Awkward customers

[slickboy]

We were set to start some work totalling about £12,000 at what seemed a nice couples house then we were tipped off by chance by someone who knows them that they are a nightmare to work for. The husband "reads things" about the kind of work that is being carried out and then confronts the tradesmen with his "knowledge". Scarier still he has a photographic memory (gota double first without attending any lectures) and spouts reams of building regs or whole paragraphs out of some book at poor workmen. We all know that there are different ways of doing a good job properly. We should have been suspicious because they complained about other tradesmen to us and people who do that are usually S**T to work for. Either they are right about the tradesmen and it's a case of once bitten twice shy or they are simply awkward bast**ds to begin with.

Anyway apparently they were awkward with all the tradesmen who worked there so they can get stuffed if they think we are doing the job. I hope our travelling friends get the job!

Does it not piss-off other builders/landscapers etc. this attitude of suspicion some people have to our industry? Those tradesmen may have mortgages to pay and mouths to feed and years of proper experience and knowledge but that means jack to some guy and his wife who have read five minutes out of a book in the library! Apparently one guy had to fit the same window three times before he was paid because the husband had "read" something and was determined to give him a difficult time.
There should be some kind of alert to these people like a blacklist or something.

[dig dug dan]

What a nightmare!
There should indeed be a registar or blacklist of bad customers, that we can log on to and find out if they a: pay, and b: are not sods to work for.
I knew one customer who was so unpopular with local tradesmen that word spread Far and wide and no one would work for her, so she had to move to cornwall!
I don't blame you for backing out of the job. I would have done the same

[Dave_L]

The right decision to make - although 'loosing' a £12k job isn't a nice feeling, it will [probably] save a whole load of heartache.

We come across these type of people sometimes - they become instant surfacing specialists as soon as we arrive on site!!

[Ted]

I once laid a 70m2 patio (one of the first jobs I ever did on my own) for a friend's dad and the guy stood in his lounge looking out of the sliding doors for the entire four days it took me. He would come out every 15 minutes and criticise something. He was very suspicious of my dry-mix method and kept on saying the dot and dab approach with a wet mix was the proper way. He also didn't like the way his new patio was lower than the one I took out as I lowered it beneath the air bricks on his house. He also changed the spec and I built a step down to the lawn and into the house and a small wall as extras included right at the last minute and he agreed that the price would increase. Once I had finished, he then only paid me just over half the money I had quoted and said it was a lesson for not giving him a written contract. I really want to smack the guy but he is my mate's dad.

Well it was a lesson as I always put things in writing now but what a XXXX!

After giving me the money he then had the cheek to ask if I wanted to render his garage! This was years ago and according to my mate his dad still can't find anyone to render the garage. I think most of the local tradesmen know he is a man to avoid.

[Tony McC]

I've had lawyers that knocked money off the final bill for "inconvenience caused during building work", a family that owned a chain of Chinese restaurants that, after agreeing a written 28 grand quote for the driveway wanted to haggle when it was all finished and started with an opening offer of 5 grand, and a paint shop technician from what used to be Ford Halewood who knew more about concrete than the rest of us put together, allegedly, including the fact that it was his grandad that had invented cement!

Then there was the See You Enn Tea who gave his missus a good hiding in front of me and my lads tarmacking the drive, the bar steward that revved the engine of his landrover to full then let out the clutch to deliberately scuff the new bitmac surface and avoid payment (except he was seen by a neighbour), and one bugger who had a never-ending list of jobs and would only pay half on the driveway until a patio was laid, and then would only pay half on the patio until we dug a pond for him, and then only half on the pond until we put new fencing around his paddock and then....and then I lost my temper with him and got paid in full.

On the plus side, we had a client in one of the huge Victorian mansions on the Wirral that sent his butler out with full silver service tea and cakes each afternoon, the farmer's wife that made a huge fry-up every morning for a dozen of us working on the new floor for their barn, the ex-RAF chappie that gave me a free flying lesson in his two-seater at Barton Aerodrome, and the very attractive lady in Preston that wanted to make "alternative arrangements" regarding her bill. As tempting as it was, I needed cash to pay the lads!

