During the last several months we have hired various tradesmen for repairs and other home improvements..................painters, drywall, electricians, plumbers, etc. Most have provided good to very good service, but we have noticed it seems the most dependable workers have been the older experienced tradesmen. Just seems like many of the younger group only wants the pay day / a quick buck and really lacks a sense of pride in their quality of work and forgets that they should be mainly concerned with pleasing the customer. any comments on your experiences?
I recently had some rehab done on my deck, The gentleman who did was recommended to me from here. I agree with your assessment. he was older and took great pride in his work. He was willing to do it right and make us happy with his work.
My husband is an electrician and complains constantly about the people he works with. They just want the check and they will do as little as they can get away with to get it. He said he would fire 3/4 of the people at his company if he was in charge.
Seems like a lot of them have too much work, if it is a minor job, they will either not take it or string you along.
I agree that we need people who would work on smaller jobs. I have a faucet on my kitchen sink and it keep dripping. I have put washer after washer on it and I think it is just worn out. I need someone to replace it but cannot locate someone to do a small job. I have found this to be true on many small jobs in our yard and house. Grace
do it right When a job is done right and the contractor doesn't cut corners to get by and aims to truly please the customer, I am glad to pay the amount, even if it's a bit higher than others.
I'll put a plug for Tim's Handyman. Last year he power washed our house. He was running just a few minutes late (less than ten) from a prior job. Before he was suppose to be at my home he called to let me know he was running behind. When he got here he set to work. I could tell time = money for him...in a good way. He made the best use of his time to do a quality job.
Webmaster Thank you so very much for the link I am off to the dentist but will call those listed when I return. What a life saver! Grace
With age comes experience and responsibility. Well, some never learn responsibility.:lol: What I think your finding, with the good ones, is the workers who learned the trade from another who held the same standards of quality. We don't have the tradesman programs we use too and the field is slowly dying. They had a high school student job choice survey in 2001 that had 500 professions on the list. Tradesman/Construction made #499. It beat being a Cowboy. How many parents are telling their kids that being a tradesman is a good career choice? That's why you can't find good people to do the job. That and the fact that the pay scale has been demolished by unskilled illegal workers invading the field. I feel like an antique but I'm just coming to the realization that I too need to leave the field along with the others who gave up on making a living at it. Who builds American homes? Mexicans. We have a joke on the jobsites. If you see an American Tradesman on the job you ask him, "What the h_ll are you still doing in construction?" The paradox in that joke …. a Mexican asked me that question last week.
It's been our experiences, unless we get someone that knows someone that we know, you can't even get folks to come out to give you quotes to do work for you. It's true, the experienced people are usually the older folks, who have great work ethic.
