Tradesmen and tradespersons

[Flowergirl14]

What is your experience of dealing with tradesmen.

I live on my own in my own house.

Had plumbers round this week.
The guy who came to give me a quote gave me a big hug as he was leaving.
I froze...why would you do that?
I'm having a new bathroom put in.
Constantly telling me I need a wet shower....I don't want one. I don't want a bathroom with no bath, even though I don't use it and a monster shower put in my very small bathroom...soaking the place. I know what I want, just do it!
Constantly talking and talking down to me.
I have a whole week of this to look forward to!

Had an electrician round recently and he was up for a bit of you know what! Granted he was good looking...and married with a 2 year old when I asked! Nearly 20 years younger than me...

The same with a gardener I had. Married as well.

What is wrong with these men? I just want a professional job done...no hugs or anything else.

If I could find female tradespeople, I would much prefer to use them.

 

[emm]

What is your experience of dealing with tradesmen.

I live on my own in my own house.

Had plumbers round this week.
The guy who came to give me a quote gave me a big hug as he was leaving.
I froze...why would you do that?
I'm having a new bathroom put in.
Constantly telling me I need a wet shower....I don't want one. I don't want a bathroom with no bath, even though I don't use it and a monster shower put in my very small bathroom...soaking the place. I know what I want, just do it!
Constantly talking and talking down to me.
I have a whole week of this to look forward to!

Had an electrician round recently and he was up for a bit of you know what! Granted he was good looking...and married with a 2 year old when I asked! Nearly 20 years younger than me...

The same with a gardener I had. Married as well.

What is wrong with these men? I just want a professional job done...no hugs or anything else.

If I could find female tradespeople, I would much prefer to use them.

The hug thing is really creepy, if they work for an agency/comoany i would probably report it tbh. Ditto, I am a woman who lives alone and would pay more for a woman to come and do things if I could find one

 

[Flowergirl14]

The hug thing is really creepy, if they work for an agency/comoany i would probably report it tbh. Ditto, I am a woman who lives alone and would pay more for a woman to come and do things if I could find one

Thanks, that is a good point.
Especially when in my own home.

Glad you agree about getting a woman in.
I never had this problem when I was married!!

 

[emm]

Thanks, that is a good point.
Especially when in my own home.

Glad you agree about getting a woman in.
I never had this problem when I was married!!

I often hVe random stuff "casually" lying around (from my ex) to indicate that there is a man living with me tbh. Sounds extreme but...

 

[Flowergirl14]

I often hVe random stuff "casually" lying around (from my ex) to indicate that there is a man living with me tbh. Sounds extreme but...

In future I might say that my partner is out today... he is giving lessons...he is black belt karate!!

 

[emm]

In future I might say that my partner is out today... he is giving lessons...he is black belt karate!!

Exactly, my ex did boxing and I just have the gloves randomly around. Awful thag we have to do this but I think we do

 

[ElChanguito]

Sorry you had to go through that

We had extensive plumbing work last year and some new patio doors put in, luckily all of the men were very professional, one day I did catch the plumber looking me up and down (he didn't know I could see him in a reflection!). But none of them said anything creepy thank god. Our house is very small so I dreaded needing the toilet, one day I asked the plumber if it was okay if I could use the toilet and he said yes, no problem. I checked upstairs and the floorboards were up and impassable, and downstairs there was a hose going through the door, which couldn't be shut. So I got a bit annoyed, walked out and went over to my neighbours who very kindly let me use hers.

I do get the impression that tradesmen see themselves as above most people and that they think women are quite 'other'. Possibly women complain more than men so we make them nervous? And thus we are silly little things that can be passified with a bit of 'charm'

 

[fireflies]

Sorry that's crap I live in city and there are a few female only tradespeople about but maybe they rare.

5 years nearly in this house has some mixed experiences.

Electrician 1 lovley until he disappeared
Electrician 2 couldn't be arsed
Man who did fencing great
Year later to return to do decking bloody awful
Guttering man lush took dead guini pig away
Can't find anyone decent do windows 1 company told me the windows I wanted were too high end and expensive
Oven clean man told me my house was tit. My oven was a peice of crap and my area was dodgy.
Guy who did the kitchen upgrade nice but cit worktop wrong so now gap around side.

 

[YetAnotherObsessionx]

I had this happen with a handyman who came to fix our oven. I WFH so I guess he presumed I lived alone cos there isn't a lot of bloke stuff around, it was fine the first time but then he insisted he needed to come again, and then the third time he just turned up unexpectedly, I opened the door & couldn't think of a way to tell him it was inconvenient, so had to let him in. It made me feel really uncomfortable, but he said he was replacing a part so I had to let him do whatever in the kitchen for a while, while I worked in another room. I told my OH about it when he got home, he then contacted our landlord & asked them to not send that handyman again as he'd behaved unprofessionally. After that, any tradespeople stuff gets handled by my OH, it's not because I can't deal with it, it's just that the whole incident really put me off. It is sad ans it shouldn't be that way... but I would also always choose a female tradie if I could. Same as I'd choose a female cabbie or doctor, too.

