Published on 12, July, 2020
Earlier this afternoon my son and I found ourselves watching a couple of men doing some garden clearance work at a neighbour's property, with a sense of amusement and also disbelief. However, to a person without insider knowledge, they may well have seemed perfectly legit and professional.
Several years ago, my son had done a garden maintenance course, which mainly consisted of garden clearance work. Health and safety was taken seriously and it was the first thing he learnt about. This included wearing appropriate clothing (PPE) like ear defenders, protective gloves, and steel-toe safety work boots. Before my son was allowed to be let loose with the likes of industrial lawn strimmers, hedge trimmers and so on without supervision, he had to prove his competence by demonstrating that he understood how to use them.
The men my son and I had been observing had no ear defenders, were wearing trainers, and only one of them was wearing protective gloves. Although it wasn't obvious to me, my son could tell that they weren't using the equipment properly, and in some instances were using incorrect equipment. My son said that a true professional would be likely to make an initial visit to assess the work that needed to be done and what equipment would be required. Based on what my son had witnessed, his opinion was that no prior assessment had taken place.
If the services offered by professionals includes the removal of garden waste from the premises, the use of canvas bags or plastic garden trugs tends to be favoured. It makes economical sense because they can be emptied and re-used, unlike plastic refuse sacks, which is what these two men used.
I know it's wrong to assume, but it wouldn't surprise me if those black plastic refuse sacks end up being fly-tipped somewhere.
There are so many cowboys about doing everything from asbestos removal to window cleaning, a friend had some cowboy wanting to take down her abestos riddled shed and was going to take the waste from Hampshire to Peterborough! Another friend here on the island was having her house done up and they wanted an extension with a roof terrace to be put in at a later date. When the new builder came to do the roof terrace, he found that the whole extension needed to be taken down as the wrong timbers had been used and there was something dodgy about the brick work too. A bloke who was supposed to put a wooden rail around a terrace, listened to what was wanted, agreed with all, had all the drawings, came and started work ignoring everything that he'd been asked to do and had cut all the wood wrong so as it couldn't be used for what he was being paid to do. Another friend was left without a kitchen or downstairs bathroom for 18 months because of a builder who was crap, she has a serverly disabled nephew and his mother was carrying him up and down stairs to use the toilet.
Getting any work done seems to be a nightmare as you don't know who to trust. Getting work done in a timely fashion is difficult as all the good builders are booked up months in advance and if it's something weather dependent or needs doing fast, you're left at the mercy of cowboys.
I really think there ought to be some sort of registration, insurance, something, anything other than the small claims court for people to get redress. Often these builders have ceased trading by the time an application to the small claims court can be made, they just set up under a different name and carry on ruining more peoples lives.