Anyone know a builder around Surrey?

[fucthest8]

... that isn't a lying arsehole?

I've been trying to get someone to replace the two cast-iron downpipes on my parent's place. Pretty sure one of them is leaking, had some damp problems last winter. Could also use some patches to cracks in the nearby wall (not related, long story). My parents are in their mid 90s and my Dad is bed-bound and slowly dying, and I live a long way away, so overall my tolerance for fuckheads is at an all time low.

So far I've had multiple builders just fucking not show up to look at the job despite agreeing a specific day and time even, and the one who did show up and then quoted for it has now "had to go to Australia because of Aunt's ill health, expect to be back around Feb 11th" yeah, right. Announced just four days before he's supposed to do the job. I did try to think charitable thoughts, but I pretty much guarantee it's bullshit.

It's not that difficult a job and if I had a scaffold tower or just some ladders that weren't 50 years old, wooden and full of woodworm (like the ones at my Dad's place) I'd fucking do it myself. And yes, if push comes to shove I'll bloody hire the scaff, but I'd rather an actual professional (lol) did the job.

Apologies for all the ranting but I'm really bloody annoyed. Anyway, anyone happen to have a recommendation?

Ta.

 

[StoneRoad]

Sorry for your problems ...

I can't help, but I have a similar situation, here in Northumberland.
Basically, one needs to know someone "in the trade" on a personal basis to guarantee anything these days.

I need someone to do some minor chimney repairs and I'm getting the same run around.
[My initial choice has, sadly, moved out of the area & the business after splitting up from his wife]

 

[Leafster]

I feel your pain fucthest8 !

I live in Surrey and have the same problem! I even know a builder but he's very picky about what he does (he has genuine health issues) and apart from emergencies he can't really be relied upon.

 

[RubyToogood]

There are no builders. I've been trying (in South London) for a couple of years to get work done and the only people who ever turned up to look at it were obvious shysters and half of them didn't even quote. We've now got a damp problem which I see little chance of getting fixed.

If you're planning a refurbishment, whatever that means, no problem apparently. Repairs no chance.

 

[Leafster]

There are no builders. I've been trying (in South London) for a couple of years to get work done and the only people who ever turned up to look at it were obvious shysters and half of them didn't even quote. We've now got a damp problem which I see little chance of getting fixed.

If you're planning a refurbishment, whatever that means, no problem apparently. Repairs no chance.

That's definitely the issue. None of them seem to want to spend a day or two on something, they only want long term jobs.

 

[kalidarkone]

Have you tried checkatrade? That's where I got a hot water plumber from.

 

[RubyToogood]

That's definitely the issue. None of them seem to want to spend a day or two on something, they only want long term jobs.

I have had several people tell me that "it's not a very attractive job" without being able to explain why.

Meanwhile my fucking house is falling down.

 

[StoneRoad]

As I have said elsewhere, we DIY'd a replacement shower & enclosure because the tradesmen who came to price the job were, well, cowboys &/or very expensive, plus they said they had months long waiting lists - even for "urgent" jobs.
Luckily, between us, we had the skills to do a bloody good job.

Having told all the "tradesmen" that we would be making other arrangements & they hadn't got the job, several months later a couple of them checked back to see if we still needed the work doing.
Their gast was flabbered when told we had done it anyway, and for a lot less than they wanted to charge for the privilege ...

 

[Leafster]

Have you tried checkatrade? That's where I got a hot water plumber from.

I have only one experience with Check a Trade.

I've explained in detail what happened elsewhere on the boards but, in essence, they had marvellous reviews on Check A Trade.

It was a significant amount of retaining wall rebuilding and garden landscaping. Their quote was roughly in line with what my surveyor had suggested it would cost and they said it would take 3 weeks.

