plumbers(is it just me?)
- Thread starter rday
- Start date
B
brains
Guest
Its normal when theres lots of work on. In a couple of years they wil be busting your door down to get work. By the way, where are you?
Don't panic Rday, its not you.
I've been trying to get one aswell, but they seem to be very busy, and apparently don't want any more work.
I'm seriously thinking about flying my brother out from England, to do the things I need doing.
I've been trying to get one aswell, but they seem to be very busy, and apparently don't want any more work.
I'm seriously thinking about flying my brother out from England, to do the things I need doing.
Thats not bad, Bundy. I was quoted $90 for the same, and i'm sure its just the washer !!
You guys ever see the movie "The money pit" ?
It's got a fantastic scene about plumbers - scarry really.
Guy EVENTUALLY gets a plumber out to quote the job, after a very shady recommendation of another shady tradesman etc...
Anyway, he's out there, and the owner has the cheeck to offer him the 'cheap' scotch. Anyway, he's on his way outta there....
The owner pleads and the plumber succumbs - quick, write me a check for $5,000 downpayment before I come to my senses.
The owner at this point is so happy to sign a check in the hope he can get a plumber, he doesn't care about the total cost, etc
I haven't done justice to it, but it's a funny scene....
Cheerio
Simon.
ps. I know what you mean though - damn hard to get them !
It's got a fantastic scene about plumbers - scarry really.
Guy EVENTUALLY gets a plumber out to quote the job, after a very shady recommendation of another shady tradesman etc...
Anyway, he's out there, and the owner has the cheeck to offer him the 'cheap' scotch. Anyway, he's on his way outta there....
The owner pleads and the plumber succumbs - quick, write me a check for $5,000 downpayment before I come to my senses.
The owner at this point is so happy to sign a check in the hope he can get a plumber, he doesn't care about the total cost, etc
I haven't done justice to it, but it's a funny scene....
Cheerio
Simon.
ps. I know what you mean though - damn hard to get them !
Don't talk to me about plumbers. Grrrrr...........
The last two enormous bills I've had from tradesmen have been plumbing ones. Cop this- it took not one but TWO plumbers to repair a broken showerhead (the second one eventually replaced it) in one of my houses in Rocky recently and I'm $250 poorer!
The other bill was for $150 to fix a leaking toilet in a house in Singleton. When I queried him about the cost, he told us that he had to replace the parts inside the actual cistern. Didn't know such little things could add up to so much.....
As for getting quotes, that's been going on for years in many trades. Some tradesmen are just not well organised. Others have no manners (just don't turn up) whilst the rest are working so hard you have to be prepared to wait. Maybe more of them need to be women
The last two enormous bills I've had from tradesmen have been plumbing ones. Cop this- it took not one but TWO plumbers to repair a broken showerhead (the second one eventually replaced it) in one of my houses in Rocky recently and I'm $250 poorer!
The other bill was for $150 to fix a leaking toilet in a house in Singleton. When I queried him about the cost, he told us that he had to replace the parts inside the actual cistern. Didn't know such little things could add up to so much.....
As for getting quotes, that's been going on for years in many trades. Some tradesmen are just not well organised. Others have no manners (just don't turn up) whilst the rest are working so hard you have to be prepared to wait. Maybe more of them need to be women
I met a bloke at work who is a plumber...in his late 30s..been doing it all his life..
He was bragging to us how he works for a big airconditioning company and installs aircon units..he said he has no idea what he's doing..no idea how the aircon works..just the basics on installing..and he's in charge of a team of them.
By his own admission he's "underworked, overpaid"
And he was complaining he can't get a good apprentice who knows what he's doing!! All I could think was maybe it would help if the person training him did.
Anyway..that just made me think that every stereotype about plumbers is true...
He was bragging to us how he works for a big airconditioning company and installs aircon units..he said he has no idea what he's doing..no idea how the aircon works..just the basics on installing..and he's in charge of a team of them.
By his own admission he's "underworked, overpaid"
And he was complaining he can't get a good apprentice who knows what he's doing!! All I could think was maybe it would help if the person training him did.
