Would you hire Polish builders and get work done cheaper or go British and pay more?

What the Heck

It's people like you that are willing to use immigrants which is screwing the country up.

You will find that the Polish ones don't follow H&S laws as they should, have public liability insurance and registered with the Inland Revenue.

I only employ white English for contracts.

The TV programme where a British builder and Pole built extensions was fabricated. The so called British builder was at best a poor DIYer. Get some quotes and go and look at their work and then choose one.

Ask them if they have City & Guilds paperwork and that they're registered with CITB.

The Saint

Either as long as they came recommended from someone I know and could look at their previous work.

tanika971

well i watched Bobski on TV last week and i would definitely employ a polish worker, they had an english builder who had been a builder for many many years, as was his dad, and they had a polish one who had done it for 5 years, to cut a long story short, the british builder was being sued at the end of the programme as some of his work was dangerous, where as the polish builder was offered another job,( after he had finished this one) from the electrician that came to the building he was working on, as he was so impressed with his work.

Cool Hal

Assuming that references and standards of work were the same I would employ anyone, you might say I would be an equal oportunty employer - But now builders are being laid off maybe the prices that they charge will be realistic - I had a quote for a day and a half work Â£750 +VAT. That worked out at over Â£50K a year

And people say bankers are over paid.

Julian G

I only use workmen who have been well recommended by family/ friends and I do as much as I can my self, eg why employ someone to take an old kitchen out, just throwing money away.

Wayne

Whoever's cheapest.

I would only hire Polish workers if I knew them very well. But having worked in recruitment, I can say the majority of Poles are very hard-working.

Qextor

I wouldn't care what the nationality was - I want the job done right!
So, proper references/recommendations, and if it happened the best was a british worker, so much the better.

"I wouldn't care what the nationality was - I want the job done right!
So, proper references/recommendations, and if it happened the best was a british worker, so much the better.
1 week ago "

completely agree !!

Capt Jack

To be honest, I would go with whoever:

* actually came back with a quote
* and could let me know when they could start
* and it was convenient
* had been recommended
* and sounded like they knew what they were talking about.

Despite the financial crisis, actually finding tradesmen willing to take a job on seems to be like pulling teeth.

Pusia

this is a difficult question because the issue is not really whether someone is British or Polish but how you can check the quality of work and be assured that whoever you employ is actually going to be following the rules that they are supposed to.

It's amazing that the rogue british cowboy builder seems to have disappeared from our memories to be replaced by the Polish builder who is cheap but an unknown quantity as far as quality is concerned.

- what the heck - you only employ WHITE British people - that's illegal and racist

EarthCalling

Hurry if you want a Polish builder: hey are all going home.

SteveT

We'll have to soon.

Since the credit crunch all the Poles are going back . .

kate

No, The polish need food too. I would go for the cheapest, English plasterers / builders are greedy.

You know I'm right, Â£40 labour for an hour? Please, that's just insulting.

pretty_18uk

polish builder because they are cheap and very hardworking.

LadyMoon

I would employ British builders because the British builder probably has a mortgage and a family to support and without the work will struggle.

The Polish builder is probably quite capable of getting work in Poland and has just come here to make extra money. Plus how could you be sure that they were properly qualified and registered with all the necessary authorities and Guilds?! How do you know they're not "Cowboys"? Its easier to check this out with a British builder.

I'm not being "racist" and I have nothing against Polish people but I feel I should support my fellow UK citizen.

I'm about to have a large amount of work done on my house too and its being done by a local Welsh builder.

Besides, as far as money goes, I beleive you get what you pay for. And if they mess the job up at least with a British builder you have more chance of redress. The Polish builder could easily just skip off to Poland and you'd have no way of getting your money back. Plus there could be issues with insurance etc if you use an overseas builder.

The other reason I'd hire a British builder is because the money you pay then will more likely stay in the UK economy, which will benefit us all in the long run. If the British builder can't get work he'll end up signing on the dole and our economy will just become a mess with too many people doing that.

