What attributes makes a great tradesperson?
- magda
A great tradesperson is one who will do your work to a professional standard, within a reasonable timeframe, and for a fair price. A poor tradesperson will fail on any or all of these accounts and cause just as many headaches if you’d ignored the problem at hand completely.
So how can you tell the difference between one who will fix more than he or she breaks and one who will break more than he or she fixes?
Here are a few things that make a tradesperson someone you definitely want to deal with.
Customer service
From good communication to a thorough understanding of what you want out of their services and skills, a great tradesperson will have a strong grasp of what makes for quality customer service.
This means getting back to you on time, keeping you in the loop about projected timelines and cost estimates, updating you on progress, and following up once the job is done. If you have to abstain from using the kitchen or bathroom in your home as the work is going on, for example, you should be given an accurate timeline about how long your basic amenities will be affected.
Safety awareness and practice
Much of the training an apprentice tradesperson receives is based on best practice for on-the-job safety. While some of these safety precautions are just that – precautions – it doesn’t mean we can ignore any of them.
A great tradesperson will ensure following all practices. Both for their own safety and for the safety of others in the vicinity.
Industry knowledge
A great tradesperson will know details about anything and everything from the industry. Even if it is not always applicable to their job.
This could be knowledge about the latest developments of a new major construction project. Or about a good understanding of new products and tools on the market. This deeper knowledge of the sector may come in handy in any number of ways. They may even be able to offer you contacts with others in the industry who can help out with other aspects of the project.
Actual skills
Needless to say, any person working in the trades should have the appropriate knowledge and skills in order to carry out the job.
This comes from their training, experience, natural ability, and dedication to doing the job to an exceptional standard. If you hire a professional painter, you don’t want to be able to see marks from the rollers, or splashes of paint anywhere they shouldn’t be.
Problem-solving skills
This one is a little harder to spot. But when a problem does occur, a great tradesperson will quickly start throwing ideas around as to how to circumnavigate or solve the issue.
It takes lateral thinking, experience, and skill. But the ability to solve problems as they arrive makes for a fantastic worker in any industry, and the trades are no exception.
