Thread: Tradies you gotta love them

Thank you so much Big Shed and F&E.
Wolffie

Originally Posted by Barry_White

I don't know about being a Spring Chicken at 49 but he certainly isn't a worn out old rooster. When I was that age and building my house I dug over 300 metres of trenches by hand using a shovel and a bar some up to 3 feet deep for the electrical, water, stormwater and septic as well as the adsorption trenches for the septic as well as the hole for the septic tank 7 feet deep by six feet in diameter. Apart from the topsoil all the subsoil had to be barred with the pinch bar.

All this was in granite soil during a drought which goes as hard as concrete. The last three feet of the septic tank hole was gravely clay.

That was in the days before Dingo or Kango machines and I couldn't afford to hire a Bobcat or Backhoe operator. So it can be done in a pinch.

Apart from that I dug probably another 100 metres for a dripper system in the orchard.

Probably at the age of 69 I would have difficulty doing it but then I was young and silly.

You've got me there, I have to admit to being a touch lazy now, and spoiled by too many years "working" at the uni! If I had to do it I would and I do have a large crow bar, but I'd be buggered and then who would cook and wash and all that! My back isn't what it used to be, maybe from years as a heavy machinery fitter in the field. For a lark once I went onion picking when I was about 30. My God my back was sore, so much so that it was easier to just walk around doubled over than to try standing up straight!!
Back to the tradies thing, I guess those in the building industry esp. self employed, there is a different set of rules or expectations. What I mean is if I was late to job on a road build by half an hour, to fix a paving machine with 3 or 4 trucks with dogs full of wet concrete lined up in front, I would have got the flick big time and had buckley's of getting another start in the same game in Brisbane. All for the glory of $20K back in the late 80's. It was a mugs game.

Cheers,

I do most of the stuff myself so I don’t usually need a tradesman. When I do I won’t go out of my way to get the “best” quote. I am happy with a fair quote. When the job is well done, I even give them a small bonus.

I agree that there are bad tradies as well as bad homeowners out there. In the case of bad tradies, the homeowners suffer. How often do tradies suffer financially? Not very often I would say.

Re my "What will you do?" scenarios. To cut a hole on floor like that and just walk away is wrong. It is just wrong, no justifications needed.

Originally Posted by Wongo

How often do tradies suffer financially? Not very often I would say.

You cant be serious Scott?

I dont do work for the private sector.

The owners think they know everything there is to know about everything, they get in the way, always want the bestest job doing for the cheapest price, when they see you actually making a quid they interrupt the work to slow you down, they come up with the most inane excuses to not pay.

Sure there are some tradies that even I wouldnt use, but there are more owner builders/renovators I wouldnt touch.

No thanks, Ill keep battling with the builders.

Originally Posted by Wongo

........... How often do tradies suffer financially? Not very often I would say................

How often? Too often. Even once is too often (and it's definitely been more than once for me). Imagine if you wage slaves had your pay docked by a few hundred or a few thousand just because the boss was in a bad mood or decided they would change their mind about what you were doing. Sure you could get the money back if you were willing to spend enough time and money to take it to court, provided of course the boss hadn't dissappeared or declared themselves bankrupt. I had one client stuff me around to the tune of thousands just before Christmas one year. Had a very lean "festive" season that year.

Mick

Al and Mick, settle down you 2. I said not very often not never.

I am speaking for million good honest homeowners out there. People like my in-laws who have to pay twice to get a job done. One to a bad tradesman, another one to a good tradesman to fix it. (and I conside you 2 are good tradesmen's group)

Not a tradie - a business - but here is an actual event that happened on Saturday.

My 2 daughters and SIL went to a bed shop to buy a new bed & mattress for another daughter who will be 21 on thursday.

They found a bed "unit" they liked but thought the mattress was not good enough so they changed the mattress to a better/dearer one (pillowtop), didn't want the doona and pillows.

The bed was $475 and the mattress was $499 and they negotiated $824 for the lot (mattress $349) and paid on my credit card.

While at Erns turnfest in Melbourne the shop rang and a very embarrassed salesman told me he had made a mistake in the calcs and it was $100 short. the mattress should have been $449 ($50 off). He asked me if i could pay the extra $100 as he would get into trouble big time. I said to him that it was their mistake and i wasn't obligated to do anything.

After some more discussion i made a proposal.............i'll finish this later


WHAT WOULD YOU DO.

I would pay him.

What would I do?
HONESTLY?
I would realise that getting $150 off the price of the mattress would need the approval of his superior and that he had made a mistake.
He would have to reimburse his employer out of is wages or maybe lose his job and I would feel terrible about that.
If you had been OVERCHARGEd you would have no hesitation asking the shop for a refund, would you?
Wolffie

Originally Posted by Wolffie

If you had been OVERCHARGEd you would have no hesitation asking the shop for a refund, would you?

Maybe the question is - would the shop call him if they had overcharged him?

I'd check the prices carefully and if it was a genuine mistake I'd try to come to some arrangement.

Legally I guess you accepted their offer and that is the end of it. Morally I reckon you need to find a solution you both can live with. There's going to be a bunch of different opinions on this one!

Originally Posted by Groggy

Maybe the question is - would the shop call him if they had overcharged him?

I'd check the prices carefully and if it was a genuine mistake I'd try to come to some arrangement.

Legally I guess you accepted their offer and that is the end of it. Morally I reckon you need to find a solution you both can live with. There's going to be a bunch of different opinions on this one!

Broadly, yes. Legally, though, there is also the issue of "patent error". If the bill, for example, reads 475+449= 824 the seller would be quite entitled to issue an amended invoice.

If you think $924 for the lot is not what you wish to pay then you should have the right to at least cancel the deal. Otherwise pay him.

The guy probably just had him first child. He was up all night nursing the baby. Thursday was the fist day he went back to work. Feeling extremely tired and exhausted he miscalculated the price. The manager gave him a hard time and he is facing the possibility of losing the job.


Just give the bloke a chance.

This is interesting to see the responses. When i got home i checked the invoice to the credit card paper and all additions were correct and the amounts on both bits of paper were the same.

Answer later after some more "Honest John" replies.

I think Wongo's reply is relevant. Would you still have purchased this item for $100 more? If not then you should be able to return it and get your money back.