The same is true with pretty much any skilled tradesperson these days. Don’t take it personally: There are all sorts of explanations, and only some may be your fault.

The water stain on the ceiling is growing, and the plumber won’t return repeated phone calls. The air conditioner died, and the HVAC technician is a no-show. A new car-charging outlet in the garage must wait until September, the electrician’s first available opening.

Why is it so hard to hire a skilled tradesperson?

There is blame to go around. Small businesses are strapped for resources. Homeowners are unwilling to pay enough to make the job worth taking. There is a shortage of workers.

In the end, though, everybody loses. The customer may get the job done, but only after countless phone calls and long delays. And the service provider engenders ill will and bad reviews from customers whose calls go unreturned and appointments missed.

Is there any way out of this lose-lose hole? Here are five reasons your plumber, electrician or other service technician may be ghosting you.

A labor shortage
The skilled-trades industry continues to experience high demand for workers, with job openings far outpacing the supply of qualified workers to fill them, according to an analysis by PeopleReady Skilled Trades, a specialty job-placement company.

To expand the pool of skilled workers, the Labor Department funds efforts to attract more women to careers in the trades. Some states offer tax credits and tuition support to businesses that hire and train apprentices, the first step toward gaining a professional license. The National Association of Home Builders, a trade group, has a Workforce Development outreach program to promote careers in the skilled trades.

To attract talent, bosses must be proactive. “I hear it all the time, business owners who say, ‘You can’t find anyone [to work] these days,’ ” says Jesse Kuhlman, owner of Kuhlman Electrical Services in Greater Boston. “My question to them is, “What are you doing to recruit? What are your benefits? What do you pay? Do your employees like working for you?’ ”

When he started in 2014, Kuhlman says, his company had one employee. Now, he oversees 50 people, with licensed electricians earning $35 to $42 an hour, plus benefits and bonuses, he says.

What’s key, he adds, is a willingness to hire people who are “green.” Most of his employees started from the bottom and worked their way up. Three of his former apprentices are now managers in the company. That investment takes time, he says—four to five years to become licensed electricians capable of going out on their own. Still, he tells recruits, “These are great careers, and you can make a decent amount of money.”

Inadequate support staff
“These are typically small companies,” says Dan Holohan, a Bethesda, Md.-based HVAC expert who founded HeatingHelp.com, a forum for service providers and manufacturers. “It might be a husband doing the work and a wife doing the books. If people are asking for a free estimate and lengthy proposal, they’re going to just walk away because they [already] have plenty to do.”

But that is no excuse for poor customer service, Holohan adds.

One possible solution is a centralized call center. To support its 17 plumbing-business franchisees, Z Plumberz operates a 24/7 nationwide call center that routes customers to its closest location. Dispatchers also help franchisees rework their bookings when plumbing emergencies arise.


“When you call a brand, the chances of getting a plumber to come to the house and get the work done are much higher,” says Matt O’Rourke, president of the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company. Franchisees also get training in business basics as well as marketing materials. “We know we’re not going to be the cheapest,” O’Rourke says. “But hopefully we’re not the most expensive.”

Kuhlman, whose company is independent, employs four full-time staffers just to take calls and schedule job estimates. In January, he installed a new customer-relations-management system that provides tracking data. Eighty-eight percent of the customers who call for an estimate end up booking one, Kuhlman says. Of those, 50% hire a Kuhlman electrician for their job. “That 88% call-booking rate is critical, otherwise you’re throwing money away,” he says.

For now, though, the labor shortage means that many customers will find themselves leaving pleading voicemails in hopes of getting a plumber or other repair person to come out. The odds of getting a callback aren’t great because repair people already have plenty of work. Why waste time answering a call if you know you don’t have the hours in the day to do the job?

That’s especially true if the voicemail makes it clear the problem is urgent—something that needs to be done quickly. On the HeatingHelp.com discussion board, one technician posted this about whether they would respond to such a voicemail: “From an existing customer, a callback is given. New customers, no.”

The job is too small. The job is too big.
Tradespeople today are picky about the types of work they take on, says Holohan, the HVAC expert. It used to be that homeowners would get three estimates and pick the best one. “That has reversed itself,” he says. These days, because of a surplus of demand, the tradespeople can decide which customers they want to work with.

For example, it might be worth an HVAC person to drive 50 miles to install a heating-cooling system, but an electrician won’t make that trip just to relocate an outlet. Many small service businesses also avoid new-construction projects because they are simply too big—they don’t have the staff to handle a job that involved. And not all tradespeople are equipped to handle off-hours emergencies. They may appreciate the extra money, but the last thing they want to do is alienate their staff. A few extra dollars isn’t worth losing an employee.



