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HaMuch.com launches Brexit-busting apprenticeships for building trade

25th April 2019
apprenticeships
  • Free apprenticeship matchmaking scheme for building trades across UK
  • Apprenticeships only way to plug UK skills gap says HaMuch.com founder
  • Thousands of EU builders, plumbers and electricians still quitting UK

Building work-pricing website HaMuch has taken on the mantle of solving the UK tradesman crisis by offering a free apprenticeship matchmaking service to plumbers, electricians, carpenters and bricklayers with those who would like to work in the trades.

The construction industry and related trades are in crisis as thousands of Polish workers have already returned home, leaving building sites and homes short on skilled labour. Up to 20% of European building trade workers are considering leaving our shores once the UK leaves the EU.

These numbers could make a mockery of the Government’s targets on house-building. Late 2018 figures from the Office for National Statistics noted that 33% of those in the construction industry in London are from the EU, with almost 110,000 EU workers in the industry across the UK.

“What we are seeing is a lot of panic about falling numbers on building sites and in the kind of tradesmen and tradeswomen who do the maintenance on our homes,” says HaMuch founder Tarquin Purdie. “No one is acting, so we have decided to. We are helping businesses across the sector provide and grow the next generation of builders, electricians, plumbers, carpenters and plasterers.

“Many people don’t even know you can still get apprenticeships in the trades and get paid while you learn. We think our free matchmaking service will be a great success and a boost to the economy, whilst really delivering for consumers, too.”

The service will work by matching requests from young men and women who wish to join the trades with small and large businesses in their area. The website offers advice to tradesmen and tradeswomen on how to fund apprenticeships, as well as information on how much apprentices can expect to be paid alongside what they will learn.

“It was demand from the thousands of tradesmen that use HaMuch.com that drove our desire to start up the apprenticeship scheme and we’re really excited about the opportunities that this will represent for young people and those who want to re-train,” says Purdie. This is the only way to plug a glaring skills gap in the UK.“

The free-to-use apprenticeship scheme is now open for small or large businesses looking to take on keen individuals who want to find apprenticeships, as well as for apprentices to find firms in need of enthusiastic learners. The move could well lead to the largest boost in apprenticeships since the 1970s.

Hiring heating engineers to fit, service and repair your boiler…what’s the best option?

8th April 2019
heating engineer

Like many purchases, when it’s time to get a new boiler or maintain your existing heating system, the different service provider choices and how much they all charge can be baffling.

So, whether you’re installing a new Valliant combi boiler, servicing an old Worcester or your Baxi boiler has stopped working and needs urgent repair the following are your three options;

  1. Hire an independent local heating engineer
  2. Hire a medium sized regional or national company
    which has a team of heating engineers
  3. Take out a home insurance plan from one of the
    large national providers

The pros and cons of each option;

Independent Heating Engineers

Cost

Independent heating engineers will charge you what they pay for boilers plus a bit more (e.g. 10%) for organising collection and to earn a bit of profit which is perfectly normal for any business. They then charge you an hourly rate or a fixed price based on their estimate of how many hours/days are required for the job.

Independent heating engineers will usually charge the most reasonable hourly rate as they do not have costs such as admin staff, layer upon layer of managers with flashy offices, an additional team of sales staff to pay for or expensive marketing such as tv or google ad words to pay for.

When you need help later the independent engineer will charge you parts and labour each time you need them. Occasionally this will mean a big bill however there is no fixed monthly cost.

Quality

If you find a responsible, intelligent independent heating engineer they will advise an appropriate for you design heating and hot water system i.e. with an affordable pressurised water cylinder or a simple compact combi boiler depending on your family needs. They will know what to do regards maintenance and competently fix problems such as boiler circuit board electrical faults or motorised valves inevitably failing. It is easy to manage problems when the same person attends who knows your system and doesn’t blame other engineers who may have attended…as he installed and maintained it.

