Thread: Tradies you gotta love them

Originally Posted by madrat

(assuming Geebung was 'uninjured?' Hope you were OK ).

Not injured...luckily....that part of the house is only 30 cm off the ground...I did rip my jeans on a nail on the way down though .

Good to hear no injuries......
Bugger on the jeans situation though..........

I believe the general non responsiveness, rudeness and unprofessional conduct from tradesmen is a by-product of the current boom times in construction. They have so much work that they can afford to treat you poorly and you will take it with a smile.

As an indiction of the market, in '93 I wanted to put an extension on my home. I contacted 5 builders and arranged 5 appointments for that week to get quotes. ALL 5 builders turned up, ALL on time, and ALL polite and professional. I received 5 written quotes from all 5 a few weeks later and selected one from that.

Fast forward to 2007 and I again wanted to put an extension on the house I now own. I contacted a number of builders (or should say attempted to contact). About half never returned my calls, a quarter flat out rejected the job saying they were too busy, the rest (5) I made appointments with. Three turned up, one was professional enough but never submitted a quote, one was down right rude and condescending and turned the job down, the other submitted a quote so outrageous that I rejected it out of hand.

There has certainly been an economic shift but there is also a down turn coming where tradies will be lucky to get 3 days work a week and by what I can see most of them will be standing around like this wondering what the hell just happened

Originally Posted by oldjonesy

There has certainly been an economic shift but there is also a down turn coming where tradies will be lucky to get 3 days work a week and by what I can see most of them will be standing around like this wondering what the hell just happened

I don't think so. There is no boom at the moment but there is a distinct lack of tradesmen. Everyone wants to work in an office.

Originally Posted by boban

I don't think so. There is no boom at the moment but there is a distinct lack of tradesmen. Everyone wants to work in an office.

Disagree - there is a boom in construction generally, if not necessarily in new housing construction in eastern states. Non-dwelling (eg offices, shopping centres) and engineeering (mines, bridges, tollways etc) is creating a lot of demand for building trade skills.

My impression (that's all it is) is that the demise/privatisation/outsourcing of institutions formerly training lots of apprentices (Telecom, railways, etc) may have reduced the supply of various types of tradies as well.

Let's see if this little graph turns out OK..

Gaz.

Attachment 72256

Originally Posted by boban

I don't think so. There is no boom at the moment but there is a distinct lack of tradesmen. Everyone wants to work in an office.

There is undeniably a boom in construction, at least in my little part of the world. Builders get around now like they are rock stars.

Once you can get a plumber or electrician to attend the same day or the next day then things would have settled down a bit.

I find it depends on your perspective as well. Everyone I know who works in an office wants to work outside, and everyone who works outside wants to work in an office

The grass is greener