travelling tradies

[bentnose]

I live and work in a tourist town and during the season I often see travelling tradies, plumbers, sparkies etc. the local tradies here I think have abit of an captive market attitude where they think they can slug us locals over the top prices for quite often sub standard work.
Has anyone ever used travelling tradies and what their work was like?

[Bird]

I live and work in a tourist town and during the season I often see travelling tradies, plumbers, sparkies etc. the local tradies here I think have abit of an captive market attitude where they think they can slug us locals over the top prices for quite often sub standard work.
Has anyone ever used travelling tradies and what their work was like?

Whats the worst that can happen? try it once...

[rockman]

you might find that your local tradies have little extra things to pay is possibly why they have to charge the extra , ie : insurance / permits / warranty

[Beachman]

I have a plasterer mate who calls himself semi-retired and goes on 3 month roads trips when he is either running low on money or his Wife is annoying him. 

He tows his camper to small towns in Outback Queensland and finds a park to stay. Then he goes down to the local Pub to put the word out no plastering job is too big or small and happy to take cash to keep the costs down. He normally gets bombarded with work as these little towns either don’t have a plasterer or the ones in town charge like a wounded bull. 

For me personally when getting a job done by any tradesman will hang around and watch them work as well as asking them questions about the job as they go. I do this for my know knowledge as I like to know how/why things work, but I also know enough to pick up if they are trying to take me for a ride.

[Patr80l]

I have a plasterer mate who calls himself semi-retired and goes on 3 month roads trips when he is either running low on money or his Wife is annoying him. 

He tows his camper to small towns in Outback Queensland and finds a park to stay. Then he goes down to the local Pub to put the word out no plastering job is too big or small and happy to take cash to keep the costs down. He normally gets bombarded with work as these little towns either don’t have a plasterer or the ones in town charge like a wounded bull. 

For me personally when getting a job done by any tradesman will hang around and watch them work as well as asking them questions about the job as they go. I do this for my know knowledge as I like to know how/why things work, but I also know enough to pick up if they are trying to take me for a ride.

Do they charge extra if you watch?

[Mace]

I have a plasterer mate who calls himself semi-retired and goes on 3 month roads trips when he is either running low on money or his Wife is annoying him. 

SHMBO's cousin is a now retired Refrigeration Mechanic. Even when in business he found it hard to take a holiday without finding work along the way. He's looking forward to doing a bit more now when travelling in their new Winnebago.

[robbo1172]

Never used a travelling tradie before, but I am prone to the odd travelling trumpet every now and then... 

Robbo

[BernieS]

Hell, just beware the travelling gypsy tradies.  Several arrested in WA last week and deported for ripping off the elderly.  Dodgy roof painting this time.  Also there's a young guy travelling around the North Coast in S E Qld, another travelling gypsy, doing the same thing. The cops have him in their sights.  If you have elderly relatives living in the area, please warn them. You can also contact fair trading for stickers for letter boxes or front doors that warns these creeps off.

Here's a link to the WA news article. https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/26071853/shady-tradies-to-be-deported-after-police-bust/

[fishfinder]

Do they charge extra if you watch?

I know a lot of tradies do - my father inlaw always complains how tradies over charge him, I keep telling him it is because he is always under their feet annoying them.

[oldmate]

.

[bentnose]

I should have been more clearer sorry. I mean the grey nomad Australian travelling type tradies caravan in tow. doing jobs and enjoying semi retirement

[BernieS]

I should have been more clearer sorry. I mean the grey nomad Australian travelling type tradies caravan in tow. doing jobs and enjoying semi retirement

From your opening post, there's doesn't seem to be much difference between the two 

[gronk]

Do they charge extra if you watch?

I knew a girl once who did !!!!!     

[graham]

I would say if you are able to watch them at work , and they make it look easy and it look good to you , you may have a good Tradie , doesn't like doing things twice
Like everything else in life get the basics right ,and the flow on should be the same
When they look at the job in hand , they should know what tools/materials are needed , and if they are doing demo work,they should  explain that there may be extra charges , and show why there are extra charges
When they make it look easy ,Tradie , if they struggle , might pay to let them go , I've seen some orrible work on the domestic front ,through friends of friends , and it costs four times as much to fix
Payment for materials , don't pay up front you may never see them again,pay when on site , more horror stories , then pay in full when you are happy with the finish
I always tell the client to pay me at the end when I've finished and they are happy , always been paid and recommended to others
Cheers

[Elky]

Do they charge extra if you watch?

