Having served my time as a joiner 4 years to include day release and nightschool,I was then presented with a piece of paper telling me i was a joiner.
When did it all go wrong.
I have subcontacted work to a plumber and plaster from this site great lads.But on sites this year i have met

Timeserved Electrician-Ex Helecopter fitter Had he ever rewired a house yes his mothers.Bye bye

Gas Safe heating engineer- Who came to fit a hob I asked him for his Gas Safe card thats when alarm bells rang.Admitted he did not have one.Phone call made reporting him.

Timeserved Painters- On one job in 8 weeks 3 painters none new that generally you had to stir paint.
None ever read the details on a tin, tried to use emulsion as primer. Knotting on wood "Why what do'es it do"

A Timeserved Plumber- Who carried an i pad to watch How to do plumbing vids on YOUTUBE.

A Timeserved Tiler- Who tried to tile a floor using liquid nails a dab in each corner.

Why do people employ these people it makes amockery of the people who maintain Gas Safe and Niceic cards and genuine tradesmen who also have liability insurance.

3 year apprenticeship in painting & decorating, finished and so many others undercut who aint qualified, nice and cheap for customers but they know it is when jobs done to.

Salty: I should send that to the nationals if I were you. Two years ago we had a serious escape of water, the people the insurance company used hailed from Manchester. Only the joiner and the painter seemed to know their job. The lesson I learned from that experience was simply, if you have a need to use the services of tradesmen, make sure you employ a local firm, and not one that has to travel a fair distance before they reach the job. They turn up late and leave too early. What I also discovered was that the repair company were sub-contracting to so called tradesmen. They only had one plumber and he was run off his feet. It took more than five months for what should have taken a few weeks. What annoyed us so much was the fact that the firm had had the approval of the loss adjuster within a matter of a couple of weeks. The final repair bill amounted to more than £13,000. I bet the company got the thick end of the ten grand and the tradesmen and materials had the rest. At least I never had to pay for it.

Agreed.

I have used a few local tradesmen in the last few years and have been very impressed in all but one. I must've been lucky. I generally use people who advertise in the Globe or on this website. Other times it is word of mouth.

I won't name names, but there is a heating engineer on this website who is awesome. He will know who he is!

Use local people!

Nice one Saltytom!
I am a time served electrician and it took me 4 years to get properly qualified.
I have seen almost every part of my industry destroyed by these 12 week courses that say "be an Electrician" and I know the word is used loosely!
I was self employed for over 5 years and business was good till all of these FAKE electricians turned up and started undercutting the whole of the industry, don't get me wrong I am all for a bit of competition and the customer only wants the cheapest prices but, when the damage they do causes injury and death then where does it all end?
I considered my prices fair and I always give discounts to the elderly etc but I also have a family to feed.
I considered my work to be the best out there (bragging!) and always done to the best of my ability and always cleaned up after myself. I have never had a customer complaint - EVER!

I still do odd jobs now but have had to sell my van so I am using my car!

The only upside to these pretend electricians is that my work is steadily increasing due to having to put things right that they have messed up.

Thats my rant over! Any one need a proper spark??

Steve

Steve - I will PM you now as I actually need a spark to look at the lighting in my Livingroom.

It would be really useful to have a board/Section on WikiWirral were Tradesman could advertise their services, and we as wiki readers could give stars or thumbs down? if we use their services.

It so hard to find reliable trades people, even when using word of mouth. I used a local gas safe tradesman to check my fire some months back, he came at night wanted cash, paid £60.00 to have fire serviced (having problems with it shutting off). Problems continued, so got another gas safe engineer from Liverpool, he did a fantastic job, fire fixed.

my husband is a time served decorator and struggles to work as others less qualified under cut him. it took him five years to serve his time many years ago.he spent a year filling and sanding before he was even allowed near a brush. good tradesmen that do a good job that will last for years are hard to come by

I could not agree more!!

