[81MC]

Ha te dealing with trades, it’s such a crap shot. One persons unforeseen dumb little issue is something that someone else would have assessed appropriately and worked around. I loathe the idea of paying journeyman rate for someone to learn on the job, and ultimately paying for their poor plan and execution.

A bathroom fan? Ffs, if someone is passing that with 2hrs labour they don’t want the job. I can *sort of* understand that there is a cost associated with all the jobs that don’t pay, like expecting one thing and coming across another. But you’re paying a professional to do a job, they should be aware of at least 95% of the possible scenarios.

I’ve paid a trade for three things in the last 6 years:
1 - Electrician took 3 hours to do a job they said would be half an hour. It was poorly planned and they were just slow.
2 - Plumber to clear a pedestal sink drain. This was only to make a point with my partner. Quoted $800, spent more time writing up the quote than it would have taken to do the damn job. I know, because I did it immediately after paying him $100 for the site visit.
3 - Plumber to do a good amount of work in my bathroom reno. Was a week over due, left a mess in each of his multiple 2 hour site visits and I still had to fix some things.

Trades are essential for an awful lot. But as a home owner? If you’re not half dead and care to learn, you can do a hell of a lot yourself. Replacing a bathroom fan (if that’s all it is) is one of those things. Screws and wire nuts aren’t magic.