what recession

[bizincork]

ive been trying for 3 weeks to find someone to work on a roof , reslate, and some plastering, also to build a wall. Everyone is too busy , some never even turn up. Have tried the papers, friends, etc.

Where are all the out of work builders/ construction people who would bite the hand off you for work ??

 

[Bunnyadden]

I'm having the same problem with electricians in South Dublin. Another one supposed to turn up tonight - won't hold my breath!

 

[bizincork]

wtf ?? I found it hard enough to get someone in the boom times, 2 years on, nothing has changed....

 

[ney001]

ive been trying for 3 weeks to find someone to work on a roof , reslate, and some plastering, also to build a wall. Everyone is too busy , some never even turn up. Have tried the papers, friends, etc.

Where are all the out of work builders/ construction people who would bite the hand off you for work ??

highly recommend www.onlinetradesmen.com I have used this numerous times and always received emails with a couple of hours and call out next day. Found an excellent carpenter and plasterer via this website.

 

[Padraigb]

wtf ?? I found it hard enough to get someone in the boom times, 2 years on, nothing has changed....

Some things have changed:
- it's very easy to get a blocklayer, as the number of new builds has plummeted;
- many people in other trades who worked on new builds were immigrants, and have left;
- some craft workers concentrated on maintenance work and small jobs like extensions, and that market has not collapsed as much as that for new builds.

 

[Caveat]

I'd say some slightly better off folks who would previously have taken on Company X (renowned, well established, quality, higher end people) are maybe reevaluating and instead looking at the more cost effective options - and hence maybe some self employed guys are a little more in demand.

 

[Willowchase]

We are building a new house at the moment and contacted 5 window companies. Only three bothered to quote and one of those only after our second call to them. Then this company never bothered to get back to us when we tried to contact them subsequently to discuss their quote. - What recession!!!

 

[TomC]

What I find even more frustrating is friends that have extraordinary high prices and won't even negoiate and assume that they are going to continue to get the boom prices. Some lads have no sense of business!!!

 

[bamboozle]

try onlinetradesmen or gumtree.ie for tradesmen, there's plenty of people hungry for the work.

 

[baldyman27]

Two points here;

1. Good tradesmen are always busy

2. Some tradesmen (this is from experience) won't bother quoting if they know there are 4 or 5 others quoting aswell.

Formulating a quote for a job takes time, effort and money and lately some guys are quoting at below cost in order to get a job so that they can then add extras, etc. once they have it so they make money. People in the trade know this and often don't bother making the effort to quote as they know that some idiot will out-bid them.

 

[rania]

i have contacted onlinetradesmen,and we have not exactly been inundated with replies....

 

[monalisa1]

You must have contacted the same window people as me. No one has returned my calls and I just can't believe it. I thought they would be biting the hand off me. I have found the same problem with getting someone out to fix my alarm. All I get is ring me next week.

 

[S.L.F]

Some tradesmen (this is from experience) won't bother quoting if they know there are 4 or 5 others quoting aswell.

Formulating a quote for a job takes time, effort and money and lately some guys are quoting at below cost in order to get a job so that they can then add extras, etc. once they have it so they make money. People in the trade know this and often don't bother making the effort to quote as they know that some idiot will out-bid them.

I have this problem constantly.

I spend time and effort to get my prices right and then some yaahoo who does less than half the work gets the job.

I can normally tell in the first 10 minutes whether I have a job or not.

 

[fitzie79]

i found the same thing when trying to get quotes for a house - had to constantly chase people to get prices. However, as mentioned above the good ones can be busy and are worth chasing.

 

[baldyman27]

I have this problem constantly.

I spend time and effort to get my prices right and then some yaahoo who does less than half the work gets the job.

I can normally tell in the first 10 minutes whether I have a job or not.

Its a nightmare, the amount of jobs I've taken time to quote for is ridiculous compared to what I actually get and I know my prices are fair.
Best of all are the other guys in the same trade who try to get you to price a job for them so they don't have to make the effort. Easy to spot though, they always want a detailed breakdown. Yeah right, give me the job first and then you get the breakdown.

