Unreliable craftsmen - is this common in the industry nowadays?

Regarding the cracks, I can even understand the painter. He is not responsible for that and is now supposed to fix something he did not cause, probably for free. A house continues to dry out for a long time and settles, causing cracks, especially at the transitions from drywall to masonry, since drywall shrinks more. The acrylic in the joints then no longer holds and cracks. Silicone joints don’t work because they can’t be painted over. PU and MS polymer are too expensive and too difficult to apply. The solution is to cover areas prone to cracks from the start with plaster moldings. Karsten

Yes, that’s clear, cracks are normal. Only they have become somewhat quite large. Anyway, the painter would have been paid for everything. He would have just had to come, I even promised him some additional work.

Apparently no need...

Well; he just prefers to paint entire objects.
When business is slow again at some point; they all start complaining about why no one wants to pay the craftsman anymore.

Well; he’d rather just paint entire objects.

When business is slow again at some point; they’ll all be whining why no one wants to pay the craftsman anymore.

But honestly: many want craftwork for low. Also very very often to be read here [emoji853] And with Reuter everything is cheaper anyway, so you just get someone from MyHammer... and the cheap one is still criticized by the picky builder for not working meticulously enough at an hourly wage of a few euros.
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It’s not your fault – if anything, it’s due to a lack of energy to still fight against this current by writing an offer at night. It’s not good enough anyway [emoji57]

One way would be: Stay within the milieu. So: Craftsman master comes, looks at the stairs, ah, new railing. You say. Yes, beech, metal rods? He: that would work. You, make a price, roughly. He 2400,- plus tax. You, ok, let's build. You shake hands. We agree. He says, but don’t complain if it’s three hundred more. You: No, but you don’t either if it’s 200 less.
You dare? Karsten

I can also report bad experiences. This Saturday, my bathroom was supposed to be plastered by a friend. He has now fallen ill. The tiler was scheduled for Monday at 8 a.m. for an inspection. Of course, I wrote to him on Friday that it would not be plastered and what our arrangements are. So far, no further reaction. Probably without prior price negotiations or anything similar. He had already been here for consultation before. Conclusion: made some calls and activated old football colleagues from the trades.

The window is the same. We have been waiting for an offer for three weeks after he was already here to take measurements. Worth noting, he is our neighbor.

An electrician also did not get back to me after an assessment. Two were completely overbooked. A master craftsman’s company was completely unproblematic: where should sockets/switches/network/TV go? He painted everything with his journeymen, gave a rough estimate in terms of price, I of course groaned because it was over budget. He said: We'll find a good middle ground. The next day, the hardworking crew was here and started. Meanwhile, I received the partial invoice and transferred it the same day. Very hardworking, very reliable, and friendly.

Sanitary work only happened because I have an acquaintance who went to school with the junior boss of a company. Price-wise fair, the master craftsman comes around in the meantime and checks, experienced journeymen work diligently, precisely, and friendly according to their age. We chat quite often about family and such.

My conclusion is also that if you know someone, it’s great; if not, it just gets difficult. I don’t know exactly what the reasons are. Overall, we followed Karsten’s ways and awarded contracts without major negotiations by handshake. That’s how it has to be, that’s how fair work goes, and people get their money promptly. Unfortunately, that seems to be dying out. Fortunately, I’m from the village and my family has lived here since the war. That makes quite a difference.

About chand. I'll say something about that. Expand. Yes, for what? For whom? Thousands of businesses have no successors. Lack of children. My BU will close in its mid to late 50s. My electrician no successor. Late 50s. My plumber, three daughters, possibly the gardener, no successor. Painter same.

Well, at 50+ expanding is too late. But whoever is good will always get orders.
So it should have been done 10-15 years earlier.