Service

An independent heating engineer is most likely a sole trader or at most has a tiny team, they may not have fancy vans or smart uniforms. In winter he/she will struggle to rush to all emergencies at once but normally will have serviced your boiler in the summer and tried to avoid you having problems. Winter is the time independent engineers struggle and a broken-down van can cause havoc to their ability to respond to clients if it snows over the weekend.

Medium Sized regional or national company

Cost

A large company with fleets of smart vans, uniformed employees, franchisees or subcontractors, large offices a team of sales and admin people, driving around quoting, answering phones and designing google friendly websites……etc obviously has a lot more overheads than a sole trader and guess who is going to pay for that?

Yes, you need to pay for all that fancy stuff…. plus, the cost of the new boiler or repair you need.

So, any well-known large heating business is going to cost you significantly more than a small local sole trader.

Quality

A well run medium sized business MAY have a good team of intelligent engineers but most likely they will have some senior specialists and trouble shooters with a fair number of average engineers competent when jobs are simple. If for example your heating system has a complex electrical error or requires a thorough powerflush then they will arrange a second visit with their appropriate engineer in attendance. You will get the job done as these businesses are serious but it will never be cheap.

Service

Attendance will be prompt, professional without drama. And if there is a disagreement then they will try to help you as reputation is important to these businesses.

National insurance companies

Cost

The huge insurance model businesses who charge a monthly fee and provide cover when you have a problem operate a very different model. First, if you need a new boiler installed, they will probably charge 100% more than an independent installer even though they will be getting discounts by ordering 10,000s of boilers at a time. The problem they have is a huge pyramid of management costs plus advertising budgets running into the millions. For some the pay every month is good value eg for landlords who have sensitive tenants. However eventually when a big problem arises, they often insist they replace your system at hugely inflated costs otherwise cover is voided. Many of there clients are older, wealthier or more nervous people who value the security as much as the service. Most of the visits will not really be of much benefit to your heating system as that would go against the profitability of the business model. E.g. adding inhibitor to systems annually never occurs in practice even though all boiler manufacturers state it is required.

Quality

The products installed should be good but the detail of installation will depend on who turns up and could vary considerably.

Service

When a business employs and subcontracts literally thousands of engineers then quality will always be mixed including the downright useless. Eventually any problem will be resolved but may involve various engineers attending until a good one is available who knows how to resolve the problem. Each engineer will need to be booked in, be waited for and explained the problem as it’s the first and probably last time you will see each one. You can rest assured that problems will always be fixed eventually and that money will leave your bank account every month for ever.

So if you are a landlord maybe get insurance, if you are desperate call a big well known expensive business but if you want an intelligent reasonable cost long term solution then find a local independent engineer you trust, treat them well and they will return the favour.

Never mind the rogue builders: Pricing website starts rogue customer list

19th January 2019
builders tools
  • HaMuch.com
    to compile list of debtor customers, complainers and con-men
  • Builders report increase in non-paying
    customers, rogue complainers & cancellations
  • Some customers hire tradesmen with no intention
    of paying quoted price

We are all used to seeing rogue tradesmen on early morning television shows, BBC’s Watchdog and regional news shows, but what these programmes never portray is the number of rogue customers that builders and other trades have to deal with.

Are customer who fail to pay up rogues too?

Building work-pricing website HaMuch.com is now attempting to redress the balance by compiling a list of customers who have failed to pay up, cancelled major jobs at short notice or consistently made unjustified complaints to get significant discounts. This list of nightmare customers will be compiled via feedback from plumbers, electricians, roofers, bricklayers and other tradesmen and tradeswomen who use the unique pricing website, before being made available to trades who sign up for the service.

“For far too long, the emphasis has been on the occasional bad builder,” says HaMuch.com founder Tarquin Purdie. “We hope that this list of bad customers can do something to redress the balance. A small number of customers have no intention of paying a quoted price in full and will pick and pick at work until the tradesman just gives in. It is certainly on the increase. Perhaps the BBC will even commission a show from Matt Allwright called Rogue Customers.”

