The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Marketplace => Topic started by: countrygirlatheart on June 25, 2009, 10:34:48 pm
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here I am, ready to build my little stable block - the story so far ....... step 1 - try to get a quote to do the concrete base ... first guy took about 2 weeks before he came out to look at the site, then took about 10 days to provide a quote which was outrageously high, another guy didn't reply to my call for a week then said he would get back to me with a quote - two weeks later chased him up - another week later he phoned but still no quote, 3rd guy came out last Saturday and said he would e-mail quote on Monday/Tuesday, its now Thursday night and still no quote, 4th guy came out Monday night and still no quote. It's not rocket science to calculate a quote surely!!! Step 2 - get quotes for the stables. Thinking it's good to support local businesses tried to do so - 4 phone calls later and just under 4 weeks have passed and finally got the courtesy of a reply. The other one - Saltire - hurrah - very professional and have provided a quote.
Also - today - at the Royal Highland, which was otherwise fab - went round various agricultural stands to look at sheep turnover crates and other sheep related things - I would say at 2 out of every 3 stands visited , despite standing beside the relevant bit of sheep equipment and obviously looking interested - no-one tried to sell me anything (Glendale Engineering were however good and good prices)
IS IT ME??? how hard can it be to spend your money ???
Rant over !
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It must be you I think - you probably have that 'whatever you quote I'll beat you down' look in your voice ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Oh Dear. You should try living in the West Coast Highlnads. Finally got my quote yesterday after first asking for it in February :o
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Then again you could always move to France .... I will be there on Monday and 2 years later. I will be there on MOnday...
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Credit crunch my ass. Just back from a little break in Italy....building/renovating houses, improving the roads etc. to beat the band. Seems like it's only Ireland and the U.K that have been really hit bad. Three cheers for our glorious politicians! :P
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That's because they all get bigger grants from the E.U then we do. You should see the new roads etc in Portugal!
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...and what exactly are you trying to sell/buy in the "marketplace" ??? ???
Might I suggest that venting your spleen is best in the coffee lounge - not that I'm being pedantic..... :farmer:
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Just sharing my opinion with the nice lady who started the thread ;D
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hey sausagesandcash - thanks for the nice lady comment!!
Wellieboots - ur probably right but you could say it was an obscure 'wanted' ad for someone to do a concrete stable base !! will keep the coffee lounge in mind for future rants
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No offence intended here, but builders are not going to soend a great deal of time on a project as small as building a stable base. The credit crunch does not mean that builders are so desperate they will be falling over themselves to compete for minor works. Why don't you get yourself a cement mixer and do it yourself, very rewarding. It must be a very nice postion to be in demanding that everyone is out to satisfy your needs because you have the money to pay them to do so, but quite another when it is your bread and butter
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It must be a very nice postion to be in demanding that everyone is out to satisfy your needs because you have the money to pay them to do so, but quite another when it is your bread and butter
C'mon man, easy! Spread the love, not bitterness. Some people just don't have the know how, and may well have to scrape together the money to pay a tradesman to get a job done.
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offence taken but calmed down by sausages and cash - well put
ok take the credit crunch comment out of it ............ its surely not good business to take weeks to get back to someone ...... if a tradesperson can't be a**** doing such a small job why dont they b***** well just say so instead of messing people about
If I thought I could do it myself I would have b****y well done it months ago
and yes it has taken years to save up the dosh
and yes I must be in PMT mode ..... rant now most definitely over .... and yes any future rants will go into the coffee lounge
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I have suffered a leaky outside tap for weeks - couldn't bring myself to contact my previous plumber as they told me what I needed instead of what I thought I needed - result £200 more than I wanted to pay. So got scared of tradesmen. Plucked up courage to phone Sandy's tame plumber yesterday morning - girl apologised profusely that they couldn't get anyone to me straight away. Phoned today and said are you in now - yes, so round this lovely young man came, couldn't find the 'toby' to turn the water off, so fitted a brand new tap 'live' - in less than half an hour! This was one of the things I'd asked the last plumber to do but they had said nothing wrong with the old tap and just propped up the pipe and fixed it to the wall - even I could see by the age of it that it wouldn't last forever. Wish I'd stood my ground! Anyway, faith restored in tradesmen and plumbers, and got his name in case I need him again. Plus drippy tap in kitchen I thought needed a washer is of the ceramic type and he checked it and said leave it or get a new tap as when you start to fiddle with them they just break, but he will look out for a replacement unit to fit. Just a wee star!
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Annie
You're right - there are some rare gems about
Have to add that I have myself just recently found a great painter/decorator - phones to let you know when he will be with you, turns up when he says he will, does a great job, prices are good, and he's cheery with it!
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That's another job that needs doing - but no money left so it will have to wait - or get my sons to help. Don't like asking them as they have their own lives to lead.