Yep can't stand being watched, especially the quiet ones who just look and don't talk, chit chat is good! My work is pretty quick tho, security and fly screens are piss easy to fit

[dales133]

I'm working on a job at the moment and this woman's constantly under my feet and ask g stupid questions or interfering between trades and causing misunderstandings.
Some people just don't get helping isn't realy helping if you don't know Shit and you either trust someone to do something or you do it youself

[mickkez]

Do they charge extra if you watch?

I would. Theres nothing worse than having an owner under your feet while you are trying to do the job. As long as they got the right licenses than I see no reason not to trust them.

 

[chester ver2.0]

We looked into using one once and here was my concerns

1. For simple jobs no problem but as the complexity went up the cost then went beyond the local guys as he then had to go and rent / source specialist tools that the local guys either had or had the connections to get at a lower price / rental

2. We were going to be his last job so if he did the job and there was issues what do i do if there is a problem and this guy is now 2 states away

In the end due to complexity i went with a local guy. For a simple job i do not see a problem but for anything more complex take into account the above

[Beachman]

I would. Theres nothing worse than having an owner under your feet while you are trying to do the job. As long as they got the right licenses than I see no reason not to trust them.

 

3 years ago we did major house renovations but just after starting my builder got sick which meant he wasn’t around as much as I would have liked. The builder still used all his tradesmen which he has used for years and he was on site when they started and they could phone him at any time. But it did mean I had to go to the site more than I would have liked and talk with the guys.  All the guys had copies of the plans along with specific med maps the builder did up to clarify a couple of points. This is just a couple of things I picked up
Trench for a retaining wall dug in wrong spot, so I would have had a block wall in a bedroom
Steel beam put in the middle of a window opening
House raisers forgot to put one very important steel support beam up
Wiring for a couple of light switches wired up behind the door (Plans clearly showed which way the door opened)
External tap placed on a block pool fence, so made it a stepping point this meant the pool wasn’t compliant
Concreters nearly pouring a path which was butted up to the house slab without termite protection (It was in there quote and something I later found out the certifier took very seriously)

So now I do let them know I’m watching, but I don’t get in there way or talk non-stop.   

[dales133]

Every trade likes friendly verbal clients...it's not the same as annoying ones.
The ones that piss me off ask questions constantly about stuff that if they didn't annoy would be obvious at the end of the day

[nab]

I did a big job about 6 hrs from Perth. The word got out that I was in town and I got more work as all the other sparkies worked at the mine and the ones that did service the community charged like wounded bulls! Had to go back to do some other bits and pieces and again the extra work made it even more worthwhile for me.

But I am a trustworthy looking bloke 

I don't mind people watching me and asking questions, it takes me longer to do the job so I charge more 

[Moggy]

3 years ago we did major house renovations but just after starting my builder got sick which meant he wasn’t around as much as I would have liked. The builder still used all his tradesmen which he has used for years and he was on site when they started and they could phone him at any time. But it did mean I had to go to the site more than I would have liked and talk with the guys.  All the guys had copies of the plans along with specific med maps the builder did up to clarify a couple of points. This is just a couple of things I picked up
Trench for a retaining wall dug in wrong spot, so I would have had a block wall in a bedroom
Steel beam put in the middle of a window opening
House raisers forgot to put one very important steel support beam up
Wiring for a couple of light switches wired up behind the door (Plans clearly showed which way the door opened)
External tap placed on a block pool fence, so made it a stepping point this meant the pool wasn’t compliant
Concreters nearly pouring a path which was butted up to the house slab without termite protection (It was in there quote and something I later found out the certifier took very seriously)

So now I do let them know I’m watching, but I don’t get in there way or talk non-stop.

Wow!!!!!
As a builder I would be mortified to run a job like that.
I'd have to be on life support to stop me checking on job progess & making sure all went as planned.
I would have to agree with previous posters though it can be a risk with itinerant worker's & you'll get what you pay for.

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[oldmate]

Wow!!!!!
As a builder I would be mortified to run a job like that.
I'd have to be on life support to stop me checking on job progess & making sure all went as planned.
I would have to agree with previous posters though it can be a risk with itinerant worker's & you'll get what you pay for.

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Yep, because it's your arse on the line.