The job involves fixing a botched DIY effort
An HVAC contractor may quote a $3,000 price to repair or replace a new boiler, Holohan says. But when he gets to house, he realizes the boiler isn’t working because of numerous other “repairs” and patches made by hapless homeowners or their buddies. Suddenly, the scope of the work and the price tag expand, far exceeding what the tradesperson wants to do and/or the homeowner wants to pay.

The obvious lesson for homeowners: Do it yourself only when you know how to do it yourself. And even then, if the job involves contact with electricity, sewage or natural gas, it’s best to leave it to the pros.

People are cheapskates
Tradespeople say that many homeowners have a firm sense of how much a job will cost. But they are often wrong, and the gap is too big to bridge.

Homeowners sometimes respond by hiring an unlicensed, uninsured “friend of a cousin,” who will do the job more cheaply, says Holohan. Or they’ll offer to chip in some of the work. They’ll do the demolition, say, or offer to do some wiring.

But licensed tradespeople will generally turn down the offer—in part because they can’t warranty it. “The lowball guys working out of their house with no insurance, maybe they’ll let the homeowner do part of the work [to save money],” says Holohan. “But a true heating professional in the business won’t tolerate that. They’ll laugh at that and walk away.”

Beth DeCarbo is a writer in South Carolina. She can be reached at reports@wsj.com.


LINK: https://www.wsj.com/articles/p...tors-demand-25ff0036

There are very few skilled tradesmen left. They have more work than they’ll ever get to in one lifetime. The fly by night jerkoffs only show up when they need money.

I know several local HVAC, plumbing, and electrical contractors. Every one of them is constantly complaining about people not showing up. Whether it's experienced people, or people they're taking on as apprentices, they interview and either show up for a couple days or not at all, and then ghost them.

The worst part is, based on what they're telling me, they are offering REALLY solid pay and benefits, and STILL getting ghosted.

Tell him you're making a porn movie.

As said before, skilled tradesmen are in fact getting harder to find. If you have your car repairs done, it is equally hard to find a good mechanic. At my current workplace, there may not be anybody to replace me when I retire. However, that doesn't account for not calling you back, if only to tell you they can't get to it for several days, a week or more.

Yep... unfortunately, unless you know someone, you are going to have to do for yourself in many cases and it is only going to get worse.

The push away from traditional trades into college degrees has wiped out the vocations in much of America.

Covid and easy money may have been the last nail.

I am doing all I can to be self reliant. At least I am mechanically inclined. YouTube and Rumble also make it much easier.

My dad worked for himself as a plumber & had a helper who he trained up. When he retired two years ago he began running the office for a local company that does jetting (industrial pipe cleaning) and other stuff but not residential plumbing. The guy can’t get good help. The help he has are lazy and can’t think things through and are constantly calling the boss to solve things that they should be able to do on scene.

All of them are under 40. They only replace things and don’t figure out the underlying issue.

For instance, the boss came in with a new hand held gas powered 1” pump that they will use to get water from a creek and fill a 1000 gal tank that they use for jetting. I saw a 2” gas pump laying to the side of the shop. I asked the boss what’s up with the new pump when you have a pump right there.

There was a lot of hemming and hawing and it turns out the 2” pump won’t run. I checked the tank ( didn’t want to be Carl Childers-it ain’t got no gas in it), then pulled the plug wire. It had spark but wouldn’t start. I pulled the plug and saw it needed replacing. Handed the boss the plug and told him a $5 part was the issue-you just spent $200 for a garbage Chinese pump. We left after that to go drink beer with dad at home.

Next day dad says the boss had bought a new plug and the 2” pump now works. I just shake my head. The boss has no computer and works on index cards for calls/jobs, then hands the card to the worker when he’s dispatched. Now the boss has no clue about the job his guy is on. Boss is organizationally challenged.

My dad has more patience than I do. Dad only does this for something to do or he’d go crazy(workaholic)

We were on a 1.5 year waiting list to get the general contractor who did our new kitchen last August/September.

And it seems like if I call him with some kind of work, he’s still way out for even thinking about getting to me.

In the middle of a build. Yes it is tough. Taking longer than I had hoped. But is moving. I am just trying to keep things moving ahead. Biggest headache so far has been getting some flat work done. Our target date to completion is mid Oct. Think we can get there, hopefully.
This is a new construction I am helping family with.
Everyone is busy doing new const. that finding guys to do service work is really tough.

