Tradies Inner South-East Melb
- Thread starter Lollie
- Start date
I need to get some work done on my South Yarra unit before/while it's on the rental market. Could I please have recommendations for a cabinet maker, handyman, electrician and plumber in that general area. thanks guys
Hi lollie, if you like send me a pm. I can recommend you a plumber and electrician. They're not the cheapest around but honest and reliable.
I say good luck. I have had a heap of them do quotes and many don't even follow up or follow through. True local seems to be a good site but always do your research on them. Some even askf or 50% upfront.. I say to them no! I will pay cash. Depends if you can trust them or not. If they are recommended to me by someone I know I will be ok with this.
Exactly my experience in SE Melbourne.
Tried 3 blokes for a rather straight forward job, just required new plumbing pipes to be redone (cold water) to the bathroom and taps at front and back...
Four showed up...obtained two quotes....1 turned up, started but then fled job for a bigger job after 0.5 hrs....didn't charge for the 0.5 hrs. My suspicion is that he didn't have any jobs at the time and accepted mine...until he landed a bigger fish, price was a lil too good to be true...
Two never
Still waiting on one plumber for a quote..not sure if he is genuine/keen....I asked him he obviously said yes. Still waiting on quote...drama continues...
I agree. The quote process is a kind of test for them -- did they show up on time? Or at all? Did they follow up with an email or phone call if they said they would?
Chances are if they don't do these things when they are trying to get your business, they won't do it when they're on the job. If anyone has a good, reliable affordable builder, plumber, bricklayer and sparky that they would recommend please PM me to let me know!
Chances are if they don't do these things when they are trying to get your business, they won't do it when they're on the job. If anyone has a good, reliable affordable builder, plumber, bricklayer and sparky that they would recommend please PM me to let me know!
Hah! Things can change, I normally find the best tradies are those hungry for business - usually 2-3 yrs after getting their licence and needs to build a reputation/client base. So they work hard, put in effort and take care in their work and offer a decent rate per hour/price.
After they grow and can afford 2-3 trainees under their belt, it's where they start to cut corners, slack off and charge their rates and get their juniors to do the work without even checking.
We had a plumber who we used often for over 7 yrs but can't use him now because of price and attitude.
Most experienced plumbers I suspect seem to "squeeze in jobs" between jobs and if yours happens to be one that fits their schedule, then you are in luck. I understand from their POV, there are also many a**hole clients who just want to quote or play off one plumber against another.
In the past, I've found that plumbers appear to love doing anything that is easy and doesn't require much energy. If your job requires digging, they often opt out or charge you ridiculous rates.
The funniest quote I ever had in the past was a plumber who had the decency to give me a quote 6 months after his site visit despite asking/chasing him several times for a quote within that week as I was keen on the job. He was upset I "couldn't wait" - I told him directly who the fk is going to pay my mortgage for my ip whilst I wait??
I find sparkies are often relatively easy to find, plumbers hardest to get reliable, decent price and workmanship.
It's difficult to gauge interest in a tradie - in my experience most plumbers are always keen etc and say they will quote, most often none do so.
In future, I will call em up and insist on a on the spot quote....before the advent of email/text, this was how I mostly got the quotes. The guy would look up and price it up right there and then.
A good PM should have their tradies sorted. Through my PM, I've had a good electrician do the work needed and quickly for a good price, and a handyman has quoted and will do the work soon. I still want the name of a good cabinet maker and plumber in case I need to put in a new kitchen (although I'm hoping not to).
Sparkies are relatively easy to find, same as handymen, but with handymen, I can do around 95% of what they do myself, only time I use them is for time purposes.
Cabinet makers we found are a dime in a dozen...
Plumbers are notoriously difficult to find...perhaps its actually the difficulty in getting their licence and it's generally tough work, the pool is considerably less than sparkies.
After months of quotes, no shows, starts but not finishes, we finally found a bloke who did the work over 2 days. Granted, he was a bit inexperienced and wasn't that cheap considering his lack of experience, but nonetheless he did the job and had compliance certs.
Step in my shoes for a week. I'm a cabinet maker, have my own business for 9 years, don't advertise and don't work for builders. Honestly thinking of pulling the pin. Plenty work, money's good but the idiot customers you meet sometimes is unbearable.
Classical example- had a "customer" call me yesterday blast me over the phone because kitchen isn't installed yet. After several minutes trying to work out who she is turns out she called the wrong cabinet maker.
Customers call me 10.30pm to come quote them to fix a wonky hinge. Who does that?
Customers sign contracts with out reading! "I thought your quote includes painting and plumbing!" Where the hell does it say in the quote or contact I'm including these extra services is normally my reply. Then you're made out as the bad guy for their incompetence.
And then there's the part of getting paid. Every one is quick to pay the deposit but getting the final balance can be a nightmare. I could understand a customer holding final payment due to a bad job but if they're happy with the job why the need to be difficult?
So after a decade of this crap its probably why tradies are the way they are.
Classical example- had a "customer" call me yesterday blast me over the phone because kitchen isn't installed yet. After several minutes trying to work out who she is turns out she called the wrong cabinet maker.
Customers call me 10.30pm to come quote them to fix a wonky hinge. Who does that?
Customers sign contracts with out reading! "I thought your quote includes painting and plumbing!" Where the hell does it say in the quote or contact I'm including these extra services is normally my reply. Then you're made out as the bad guy for their incompetence.
And then there's the part of getting paid. Every one is quick to pay the deposit but getting the final balance can be a nightmare. I could understand a customer holding final payment due to a bad job but if they're happy with the job why the need to be difficult?
So after a decade of this crap its probably why tradies are the way they are.
There's your problem. You should work for builders as well.
With mum and dads unfortunately you need to educate.
Is that out west?