So recently I purchased another house, or a bungalow to be more precise.
This property was purchased from my mother in law and it was purchased with the intention of my wife and I moving into the bungalow and renting out our current house. We didn't buy the bungalow because I struggle with stairs or because we are thinking about when we get older, because we are both still in our 40s. We purchased it because it has a huge footprint and a driveway that will allow for my Motorhome to be parked out of the way, saving me my storage fees, in a quieter road on the edge of a town. We also decided to buy this for sentimental reasons and the obvious future financial benefits.
Now, this bungalow is built in the 60s and pretty much hasn't been touched since back then, apart from the odd wall colour change and replacement of facias, gutters etc. So to say it needed work is a total understatement. It needs everything, from bathroom and kitchen, to walls reconfigured to maximise rooms. Right up to a full re-wire to combat the ageing current (excuse the pun) system to accommodate all the updates and changes we require, adding into the mix a full heating system, and by full, I mean rip out and start again.
I'm not actually overly intimidated by this amount of work, because we've managed a project of this size before. However, what I hadn't taken into consideration was the sheer unwillingness of almost all trades to actually bother calling me back, let alone come out to quote for the work.
I literally called and emailed thirteen plumbers over a 2 week period. Not one called be back and not one replied to an email. I finally got a plumber through a T6forum member who lives the other end of the country to me, who will remain nameless, but over a few week period, did as much as he could to either advise me or find a heating engineer, which he did and who came around last night to look over the job, spontaneously capping off a gas pipe to allow for my spark to fit a bigger consumer unit, and to top it, he drove a T6.. So he will also get the job pending quote. (Thank you Dave by the way)
I called five electricians and only one called me back, who by the way, got the job worth nearly £7000 and starts on Monday.
I asked four plasterers to price up the job (a full house overboard on every ceiling and every wall skimmed) Two came out, one priced, the other said he would quote but never got back to me. The one that priced, got the job worth nearly £4000. (who, by the way came through Instagram as a follower of mine)
I asked two UPVC companies to price up windows and doors. Both came out to measure two weeks ago, neither have sent a price yet!
I contacted several EV charger fitters, only one got back to me.
I asked a gate company to price up an electric sliding gate, which he got up to £10,000 before I told him to stop talking and I didn't want to waste anymore of his time.
Three paving companies looked at my driveway, not one came back with a price.
Needless to say, this rant is less about letting off steam and more about asking WTF has happened to the world of work? I've been in business since 2008 and in all that time, I've never not called a customer back, never not replied to an email. I totally understand people are busy, but really???? Am I just out of touch?
Anyway.
I've been forced to not book in any work until March, which is fine because it's reasonably quiet for me anyway. I've decided to carry out as much of the work myself, which by the way, I've never built stud walls, extended rooms, built an ensuite, started to prep a driveway for block paving myself, installed a UPVC door, plaster boarded up fireplaces and many other projects I've never tried, but I've invested a fortune in the correct equipment and I'm bloody loving it. Every day I start something new in the house. I might be slower than a pro, but my work is perfectly level and maybe a little too bolt and braces, but no one else wanted to earn money doing the work, so sod em.
Next weeks project is concrete path excavation, tapping into an existing clay pipe to run all the wastes needed for my ensuite. Why? because no ground workers wanted the job because it was too small for them
