As Expats, do you give preference to other expats?

[spangley]

From a business perspective, I'm curious to know if expats (of any nationality) are drawn to other expats for providing services such as carpentry, maintenance, plumbing, IT etc.  Is there like an expat micro market in Australia?  Where I live in Switzerland this is definitely the case, expats (internationals) often feel more comfortable to source services from other expats rather than local Swissies.  

I must point out that expats in Switzerland means pretty much anybody who isn't Swiss.  British, German, Russian, Brazilian. 

Edited July 3, 2017 by spangley

[Guest The Pom Queen]

To be honest I've dealt with a number of businesses and doctors etc. when I'm looking for work doing I don't go looking for an expat, I look at cost followed by experience and references, although these days with FB everyone seems to be an expert and everyone has friends who give them a false reference. If one of them turns out to be a Brit I do find I get along with them more.

In fact I had this conversation with my nurse who is from Manchester and an Aussie nurse last night. We all agreed that the Aussies tend to struggle with our sarcasm and jokes. What we say in humour seems to be taken the wrong way.

An example of this was with my builder last year, I gave him a thousand dollars cash and said "don't go doing a runner and booking your flights to Bali" now a Brit would have had banter back but he took offence and thought I was accusing him of being a scam artist.  I've had a few situations like this and the nurse last night said she finds it bad especially with patients as they take her the wrong way.

[AJ]

I dont, but it definately happens,have seen Poms advertising on FB for Pommie Tradesmen only, cos they seem to think they are so much better.  I have had work done by plenty Aussie Tradies and am very happy.  There are cowboys in every nationality!

[starlight7]

At first I would positively avoid ex pats because I figured they didn't know the score here very well but these days I don't care- don't actually come across many from day to day and I have the impression there are hardly any these days from the UK. They seem to have disappeared- either totally assimilated or gone home??

[Guest The Pom Queen]

I suppose the only thing I have found that I may choose someone from the UK over Australia is a hairdresser. I don't have much luck here.

[AJ]

12 minutes ago, starlight7 said:

At first I would positively avoid ex pats because I figured they didn't know the score here very well but these days I don't care- don't actually come across many from day to day and I have the impression there are hardly any these days from the UK. They seem to have disappeared- either totally assimilated or gone home??

They are all in Perth NOR!

[Johndoe]

Quite frankly..............I think that Brit tradesman have too much of a high opinion of themselves and their abilities and consider most Aussie traidesman to be "tossers? I'm not a tradesman so can't judge on actual ability as both Brit and Aussie tradesman that I have dealt with have always performed reasonably. The only difference that I perceive is that Aussie tradesman on recognising something familiar such as a fishing rod in your garage or a fourby will talk about fishing or 4 wheel driving................a Pom invariably talks about (when he realises that you're a pom) the jobs that he's been on where he's had to "put right" jobs that crap Aussie tradesman have done.

In the past, here are often complaints on this forum about Aussie tradesman not turning up to give quotes and Poms being more "professional" and turning up as expected. That could be construed in many ways.............have the Aussies got that much work that they don't need to/ haven't got the time to chase quotes? Do  POM tradesman turn up because they are more professional or because they are short of work? That said, I've been given 3 recommendations from a Pom for a Pom Tradesman, and none of them turned up and yet I've never had an Aussie not turn up so I must be the exception as far as PIO past threads go.

Whatever the above, I would always employ an Aussie because it's Aussie Tradesman who built the country, are more conversant with it's rules/regs and idiosyncracies and don't whinge as much..................except about Poms always whingeing

[ScottieGirl]

Best tradies I have ever hired have been young guys looking to build up their business, they are hungrier for the business.  Most have been Aussies.

When it comes to hairdressers I don't care about nationality but they have to be male and gay.  Learned from experience they are the best. 

[NicF]

When it comes to tradesmen we usually go for the most professional seeming with the best quote.  Don't care where they come from, I just want someone that turns up on time, seems to know what they are talking about without being pushy and can do the job at a decent price.  I have never asked where someone is from before getting a quote and I can't always tell if someone is British or Australian unless they have a strong accent so I couldn't be sure if I was using a fellow expat or not most of the time unless they told me.