"Nathan" wrote in message
...


So why do I keep seeing messages that the contractors do such a good job,
when in my experience it is utterly false.

How many contractors out there are actually honest? It is a business,
they should be making money, but it seems like they lie and cheat far too
much. To be fair, in my experience, most businesses lie and cheat, from
auto mechanics to PC repair shops. It shouldn't be so and if I could find
reasonably priced honest businesses, I would use them. I think lots of
people will stick with a fair and honest business.

You has some bad experiences, and yes, there are many sleazy contractors.
There are also many very good ones. They are honest, charge fair prices,
make a fair profit, use good materials, do quality work.

As for estimating, I have no idea how some come up with the prices. I just
had a big siding job done. The bids were $81,000, $48,000, and $41,000. Any
one of the three could have done the job, but that is a huge difference in
price, mostly for labor as they were all using similar priced material.
After the job was done, the contractor happily took the final check, but did
say he had about $1500 in unanticipated costs. (he had to rent a lift for
two days because his pump jack did not go high enough for one section)

I just had my sewer line repaired. It took six hours, involved the town,
the power company, backhoe, etc. I never even saw the contractor but talked
with him on the phone. I was at work when the job was done. I just got the
bill last night and was anticipating about $3000. It was $1300. This is a
very reputable company with a golden opportunity to make a few bucks as it
was not bid and is being paid for by the power company. He charged a very
fair price.