They rebuilt two walls in the wrong place (not far out but enough that they didn't line up with other things) They had to bodge the junction of one of the walls with a set up steps as they hadn't measured it properly.
They didn't dig the footings deep enough for one of the walls so when they began levelling the ground in front of it they realised they couldn't do it as it would expose the footings. They said it should be OK because a lawn only needs an inch of soil (on solid chalk) which is bollocks.
They built a patio in the wrong place. Again, not far out but it didn't line up with other work and after their previous disasters I helped them mark it out and they still fucked it up. They also had to re lay part of it as they hadn't levelled the ground properly beforehand.
They had to rebuild another return retaining wall they'd built as for part of it, they didn't put any footings and again it was in the wrong place.

After three months of a three week job, they took all their equipment away on a Friday and disappeared without starting the last phase. They also left rubble and junk filling one of my parking spaces and one of my neighbours' spaces who'd kindly allowed us to use it.

I tried for weeks to contact them by phone and email but they ignored every attempt I made.

Fortunately, I had made stage payments so I hadn't forked out for the work they didn't do. However, I had to hire an 8 yd skip to clear the parking spaces myself and needed (I think) 5 tonnes of top soil to fill in the gaps where the newly built walls didn't quite match the existing ground levels.

I won't ever use Check a Trade again.

 

[kalmatthew]

I used which trusted traders for a list of trades people obviously doesn't help of they are interested but which followed up on the job to check in was happy and apparently investigate complaints and will remove people from the list of they find issues

 

[RubyToogood]

I used which trusted traders for a list of trades people obviously doesn't help of they are interested but which followed up on the job to check in was happy and apparently investigate complaints and will remove people from the list of they find issues

Personally, I tried this early on but they were all busy because of being Which trusted traders...

 

[kalidarkone]

So when I used checkatrade I identified 3 people who said they could do the job and contacted them. I did not commit to anything until I was satisfied that they fitted my criteria and one of those is that they are not available straight away. I had to wait a bit for my guy because he is really busy and really sought after.

He came to see me to check the job and gave me an actual date for 10 days later and was really clear and direct. I only committed after he paid a visit. I also googled him.

You have to interview them.....to weed out the cowboys.

I would never just rely on checkatrade because anyone can get mates to write reviews for them.

 

[Leafster]

In my case, I did effectively interview him. He came round and we discussed what needed to be done. He sounded professional, he appeared to understand what needed doing. He provided a reasonable level of detail in his quote. The problem was he didn't manage his staff properly so they didn't really know what they were doing. I only realised that as the job progressed.

I contacted several other builders and only two others came to quote. One of those was ridiculously high and the other one didn't even bother sending me a quote. The ridiculously high quote seems to be a common way for some builders to get out of doing work they don't like the look of.

 

[RubyToogood]

So when I used checkatrade I identified 3 people who said they could do the job and contacted them. I did not commit to anything until I was satisfied that they fitted my criteria and one of those is that they are not available straight away. I had to wait a bit for my guy because he is really busy and really sought after.

He came to see me to check the job and gave me an actual date for 10 days later and was really clear and direct. I only committed after he paid a visit. I also googled him.

You have to interview them.....to weed out the cowboys.

I would never just rely on checkatrade because anyone can get mates to write reviews for them.

This is good advice. However I don't think the problem is with plumbers and electricians, I've found both fairly easily.

 

[kalidarkone]

This is good advice. However I don't think the problem is with plumbers and electricians, I've found both fairly easily.

Yeah fairenuff- I will be looking for builders to refurb my house in about a year and I'm already shitting myself after all the horror stories so will be starting my research soon.
However I appreciate fucthest8 ' s situation is different.

 

[RubyToogood]

It's great isn't it how Brexit has meant that British workers have taken up all those jobs that foreigners were unfairly hogging.

 

[fucthest8]

Yeah fairenuff- I will be looking for builders to refurb my house in about a year and I'm already shitting myself after all the horror stories so will be starting my research soon.
However I appreciate fucthest8 ' s situation is different.

Yeah, I did all of what you described earlier, had conversations with them over the phone, not just messaging ... and then literally only one of them kept the appointment that we'd made. It's not like I wasn't completely clear about what the job consisted of ... and fine, if that's of no interest then don't fucking contact me

That's the part I really don't get. I don't go around applying for jobs and then not turning up for the interview!

Anyway, cheers for all the solidarity everyone, "good" to know builders are shit everywhere