Keep cost clear to avoid rogue customers

Purdie estimates that his users will have lost tens of thousands of pounds over the years to rogue customers. He cites cases of builders who have had to sue customers who refused to pay for an extension, one who paid for the kitchen but none of the labour to install it and another who cancelled a loft extension on the day work was to start, with all materials purchased. The list will help tradesmen and tradeswomen to avoid customers who are likely to cause them similar problems.

“I founded the site to help clean up the industry and create more transparency,” says Purdie. “We have made labour costs clear for all customers across the UK and we always act when we hear about poor tradesmen. So, this is the next step to creating a fair industry for all. We all need builders, plumbers and carpenters to work on our home and they need us. So these exchanges should always be fair and above board. We think this list will help to achieve that.”

Builders and Plumbers in the southeast 25 times more expensive

16th January 2019

Regional / local: The UK’s cheapest tradesmen are in Birmingham / Nottingham / Nuneaton / Blackwood / Doncaster

  • North-south divide in builder costs as much as £240-per-hour
  • Surrey and London most expensive for tradesmen/women
  • Midlands offers best value to homeowners, according to HaMuch.com

A new data survey by building work pricing site HaMuch.com has revealed the stark differences between the southeast and the rest of the UK when it comes to the cost of building work. The divide appears to be drawn at Watford Gap, with the Midlands offering best value, whilst Surrey and London have the most expensive tradesmen.

The spread of prices for common household jobs across the recently-launched website’s 12,000 tradesmen ranged from £10-per-hour to an incredible £250-per-hour, with builders in Surrey charging as much as 25-times more than their counterparts in Nottingham. Plumbers in Surrey also charged an eye-watering 20-times more than those in Caerphilly. Meanwhile, hiring an electrician in London could cost you £250-per-hour, compared with a bargain basement £10-per-hour in Birmingham. 

The startling prices were uncovered by the data processing team for https://www.hamuch.com as part of their efforts to ensure that homeowners know the cost of jobs up-front. The website lists a labour cost for each tradesman/tradeswoman listed on the service and allows homeowners to search trades in their area by cost, so that no one busts their budget building an extension to having a boiler serviced. So if you are searching ” heating engineer near me “

“We knew there was a wide disparity in charges between the southeast and the rest of the UK, but we were shocked just how wide that was”, says HaMuch.com founder Tarquin Purdie. “The prices show that the market can take a lot in the southeast, whereas rates in parts of the Midlands and north may not have increased for several years. It is certainly something that will make the industry and even government ministers sit up and pay attention.

“We are committed to making sure homeowners and renters alike know the cost of a job before they even approach a plumber or a painter. Not all builders and trades will like it, but we think that the best are only too happy to be honest and up-front on costs.”

The most inexpensive painter and decorator and carpenter both charged £10-per-hour and were in Nuneaton and Doncaster respectively. The most costly were in Brighton and Islington, at £150 and £100. 

The full breakdown of low and high prices is as follows:

Building work: Cheapest, £10-per-hour in Nottingham, East Midlands. Most costly, £250-per-hour in Camberley, Surrey.

Electricians: Cheapest, £10-per-hour in Birmingham, West Midlands. Most costly, £250 in Edgware, London. 

Plumbing:  Cheapest, £10-per-hour in Blackwood, Caerphilly. Most costly, £200-per-hour in Addlestone, Surrey. 

Painting and decorating: Cheapest, £10-per-hour in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Most costly, £150-per-hour in Brighton, East Sussex. 

Carpenters: Cheapest, £10-per-hour in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Most costly, £100 in Islington, London. 

