Cowboys and handymen

[white-knight]

I run a "handyman service"....i ask for no monies up front ...the job gets done then you pay me end of .

If it dont get done you dont pay ....but thats never happened yet .

Im not a builder ...never said i was ...but i can do many many things that quite obviously many folks cant or cant be arsed to...other wise i would not be getting the work.

Time served means nothing.

[adele]

was not referring to time served bit was referring to people knocking a person who is trying to help others, some people prefer time served it gives them confidence but as you say if people are happy with your work then that is all that matters, but there are some rip off merchants out there who have caused people a lot of grief, we do a lot of work making good what so called experts have done or cannot be bothered to do, we also do other work but we do ask for a deposit as we have done work for people then they have not paid not because the work was not up to standard but because they just did not want to pay which meant we were the ones who were ripped off.

[mememe]

if you know anything about the construction industry then you would know about the Construction Skills Certification Scheme which is run by the UK Government.

Sorry to add to the whingeing and whining - but...

Is that quite correct, mayhew? From the CSCS website the organisation appears to have directors and it is also stated 'Who administers the CSCS scheme? (Answer:) ConstructionSkills"
Mention of the CSCS can also be found on the website of the Health and Safety Authority, which I believe is an Irish government organisation - and there it is only stated that holders of a CSCS card have received appropriate training in Health and Safety, with no mention being made of any need for skills proficiency testing, as is mentioned on the CSCS website. You CAN have some qualifications but it is not stipulated as being necessary to get a card.

From the CSCS website:

HOW TO APPLY

They will:
Ask you for your occupation, name date of birth, home address and National Insurance number

Talk to you about your current job, your past experience, whether you have any qualifications and if you belong to a professional body

Agree with you which CSCS card you should apply for and which health and safety test you need to book

Tell you whether you need any additional qualifications or training to apply for a CSCS card

Confirm whether you need to send any paperwork with your completed and signed application form

Ask for details of your credit or debit card to pay £30 for your CSCS card

Send you an application form for you to complete and return"


Have a look for yourself...

www.hsa.ie/Construction_Skills_Certification_Scheme

http://www.cscs.uk.com/

I'm sorry - but it all seems pretty fishy to me as well....

PS: You wouldn't happen to be a director of the company "Construction Skills", would you?

[brianj42]

I am not knocking a person who is trying to help others. I am pointing out that what is on offer here, which has good meaning...... has its flaws.

Without proper vetting how on earth can anyone recommend others they don't know from Adam. I can recommend people but who am I to do so ? More to the point who is mayhew to recommend others he knows little about ?

What is to stop a dodgy builder, with good credentials, pulling the wool over mayhems eyes and then mayhem being told he is responsible for a p*ssed off client down €10,000......

As for the comment "Bravo mayhew, as per usual certain members on here shout about things they have not bothered to check plus making some not very nice comments and putting people down." WHAT exactly is there to check ?

All good intentions, especially in a country where crap builders, rip off merchants, and ex pat conmen hide around every corner....But how do you know that one of these people, who has the certification, is really a "good" builder and "not" a conman.

Would you take my word for it if I recommended you a good plasterer ?

There are tradesmen on MYBG and BIB that constantly get high recomendations, some from real clients, and others from obvious pseudonyms. There are some which get witch hunted and would end up in a ducking stool if they could find a good tradesman to build one.

If I need a good tradesman in BG I use the forums and look for multiple recommendations, preferably without the pseudonym responses. As mayhem said, I only pay at the end, which to me is the first sign of a fair builder. If anything is wrong he doesn't get paid, so his confidence is such it will be right. Taking money up front has always been the crib of people who have been ripped off, I have yet to see in 6 years, anyone complain after they have paid once the job was done.

Taking one persons word for it on a Faceboook page, IMO, does not constitute a reliable recommendation.

[mayhew]

With the CSCS you can NOT just get a TRADESMEN card as you have to prove that you have at least NVQ2 or equivalent (G&G).
How ever you can get a general operatives card (Laborer) or Trainee either way it states on the cards, a gold card is a supervisors/ foreman.
The CSCS and CPCS is endorsed by the Government http://www.cscs.uk.com/upload_folder/do ... rnment.pdf.
My mistake I did state that the Government runs it but they endorse it.
To get on any site in the UK you must have a CSCS card.
If this is all you have to worry about then i do feel sorry for you. As for the Health and Safety Authority, The HSE (hse.gov.uk) recognize cscs.
This post is about cowboys and diy not whingeing and whining

[mememe]

Please don't try to discourage me from making valid comments by suggesting I am a 'saddo" - It's not really polite. Thanks for acknowledging that you were incorrect in what you stated.

I'm afraid the link you supplied to the CSCS website doesn't seem to work - Could you check it again please?

Where is it stated that you must have a minimum of NVQ2 (accepted as being equivalent to 5 GCSEs) to get a CSCS card? Did I miss it somewhere?

What is your reply to this, which is a posting from the HSE website? Is there any truth in it? If there is, how could you be excluded from a site if you don't have one?

"The legal status of the CSCS card is zero. It is no more than a mass registration purporting to infer competence. Over the years the CITB-CSkills, have administered the CSCS scheme with both parties suitably delighted with their "cash cow." However, on 28 April 2011 the CITB made its intention known that it would be cutting all ties with the CSCS scheme at the end of the current contractual period. The party line from CSkills is that there have been "difficulties" and that the contract has been "challenging."

I'm sorry mayhew - but like brian, however admirable your intentions, I am not convinced that your 'vetting abilities' would be sufficient to encourage me to sign up to the Facebook group.

But there again, I expect that the invitation has already been withdrawn in my case...

Good luck anyway.

[SooToo]

I clicked on the Facebook link....I can't see how it relates to tradesmen?? Its just a bunch of people with their own personal facebook pages and nothing to show what their trade is.

Maybe I'm being thick

Besides which it's a closed group which means you have to be invited to join...can't see the point of it.

[pollypepper]

Think there is a list being set up but not out at the moment on this FB page.Builder with qualifications have been asked to show what qualifications they do in fact have.
No Cowboys and handymen
Hehi

[Mat]

I don't have facebook so I can't review the specific advertisement but to have credibility the individuals would have to be assessed using some form of transparent and independently verifiable criteria. Does this bring with it some (actual or implied) legal obligation from your side on the work that these individuals perform or indeed open you to defamation issues if you do not endorse someone?

All power to you for trying to do something to improve the situation in the sector. There's no need to get defensive with nippy statements like 'whingeing and whining' - comments you receive here can only improve your product and will be anyway asked by future users of the site you are trying to establish.

[BG9374]

CSCS card from what I could gather has nothing whatsoever to do with your trade.

Be the greatest plasterer, joiner, electrician, plumber etc and what does a CSCS card tell you about their trade, a big zero...

CSCS card is for ealth and safety, like ur passport to a building site. Working in home no CSCS ever required. Obvious could demand that and then accept the added cost.

Bosh, biff, slap good as new ... Cause I told ya so.