Do you know the worst thing you can say to a professional tradesman! Read through this checklist of common gripes and learn how to be a better customer.

Builders eh? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. You count the days til you see the back of them, then (sort of) miss them when they’re gone. Your relationship with your builder is one of the most, if not the most important factor in getting a job done well – and on time. So getting them onside is always a smart move. But it’s not enough just to leave out the Hobnobs. Even the chocolate ones.

All tradesmen have their own pet gripes. My builder was particularly perturbed by my request to use black grout in the bathroom (“it gets everywhere” apparently). He abhorred my plans for an inset shower alcove shelf (“labour intensive”) and really didn’t like my insistence on using a particularly brand of paint (allegedly “not good for cutting in”)…

Yet a not-very-scientific survey of the handful of builders I know reveals a more universal pattern of common gripes. So, in no particular order, here are ten easy ways to drive your builder mad.

1. Micro management.
2. Customer telling me how long the job will take me.
3. “Can you start at 9am as 8’s a bit early”?
4. Using me, just for an extra quote.
5. Having to work round customers’ crap because they can’t be bothered moving it.
6. To not be given a key when needed. Lack of trust!
7. Changes of mind. Having to do the same job twice.
8. Talkers! Makes for a longer job.
9. Late payers / power trippers.
10. Customers turning up with fixtures and fittings at the end of a job… “Could you just put these up. It won’t take long,”. In other words people wanting something for nothing.

Hands up if you aren’t guilty of at least one of these? I’m hanging my head in shame at three or four of them (number 3 in particular)…

Still, there’s a common thread running through this list that it wouldn’t hurt to bear in mind next time you call on the services of a professional tradesman.

To do the job properly all they really need is a bit of politeness, respect and above all consideration. Plus a chocolate hobnob.

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