A really nice chap who I have worked with for some time has recently moved back to Poland for family reasons. It's a real blow because we worked well together. I very much hope I'm not being insulting here asking but could anyone point me in the right direction to another builder. I live in Leeds and I'm half way though the conversion of an old commercial building and need help. I'm stupidly trying to do a PhD in Nanotechnology at the same time as this development so can spend a limited time on site so need someone I can trust, hence the post.
Do you mean someone to do some random contracting jobs on your building? If so, there are many contractors from Poland who can help you out (but note that not all of them are great). It'd be best if you knew Polish but if you don't you may still find them on your own on sites like leeds24.pl or leeds-manchester.pl.
Thanks Nathans, I'll have a look at those sites and report back. Any other recommendations anyone might have would be very welcome. Cheers.
I had a look at those sites but haven't had any joy yet, so still looking. If anyone knows a good builder in the Leeds/Bradford area, I'd be very grateful for contact details. Cheers
Pretty well and to advertise citing nationality would be illegal in most circumstances. Since this is just a question rather than an advert, I suspect the law doesn't cover it.
One thing I'd say to the OP though is that Poles aren't that different from anyone else and there are as many as English people - he'd found a good worker and was lucky - there are as many bad ones as good ones in Poland (if not more) as anyone living here can testify and choosing someone because of the country they come from isn't the best way to find an employee.
:) fair enough. The bottom line is that, in my experience, Polish building teams are good and I was (maybe wrongly) willing to attempt to find one on here (it's actually worked out a good catalyst for discussion too). It's obviously a massive sweeping statement and a little racist towards the English, of course there are great English builders out there, it's just that I haven't bumped into them. I take your point though.
jon357, I'm sure you are right that, in Poland, there is exactly the same variation of quality within the building community as there is in the UK but I'm not sure that wide variation in quality extends to people who have relatively recently come to work in the UK (probably applies to all trades from unskilled to high-end skilled jobs). Someone who has consciously made the big decision to move, tends to be on the whole quite driven and wants to efficiently crack on. They also tend not to give ridiculously high quotes because I guess they are still making comparisons with wage levels elsewhere. Remember I've talking on average here.
I agree that, as you say, someone who's made the conscious decision to move abroad is a good bet as an employee. The problem is more the ones who come along for the ride.
A friend who's Polish was having some work done on his home in Warsaw. One morning he called in to check the progress and found all their tools in a pile with a note on top saying they'd all gone to London. At least he got the tools!
This isn't the best place to find Polish builders being English language, however there are a ton of websites for Poles in the UK and you'll be sure to find somebody ideal from one of those.