Builder pricing site launches ‘How to Speak Builder’ guide for its customers

9th January 2019
Trades language
  • New 10-point guide aims to make customers and builders more comfortable
  • Includes advice such as ‘you don’t have to drop your aitches’ and ‘not all of us take three sugars’
  • HaMuch.com guide details everything from breakfast times to the meaning of quotes

A new guide to speaking to builders from tradesman pricing website HaMuch.com is seeking to bridge the divide between home-owners and builders, starting with the common language that divides them. 

One common problem highlighted is the tendency of men to try to imitate a working-class accent, say ‘mate’ a lot and drop the names of random tools into conversation, in an attempt to appear knowledgeable. 

The Chameleon Effect

We are all guilty of what psychologists refer to as the ‘Chameleon Effect’, where we mimic the speech patterns of those we are speaking to, but this is most noticeable amongst middle class homeowners dealing with tradesmen. But builders are, it seems, just as fed up of having to engage in a chat that starts ‘what about the City game last night, eh?’ as the homeowners who feel obliged to engage in it.

“Part of this need to adapt your language is down to not wanting to be ripped off,” says Tarquin Purdie, who is MD atHaMuch.com – which offers up-front labour costs for all trades. “One of the reasons I founded the website was so that we could stop this charade, where customers feel they have to reel off names of wood, plastering techniques or the Premier League players they know. It makes it a lot less stressful for all concerned.”

“We naturally feel rapport and connected to people who mirror our body language, tone and the essence of words that we use,” says Mamta Saha, psychologist at Living Potential International. “We have a natural drive to be liked and subconsciously apply a tinge in our accents or an adjustment in our body language if we feel it is going to bring us closer to someone ‘understanding us’ and as a result they may feel we ‘understand them’ better, bringing us closer and more connected.”

Becoming fluent in tradesmens language

“We naturally feel rapport and connected to people who mirror our body language, tone and the essence of words that we use,” says Mamta Saha, psychologist at Living Potential International. “We have a natural drive to be liked and subconsciously apply a tinge in our accents or an adjustment in our body language if we feel it is going to bring us closer to someone ‘understanding us’ and as a result they may feel we ‘understand them’ better, bringing us closer and more connected.”

HaMuch.com founder Tarquin Purdie has also been speaking to the plumbers, electricians and roofers who use his website to advertise for work, finding that the main bugbears of builders in our homes include people assuming they are uneducated, people standing over them as they work and homeowners who never offer so much as a glass of tap water. 

Although some admit that they can get confused by homeowners asking them to copy the latest design trends without so much as showing them a picture of what they would like. 

“I’m called Tarquin, so as you might guess it did take a while for me to be native in the language of tradesman,” says Purdie. “But I like to feel I am fluent now that I have been running a plumbing business for more than 10 years. Hopefully this guide will help both sides of the deal. Householders will feel more comfortable and builders won’t have to drink an endless supply of oversweet tea.”

The full guide is published below. 

  1. Don’t feel the need to call us ‘mate’ or change your accent, it’s a just a bit odd. Chances are we can work out how well off you are from the house we are working on. We won’t be asking you to prove yourself with any power tools, so you don’t have to name all the ones you know. 
  2. Don’t stand over us as we work. It won’t make us work any faster. It just makes us nervous. 
  3. If we’re talking we’re not working. We’re happy to spend the day discussing the big boxing bout from the weekend or the best way to saw a piece of wood, but don’t forget that you’re paying for our time and holding up the job. 
  4. We don’t all like football. Don’t feel that you have to pretend to. Just be careful about saying ‘didn’t they lose 5-0 last night?’ when we are wearing our team’s bobble hat.
  5. Don’t silently put up with a mess. We always tidy up as best we can at the end of the day and properly at the end of a job. If our standards of cleanliness are not up to your own then please tell us. 
  6. If you’re kind enough to offer us food or go out for sandwiches for the team then do ask us first. Yes, many sites do run on bacon sandwiches, but Dave’s Jewish and Igor is trying to lose weight. We even had a vegan on a job once. 
  7. Yes, we would like a cup of tea, thanks. Although not all of us take three sugars any more. Greg prefers coffee, although it doesn’t have to be a single estate cold brew. If it’s hot then a pint of squash every hour or two is much appreciated. 
  8. A quote is just that. A guesstimate, based on the time we think it will take and the materials we think we will need. The final price may go up (it may even go down) as the job progresses, especially if we hit a snag or you ask us to do little extras. 
  9. Don’t be surprised if we down tools around 11am and go the local café for breakfast. We’ve been up and grafting since 7am and this is hard work. Directions to your premier local greasy spoon are always appreciated. 
  10. If you don’t understand what we are saying or doing, or are thinking ‘what they hell are they up to?’ then just ask. You won’t look stupid. We’ve got years of experience in this job, you haven’t. We’ve no idea how to do whatever it is you are doing in the lounge on your laptop all day, and we won’t tell your other half about your afternoons watching Columbo. 

