Tradesmen!

[jazzactivist]

Is it just me or do any of you also get really annoyed at the way that different tradesmen run down one another's work? We have used the same chimney sweep and boiler service man for the past 7 years, but both have moved away and I have got new ones out to do a final service and sweep before the new owner of my house moves in. First the chimney sweep claimed that the pipe for one of the woodstoves isn't angled properly and moaned about who put it in, and today the heating engineer claimed that the wrong flue pipe and ventilation gear has been used on our oil boiler - despite the chimneys and boiler working perfectly well and being serviced and swept every year! I have found this criticsm to be the case every time that I have had to get out someone new to do any work on this house and our last one. Why don't workmen praise one another's work from time to time? They can't all be doing it wrong. Have you had this type of experience?

[sandybay]

Yes Jazz, it's when they sort of suck in their breath and shake their heads when they look at a job.

Maybe one day it'll be the same chap who did the job, but has forgotten that he did, who will run down his own work [if you get what I mean].
'Who on earth did that job for you' he'll say...while hiding a grin you can innocently reply...'well actually it was you' :D

The other day we had a builder in to look at replacing an old skylight in the hall with a velux window and he tried to get work for himself.
What are you putting on the floors he asked. Probably oak we said and he proceeded to run down the company we were going to use. It'll come up if they glue it ...blah blah.. I can do blah blah. All extra work and expense of course and he as an independant didn't provide a guarantee like the company we'd contacted. :mad:

[Primrose]

Yes - I agree it does seem a sign of the times. I too am afraid I haven't heard any exchange of praise.

Garages usually say - 'Oh! dear. You should have come to us first.'

However, thought you might like to hear about my 'in house' tradesman. We are busy working on our cottage kitchen and have thankfully nearly finished.

We have a porch and the kitchen window is facing inside of this porch, hopefully, you can understand what I am trying to say. Well, we haven't re-painted it since we did our first work on the cottage when we bought it over twenty five years ago! It has been protected by the elements and even though it was raining outside, with paint brushes at the ready, it was ideal to give it a bit of love and care and we were working in the dry.

My husband looked at it and said, 'See this damaged wood on the top here. Some stupid idiot did that!' So I said, 'You mean before we came here twenty five years ago?'

Have a good day and the sun is shining here,

Gilly

[jazzactivist]

That's really funny, Gilly, and only goes to show how easy it is to forget. I have been secretly waiting for the same workman to criticize his own work, sandybay, but it hasn't yet happened to me. You are right that you know what's coming when they have hardly looked at the job and start sucking in their breath and mentally calculating how much money they can make by scaring you about the previous / potential workmen. Sad to say, the only woman that came to give ma an estimate for some joinery work was exactly the same! When Andy and I bought our first house, the first bit of serious DIY that I did was filling a hole in a wall above a fireplace lintel with cement and then plaster. It took days, as I was so careful and the end result was a bit bumpy but we were so proud of it and it seemed such an achievement. When the man came to fit the woodstove he looked at it and said "who did this? It's all crooked" and then proceeded to whack it out with a sledgehammer and redo it. The thing was that his work was no better than mine had been and, perversely, it gave me the confidence to do more DIY.