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There is always one thing that gets me gears grinding, and that’s the white van men fitting soffits and fascias. What’s extremely frustrating is that the many of the reputable companies out there are losing so many jobs because of them. The reason? Scaffolding. I’ve never seen one single tower used when I’ve seen an installation carried out by a white van man. For the larger companies, or the companies who care about health and safety and want to remain in business, we have to price for scaffolding, which, depending on the size of the house could be upwards of £1000. So when the customer has two quotes, one of which is significantly cheaper, but from a guy who he/she probably won’t ever see again the minute something goes wrong, price will always win in the end.
This isn’t then helped by the rising number of ‘travelers’ deciding it’s a good idea to enter this trade. Just like the men in white un-marked vans, they’ll supply a dirt cheap price, not give a thought to the health and safety laws or scaffolding requirements, and so force out all the reputable companies giving quotes to the same customer. I don’t know why we all don’t do anything about it. We should all be shopping these cowboys. These are the people who drag our name through the mud and steal valuable business from those companies who price through the normal channels and carry out work according the latest rules and health and safety regulations.