It will cycle the other way sooner than later. It always does.

I love my plumber. He is kind, patient and very, very reasonable. He had the nicest young man working for him as an apprentice. He was paying for the kid to take the study course and to take his journeyman exam. The kid decided he wanted to do something else. Since he is now working alone again and probably close to 60. We have to wait longer, plus he can’t work under our old pier and beam houses alone. He also won’t do tankless and electronics, so has to refer us to someone else for the hot water heater. I feel bad for him. Old guys need younger employees to work on their knees and crawling and they can’t find young ones who want to do it.

I have a good plumber, a good electrician, and a good HVAC guy. All are responsive and reliable. I’ve used them for years. The handiest form of communication is iMessage.

quote:

Originally posted by bozman:

The push away from traditional trades into college degrees has wiped out the vocations in much of America.

Back when I was in high school you would actually hear the term "college material" used. Now it seems every graduate is college material. If a guidance counselor ever recommended the trades rather than college, the parents would be before the school board demanding his/her head.

Yeah, I've got a great plumber, thank goodness. he's honest and his prices are reasonable, and he understands when I answer the door with a pistol in my hand.

It's a father and son team.

I've got a good handyman, too. Talk about vital relationships to cultivate...

Many tradesman found other kinds of work or retired early during the 2007-2008 downturn
and began the fallout.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
Back when I was in high school you would actually hear the term "college material" used. Now it seems every graduate is college material. If a guidance counselor ever recommended the trades rather than college, the parents would be before the school board demanding his/her head.

Luckily, that tide is starting to turn, at least around here.

There's an increased push to get students interested in the skilled trades, and the school districts are backing off from the "college for everyone/trade school is for the flunkies" mindset that they've held for the past few decades.

But the bad news is that it'll probably be another decade or so before that correction starts to fully bear fruit.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RogueJSK,

Mike Roe did a story on this. Don’t quote me on exact numbers but over the last ten years as 5 people left the trades only 3 joined so it has gotten very sparse. The ones that actually do show up know this and will gouge you big time. So you’re basically screwed either way.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
Mike Roe did a story on this. Don’t quote me on exact numbers but over the last ten years as 5 people left the trades only 3 joined so it has gotten very sparse. The ones that actually do show up know this and will gouge you big time. So you’re basically screwed either way.

Ummm, is it really "gouging" if you're losing family time because you can't find quality help? Let's be serious here, if the workforce to do the work in a field is down 20-30%, and you're on hour 75 by Thursday (trust me, something I'm familiar with), if you want something done soon or at all you better be willing to compensate people for it. Demand is up and supply is down... Econ 101 happens.

Good, fast, or cheap, pick 2, takes on a whole new meaning when you don't have time to take a breath.

Your point is taken, we're working with a diminished workforce, people apparently have not awaken to the fact. OR, based on the article, they're just now figuring it out.

Little Timmy had mediocre grades, but is good with his hands, lets send him to school to get a degree in gender studies.
He'll make a great DEI coordinator! Everyone wins a prize, brilliant!

We spent decades depreciating the trades, so it's not that "you're basically screwed either way", we all are.

I have a good plumber. But even though I have an electrician, it's hard to get him to schedule me. Besides there being fewer tradespeople, there's still a housing boom in my area and the tradespeople are getting sucked up by the contractors.

Mike Rowe has setup a scholarship program, it's helping get people into the trades and educated on these jobs. There is a lot of money to be made, demand is high for this type of work.

https://mikeroweworks.org/

Interesting man, and he's passionate about this, it's worth a look... And if you are on SM, he's worth following.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
Besides there being fewer tradespeople, there's still a housing boom in my area and the tradespeople are getting sucked up by the contractors.

Yeah, we're dealing with the same issue. We're one of the fastest-growing areas in the country, so many of the tradesmen are focused on the abundance of new residential and commercial construction, leaving even fewer available for existing residential work for homeowners.

My agency is even struggling to get bids for things like a building expansion, because there's plenty of more lucrative commercial work elsewhere in the metroplex area.

I've had good luck looking on Craigslist. Found a super plumber there, whom I suspect works for someone else and freelances on the side. All the plumbers recommended on Nextdoor.com or who run the constant radio commercials can't even bother to call back. I only ever got their vm. However, this great plumber has ghosted me, even though I always tipped 50-100% on top of his bill. Now my electrician had ghosted me. He was great for about three small repairs/projects, but he no longer returns my calls. My Mexican landscaper has turned out to be quite the jack of all trades, and he's very reliable.