 

[Rosie glow]

We rent and not long after we moved in the landlord had a new back door fitted I couldn't be there so agreed they could come and fit the door whilst I was at work
Came home to my kitchen brush threw out in the back garden in the pouring rain the dining table covered in mud and scratches and to top it off piss all over my toilet and floor

 

[Al Fresco]

The hug thing is very weird. I’ve had people ask me on dates but learned not to share private information, if they start fishing, just politely change the subject back to the job.

Over many years, I could count on one hand the people I’d have back to do another job and the vast majority of them cause some sort of damage to something else unrelated.

The last one was a decorator who, from bitter experience, I told to make sure the floors were fully covered throughout the hallway as he was painting the front entrance. He went on about how many years he’d been doing this then turned up with this stupidly small drop cloth and knocked a whole tin of black paint on a newly laid oak floor and carpet runner. I’m actually quite good a decorating, having helped my dad at home for years so, luckily, as he failed to clean it up properly and was panicking, I had to advise him to go and get some sugarsoap and I managed to sort it out myself. He took the runner to his carpet cleaner friend and got that out but it was only a couple of days later when it was completely dry that I noticed it was misshapen. Utter tit.

And don’t get me started on excuses for having to leave early or not show up at all, I’ve heard every one of them ten times over, they think you’re stupid. I could write a book.

If you can, get recommendations from friends and family, ideally where you can see work they’ve done.

Just thought, a neighbour has just had some work done and a job that was forecast to be three weeks has taken just under six months so I can’t beat that.

 

[Pinhead Larry]

I had an absolute nightmare with this when i was renovating my house (single 26 year old at the time)

Electrician - got FAR too involved, was handy initially because he let me borrow some of his tools etc but then he started shouting at me and made me cry, he was so rude to any other tradesmen i hired, to the point some refused to come round if he was there, causing unnecessary delays. He acted like he was jealous of them, very weird. He also started taking the piss by delaying things because he knew i was staying in my rented flat whilst the work was being done, i told him i had to move in in X weeks and he was like oh that's so soon, even tho he'd been doing the work for about 4 weeks. he then offered me a bed in his house if it wasn't sorted in time. also didn't give me the key back, i got the locks changed he was creepy.

United utilities - I was crying as mentioned above because the electrician screamed at me (i am usually a bit tougher but i was drained from all the work). I got a knock on the door from united utilities who i was expecting. they were like omg are you ok?! and i said yeah and explained (how embarrassing) The next thing i get another knock on the door and it is the young lad asking to add me on snapchat?! So uncomfortable because he was stood at my front door and knew where i lived. I don't have snapchat so i told him that, and he then got instagram up. I just gave him it and blocked him on it as soon as he left

Also not a tradesman but one of the estate agents was a young lad, he found my social media through my phone number, and started chatting me up, and he also gave me what someone else had bid on a property which i know is not allowed.

Just in the process of buying with my partner, so i am hoping i wont have so much weirdness this time!

 

[emm]

Sorry you had to go through that

We had extensive plumbing work last year and some new patio doors put in, luckily all of the men were very professional, one day I did catch the plumber looking me up and down (he didn't know I could see him in a reflection!). But none of them said anything creepy thank god. Our house is very small so I dreaded needing the toilet, one day I asked the plumber if it was okay if I could use the toilet and he said yes, no problem. I checked upstairs and the floorboards were up and impassable, and downstairs there was a hose going through the door, which couldn't be shut. So I got a bit annoyed, walked out and went over to my neighbours who very kindly let me use hers.

I do get the impression that tradesmen see themselves as above most people and that they think women are quite 'other'. Possibly women complain more than men so we make them nervous? And thus we are silly little things that can be passified with a bit of 'charm'

I think it's the "blokey" atmosphere created in a job mostly dominated by men, the same as men on building sites shouting at women etc. It's such a good argument for having more gender balance in all workplaces imo, the same in the issues we have seen in the police in London. Men just egg each other on with their awful sexist attitudes

 

[Pissmist]

Not a fan. Had some building work done just over three years ago and this included getting electric underfloor heating added.
Being interested in stuff in general I read up on the make, so was surprised one day to see that the main man and owner hadn't fitted insulating board under them, instead taping the heating mat to bare concrete.

I called up the company that manufactured the electric heating mats and asked if there were any circumstances where you wouldn't use insulation board and they told me no. I then called up the builder after he had finished for the day and asked if we needed boards. He tried giving me some BS, and then I told him that the manufacturer had said differently.
It was difficult to clear the tension after that.

One of his crew was also stealing toilet rolls from us.
The work started in February 2020, so as we were nearing completion lockdown happened. We had managed to get hold of a big pack of toilet rolls - we may have even happened to have it pre-lockdown just by chance - however it became clear that the whole rolls themselves were disappearing! The guy who we think it was seemed like a bit of a wrongun.

 

[restingbtcface]

HATE THEM!!! Bought a house 2.5 years ago which needed work. Had no good experiences whatsoever