Anyway..that just made me think that every stereotype about plumbers is true...
I've found with tradespeople that you have to manage them
Knowing enough about what they are doing to communicate the tasks to them effectively & oversee their work helps a lot too! Though some of the plumbing stuff in particular is quite arcane.
Perhaps we need a 'Managing Tradespeople' course at evening colleges. Perhaps linked with a 'Home Project Management' course.
Cheers,
Aceyducey
Knowing enough about what they are doing to communicate the tasks to them effectively & oversee their work helps a lot too! Though some of the plumbing stuff in particular is quite arcane.
Perhaps we need a 'Managing Tradespeople' course at evening colleges. Perhaps linked with a 'Home Project Management' course.
Cheers,
Aceyducey
B
brains
Guest
I dont know how you can manage a tradesperson or oversee their work if you know less about what they do than they do.
Most tradesman will take shortcuts where its not obvious to the customer if the customer is giving them a hard time or think they know more than the tradesperson. Its easy to do and all tradesmen do it.
Most tradesman will take shortcuts where its not obvious to the customer if the customer is giving them a hard time or think they know more than the tradesperson. Its easy to do and all tradesmen do it.
Brains,
You have employees - can you do everything they do as well as they do it? Are you able to manage them despite they being more specialised than you?
It works the same way in the business world & also when managing tradies
If nothing else, manage by objectives. The owner knows the outcome they desire. Provided this is clearly communicated to the tradesperson the outcomes can be managed.
And of course use licensed tradies so if they took dangerous shortcuts to the outcome they can be pressured to rectify the work
Cheers,
Aceyducey
B
brains
Guest
Your example is not a good one because youre talking about managing or overseeing multiple trades when where you have less experience in all of them.
And tradesman taking shortcuts doesnt mean dangerous work it just means for one eg being slack in areas that are out of view of the customer or using sub standard material where the customer wouldnt know the difference.
And tradesman taking shortcuts doesnt mean dangerous work it just means for one eg being slack in areas that are out of view of the customer or using sub standard material where the customer wouldnt know the difference.
Originally posted by Jacque
Maybe more of them need to be women
Haha
That's why when I started my business I knew I had something different. I actually answer the phone, I turn up for quotes, I turn up for the job and we do a good job.
We quite often don't just get a job because it's the lowest or middle sometimes it's the highest, we get it because we turned up for the quote on time (not sometime today, maybe) and we turn up for the job when we say we will. We also clean up after ourselves.
It's a huge point of difference with a woman doing the quotes too - I quite often surprise people with that one. And I also write out my quote on the spot, alot of trades don't. That gets me alot of business on the spot.
Good luck with your tradesmen, they're all the same here too. My tip is: if you want to renovate, and you need tradesmen, book them a couple of months ahead or do your reno in winter, there's generally less work around then, and you might get it cheaper if they aren't busy.
Cheers, QB
i finally got the job done,the plumber done a great job,but i thought the price was abit steep.
i supplied the bathroom suit,they supplied labour and fittings,their price crept up from 300$ to 400$ due to unforseable tricky bits.~(no tiling involved)
is it normal for estimates to be 25% out.
anyway i'm happy,
cheers
i supplied the bathroom suit,they supplied labour and fittings,their price crept up from 300$ to 400$ due to unforseable tricky bits.~(no tiling involved)
is it normal for estimates to be 25% out.
anyway i'm happy,
cheers
I try to stay away from doing estimates, I suppose plumbers have to because they don't know what's behind walls etc, but we also try to do just quotes, although that can still backfire on us sometimes.
I don't know about Australia, but in New Zealand I heard someone say once that there is actually a law about estimates and that they can't be more than so much percent off the actual price.
Don't know if anyone else has heard of this and I don't even know if it's true. Be interesting to know though.
Cheers
QB
I don't know about Australia, but in New Zealand I heard someone say once that there is actually a law about estimates and that they can't be more than so much percent off the actual price.
Don't know if anyone else has heard of this and I don't even know if it's true. Be interesting to know though.
Cheers
QB
