Worst tradespeople ?
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Yep plumbers are right up there. Our toilet was leaking from the cistern last year. I was fed up with fixing things around the house so asked the mrs to just call a plumber and get it fixed. $70 to turn up then the bugger wanted another $400 and something to fix it. I asked him to itemise the parts required on the quote and said I'd get back to him, went to Bunnings, got the bits for $60 and fixed it in an hour.
ROTFL !!! Yeah, anything like that, I'd try to have a crack at it first, if the wife wasn't looking. This is installing a solar hot water system tho, a little too involved for me.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
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Ah, one of those guys. He's the type that will start the job then go do other jobs for a month and won't get back to finish yours for a very long time. Cheers, Drew.
yeah, that was the story with my en suite. Guy half did it, kept making dates and never came back.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
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ROTFL !!! Yeah, anything like that, I'd try to have a crack at it first, if the wife wasn't looking. This is installing a solar hot water system tho, a little too involved for me.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
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This is the installation of a solar hot water system, but even then, my wife plain won't let me do electrical or plumbing, even though I know it's dead easy and we're being robbed.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
Christian Graus wrote:
my wife plain won't let me do electrical or plumbing
I see your problem and it's a tricky one. Especially if you want to remain married. A technique I've found invaluable is lying through my teeth: if she has a good/best friend who also happens to be married, happen to mention (in passing) that you were chatting to the good/best friend's spouse and let slip that he is installing a solar hot water system and saving x amount of dollars for a (inset purpose de rigueur). Now this works because even though women talk, they usually won't ask the right questions and are easily side-tracked into a bidding war. In this case, the price is "down" :) Trust me, it works. My wife's best friend is her sister and you can imagine how well they get on (I get on well with her too). I don't get on too well with my brother-in-law, mind, largely because I'm always stitching him up with cheap plumbing options ;)
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
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Who here agrees with me that plumbers are the worst tradespeople to deal with. I've not dealt with one that didn't let me down. My hot water is brown and i've been chasing the guy who assured me he's not busy enough to bother pencilling in a definite date, for 6 weeks, he finally told me he's never coming, this morning.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
My brother is a plumber, so consequently I don't have any plumbing issues!! ;-) In fairness though - he doesn't do residential plumbing (except for me... oh and our parents... and his own I guess) - he does commercial plumbing. I hear similar horror stories about residential plumbers...
Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad!! Booger Mobile - Camp Quality esCarpade 2010
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Who here agrees with me that plumbers are the worst tradespeople to deal with. I've not dealt with one that didn't let me down. My hot water is brown and i've been chasing the guy who assured me he's not busy enough to bother pencilling in a definite date, for 6 weeks, he finally told me he's never coming, this morning.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
It all boils down to money. Good plumbers like any good professional service are expensive.
Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
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My brother is a plumber, so consequently I don't have any plumbing issues!! ;-) In fairness though - he doesn't do residential plumbing (except for me... oh and our parents... and his own I guess) - he does commercial plumbing. I hear similar horror stories about residential plumbers...
Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad!! Booger Mobile - Camp Quality esCarpade 2010
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$500... that's the original paint you can see on it!! Came full (and I mean FULL) of spare parts - some from this model, some from other models that may be useful, including a brand spanking new XC radiator (heaps bigger than the XM radiator) Took a chance - bought it sight unseen from egay. Scottie is coming around on Saturday and we are going to get the engine started (apparently it turned over but didn't fire up for the fella we got it from - then his battery went flat). He was pretty sad having to sell it, but unfortunately his circumstances changed and he had to offload it quickly... couple of hours from listing to us getting there and buying it!! I have a stack more pictures of it, I will upload some more when I get the chance (am onsite today).
Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad!! Booger Mobile - Camp Quality esCarpade 2010
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$500... that's the original paint you can see on it!! Came full (and I mean FULL) of spare parts - some from this model, some from other models that may be useful, including a brand spanking new XC radiator (heaps bigger than the XM radiator) Took a chance - bought it sight unseen from egay. Scottie is coming around on Saturday and we are going to get the engine started (apparently it turned over but didn't fire up for the fella we got it from - then his battery went flat). He was pretty sad having to sell it, but unfortunately his circumstances changed and he had to offload it quickly... couple of hours from listing to us getting there and buying it!! I have a stack more pictures of it, I will upload some more when I get the chance (am onsite today).
Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad!! Booger Mobile - Camp Quality esCarpade 2010
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Who here agrees with me that plumbers are the worst tradespeople to deal with. I've not dealt with one that didn't let me down. My hot water is brown and i've been chasing the guy who assured me he's not busy enough to bother pencilling in a definite date, for 6 weeks, he finally told me he's never coming, this morning.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
I do my own plumbing, I haven't let me down yet...I am pretty darn inexpensive to boot.
Gary Kirkham Forever Forgiven and Alive in the Spirit "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Me blog, You read
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$500 is a bargain. You could sell it for a profit, buy a Holden and donate the change to your charity!