Biggest knob of all? The eejit builder who claimed I had fly-tipped - get this - 21,000 tonnes of rubble on one of his site on a saturday morning. Twenty-one thousand tonnes! Pillock - it wasn't an ounce over 10,000 Tonnes! :;):

[Ted]

I once worked on day rates for a lady in Greenwich for almost a month. Her cook, who was very good, made us all a three course lunch every day. Nearly every day we got a roast! Pheasant, beef, pork, guinea foul, partridge. The lunch always seemed to take an hour if not an hour and a half! Wine was offerd with the meal too but I didn't take advantage of that but some of the other builders working there were quite happy to.

[Dave_L]

It's always nice when the kettle works well!

[dig dug dan]

I have to say, the best one I ever heard was a building contractor who started a small 3 week extension job. On the first day, the lady came out with a tray of tea for the lads, and this continued, three times a day, for the job. At the end, The bill for the building works submitted. A cheque was sent, and £32 was deducted, with a note saying "charge for making tea"! They took her to court over it and won as the judge stated" no mention either in writing or verbal was made by the customer that tea was chargeable" Good on em I say for standing up to them!



Edited By dig dug dan on 1174760127

[glyn1206]

3 cups of tea each ,three times a day plus the down time to drink it. I would have told her she'd undercharged herself,(plus the time to sort out the solicitor and go to court).
I think I would have sooner knocked it off the bill and had a good laugh about it. 32 quid on a three week job aint all that is it?
Yeah,I would have given her that for having the b*lls to ask in the first place,lets face it we all like a bit of discount!
Seriously though,about the guy and his missus in the opening thread,I assume the 12 grand quoted was for the complete job and not the profit in which case the profit margin is just not worth the hassle.

[Moody_Blue]

Hi - just to add my two pence worth. I am a lovely customer, always pay on time, supply tea, sandwiches, biscuits etc. But, I think I am too nice.....I always seem to get the rubbish contractors! It has made me so uncertain of getting things done now. Plus, I am in an area where we do get the travelling contractors, so you have to try and vet people really well. But, saying that it has been companies that have done me over, not smaller one man companies (who have always worked out ok). I think it's the big companies who sub work out (although I can't confirm this as I am not in the trade......just a bog standard customer). Anyway, dipping me toe in the water again to get some work done this spring if I can find a good bloke to do it!

[slickboy]

We've had some great ones to work for. I couldn't say wether class, wealth or whatever was a true indicator of the decency of the customer but OAP's always seem really decent...as if they have values from a better, more honest era! Generally the younger ones seem more difficult, tighter with the money but then there could be all sorts of reasons for that and we've barely worked for anyone under 35. You hear "them that's got money are the tightest with it" thing, but we've worked for millionaires who are great and those at the bottom end who are not and vice versa.
I know some people don't agree with it but we always arrange staged payments so we are never at the mercy of the clients too much.

[lutonlagerlout]

i did a wall and drive for peter o toole the actor a few years back and he was an absolute diamond to work for,had us in the house showing all his bits and bobs and a really nice fella,got hold of my trowel and i couldnt get it back for 30 minutes,said he used to be a steeplejack when he was young.
but for some strange reason we always seem to have troublesome jobs with teachers,engineers and policemen,weird no real reason for it, but it always seems toplan out that way????
LLL

[dig dug dan]

famous people tend to be ok.
I worked for Dennis wise, when he was at chelsea. What a smashing bloke he was.

[lutonlagerlout]

in golf (i dont play) a nasty little five footer is often called a dennis wise ??? funnily enough my mate shares the same birthday as dennis and hes a nutter too
LLL

[Dave_L]

Agree with teachers and coppers, Tony! Been there!!