Scourge of Festive Veg Causing Spike in Christmas Call-outs for Tradespeople

28th December 2018
christmas tradesman callout

From Brussel Sprouts blocking sinks to red-wine stained carpets and furniture, tradesmen at www.hamuch.com have revealed the most common reasons they’re contacted by panicking homeowners over the festive period.

The poll of 1,000 tradespeople from cleaners to plumbers has also revealed an 18% spike in the number of call-outs over this period, as people struggle to cope with the aftermath of the frenzied festive period.

Pete, a plumber at www.hamuch.com, said: “Homes have suffered over the Christmas period with blockages being a common issue. Dishwashers and sinks regularly need to be unclogged and the remnants of a festive dinner removed from the pipes….People can panic, particularly if they’ve tried to tackle the problems themselves but just end up making things even worse!”

What’s important to bear in mind is that a call-out over the Christmas period, particularly on the big day itself, can result in heftier charges than usual.

Tarquin Purdie, Founder & MD of pricing website www.hamuch.com said: “Accidents do happen and things can go wrong for no apparent reason, resulting in people needing to call in a tradesman.

“Household problems do not confine themselves to times when we are not relaxing at home with the family such as the festive period, and they even seem to spike during this period. This is probably because there is more demand on household appliances, more people using the house, and also there is more leftover food and rubbish to dispose of.”

Tarquin added: “The important thing to remember is that you can get a tradesman out over Christmas, but the call-out charge will be higher. Consumers should factor that in and decide whether any non-urgent issue can wait until after Christmas.”

Here are the Top Festive Aftermath issues identified by tradespeople at www.hamuch.com:

Over 75% of builders have charged extra to homeowners with a ‘posh’ name

17th October 2018
Posh customer with builder
  • Pricing website HaMuch.com survey shows 75.5% have charged customers more when hearing their ‘posh’ name.
  • 81.5% of tradesmen charged more after realising a client lives in a fancy house
  • 79% of builders have charged more when working in an upmarket area

A new survey by tradesman-pricing website HaMuch.com has uncovered bad news for those called Tarquin, Rupert or Quentin, as more than three-quarters of builders admitted to charging them far more than Daves, Mikes and Deans. A slice of class war set in brickwork and cement. 

75.5% of the tradesman questioned said that they have given a higher quote when the customer is a Henrietta, Harriet or Cassandra, with 51.5% saying they have added their ‘posh name tax’ many times. 24% said they had boosted their prices once or twice.

The survey for HaMuch.com, which lets you see labour charges up front for over 12,000 tradesmen and tradeswomen, also revealed that the place where you live could also see you charged more. 

Nearly 8-in-10 of the UK builders, plumbers, carpenters and electricians questioned said that they have upped their prices when quoting for work in what they perceived as an upmarket part of their patch. Meanwhile, 81.5% admitted to having inflated charges when realising the customer lived in a large or fancy house. 

The survey certainly hit home for HaMuch.com founder Tarquin Purdie, who started the site in 2016 to end rip-off pricing and had long-suspected he paid more for jobs around the house than his friends. It allows those searching for someone to work on their home to search by trade, price and area. 

