ᐅ Unreliable contractors – is this becoming common in the industry?

Sorry, I just need to vent a little, but if anyone has good advice or can tell me that this is not our fault and everything is still within normal limits, I would appreciate it.

We bought a house, and as part of the renovations, we had to hire several craftsmen. Three-quarters of those jobs are still not assigned. Not because we want to drag it out, nor because we don’t want to pay, and we’re not desperately looking for the cheapest option – we just have the impression that it’s currently very difficult to find skilled and especially reliable craftsmen!??!

The first job actually went pretty well. It was about roof windows. Someone came who had been recommended to us beforehand, they were on time, showed up on time for the second appointment as well, provided competent advice, and we had an offer within 4 working days. It wasn’t the cheapest, but it doesn’t have to be, and just like that, it was settled.

Then it started. It involved a wooden railing. Not a huge deal, really. We contacted two specialist companies – one didn’t respond at all, and the other took 4 weeks before anyone came out. If we had other options, that company would have been out of the running for us. The appointment itself was… let’s say, it didn’t seem very interesting to the person on site. As a reference, the order was for about 2,000 euros. The offer then took another 4 weeks, only arriving after three follow-ups, and was substantially more expensive than the rough estimate we had initially. We are total laypersons, but several people with a bit more knowledge of wood independently told us that it was way too expensive. When we asked about details like straight versus twisted spindles, which we never requested, we didn’t get any reply.

For the same job, another craftsman came through a platform called MyHammer. At least he showed up on time, was reasonably friendly and professional, gave a first figure – and then sent an offer three days later that was almost double. When we asked, he said he hadn’t accounted for certain things on site, that some additional steps were necessary, etc. Then he offered nonsense like waiving the warranty to lower the price. Of course, we didn’t take that – what nonsense.

We sent a written inquiry to another company and got no response; we called them but still no callback.

Window replacement on the ground floor and security upgrade – a never-ending topic. We probably had the wrong price expectations at first. One craftsman just didn’t show up for the appointment and never contacted us again. Another came, seemed interested; we were initially talking about around 5,000 euros. He said he’d send an offer. Nothing since then. We asked several times, he kept postponing, saying tomorrow, next week, a component was missing, and eventually nothing came at all. That’s so unprofessional that we don’t want to deal with that company anymore.

Three weeks ago, a craftsman from a specialist company that does a lot of these security upgrades came by. Great advice. It concerns several jobs that they could handle all in one package. We’re looking at around 12,000 euros. That’s a lot of money, some of which goes through KfW funding, but above all, it’s important to us that it’s done properly and on time. The guy made a really good impression. But to this day, I still don’t have an offer. I have already asked three times, especially because we need to submit something to KfW for the roof windows as well, and it needs to be approved before starting the work. The roof windows are scheduled in four weeks, and we wanted to submit everything together. I told the security company this and that we need an offer now. “Yes, apologies,” last week; then Monday/yesterday, still nothing; now something is missing, so it’s not finished yet.

I’m really fed up now. Hello, we want to spend money!!! Are the companies so overloaded that orders of 12,000 euros don’t matter, that they don’t need the work? I don’t expect us to shout and have the work start the next day, no. But not even getting a concrete offer, not sticking to agreed timelines??? I don’t understand this. Is it normal? Is the construction trade just booming so much right now that this has to be accepted???

Your last sentence sums it up quite well! Many factors come together here. A flood of orders meets a severe shortage of skilled tradespeople. Tender processes fail due to a lack of bids. Private individuals can only get craftsmen if they personally know someone. Since this business is quite local, especially for small jobs, you can’t just turn to Poland or elsewhere. Why would a carpenter from Poznan build a stair handrail for you? What would that even cost in the end?
Many companies are also poorly organized. Here, customers used to concrete offers meet businesses without administrative staff. The boss is exhausted in the evening, then you get that annoying lady with her request, and in the end, she doesn’t choose us anyway. It’s all frustrating—I’m done with it. Let them take Müller, I don’t care... I’m not working overtime for $2500.
None of this helps you now, I know. But that’s how it is. Karsten

Mizit schrieb:
Hello, we do want to spend money!!! Are the companies so overloaded that even jobs worth 12k don’t matter, do they not need that?

Good craftsmen are already fully booked, but even bad craftsmen can’t do more than work.

Since we are currently building a new house, I can say this is completely normal; we have sometimes been kept waiting even much longer. It took 8 months to get a contract from the construction company. For the past 6 months, I have been chasing the carpenter about the stairs.
I even thought it might be my fault because I have fairly specific ideas about everything, and maybe this is too demanding for the craftsmen. Therefore, I have been holding back a lot on any requests and ideas and am now just glad if anything progresses at all—which it hasn’t so far because we haven’t even started yet.
It’s very frustrating, especially when you want to build your dream home and wish for building partners who take the time to calmly discuss and plan everything.

Nordlys schrieb:
A lot is happening at once. A flood of orders meets a severe skilled labor shortage in the trades.

This is hardly surprising, considering that parents tell their children every day at their Nutella breakfast that completing high school and attending university are the minimum requirements if they want to earn a living at all.

This over-academization, where anyone capable of manual work is expected to become an engineer, is clearly showing its consequences.

Sorry to the original poster, this doesn’t help, but that’s the reality. Finding skilled workers for small jobs locally is, depending on the region, difficult to very difficult.

Unfortunately, many master craftsmen are not confident enough to expand their businesses to the point where they can afford professional management. They have probably been told that this is only for academics… besides, they simply lack qualified apprentices.

( Disclaimer: I have a degree myself, later supervised first-year students, and have seen incredible things. I just take the liberty to express this opinion )

This is exactly the current situation! And then people keep saying here in the forum how cheap building is right now. Of courseeeeeeee... because all the skilled workers are bored and desperately looking for work.

You can build cheaply, but you will very likely have to deal with poor workmanship...

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