Hugh de Payens

Go British...you get what you pay for,also,if you have any problems,you could go back to the company that you used and try to get the problem sorted.
If you go Polish,God knows where they could be after it's done,if and that's a big IF, they're still around and you have any problems,i can almost guarantee that would be the moment they lost all grasp of the English language.
Another thing to consider,at least the money would STAY in this country.

use the british workers at least the money will stay in the britain. Polish are dodgey the business next to where i work employs 60 of them, They have ambulances up there every 5 minutes and they are always breaking the machines.

Astray A

British worker are lazy. By the time they finish the work i'll take a year lol

Ade C

Please stick with the British builders. I go by the motto "You pay for **** and you get ****". My boyfriend had Polish builders ages ago working on his flat, and they did a shoddy job, not to mention extremely rude.

No doubt I am going to get a tirade of abuse or thumbs down, but I'm only going by what we had and what friends and family have experienced.

I know it will cost more for a British builder, but guaranteed by paying more, the job will be done properly.

Spartan

I was once a foreman on a large site in charge of all the painters, i had 70ish painters working there and all but 5 were polish and out of that lot 3 or 4 were any good. They would turn up with BnQ value packs and tell me they were professional painters, needless to say the job fell behind and i sacked most of them. This wasn't the only time ive ran into them on jobs the majority are not professional tradesman and are on site because there mate got them the job. Only use them for the donkey work, fetching/carrying they ain't much good for anything else.

jenningsnetty

i would employ british builder with a good reputation and liability insurance.

do your polish builders have liability insurance......
can you afford to pay them thousands if they hurt themselfs on your proprerty....

warrior

Once again, on both sides of the pond, we are facing similar problems.

Where I live in Texas, I have no personal grudge with Mexicans; but I do not like knowing that US Citizens are losing local job opportunities
to people from other countries; especially illegal aliens.

I would hire one of my fellow countrymen in a flash before your economy becomes a job market nightmare like ours has become.

One more thing, if people keep selling each other out for a few dollars or pounds saved, the ability to do certain kinds of work will be lost, in addition to the jobs.

teddy

use the British workers, because if things do go wrong you have more chance of getting it put right. Plus its time we put our own workers first. Polish workers often work in the black economy, so pay no tax, or indeed any insurance, so they are paying nowt into the country, time to get back to British skills, and better workmen. I would not use any foreign builders at all, on principle.

employed the same people over and again and by and large was happy with the work, they were clean and tidy, and i know that if anything was not right they would come back and rectify it. Its time to start thinking about where your hard earned cash goes to, someone who family is elsewhere in Europe or in UK, where as someone pointed out will likely have a mortage, kids, etc

robert c

I would pay the extra and have a British worker do the job!

Mr Abba

Yes because quality work is better then cheap work.

Katie M

hire the bristish boys keep it in the blood i wolud rather pay abit more and wait longer but the job wolud be done better

Seashore

Having used British builders in the past and been provided with very high unrealistic quotes, for poor shoddy work, that dragged on because the builders kept going off to other jobs, I would never use them again. Also I found the British builders lazy, rude and arrogant and usually very unhelpful. It appears that they are intent at squeezing every last penny out of you, but not coming up with quality work. On the other hand, I could not beleive the difference when I used Polish builders. Their workmanship is second to none. They turn up on time each day and do a full days work. They are polite, honest and helpful, which means that I can give them my house keys, if I have to go to work and be assured that the work will get done and my belongings will be safe. With regards to the costs, unbeleiveble. A quarter of the cost charged by British workers and the work is of the highest standard Until the Poles came to the UK, I had left all my building jobs, as I was not prepared to have a British worker come into my home and do a bad job. Over the past 18 months, I have had all the jobs done by Polish workers and am very pleased with the outcome and feel that I have not been ripped off. Many people have asked me for the contact details of the builders. I WOULD NEVER USE A BRITISH BUILDER> MY HOME IS A HUGH INVESTMENT AND I DO NOT WISH TO DEVALUE IT BY HAVING POOR SUB STANDARD WORK DONE.

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