Cowboy Customers leave tradespeople £1.7bn out of pocket with bogus home improvements quotes

We’ve all heard of the Cowboy Builder – the stereotypical handyman who charges the earth for a job that’s barely presentable. The work of rogue traders has been well documented in Britain across a plethora of TV shows, but what about the Cowboy Customers that cost tradespeople millions of pounds every year? New research from field management software service Powered Now has found that at a time when the backlog for tradespeople to commence work on home improvements is on average three months, builders are being swindled out of vast sums.

Whether it be creating fake appointments with tradespeople to get out of rental agreements or as a threat to a landlord to receive a deposit back in full, seldom is it the case that the tradesperson who is losing money through bogus appointments is considered. What’s more, it appears that many Brits have actively withheld payment from their tradespeople to attempt to negotiate a lower price, or lodged false complaints with threats of bad reviews, simply to receive a discount.

A recent survey of tradespeople by Rated People found that the most common irritant within the industry was that homeowners were late with their payments, especially when trying to rush through the transaction of a property or to drive down the price after the work was completed.

Now, with severe labour and material shortages, along with record client demand accelerating the backlog of work that tradespeople are contending with, field service management software Powered Now has commissioned nationally representative research to investigate what may be the most common faux pas committed by consumers when dealing with tradespeople.

Key Statistics:

Over 5 million (5,038,000) Brits have requested a quote for a project from a tradesperson when they know they will not choose them
Over 2 million (2,496,000) Brits have forgotten about an appointment and been out when the tradesperson has arrived at the agreed time
Over 1 million (1,282,000) Brits have unfairly criticised work done during a home improvement project in order to receive a discount
1,743,000 Brits have delayed payment to a tradesperson in order to try to negotiate a lower price
According to Checkatrade, the average daily rates for tradespeople in 2020 is as follows:

Plumber – £347.50
Electrician – £225
Handyman – £200
Kitchen Fitter – £150
With so many people agreeing to use the time of tradespeople for services they know will not be ultimately required, Powered Now estimate that between £776m to £1.75bn of revenue for the UK’s trades has been frittered away, purely through bogus quotes.

To discuss the financial implications that this has on the tradespeople of the UK, Ben Dyer, Founder of Powered Now, has offered his insights.

“We hear back from tradespeople on a daily basis that they are frustrated by the hoops they have to leap through in order to receive their fair payment. We of course recognise that there are horror stories about rogue traders, but we do believe that British tradespeople are amongst the most qualified in the world. They too have to adhere to some of the most stringent regulations going, making them some of the best builders on the global market.

Faux pas made by customers are commonplace too, and we wanted to provide support to trusted tradespeople across the UK who do a great job, day in day out. As we move into a new year, tradespeople are still doing their best to cope during the pandemic in which they are providing much needed economic stability by working throughout the lockdowns. The focus should be shifted to shine a light on the great work that tradespeople do the majority of the time, and not the unfortunate, less than satisfactory work that is completed in the absolute minority of cases”.