“Being called Tarquin, I have definitely experienced the ‘posh name’ trades surcharge,” says Purdie. “It’s not a big surpriseto me, personally. But our service now means that this can bea thing of the past, as the rates are there in black-and-white for you to compare before you get in touch with a tradesman. Good news for Tarquins and Henriettas everywhere.

“I was genuinely surprised by just how prevalent this over-charging has been, but I hope that more people will now start to research prices up-front and stop themselves being scalped.You will always get unscrupulous tradesmen, but those signing up to our website know that they are setting new industry standards in pricing transparency. It can only be good for builders and customers alike.”

The full survey results.

Have you ever given a customer a higher quote as they have a ‘posh’ name (such as Tarquin or Henrietta)? 

Never 24.5%

Once or twice 24% 

Done it many times 51.5%

Have you ever given a customer a higher quote as they live in what you think of as a ‘posh’ area?

Never 21%

Once or twice 26.5%

Done it many times 52.5%

Have you ever given a customer a higher quote after realising they live in a large/fancy house?

Never 18.5%

Once or twice 25.5%

Done it many times 56%

Sample of 230 tradesmen. 1 October 2018.

Albanian tradesmen looking to fill Polish gap as Brexit bites

20th September 2018
albania flag
  • Huge hike in numbers of Albanians searching for work in UK
  • HaMuch.com figures suggest kitchen fitting, extensions and plumbing most popular​
  • Albanian workers targeting Kensington, Islington and Central Birmingham

Building work pricing site HaMuch.com has uncovered an unexpected trend that may give an indication of just who will be fixing your boiler or installing your kitchen after Britain has left the EU. 

The HaMuch.com website shows hourly and daily rates, so homeowners can search by price before posting a job or selecting which local tradesmen they want to employ. It also gives tradesmen an idea of the going rate in their area. 

Most of HaMuch.com’s traffic has always come from the UK, but data managers at the website noticed that many recent searches have been coming from Albania – shooting up more than twenty-fold in the last few months. Figures have leapt from just 10 searches from Albania in March to 194 in June and 255 in July, a rise of 2550%. The figure is still rising and shows no sign of stopping. 

The majority of the website’s non-English-speaking country searches like “heating engineer near me” are now from Albania, which has leapt way ahead of Poland, Lithuania, Romania and France. This bump in search numbers came as Brexit Secretary David Davis resigned and the announcement of the Chequers Agreement by Theresa May, as well as pressstories about potential labour shortages once the UK quits the EU.

“The bump in Albanian traffic foxed us at first,” says HaMuch Managing Director Tarquin Purdie. “So, I started to ask around amongst the few Albanian tradesman in the UK that I know. One that I have had previous dealings with said that workers in his country are more clued up about the UK than we might think. They have seen news about Polish or French people feeling insecure here and starting to leave, and many think that means a new market opening up for them, at better rates than they can make at home. We are seeing twenty to thirty searches per day from Albania so far this month and I don’t expect that to slow down soon.

“The highest number of searches from Albania have been for kitchen-fitting work, bathrooms, extensions and general plumbing work. They are getting an idea of what trades in the UK charge, as well as the areas where work or competition may be. The most popular areas for search amongst those looking from Albania have been Heating Engineer in Kensington , Plumber in Islington and Builder in Birmingham. These are certainly areas with high traffic for all kinds of building work, so they know what they are looking for.”

The findings from HaMuch come just days after the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) released the findings of a survey that showed UK companies are struggling to fill vacancies as fewer UK citizens move here and others leave. The CIPD noted that applicants per vacancy are falling year on year, with companies forced to raise wages to aid recruitment. 

Albania is not currently an EU country, but is expected to be admitted soon and is undergoing pre-entry preparations. Albanian workers can apply for working and business visas for the UK, which may become easier if the government decides that certain trades are in short supply after Brexit.