Builders and contractors: are they all like this?

Forums › Off topic › Builders and contractors: are they all like this?

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ZollyMonsta

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#99499 11-Dec-2007 20:47

There's a site called www.nocowboys.co.nz which people post their own comments on tradespeople.

Wish I had known about it sooner as I used a plasterer from the local newspaper (bad move, I know).

Three visits later to 'fix' cracks and problem wasn't sorted but was told 'where to go' as they wouldn't be back.

Unfortunately it seems (certainly with builders) near impossible to get a good qualified tradesperson to do the work.
In the case of builders, most, if not all, are busy until mid next year.

freitasm

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#118042 22-Mar-2008 13:11

Coming back to this discussion... We now have the council approval for our renovation - but after three months we lost both our builders (one moved to Australia, the other is now busy).

Any recommendations for good builders in Wellington (Johnsonville)?

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gomez

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#118236 23-Mar-2008 14:42

As an apprentice sparky I've had the joys of working next to builders, plumbers, and project managers. And I've seen some of the worst work done, ever.

As far as tradesmen having to leave about an hour into the job, some of them have some major contracts but they should also be thinking of the non-commercial jobs, after all they should be priveleged that they were selected from the many contractors to do the job!

So far I've seen :

* A builder with a nailgun skewer 4 new cables I'd just run, writing off 2 runs of 2.5mm^2 TPS about 20 metres long.
* The same builder drill down through the bottom plate of a wall, then jackhammering concrete and blowing through a water pipe.
* An AV technician mount plastic flush boxes into a fire rated wall (when confronted, he said "I dunno..." and walked off).

I will also say I've seen some pretty shocking work done by sparkies who cut corners (yeah, pun...). But it seems that trying to find a reliable contractor these days at a reasonable price is about as rare as trying to locate rocking horse manure.

"Of everything I've lost, I miss my mind the most"

Batman

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#118241 23-Mar-2008 14:59

wow what a shame, seems like we can include builders in the secondhand car salesman and real estate agent category (no offense, but you can't change one's experience) ...

Macfan

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#118325 24-Mar-2008 09:31

As a sparky till the early 90's sounds like things have changed freitasm, no corners were cut in my day that I recall.

Probably the combination of 700 kiwis leaving a week for aussie and many be the "bright" tradesmen plus the cut throat world of the building industry these days where every thing is down to time and money does not make for a god mix.
As I type this and look round our 1920's villa its not hard to see quality and putting the time in to do a good job has definitely changed - no leaks in our 88 year old girl.

photoman

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#118551 25-Mar-2008 14:40

Macfan - I suspect it's more to do with people not having pride in their work anymore. Today, it's a case of get the work done and get the money. Who cares if the quality isn't that good! That's why the likes of your property is solid.

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