complaining about building tradies Pffffffft
id like to give a standing ovation to the worst not mentioned the DENTIST.

MikeyG said..
Only yesterday - Pool guy came to replace a load of hoses and backwash hose. I tell him he's forgotten the elbow and the pipe will split if it's vertical and jammed into the leaf box. One hour later, it splits. Called him back and he's still not returned.

When you say "tradie" don't forget that is apprenticed and qualified trades only or they are a handyman / trades assistant level untrained.
For many jobs you think are a tradie, NOT ACTUALLY.
Oddly, I have Cert2 in warehousing and packing logistics but it is an accreditation(i dun va' um!) not a qualification.
And i've had a Forklift LF, it's almost as good as qualification in an HR(High Risk) field, but simply isn't.

^^^ What ?

I've had 1 tradie out of countless do a good job, but I usually do most of the work myself, and I would say I duck up about 20%.

Job: Install a roller door motor... I was going to do it myself but I need it in a hurry.
Dude rocked up 2 mins late.
Did the job in 45mins.
Gave me a free remote for another garage.
Has worked no issues since.
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Recent SNAFU.
Job: Install some blinds 5m up in a void.
Sales lady, 1hr late. I still accepted her quote though.

10 days later 2 dudes rock up 1.5hrs late. Didn't have a tall enough ladder.
4 days later 1hr late. They had the ladder, but now they're telling me they need scaffolding. I tell them to get real and demonstrate how I could do it myself. They continue, but now the blind's rail is too long.
3 days later (late again), they have the ladder + correct length blinds, install the rail but now the slats are too short, they think the measurements got swapped around.
7 days later I think they turned up on time, and completed the job.

It was a $600 blind install that took about month.
==============================================

I have another story about some gates, wrong color, wrong size, wrong opening side, wrong post... didn't end too well but I just didn't want the duckers round my house anymore. The gates work but one is still the wrong color.
===============================================

I recently resurfaced my driveway.
It started out real good, but ended up totally ducking it up... I guess you could say it consistently looks crap now, the concrete is still cracking off and the sealer is still bonded to my car's paint... who would have thought cement mixing, bonding and sealing was such a science.

Maybe the quality of tradesmen is a result of consumers going for the cheapest quote. Continually doing this for years and years would result in quality workers becoming extinct. The marvellous internet has allowed us to get more quotes for jobs and thus the cheapest price (aka best price) from some company we've never heard of and are really only a front for some subby who has had his margins screw well below the means of doing a quality job.

So instead of pointing the finger at the tradies, have a good look at yourself and see what part you have played in the demise of quality workmanship.

my SIL is landscaper gardener/designer, often I tell him, 'just do the bloody job and get onto the next one'. He did a retaining wall about 9 months ago 1.5m high 10m long saw it a month ago and arranged to rebuild cause HE wasnt happy. Now he has clients waiting and wondering when their job will be done. With his wife doing paperwork invoices and finalising quotes I got her to increase his hourly labour rate by 40% and still people are happy.
Id say he does a quality job.

hoop said..
^^^ What ?

Not hard to work out hoop- jokers complaining about asbestos in his house and cant be bothered to deal with his asset in a responsible manner when it cost not much to find out...
J.