Bathroom/Kitchen Nightmare. A desperate plea for help.

[McCrossan1]

So I?ve been badly let down by a tradesman who was recommended to me on here.

After a couple of weeks of being flaky and unreliable ? not turning up when he says he will; not turning up for days at a time; ignoring calls and texts; not doing things that he said he was going to do ? I messaged the people who recommended him out of fear, despair and frustration.

They in turn contacted him, and because of me contacting these people he has now walked away from the job. Sort of proving everything I feared about him in the first place, right.

But I?ve been left with a bathroom and loo that has no doors, and a sink that has been ripped out. It?s not ideal. In fact it makes me want to sob.

So I?m desperately looking for a good, reliable, trustworthy, bathroom person/plumber who can save the day.

Unfortunately, I?m being slightly hamstrung by the fact some tradesmen don?t want to pick up where someone else has left off. Even if all that person has done is rip everything out. Which is not something I?d expected at all.

But I?ve got to get this done. I can?t not have a bathroom.

Recommendations and suggestions very, very gratefully received. Any good tradesmen (who can provide references) who have had a cancellation (unlikely at this time of year, I know), please get in touch.

Many thanks.

[jet2h]

hi, i am Jet,

i have 16 years in building trade, i can do plumbing, electrics, carpentry, decorating and gardening.

have references of many happy clients to prove i am not a let down and competent for the job.

i would be happy to help, given the opportunity.

please feel free to give me a call 07888889641

[Sue]

I'm afraid I can't recommend anybody, but I do very very strongly suggest that you actually follow up on any references you are given, go to see similar work which the tradesperson has done, if possible, and don't be taken in just because somebody seems confident and talks the talk.

If you have any doubts, listen to your gut feeling as it is probably right.

Oh and no disrespect to anybody who has posted on this thread, but I'd be very wary of people who claim to be Jacks of All Trades, as quite often the proverb is right and they are Masters of None.

I speak from bitter experience, and I too have an unfinished bathroom although at least it has a sort-of-useable basin.

I really hope you get your bathroom sorted.

And it might be a blessing to many other local people if you were to name the tradesperson concerned, although I understand why you might not want to do that.

ETA: If anybody PMs you via this forum offering their services, I would be doubly wary. I'm not suggesting that everybody looking for work in that way is incompetent, but just that you take extra care to check out examples of similar work they have done.

[jet2h]

I feel bad what this lady is going through and yes there are semi and or bad professionals.

but i am not really a disrespectful individual but Sue some people have been there and done it, although you have your beliefs some people have worked very hard to learn how to do what they do. I worked as a sub-contractor for one of the most reputable firms in this country and i have awards for customer satisfaction.

Xmas is coming, good thing will happen.

[Sue]

jet2h Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I feel bad what this lady is going through and yes

> there are semi and or bad professionals.

> but i am not really a disrespectful individual but

> Sue some people have been there and done it,

> although you have your beliefs some people have

> worked very hard to learn how to do what they do.

> I worked as a sub-contractor for one of the most

> reputable firms in this country and i have awards

> for customer satisfaction.

> Xmas is coming, good thing will happen.

jet2h, I'm sure if you have awards for customer satisfaction you are good at satisfying customers, which is great.

But you say you do "electrics" and "plumbing" as well as carpentry, decorating and gardening.

Are you a qualified electrician and plumber?

Because if not, things can go very wrong and also potentially be unsafe.

I have also known of people calling themselves gardeners who pulled up and disposed of treasured plants because basically they knew very little about horticulture.

And people saying they were experienced carpenters who could not handle anything other than very simple things.

And I had somebody paint a room in my house who said he had some qualification in decorating who made a total hash of it, although it was a very basic job. Apart from the poor workmanship, he used a very expensive paint as an undercoat ..... luckily I noticed before he had got too far ......

So I hope you are not offended if I still feel that people offering many different skills are not necessarily competent in all of them. I've been several times bitten and now I'm very very careful indeed :(

If you are indeed a qualified expert in everything you do, then I take my hat off to you, but I wonder why you aren't specialising in just one of those fields, where I'm sure you would find plenty of work?

And I do speak from personal experience with more than one person who was employed to do one thing then kept saying "I can do that" and, it turned out, couldn't.

So I hope you understand where I am coming from. The last thing a person traumatised from a bad experience with a tradesperson needs is another bad experience with another tradesperson. Again, I speak from experience.

[jet2h]

I am sorry this has gone longer than it should.

I have a construction management degree, 9 years in management, 5 years as construction manager and 4 as electrical and mechanical project manager.

yes I have no qualification in plumbing or electrics but I am that confidant that any work I do especially plumbing and electrics that if the client is in doubt regarding my quality and safety of work I will pay the client to hire any qualified plumber or electrician to check my work if it fails, I will pay for materials, and labour costs.

in my experience qualification don't mean the person is a good tradesmen but I believe passion, pride and experience make people good tradesmen. In term qualification is a requirement by law to issue a certificate safety test on gas and electrics to confirm the reading is what should be when running tests but its not required by law to have any qualifications to do plumbing or electrics. but I truly understand your experience, and people should check all references provided by the tradesmen. most tradesmen take pictures of works they carry out should be requested by the client.

[McCrossan1]

The tradesman who I refer to above was well recommended by two people on this forum. With hindsight I should have interrogated them over the phone, but you live and learn.

His tiling and plumbing has come in for heavy criticism by tradesmen who have come into quote subsequently. The words ?bodge? and ?cowboy? have been used more than once.

But I?m not going to publicly criticize or name names.

I should have followed my gut, as you say Sue, when he was hard to contact in the run up to the job. When his quote seemed sketchy. But I assumed he was busy (a good sign!) and thought he would get better when he started the job.

Alas.

So I?m going to be more careful this time. Anders/Jet ? You can PM me and we can potentially talk. But you?ll need to have a *minimum* of three full references for complete bathroom refits for me to consider you.

[sedm]

Hello. I had a similar experience after using a plumber called Daniel recommended on the forum who left halfway through a job, after taking money from me, and then refusing to give it back. It was an extremely stressful experience.

I used J&S Property Services who fixed the work. John's number is 07800 678902. Hope that helps.