Skill Builder

The podcast is back and we’re tackling mental health, depression and anxiety. The building industry has a huge problem with mental health issues and its workforce suffers more than average.

Let us know how you’re handling your demons and share any advice and tips that help you in your day-to-day life.

Some good articles worth reading:

10 Best Ways to Increase Dopamine Levels Naturally – https://bit.ly/2rBH4fE

Six Unconventional, Scientific Ways to Be Happier – https://bit.ly/30E3qgo

Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think – https://bit.ly/2t5iR48

The 14 Habits of Highly Miserable People – https://bit.ly/2WvhEBf

So far in the podcast, we've talked about how wonderful and clever Roger and Robin are so it's time to embrace the power of vulnerability.

So far in the Skill Builder podcast, we have talked about how wonderful and clever Roger and Robin are so it’s time to embrace the power of vulnerability.

In episode 8 the guys talk about their worst nightmares coming true in jobs that didn’t go according to plan.

The two Rs also have a bit of a ding dong over Crossrail, the Millennium Dome and going over time and budget.

It's hard to track down a good builder, in this episode, we offer some solutions beyond the usual first port of call for most people which are the trades recommendation websites.

We know from the comments on our YouTube channel that many of you find it hard to track down a good builder for your extension projects and general building work. In this episode, we offer some solutions beyond the usual first port of call for most people which are the trades recommendation websites.

If you prefer to find your builder, plumber or electrician online, try some of these trade finding websites.

Checkatrade – https://www.checkatrade.com

TrustATrader – https://www.trustatrader.com

Rated People – https://www.ratedpeople.com

MyBuilder – https://www.mybuilder.com

My Job Quote – https://www.myjobquote.co.uk

FindaTrade – https://www.findatrade.com

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Roger: Hello, this is Roger Bisby from Skill Builder and they’re back with podcast number seven.

Robin: One of the comments or one of the ones that reoccurs is people say it’s all very well as listening to you guys and reading the other comments from professional builders. How do we find professional builders? How do we find good tradespeople, people to work for us? So this is from the general public’s point of view. So we thought it would be quite useful to tell what we think is a good way of finding a good builder or tradesmen.

Roger: Well, we’ll just have a discussion about it. We might not come up with the definitive answer because I think depending on where you are, this is going to be different. Some places you go, you live in a village, you got a little local guy, he does everything for everybody, might have been the undertaker as well because that used to be a common thing didn’t it? A builder/undertaker.

Robin: If you’re living in the urban jungle, if you’re living somewhere where it’s dog eat dog, if you like, then you might have to just take your chances a bit more or you’ve drawn a blank so you’re making phone calls and no one’s coming back to you or you’re looking at the the directory or nowadays on the Internet and you don’t even know what to search for. You think you need a bit of work done in the garden, do I need a landscape gardener? Do I need a general builder? And it’s having this kind of like knowledge and packaging it up. So straight away people might direct you towards these branded Internet type operations.

Roger: What the bigger companies?

Robin: Recommendation portals, for example, you might go to a recommendation portal, put in your job, put in your budget, and then they’ll sell those leads onto builders who are paying them a commission. So basically that’s one way and a lot of people do find builders like that, but I want to try to steer my opinion away from that because I’m not a lover of that approach, I’ve never personally done it but I’ve seen the quality of work of some people who claim to be in these organizations and I think to myself, my goodness me, I mean, it’s being qualified by the client. The client hasn’t got a clue that they’ve just had a terribly paved drive down. I know that it’s not a good drive, but anyway, I will give you a little anecdote about a bit of advice I gave to one of my good friends yesterday. She phoned me and asked if I had a painter to paint some eggshell handmade cupboards and straight away I said to her, Sandra,

Another subject that fires-up Roger and Robin is fly-tipping and the irresponsible disposal of waste material from the building site.

Another subject that fires-up Roger and Robin is fly-tipping and the irresponsible disposal of waste material from the building site.

Getting rid of rubbish is not cheap, so what can you do?

Dealing with customer complaints can be the hardest part of any job, so it's time for Roger and Robin to share their experiences and tips on how to handle customer complaints.

Dealing with customer complaints can be the hardest part of any job, so it’s time for Roger and Robin to share their experiences and tips on how to handle customer complaints.

Robin is back with Roger to discuss the all-important issue of getting paid and taking every measure in avoiding bad debts so you'll escape being knocked by cowboy customers.