Makes it bloody hard to be in the business. And the yahoo (nice, will use that description in future) who does get the job usually costs a lot more after adding in all his little extras and still, as S.L.F. mentioned, leaves half the work undone.

Rant over.

 

[Willowchase]

I have this problem constantly.

I spend time and effort to get my prices right and then some yaahoo who does less than half the work gets the job.

I can normally tell in the first 10 minutes whether I have a job or not.

If one is not prepared to quote one is unlikely to get business so I would expect all firms to quote, or at least give an initial ballpark figure subject to detailed quote if client expresses an interest in following up.

I for one am not interested in getting quotes from 'yahoos' but have been let down by several registered contractors, not to mention my window manufacturers.

I learnt my lesson re yahoos when I employed a relative of a friend some years ago, who came highly recommended - 'very tasty work' but he got fed up 2/3 way through and never finished the work and would not return calls.

Maybe if there were more female tradespeople they might me more conscientious!

 

[Lorz]

We're building at the moment and what we've found is that while we haven't necessarly saved a lot of money, we have been able to get good quality, professional tradesmen who presumably wouldn't have been available if we were building a year or 2 ago. TBH prices haven't dropped as much as we would have expected - best price for plastering 3,100sq ft house €20k excl. supply of plasterboard but incl. labour for fitting it. Roofer €20k labour - excl supply of natural slate, timber, etc. But we are happy (so far!) with the quality work of all the people we've used.

A few people never got back when requested to quote and I didn't call them begging for their price. If they can't be bothered to quote, what hope have you of them doing the job and doing it properly!?!

 

[PetrolHead]

... I would expect all firms to quote...

Companies aren't there to offer a public service...

The previous poster is right... you can generally tell early on what the situation is with a potential customer... and that includes the attitude of the person you're dealing with... sometimes a job just ain't worth it... downturn or no downturn!!!

 

[csirl]

We were looking to place an IT contract recently with someone - wrote to 5 companies, only 2 bothered to reply and only 1 bothered to meet with us. Contract was for a fair sum of money. Obviously most of them dont need it.

 

[S.L.F]

Its a nightmare, the amount of jobs I've taken time to quote for is ridiculous compared to what I actually get and I know my prices are fair.
Best of all are the other guys in the same trade who try to get you to price a job for them so they don't have to make the effort. Easy to spot though, they always want a detailed breakdown. Yeah right, give me the job first and then you get the breakdown.

Makes it bloody hard to be in the business. And the yahoo (nice, will use that description in future) who does get the job usually costs a lot more after adding in all his little extras and still, as S.L.F. mentioned, leaves half the work undone.

Rant over.

Your rant might be over but mine isn't

I spent 2 complete weekends working on drawings for a potential customer only for them to go with a competitor who does half the work but because they have a big name in the business and charge more than me they got it.

If they were going to waste my time I'd have preferred they told me out straight.

Now what happens is I call to people and give them a price on the spot.

I really hate breaking my prices down.

I had one man ask me to quote him for 4 awkward wardrobes, spray finish, custom handles, mirrors and plenty of drawers...the works.

I thought what I would do since he was getting so much done I'd give him a better price on the work I was doing as compared to the work I was subbing out.

I gave him his quote I think it was around €10,000 he asked me for a detailed breakdown of costs.

Per drawer, per handle, per mirror, cost of spraying, what have you

When I gave him the detailed breakdown of costs he said ok take away the spray finish I'll do that myself, we don't need that many drawers take most of them away, we are getting our own handles.....anyway you can see the picture.

So instead of asking for what he wanted, he asked for the big job then took away the extras and got himself a very good price. I didn't understand what he did at the time but I'll never forget it.

Beware Shark about!!!

If someone wants a detailed breakdown now I just give them what I do to get the job done but with no defining amounts.

Maybe if there were more female tradespeople they might me more conscientious!

Women don't make good tradesmen they're not able to handle the dirt on their high heels

A few people never got back when requested to quote and I didn't call them begging for their price. If they can't be bothered to quote, what hope have you of them doing the job and doing it properly!?!

They were probably too busy to quote

sometimes a job just ain't worth it... downturn or no downturn!!!

I can vouch for that statement