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We save for jobs to be done and get the same let downs!!! We are getting wee weed off too by trades people either not turning up or leaving you in limbo, we want quotes for painting the house, people have been but now avoid telling us "how much" , our TV is being repaired and the chap said we could Waite a long wile for parts,knows how long (next Christmas probably) My cooker burners have gone and I cannot get 2 parts I need despite trying to contact the manufacture, my VW was away in one garage for a year with the mechanic feeding me Bull poo poo and now it's on it's second year with another person telling sucking their teeth and being a bit indignant when we ring for updates!!! Hes nice really and I'm sure we will get it back, not to mention my GP, I feel I am disturbing him if I go to see him, not sure what he's there for!!!:o I agree, why don't people do what they say???????
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I want a bit of fencing done. A friend gave me a contact and I called them on Monday; they offered to stop by on Monday evening and arrived promptly at 6pm as agreed. He called me on Tuesday evening with a price, which was fine, and they are fitting the work in this morning, since it's small and local.
Assuming they DO arrive about 9 this morning as promised - it's maybe not all bad.
But I'm waiting for the builder to give me a price for some concrete windowsills - he's been for a look but needs to come back to measure up and price it. I've heard heehaw despite reminding him twice.
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Well I've been reading this thread and trying to hold myself back from commenting, but I can't. I have saved all my life to get somewhere I can really make into a nice home with land etc. I think I am here, but how do I get work done.
You have to know people. There are no adverts in the papers and don't even think of the internet. I have to ask neighbours who tells a friend who may know someone, who may pop over 'sometime'. I've had problems with my water since I've been here. Rang the Council who said they would send the man up to assess - I've been here 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haven't seen the man yet. So had to ask farmer Paddy to ask his brother who had a friend who had some work done by an electrician who had a brother who was a plumber - he came round in April.
Builders don't bother, unless you want a house built. I know I probably only want small work done, but when you here them in the pub talking about no work and they may have to sell up - surely lots of small jobs gets your name about and more business.
End of moan.
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I used to be married to a plumber and heating engineer and he was always busy, his brothers were in the building trade as was my dad but, although we knew people, we still had to waite ages to get anything done, worse still, my handyman husband had no time to do it himself.
The thing is, most if not all would pay a fair price for work and not expect someone to do jobs for peanuts so why? Maybe we should post "Wanted, Handy person!!!! willing to travel" P.S we did have a guest that helps us loads and still does when he has time, I am trying to encourage him to move nearer as he was after a house further away and he did not get it!!!!!!!!!! Now how can I tempt him, my OH sells all the eggs so no cake.....ummmmmmmmmmmm ???
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The fencers turned up, on time, did a great job for less than they originally said.
Anyone looking for fencing in Central Scotland, I can certainly recommend ABM Fencing.
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Great, some people are reliable then!!!
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Hi,
I have just read these postings and have to agree with you about Builders (Even though I used to be one).
Most of the work I used to do was Jobs just like the one you are describing, That the so called BIG builders just did not want.
The big contractors around here are only interested in jobs that will give them thousands!.
I only gave it up when Julie got Cancer so that I could spend more time with her and Tara also I was needed to look after her for 6 months.
I think myself lucky now as I am able to do all my own Building from Pig sheds to our own House.
I need to get a Digger in at the moment and a man locally has one which has been sat at the back of his house for weeks.(Not Working due to lack of work!).
I asked him about doing the job and he told me he charged €45 per hour,I offered him €30 and pointed out that his machine had been sat there for over a month and I have a good few days work for him.
He told me it was not worth getting out of bed for €30 per hour.
So I basically told him to F F F F FORGET about it.
I then approached another Digger man in our area and offered him the same and Guess what he is coming next week.
I only wish someone would pay me €30 per hour to get out of BED!
Any offers gratefully received
Kindest Regards
Joe :)
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I would like to apologise for the aggressive tone of my earlier post. I was a builder for many years and spent a great deal of my time preparing estimates for people, getting haggled down to doing work for ridiculous prices and eventually losing everything. Now I work for minimum wage , long hours, but with none of the stress. I am sorry if I caused offence to anyone
Bobby
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The trouble with a lot of tradesmen is that they overvalue themselves, I used to work on the trade counter for a local plumbers merchants and spent many hours listening and talking to the plumbers who came in to collect their gear, one plumber used to swan around bragging that he had plenty of work and charged £35 per hour - which personally I think is extortionate ( considering that whilst he was at the merchants for an hour drinking coffee & chatting he was charging his customer as he was 'collecting materials'. I'm not saying that all tradesman are the same but this is from the horses mouth. whereas my plumber charges me £18 per hour and does a good job. lots of the plumbers wouldn't even look at the small jobs as they said they couldn't charge enough to cover travelling etc and their time collecting materials etc.... :(
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You are very right. I have a brother in law who will not accept less than £30 per hour. I just want enough to get by, took me til I was almost 50 to realise it.