It was briefly discussed, but then we thought it would be better to actually use a classic car rather than a ratty old hen... I mean Holden... Actually, funnier still is that Scottie is a Holden man through and through, whereas I'm a Ford man... It's a philosophical argument really - they are all much of a muchness these days!
Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad!! Booger Mobile - Camp Quality esCarpade 2010
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Who here agrees with me that plumbers are the worst tradespeople to deal with. I've not dealt with one that didn't let me down. My hot water is brown and i've been chasing the guy who assured me he's not busy enough to bother pencilling in a definite date, for 6 weeks, he finally told me he's never coming, this morning.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
We had a guy mowed our lawns (we lived on very step acreage so it needed a BIG mower). We still owe him about $300 (AU) from nearly 2 years ago. He phones a couple of times a year to ask if he can collect it - usually from just down the road, when I've got about $5 to my name. He won't take a cheque or electronic payment - wants the folding stuff. Won't arrange a date in advance to come round to collect it, because he's not organised enough o know when he's next going to be around the area. (when he still did our lawns, he just came and did them when he thought they needed doing, and it was dry enough to mow) I even offered to drive round his house with the cash, but he thought that sounded too hard. He's a great contractor - did a great job - but I can see him going out of business because he's so disorganised.
___________________________________________ .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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Christian Graus wrote:
my wife plain won't let me do electrical or plumbing
I see your problem and it's a tricky one. Especially if you want to remain married. A technique I've found invaluable is lying through my teeth: if she has a good/best friend who also happens to be married, happen to mention (in passing) that you were chatting to the good/best friend's spouse and let slip that he is installing a solar hot water system and saving x amount of dollars for a (inset purpose de rigueur). Now this works because even though women talk, they usually won't ask the right questions and are easily side-tracked into a bidding war. In this case, the price is "down" :) Trust me, it works. My wife's best friend is her sister and you can imagine how well they get on (I get on well with her too). I don't get on too well with my brother-in-law, mind, largely because I'm always stitching him up with cheap plumbing options ;)
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
martin_hughes wrote:
I don't get on too well with my brother-in-law, mind, largely because I'm always stitching him up with cheap plumbing options
LOL. I will try that.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
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Christian Graus wrote:
Yeah, anything like that, I'd try to have a crack at it first, if the wife wasn't looking
A trip to Bunnings in Sydney on a Saturday is only marginally better than coughing up $400
Yeah, I bet.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
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It all boils down to money. Good plumbers like any good professional service are expensive.
Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
But, I am just calling people at random, they don't list prices in the paper. I'd go for the more expensive one if I knew who that was.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
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Who here agrees with me that plumbers are the worst tradespeople to deal with. I've not dealt with one that didn't let me down. My hot water is brown and i've been chasing the guy who assured me he's not busy enough to bother pencilling in a definite date, for 6 weeks, he finally told me he's never coming, this morning.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
Christian Graus wrote:
My hot water is brown
eww! i hope it's just rust.
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Who here agrees with me that plumbers are the worst tradespeople to deal with. I've not dealt with one that didn't let me down. My hot water is brown and i've been chasing the guy who assured me he's not busy enough to bother pencilling in a definite date, for 6 weeks, he finally told me he's never coming, this morning.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
Not I. Never needed one myself (I rent) but my parents had one in a few weeks ago after the drain pipe for the toilet in the 2nd story bathroom rusted out. Prompt professional service, with no problems. They've lucked out on finding a general contractor as well about 15y ago when they put on an addition, and've had the same guy back a few times since. :cool:
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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Who here agrees with me that plumbers are the worst tradespeople to deal with. I've not dealt with one that didn't let me down. My hot water is brown and i've been chasing the guy who assured me he's not busy enough to bother pencilling in a definite date, for 6 weeks, he finally told me he's never coming, this morning.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
I never understood why the hell they are always so busy. How shit is the manufacturing of hot water tanks that they can't pencil you in? Been there, done that, took 2 months to get a rusty pipe away form my walk in bathroom so rust didn't poor out. 2 months, and by the way, the plumber initially said a few days he'd be there.
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About 15 years ago I had a plumber in because the potable water supply had just stopped working - the Water Board denied all knowledge. He spent three hours changing washers, banging pipes and complaining about the "cowboys" who'd previously been in to fit washers when suddenly he ripped up some floor boards, replaced a blocked de-scaling apparatus and then, miraculously, the water was back on. He left with about £1200 of my money in his pocket. From that day I swore that I would never again be held ransom to pirates masquerading as plumbers, went on an evening course, bought some books and now - even though I could afford to have a good portion of Southern England re-plumbed (including all the sucking in of breath between teeth, talk of cowboys and washer replacement that entails) - will never again employ another plumber. DIY - plumbing is effing easy.
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
In my previous line of work I was a member of the steam fitters union. We used to laugh about the fact there were only 3 things you have to know to be a plumber 1. Shit runs downhill 2. The Boss is an asshole 3. Payday is Friday I do my own plumbing as well.
Uptight Ex-Military Republican married to a Commie Lib - How weird is that?