Tradespeople given the “ick” by customers!
New research has revealed the customer behaviours that tradespeople find most annoying, and being watched while they work tops the list.
The study, conducted by IronmongeryDirect found that more than two in five (41%) tradespeople find it irritating when clients won’t leave them alone while working.
Being constantly asked how they’re getting on is another major annoyance (34%), as is the cheeky request to do additional little jobs ‘while you’re here’ (28%).
The 10 customer habits that tradespeople find most annoying are:
| # | Annoying habit | % |
| 1 | Watching you closely while you work | 41% |
| 2 | Constantly checking your progress | 34% |
| 3 | Asking you to do extra little jobs while you’re there | 28% |
| 4 | Asking for a discount | 26% |
| 5 | Not paying on time | 25% |
| 6 | Making suggestions or instructing you how to do your job | 17% |
| 7 | Calling during non-business hours | 17% |
| 8 | Insisting a job is urgent when it’s not | 15% |
| 9 | Not offering you a drink | 14% |
| 10 | Not being in when you arrive so you can’t get to the job | 14% |
The top grievances are similar for both tradesmen and women, but male workers are far more likely to be irritated by customers not offering them a drink (16% vs 9%). Meanwhile, tradeswomen are more bothered about clients calling them outside of business hours (23% vs 13%).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the self-employed are far more angered by customers who don’t pay on time (33% vs 22%) and ask for discounts (31% vs 23%) than employed individuals, likely due to it being their own personal income on the line.
Dominick Sandford, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “Customer interaction is an inevitable and important part of most tradespeople’s lives, and, as difficult as it might be, workers need to stay calm and professional, no matter how frustrating their clients get!
“That’s why we’ve worked with a behaviour expert to offer advice to tradespeople on how to diplomatically deal with each of these customer habits, so that you can keep everyone happy while getting the job done.”
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Member Since April 2017 - Comments: 225
5:45 PM, 22nd June 2022, About 4 years ago
I am terrible for watching tradespeople whilst they work because I am dead curious as to what is wrong and how they fix it. I want to learn from it so I know what is going on with my rented house. Most of the people I deal with know me so they tend to let me know stuff and don’t take it personally but if it someone I don’t know they could get peeved with me. On the upside I always make them a cuppa and tell them to ask me if they want one and I ALWAYS pay up real sharpish.
Member Since December 2019 - Comments: 241
7:21 PM, 22nd June 2022, About 4 years ago
I watch tradesmen, because some take short cuts.
One electrician I asked to add a socket to a ring main, fitted a spur and charged for a ring main.
I also had a quote to cement and plaster a wall, to overhear the tradesmen saying “dot and dab” with plasterboard they will never know the difference, quicker and cheaper for them.
So now all workmen are told that I will monitor their progress, generally chatting and providing lots of tea, never been an issue
Member Since February 2016 - Comments: 195 - Articles: 1
9:28 PM, 22nd June 2022, About 4 years ago
What? Is this survey relevant to its audience?
It’s Iron Mongerydirect ‘puffing out’ a free advert to landlords – nothing more than that. This is a general consumer survey only – where is the detail that says it was directed at self-managing landlords?
1. 41%: watching you closely while you work
2. 34%: constantly checking your progress
3: 28%: doing extra jobs while you’re there….
Really?? Does that sound like landlord activity to Property118 subcribers?
Tradesmen know when they’re contracted to carry out repairs on rented property. A survey of them by landlord payers of their services could also be done for the likes of Ironmongery and all (with equally surprising results!)
Experienced landlords also know when they get ripped off for being such – especially at times when their first call (and reserve contact) is genuinely unavailable. There are plenty of opportunists out there in every trade for the unaware, the trusting and/or the newbie landlord.
The survey presented to this site is irrelevant to landlords. Tenants don’t initiate or pay for maintenance.
Why is this survey on this site at all?
Member Since February 2011 - Comments: 3454 - Articles: 286
9:48 AM, 23rd June 2022, About 4 years ago
Reply to the comment left by LordOf TheManor at 22/06/2022 – 21:28
Errr tongue-in-cheek irony as we have had so many comments about not being able to get/find good tradespeople.