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PRO

Painters...

We all talk for hours about doing quotes, pricing and all that other jazz...

I'm currently having some remedial work done to the outside of the house & have phoned/contacted 4 different painters, only one has turned up in the last 2 months and he wouldn't do a quote only an estimate.

I live in a 3 storey terrace/townhouse, so it's a reasonable size contract...

It amazes me that with the current climate they aren't banging the door down to get the work.

Rant over lol.

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  • I've heard similar stories around my neck of the woods, lot's of work but either they are too busy or some can't be bothered.

  • Robbie
    They have heard you are a gardener-lawn care guy so they assume you will not have enough money to pay them for their skilled tradesman rates

  • I help a huge range of trades with their marketing. In my experience, tradesmen fall into 2 groups. The ones who are business savvy, and those who aren't. The former don't need to respond the requests for small jobs, the latter are usually too busy kidding themselves their business is doing ok, just because they have a full diary.

    Long gone are the days that tradesmen need to be chasing work.
  • We had issues finding a painter to do the outside of our previous house.

    It was a '30s detached house on a steep hill, so very high and with hard-to-access areas. We ended up finding a guy who was hapy to take it on, but only if we scaffolded the higher side. He was embarrassed to ask, as he thought it would make hime seem expensive!

    There's a lesson there about selling the right service, as some customers are prepared to pay the extra for awkward jobs.

    A three-storey townhouse does suggest it's hard to get to the top areas both front and back, so perhaps that's why they aren't quoting? Maybe it's worth saying you'll get the access sorted at your cost, and doing a deal with a local scaffolder or tower hire?

  • True, alos in Leeds at least getting a tiler/decorator/plumber/roofer means paying top whack now as they are all flat out, most I know are booked thru till after xmas now, so simply if it looks like hard work dont bother quoting - No point busting your gut when the same moneys on offer for easier work...

    Sign of economic recovery, more works on the market than their is slack to take it up - Starting to filter down to Gardening now, alot of guys have packed in - Im turning away an awful lot of "my old gardeners retiring this autumn" or "he just disapeared" calls this autumn, so far Id say more than the last 5 years put together, which implies the market is settling.

  • PRO
    Could you explain that a bit more for me being a stupid.
    Do you mean not maximising profits, time management, cost management etc?

    Stuart said:
    I help a huge range of trades with their marketing. In my experience, tradesmen fall into 2 groups. The ones who are business savvy, and those who aren't. The former don't need to respond the requests for small jobs, the latter are usually too busy kidding themselves their business is doing ok, just because they have a full diary.

    Long gone are the days that tradesmen need to be chasing work.
  • Good points, David. There's a real up-turn with work at the moment, so we should all be picking the better jobs.

    This idiot has spent the evening removing Pyracantha thorns from his hands. Should have refused the job.... :-)

  • PRO
    I've got a fairly small one to do on Friday and I'm already wishing I'd said no!

    Paul McNulty said:

    Good points, David. There's a real up-turn with work at the moment, so we should all be picking the better jobs.

    This idiot has spent the evening removing Pyracantha thorns from his hands. Should have refused the job.... :-)

  • A relation of mine works in recruitment, trades and labour. There is currently a significant shortage of skilled and un-skilled trades at the moment in Northern Ireland.

    Some trades are in such high demand that bidding wars have started to try and lure workers.

    A lot of the guys have moved over to England to work there, as it is better paid.

    I could imagine that the same could well apply to Painters and Decorators too. Supply and demand, and currently there is more demand for trades professions and they are able to pick and choose the jobs and chase the easier more profitable contracts.

    I think the term 'in the current climate' might no longer live up to whats actually happening on the ground.

  • PRO

    The rear of the house probably the trickiest part of the job, but it's now covered in Scaffolding.

    I'm thinking I might just do it myself :)

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