I have always been a "hands-on" person and I can quite happily tackle most jobs around the house such as plumbing, electrical, decorating and other property maintenance but, there comes a time when it's necessary to call in someone more skilled and with the right tools to do other work
Over the past 2 years or so I have had need of professional tradespeople but things haven't always been as good as I would have hoped. I'll share my story of employing tradespeople but I will not "name and shame" because I am not complaining about their skills or workmanship, just their lack of professionalism and confidence building
Our garden fence, which we share with one of our neighbours, was in serious need of repair as it had been up for 41 years. Our neighbour (not the awful one) and ourselves share the cost of maintenance and they agreed that we should replace it. It is roughly 17 mtrs long and 2 mtrs high but, I wanted to have a base of oak sleepers along part of its length to accommodate future plans for our garden. The split of the costs was agreed so all we needed was an estimate from some fencing contractors.
How hard can it be to find a fencing contractor? well, a lot harder than either of us imagined. I already had a contractor who had done previous work such as laying the driveway, which our other neighbour destroyed but, he doesn't come cheap and I didn't want my neighbour to think I had a vested interest in using my usual contractor. I contacted a number of fencing contractors through Checkatrade but, despite me giving the 3 or 4 that responded, the full details, only 1 contractor agreed to come and quote for the work.
The contractor arrived but "scruffy" is being kind. He was filthy, his beard was unkempt, his clothing was in tatters and his vehicle was more rust than metal. This didn't