I made the right decision.
My roofer came with his mate & between them they soon had my tiles fixed.
He explained to me that if they had used scaffolding the charge would have been a lot more. I guess the first quoter was using scaffolding … Anyway - this chap didn’t bother with scaffolding for just a few tiles. There’s sense & reason he said & I agreed.
He held the ladder while his mate went on the roof. They replaced them with new slates as the others were broken. I looked using the binoculars & they’ve made a good job.
A gypsy is nothing … when I was 14 my mum decided to get a quote to have the outside of the bungalow painted.
At the time she worked at a Royal Ordnance Factory and had seen a group of painters there on site, doing a job. She asked their boss for a quote and liked the price and had them paint the house.
She found out, after they’d finished, that they were jailbirds out on work release or something.
Thing is I was at home alone with them all, about 6 of them … and mum said,
“Morti, you didn’t let them in did you. Tell me you didn’t … they were all criminals”.
“Nah mum”, I said, “of course I didn’t” … but of course I had, as I’d let them use the loo and make drinks.
It worried me for a bit as I had to try and remember if they might have had opportunity to nick anything.
I was looking around for someone to service my Air Conditioner.
One asked for $141 just to have a look and give a quote. The amount was in addition to the cost of the job.
I found someone who done the job for $120 complete.
Many, many tradesmen charge exorbitant fees because they can. Remember, there are plenty of people with loads of money. It is these people that keep these expensive tradesmen in a job
The tradies we’ve had around the house have mostly been appalling,shoddy and expensive.Most Aussies seem to put up with just average and they know they can get away with it.We had saved up for a new bathroom but after our experiences with the minor things we just don’t trust any of them to do it properly.
Never mind prices. I am finding it nigh on impossible to find builders who can do work when it needs to be done. The good guys are so busy and there are so few of them. Driving me nuts waiting. I want the patio extended so it can be used in the summer. There are plenty of cowboys around I’m sure but to get someone recommended there’s such a waiting list. (mutter, mutter …brexit, swear word, swear word)
Have you looked at Checkatrade for someone in your location? Its an organisation that has always found reliable and price competitive tradesmen for me and then I recommend them to others. Checkatrade: Book A Guaranteed Tradesperson
EDITED to add … here is an example of a plumber/gas fitter that I found via Checkatrade. He is the most reliable and cost effective plumber in my Chichester area M T Plumbing & Heating (mtplumbingheating.com)
Sue and I went to find out how much a front porch would cost from a local company. The rep came did the measure up thingy then came the quote. It is the first time I have seen a part quote. The quote didn’t specify the groundwork that was to be added on later. Needless to say that was unacceptable a quote should be for the whole job not a part of it.
Makes one wonder, do trades think everyone is stupid and gullible, accepting such a quote would most likely see thousands of dollars for the groundwork, plus - unforeseen problems.
A few years ago i was looking for a reputable builder,i learnt that your local council has a list of reputable workmen,they posted me a full list of who and where.
had a great builder,did a great job at a decent price, used him for all sorts of jobs for years.