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What we need is someone maybe retired or out of work but not on benefits as I know is they do small jobs and inform the benefits office, depending on how much you get, the benefits are stopped and it takes a while to sort them out again so they end up without money so they either have to do the work and not declare it or just not do it, this is probably causing problems for people made redundant who are trying to keep their head above water with regards to their mortgage or rent and of course food and fuel bills. There should be some way of declaring a wage but you have a few weeks still on possibly a lower benefit and if the work becomes regular then the benefit drops. I knew loads of people who would not work as they end up worse off financially. Anyway, back to the point, there must be loads of skilled people who could set up small handy man business, maybe someone should set up an agency! I bet here is one out there somewhere????? We need :-
The Sash windows repairing and some new sills
Chimneys pointed
Chimneys swept
House painted (BIG JOB)
Locks put on the internal doors
New Garage roof
En Suite
Facelift
Tummy Stapled
Teeth done...sorry...endless list!!!
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Oh, I need my teeth done too Sandy. I somehow have managed to break one in half - back tooth at bottom, but luckily because i had it root treated 21 years ago ( when I was pregnant and pregnancy takes all your calcium and ruins your teeth --(Dont you go worrying Linz), I dont have any pain ---That is 21 years ago on weds this week when my daughter Lou will be 21 :) (expensive birthday present I in order I think :o), but luckily I have a dentist appointment in a months time :) -- It will cost though.. me thinks :-[
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Hi Lara. My daughter is 21 in August, what you doing for yours? I haven't a clue. Not allowed a surprise party! I love to shock and surprise her, but can't think how this year
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We found these 2 sites to find trade people in our local area if anyone wants to try, we are going to get some quotes for the list of jobs (not the lastic surgery!!! ;D)
http://www.myhammer.co.uk
http://www.ratedpeople.com
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Hey Liz looks like we were preggers at the same time - it was a really hot summer wasn't it?...... strangely I cant really remember what hot summers are like now. :-[
Well the birthday present is fairly easy my daughter has just bought a house with her OH so we are buying them a dishwasher -they have most of everything else having lived together for a few years....
The other thing that she wants is Caramel shortcake (millionaires shortcake to others) as a birthday cake.!. I love baking and evertime she comes round the first thing she asks is if I got any caramel shortcake which i try not to make too often as unfortunately its very fattening :'(, but quite yummy. so thats what I'm busy making now - well it has just come out of the oven .. will post a pic when its ready.
She doesn't want a party either :dunce: so that's it really....
hope your daughter has a great birthday Liz. :)
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UmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmCaramel shortcake
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Caramel shortcake....haven't had that since I was a kid. Friends mum used to make it....and i loved her for it!
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My daughter would love caramel shortcake - can you put the recipe on? Your daughter sounds very settled. Mine, well she is all over the place. Lives with me in Ireland, but has moved into an apartment in the city. Spends all her hard earned money on enjoying herself - nothing worries her! Its a bit of a nightmare really. We've sorted out her birthday though - she is taking me and her friends to one of the clubs in town - I know - HELP!!!!
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Yup, please post the receipe when you get time
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Ok will put on recipe slot - though its quite involved as I make caramel from scratch.
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Are you saying we can't cook?
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of course not (wouldnt dare) it just that sometimes I find it a bit long-winded, anyhow recipes on there now Liz.. :)
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Thousand thanks
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;D ;D ;D I just noticed I said lastic surgery, well I may need that as well as my elastic is certainly overstretched ;D ;D ;D
We found these 2 sites to find trade people in our local area if anyone wants to try, we are going to get some quotes for the list of jobs (not the lastic surgery!!! )
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silly girl :D
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Very silly indead!!!! :dunce:
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hey Sandy , good job your name isnt Lucy..
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I know a Lucy - her email address is lucyquipment ;D ;D
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I was thinking Lucy -lastic :D :D
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Not Lucy Locket lost her pocket kitty Fisher found it, not a penny was ther in it but a ribbon round it!!!!!!
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I think we've all lost the plot ;)
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Yup!!! :yum: :dunce:
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We run a groundworks company and we dont get back on small jobs that quick as they dont pay! So many evening when everyone else has their feet up watching the box we are pricing up jobs that people ask for and then come back with "I got a quote for £50 from Dave up the road" F.I.H you let us spend telephone calls and our precious evenings pricing up for a job that unemployed Dave can do for £50 when our min day charge is £250 less materials! Its fustrating as saying FREE QUOTES drags all and sundry to pop around to see a job that no way in this world can they afford.
ANyway a job has to worth while if its a full day and we dont charge less if its only half etc as we still have to pay for the plant, salaries etc. The reason why builders arent getting back is because it not worth their while they want big jobs that pay and cover their employees. You have to make a profit too which everyone forgets so they realise by the time they get the concrete delivered etc you have to add a min £200 per day profit. So the job quote is high. We dont care whether its a credit crunch or not our jobs have to pay well.
You'd be better off finding an add job man or a garden landscapers as this doenst sound like a job for a qualified builder.