Cowboys and handymen

[gimlet]

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At the domestic level it is much more useful to read the body language of the contractor

What does too much builder's cleavage say?

[pollypepper]

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Id say he is probably sexy. He is high on my list

[Seedy]

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If the trades man or woman....scratch their arse, ......shake ur hand....

Well, THAT would certainly put me off big-time!

[brianj42]

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Id say he is probably sexy. He is high on my list

Polly, you have obviously met better looking builders than I

[miltonmuskateers]

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Well just to add my opionion to what i have read so far. I have a C S CS Card, which is "project manager " status. the black card. I Had to earn this card over the duration of 7 days and 30 years experience.My card is still valid and available for any one to see.There seems to be a lot of old Tosh going on out there regarding rogue builders and rip off builders , etc.To reconise a builder whow"is not up to standard then , surley one has to have some knowledge of building?or a basic idear of the sequence of events that are required to produce the end product.I had better stop there.I have very strong feelings about people who criticise something that they have no idea about how it should be done in the first place.. dober vetcher. MM

[adele]

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.To reconise a builder whow"is not up to standard then , surley one has to have some knowledge of building?or a basic idear of the sequence of events that are required to produce the end product

Well said

[seathrift]

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There is no doubt that if you have some knowledge of building then it is easier to make an assessment of a contractor. The problem is for the person who has none or very little experience. Presumably this will be the majority.If you decide to employ a Project Manager to do the assessment for you, then how do you know what his value is? At the end of the day it all comes down to the impression a person makes on a prospective client.
My suggestion 'to read the body language' caused much merriement and so be it. The idea is, however, not so stupid as it may sound. The eyes and the body if you read them carefully, will give you a good idea if the person is telling the truth, confident in his ability or full of bulls**t and so on. There will be some how have no idea what I am talking about, but for the majority who have no other skills to rely on and can understand it's worth, then it is a useful start to weed out the more unscrupulous. Always follow up by looking at the contractors recent jobs and speaking to his clients. They will give the most useful information.
In my five years of living in Bulgaria it is quite obvious to me that in Bulgaria there are very few Bulgarians or Expats for that matter who are capable of a workmanlike job. Even for an experienced builder it is quite difficult to locate a competent tradesman and even if he is a competent workman there is no guarantee that the quoted price for the job has any significant meaning. Many contractors seem to run out of money long before the job is finished. One good reason to speak to his previous clients.

[BG9374]

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My suggestion 'to read the body language' caused much merriement and so be it. The idea is, however, not so stupid as it may sound. The eyes and the body if you read them carefully, will give you a good idea if the person is telling the truth, confident in his ability or full of bulls**t and so on. There will be some how have no idea what I am talking about, but for the majority who have no other skills to rely on and can understand it's worth

Gets more worrying, now putting it about that hes an expert on trades using body language. What a world, be well worried if spent a conversation with the customer looking me up and down (unless she was single, blonde or brunette, dark haired and slim), want to charge u for that that why ur builders run out of cash? Maybe actual fact get pleasure from?? More scary thoughts. What are you talking about? Only see font, no voices here.




NB. each to their own in life.

[seathrift]

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BG9374 if you read my post more carefully you would see that you have not understood it, or maybe you should get some help to do so.

[Moscow_Wolf]

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My suggestion 'to read the body language' caused much merriement and so be it. The idea is, however, not so stupid as it may sound. The eyes and the body if you read them carefully, will give you a good idea if the person is telling the truth, confident in his ability or full of bulls**t and so on. There will be some how have no idea what I am talking about, but for the majority who have no other skills to rely on and can understand it's worth, then it is a useful start to weed out the more unscrupulous.

I would simply say that if you don't feel comfortable with someone then, don't get into bed with them. However, after reading and hearing numerous horror stories about builders in Bulgaria, it would seem that some of them are very professional at bulls****ing much more than they are at building. After all, a good conman is difficult to spot, you might well be one yourself. (wink)

Always follow up by looking at the contractors recent jobs and speaking to his clients. They will give the most useful information.

I cannot agree on the 'recent' part. Some folk just can't wait to get on here and recommend someone as soon as the job is done, but most defects won't show themselves until the rain has caused damp and the damp shows through or, at the first earth tremor the house subsides. A newly completed swimming pool might look super on completion, but lets see how it is in 6 months or a year after the ground has settled, are the mosaic tiles still in place, does the pool leak, does the filtration system work etc.

In my five years of living in Bulgaria it is quite obvious to me that in Bulgaria there are very few Bulgarians or Expats for that matter who are capable of a workmanlike job. Even for an experienced builder it is quite difficult to locate a competent tradesman and even if he is a competent workman there is no guarantee that the quoted price for the job has any significant meaning. Many contractors seem to run out of money long before the job is finished. One good reason to speak to his previous clients.

I must have been lucky then. I've had English and Bulgarian builders or better to say, tradesmen as none of them have been all round builders hence I employ the right person for the right job. I just found the English builders too expensive and no better than the Bulgarians I have employed and continue to employ. I've saved a lot of money on jobs that I simply didn't know they were capable of such as making all of my wrought iron fence panels themselves on-site. All I had to supply was the welding machine as I find that most of the Bulgarian tradesmen don't own anything more than basic tools.

Surely, if you're in the building trade then, you'd know exactly how much time a job should take, how much the materials should cost and how much the labour charge should be! This is where I have had to learn as I was paying well over the odds for such things as tiling and I don't have the experience of time and motion in building. However, being on-site nearly all of the time lets me see how quickly things are progressing or whether or not anyone is shirking.