It is pretty funny we are seeing a somewhat similar phenomena here.

A few years ago the quality of British tourists to Poland was very high. They came to Poland for sightseeing and generally behaved themselves. Nowadays, with such cheap flights available, most of the British who come here are the drunken fool types, with little respect for there surroundings. Well, I guess that is to be expected when cheap flights become available to the lower classes of the British.

Marzena Kolodziej, Krakow, Poland

To Sim (Warsaw) - can it be because in UK they're much better paid so, by default, trying much harder????

Marta, Warsaw, Poland

If they are so bad why so many people still hire them? only because of the price? i dont believe.
Anyway this is good news for Poland, because we are out of emplyees and Euro 2012 is comig - we will need them.

greetings from Poland

Atu, Torun, Poland

You can find good working and cheap Poles, and those who work bad for small amount money. But try to find good and cheap British workers...

Elton, Paris, FR

I'm a Polish engineer working in GB since April 2006. You all must know that construction industry in Poland in extremly busy nowadays and salaries in the sector are raising very fast. Hence, many proffessionals are coming back to Poland because they'll earn not much less, but their quality of live will improve significiantly. Sorry to say, but your country is not that attractive for Polish construction workers as it used to be a few years ago. However, very very generally speaking, I still believe that Poles have better aproach to hard construction work than British. I've been working with British workers and chainboys - they need more support from site engineers than Poles do (not taking language into account). In Poland, very often, foremen work with dumpy level, which never happens in GB.

Piotr, Glasgow,

No matter if you hire Brits or Poles, you should always ask for reference. Dominic Graham is right - it's down to individuals, regardless of their nationality.

wjaz, Stonkegaard,

one more. that is true but... try hire ppl skilled, speaking english and with references. then you can be sure all will be ok. even more than ok. Im working here five years and I`ve got always job, becouse Im the best. All know that :)

maya, london,

There will always be a few bad ones, but there really is no need to create such a negative impression... Majority of them are still reliable and hardworking.

Casper, Birmingham,

Of course this was going to happen! What else did anyone expect?!? So, people have good experiences working with Polish builders, and suddenly the media creates this hype about how wonderful they are - it was never an absolute reality, and the more that arrive the more we were going to see that fact highlighted.

In the end it's down to individuals, and those individuals who provide a quality service are ultimately going to be able to command higher prices - so the myth of 'cheap' labour that is of a 'superior quality' is now being exposed as exactly that! Big surprise!

Dominic Graham de Montrose, London,

Most Poles would buy and sell the British. There's nothing soft or necessarily obliging about them.

Judy , Liverpool, england

I would never change my Polish builders for any British. They are better and cheaper. They know their job very well.

Sean, Strabane,

Amusing.
I've been reading, bemused, these accounts in the last few years of how great Polish workmen are. I wondered how they could suddenly become so efficient on arrival in the UK when at home, in Poland, they are the biggest bunch of botch artists, not to mention the liquid breakfasts.
I'm laughing...

sim, Warsaw,

This has got to be good news for those British builders who have been done out of a job since the Poles came in. Get out there boys, price fairly , do a good job , turn up on time & show us British is best.

Maggie Millington, Brittany , France

Isn't it funny how unscupulous landlords, looking to pay anyone to do work for as little as possible, get what they pay for. How many times are builders approached for a quote and then haggled down, and then offer the builders "cash in hand" to get an even lower price. If they want to scrimp on the pennies, after shelling out hundreds of thousands on the property in the first place (to make a fast buck selling it not long after) then "boo hoo hoo." They would probably be even more annoyed if the local cowboy builder had charged them double the Lithuanian quote and run off with the proceeds.

Robert, Leamington Spa, Warks

Well,

Better install some more wage discipline then..

Those for for lots more immigration?

Pete Balchin, Solicitor , Bristol, UK

What a biased article! No further comment.

Manon, Scotland,