Poles versus Brits

[original PM]

Sadly I have to agree with Sasguru's experience here. We maintain a number of properties and use a range of tradesmen who are from different parts of the world.

I've found the Poles and Hungarians to be the best. Always reliable, working hard, doing a good job and complaining the least. They just get on with it and don't charge for every little extra or minor change.

I've found the Indians to be the cheapest and by far the worst in terms of communication, project management and quality of work (yes I'm still talking about building & home improvement ).

I've found Brits to be the most unreliable, the most expensive but not always the worst at what they do. They rarely turn up to do the job and they won't return your calls.

One thing to note with the Brits - if you pay well then you will get a good job done, i.e. you have to go top-end to make it worthwhile hiring a British firm. But in most cases top-end is not affordable or necessary, so on the whole, the lower/medium priced Brits are not comparable to the Poles/Hungarians.

Is that racist? No, it's just from my real-world experience.

Interesting point

Just had my kitchen done employed the services of the local kitchen man who has been in business for 20+ years.

No major problems at all - they did push back the start date by a week - but mainly because the main kitchen fitter guy got an operation he had been waiting for - they gave me 3 weeks notice of this and the owner did offer to do it himself if it was a problem - it wasn't.

So they started when they said they would - as we were ripping out the whole kitchen and starting again there were obviously a few unforeseen issues which they resolved without compliant and without trying to up the bill.

Plumber and spark also native uk - interestingly the spark was from a good 60 miles away so not that local to me but so what.

Quality of work is excellent - real attention to detail - however I was more interested in getting a good job done that getting a cheap job done and that may be the point.

Interestingly father in law kept moaning they were 'taking to long' (not sure why he does not live here) I had to point out to him that

a) It costs me nothing more
b) At what point did I say I was time sensitive
c) How many kitchens has he fitted to be an expert on how long it should take to fit a kitchen.

And there in lies the problem - to many people think tradesmen are thick and lazy, that there job is easy and anyone could do it and worst of all think that because they are paying for their services they can treat them like tulip.

And when their completely unrealistic expectations are not met they complain.

[The_Equalizer]

Is it because living and buying a house in this country is expensive. So if you pay a decent rate you may get someone who gives a crap? If I was polish and could work here for 5 years and undercut a British person but still buy a house and keep my family in Poland would I be more motivated?

Exactly. It's a bit like Indian doctors who relative to wages at home are millionaires for a year's work. Who can blame them for coming here and working hard?

[sasguru]

Do you remember those at school that a5sed about, didn't turn up, and failed their GCSEs?

Yeah the same fookers who voted for Brexit because they can't compete.
TBH if the quality of work was about the same (not fussed about price, I've learnt the hard way that going cheap is a false economy) I'd hire the Brits every time, but it isn't.

[sasguru]

And there in lies the problem - to many people think tradesmen are thick and lazy, that there job is easy and anyone could do it and worst of all think that because they are paying for their services they can treat them like tulip.

And when their completely unrealistic expectations are not met they complain.

I'm sorry for being so unrealistic that I expect them to turn up as promised. Silly me

[woohoo]

Exactly. It's a bit like Indian doctors who relative to wages at home are millionaires for a year's work. Who can blame them for coming here and working hard?

I don't blame them at all. It happens in contracting also.

Perhaps I should retire in Poland, buy a house now there. In a few years all the EU money will make Poland a paradise. Though, it does seem to get invaded a lot.

[sasguru]

Is it because living and buying a house in this country is expensive. So if you pay a decent rate you may get someone who gives a crap? If I was polish and could work here for 5 years and undercut a British person but still buy a house and keep my family in Poland would I be more motivated?

Bollux. The firm that didn't show up is top end and expensive.
I don't do cheap, I don't do cash in hand, having being stung before.
It's local laziness and entitlement, pure and simple.

[Fronttoback]

Bollux. The firm that didn't show up is top end and expensive.
I don't do cheap, I don't do cash in hand, having being stung before.
It's local laziness and entitlement, pure and simple.

I told you, it's because they picked up on the tone of your voice and thought "this guy is a ****".

If the British workers were all as you say, economics would force them out of work. But clearly, they still have income if they are turning down work.

They know that someone like you, will make the job stressful.

It's just you that is getting bad treatment. It's not us, it's just you.

[Fronttoback]

Bollux. The firm that didn't show up is top end and expensive.
I don't do cheap, I don't do cash in hand, having being stung before.
It's local laziness and entitlement, pure and simple.

Next time, either get your wife to speak on the phone.. Or don't use your business voice, use your rascal voice. You know, the one you use when you've had a couple of wines and the wife has got a short skirt on.

[The_Equalizer]

I told you, it's because they picked up on the tone of your voice and thought "this guy is a ****".

If the British workers were all as you say, economics would force them out of work. But clearly, they still have income if they are turning down work.

They know that someone like you, will make the job stressful.

It's just you that is getting bad treatment. It's not us, it's just you.

The trades do seem to be particularly sensitive to a5seholes.

[original PM]

The trades do seem to be particularly sensitive to a5seholes.

Indeed - father in law seems to think we still live in a barter economy.

Had to laugh when he bartered some guy down - and then when the guy recapped what he was going to do he had dropped half of the things in the initial quote - father in law started to get shirty - tradesman said well if you ain't willing to pay I ain't willing to build....