My husband steve is advertised on here look at our ad superior heating by stephen foster [dodie] gassafe reg domestic & comercial &lpg & does not charge a callout fee

My point was really so many people use these cowboys and will continue to do so. Why because they think they are getting a job cheaply AND guess what they are.
Then it all falls apart and then 2000 watts of light suddenly comes on, I've been done,you have Oh ,I gave some cash up front that mobile number is dead possibly pay as you go its in the bin.

If I need a painter I will get back to you as a joiner I have seen good joinery destroyed by bad painting

Yellow pages used to give small ads free for a year do not assume you are getting a tradesman.

Word of mouth generally works never beafraid to ask to see work.

Always ask to see a copy of insurance.

I was called yesterday to mediate with a lady and builder he had measured her windows incorrectly and wanted her to pay for replacements,she had already paid for the original windows.
Pay again I think not.

I should add no wirral double glazing companies are involved.

Dodie I am not looking for heating engineers my man has been first call for nearly 20 years as has the electrician. You did give me Simon plasterer and Dave plumber good lads

In my experience, a tradesman is one of those people that never turn up when they say they will.

It is sometimes useful to give your man/lady a call an hour before the appointment. This gives them a chance to make you aware of delay or cancelation or to confirm.But he/ she should have enough sense to give you a call in advance.

As Salty said a good tradesman will ring beforehand and check that YOU are in!
The number of times I have arrived, usually early, to find no customer at home and not answering calls.
Lets face it the Wirral is not massive and it takes 15-20 mins max to get anywhere. It does help if you are central like me lol

My other half served as a first and second fix joiner 35years ago, and he did 5 years in training x I think that's a hell of a long time, to cut a piece of wood lol xxx

I've just been informed that he also went to night school, I know it was many years ago lol xxx he trained at Morgan's,

ask in a few local builders merchant for recomendations, having worked in one for 25 years,we get a very good idea of how people are at their jobs and can usually tell who the cowboys are if they have been around for a bit.

But it will be a nice straight / square cut

I had a joiner come to my house to fit some doors. He was terrible, he promised the job wouldn't take long but took him all day to fit 4 doors and the workmanship is terrible, the doors aren't plumb, screws are missing from the catches, the hinges aren't flush and one of the doors has had too much cut from one end instead of cutting equal amounts from both ends, the wood has splintered where its been cut rough. There is still one door left to complete but he won't be coming back. He even had a professional looking business card but he obviously isn't a professional tradesman looking at the quality of he's work. I will put some pictures on.

The fly boys do not know what a Faced Edge is or Face Side. when you cut across the grain you should score it all those guys know is GRIP AND RIP.
Take the money and run, why did you pay him?.
A nice card will not make a bad tradesman good nor will nice sign writing on a van

I paid him as I didn't notice how bad the work was until I looked closer. I would ask him to come back and explain why the work is so bad but i can do without the hassle at my age. He did come recommended, I don't even have he's number now, all I remember was he's name was Mark and he lived in Oxton somewhere.

I was called to write a report for the owner of a tenanted property,
She had put it in the "safe hands of an estate agent" to act on her behalf.
The job to replace a damaged window casing and put in new glass.

The result is here for all to see this is the work of a local joiner/builder, as you can see instead of fitting the window into the rebate he has just screwed the window to the frame.

To make matters worse he has used obscure glass this is in a lounge.
When inspected the builder was happy as was the estate agent
and they got paid, words fail me

OMG that is truly horrible Salty!

Good tradesmen take some finding but are just brilliant.

Alas it is a sign of the times, high unemployment means people set themselves up as "Time served Tradesmen"

I was under the impression that to call yourself a tradesman you had to complete an apprenticeship and serve your time.

A 12 week course may teach someone the theory but without the practical experience they are totally useless.

People just give themselves a title, such as technician or engineer despite being in no way qualified to do so.

There was a bloke on the radio recently who called himself a satellite engineer, which actually meant he fixed the dishes to the side of your house - some how I do not think he will be asking "Astrium" for a job.

The best way to find a decent tradesman is though word of mouth

Nomad