that seemed promising then didn't even bother to show.
I agreed on £1400 with one and he strung me along for nearly 3 weeks, and once we were a whole 10 days after he said he'd start, he'd only just ordered the materials.. And then on the day he should have started he didn't even turn up, no phone call, no messages. Gee, thanks mate.
Then another agreed to the job for the same price, waxing lyrical about how satisfied his customers are and how he can't defend any of the others I've dealt with, but he himself was a stand up guy who kept his word. An hour into the job...."Mo, this isn't gonna work, I've just got this funny feeling, and when I get a funny feeling things just don't go right, you need somebody on day rate to do this job, you want the job to too perfect, it's not possible, we discussed splaying the reveals on the veluxes (on the day I changed my mind & asked him to just use the insulated pb to close the gaps around the veluxes)- no one insulates the reveals its not a child spot, I worked for a loft conversion company and they never insulated the reveals!! You want the ceiling corners straight but I'm telling you it looks better rounded blah blah...." I says look if you want to splay them, fine, you wanna round the corners, fine, if it'll take a day longer, fine. I'll pay for the time no problem, I'm a reasonable guy.
But..."no I've already put the plasterboard back in the van mate, Its just not gonna work, when I get the wrong feeling then it won't work, the reveals are not square here / need to splayed there, i should have been done with the reveals for 4 veluxes in the 1st hour and I'm still doing them..."
Then off he put his tools Into the van, leaving me a cut piece of insulated pb as "goodwill" as if that could make up for the 2 weeks of waiting I had done for him.
Madness!
Where am I going wrong? Is there some special technique of dealing with your breed of tradesman that I need to deploy?
Is my budget of £1400 unreasonable for this job? I'm live in Bradford, which is relatively deprived city. Is it the case that quality tradesman are harder to come by in deprived areas- do they all flock to where the money is in my case posh parts of Leeds or Harrogate (even if they live in said deprived area)? Does that mean then the local customers are then only left with cowboys and amateurs who still demand a proper craftsmens wage because there is no one else offering to do the job hence you've got to pay top dollar for below-par work?
Cheers
I've received quotes ranging from £1200 all the way to £4500!
Some think materials will cost around £1000 whilst others think they'll be £350.
I've had to approach 20 plasterers to get 4 to even come out and quote, despite all saying they want the work. A few even made a commitment to come and look at the job after giving a ballpark quote that seemed promising then didn't even bother to show.
I agreed on £1400 with one and he strung me along for nearly 3 weeks, and once we were a whole 10 days after he said he'd start, he'd only just ordered the materials.. And then on the day he should have started he didn't even turn up, no phone call, no messages. Gee, thanks mate.
Then another agreed to the job for the same price, waxing lyrical about how satisfied his customers are and how he can't defend any of the others I've dealt with, but he himself was a stand up guy who kept his word. An hour into the job...."Mo, this isn't gonna work, I've just got this funny feeling, and when I get a funny feeling things just don't go right, you need somebody on day rate to do this job, you want the job to too perfect, it's not possible, we discussed splaying the reveals on the veluxes (on the day I changed my mind & asked him to just use the insulated pb to close the gaps around the veluxes)- no one insulates the reveals its not a child spot, I worked for a loft conversion company and they never insulated the reveals!! You want the ceiling corners straight but I'm telling you it looks better rounded blah blah...." I says look if you want to splay them, fine, you wanna round the corners, fine, if it'll take a day longer, fine. I'll pay for the time no problem, I'm a reasonable guy.
But..."no I've already put the plasterboard back in the van mate, Its just not gonna work, when I get the wrong feeling then it won't work, the reveals are not square here / need to splayed there, i should have been done with the reveals for 4 veluxes in the 1st hour and I'm still doing them..."
Then off he put his tools Into the van, leaving me a cut piece of insulated pb as "goodwill" as if that could make up for the 2 weeks of waiting I had done for him.
Madness!
Where am I going wrong? Is there some special technique of dealing with your breed of tradesman that I need to deploy?
Is my budget of £1400 unreasonable for this job? I'm live in Bradford, which is relatively deprived city. Is it the case that quality tradesman are harder to come by in deprived areas- do they all flock to where the money is in my case posh parts of Leeds or Harrogate (even if they live in said deprived area)? Does that mean then the local customers are then only left with cowboys and amateurs who still demand a proper craftsmens wage because there is no one else offering to do the job hence you've got to pay top dollar for below-par work?
Cheers