On Jul 20, 1:56*pm, WhiteTea wrote:
On Jul 19, 5:11*pm, "benick" wrote:





"HeyBub" wrote in message

om...

News article:

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=207414451=35000

My favorite anecdote:

When asked why it was taking so long to install a garbage disposal, the
worker replied: "When they showed me this morning at Home Depot, I thought
I understood."

It's sometimes hard to find an honest workman; give him cookies.

What a STUPID story...In 20 years of drywall contracting here in Maine with
NO licensing laws I have rarely seen any of the crap the story talked
about..Getting paid however is the problem I see most...Quite a few jobs I
bid on the homeowner adds things on with the old "since your already here"
line like that means I'll do it for free or at a reduced rate or *the "we've
decided to do this instead" and expect me to take rock down and do it over
for free or "we thought that was included" line and I have to fight to get
paid...I get the money for the materials the DAY they are delivered..Half of
the rest when the rock is hung and the remaining when the job is complete
plus the add ons per my contract...Usually all I have to do is tell them the
rock comes down ALOT faster than it went up to get paid...And yes I have
taken it down once when the homeowner refused to pay for the hanging untill
the job was complete and RAN not walked away from the job...I also called
every other drywall contractor I knew and told them to BEWARE...They won't
pay....He must of gotten somebody out of town to do it at a higher rate
because of travel....LOL...Screw him...I also know quite a few general
contractors who have been running back to jobs for over 2 YEARS trying to
get the rest of their money...Homeowners nit picking every little thing or
trying to say something was included that clearly wasn't hoping they will
just give up and go away even after doing the everything they asked...I
asked why they didn't take them to court and they said the judges almost
ALWAYS sides with the homeowner regardlees of the facts even going so far as
to blaming the contractor for "not explaining things clearly"...Check out
the responses to the story....LOL...

Overly picky or perfectionists customers are quite a challenge.

Percentage wise, they are a small group.

I charge them more on any subsequent jobs for what I term "hazardous
duty pay."
I also give a heads-up to other contractors. :-)

Andy- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Agree. Many years ago use to fix TVs and developed a good reputation
for honest and ethical business. If didn't fix in the house, didn't
charge and gave customer alternatives for taking it elswhere or my
'bench job'.
That gave customers with limited resources time to decide in a
dignified manner.
Occasionally one would get an overly suspicious customer (either by
nature or had been burnt by some previous repairman?). The sort that
would stand over you almost suspecting you of stealing something out
of the TV set!
In only one case did I 'fix' the deteriorated parts so the customer
could not take them to another repair shop and claim that their
replacement was unnecessary.
One very small item (about 50 cents) was a resistor that 'looked'
perfect with bright colours, but it tested open. Knowing that the
customer would definitely question that, based on its pristine
appearance, I took the propane torch to it and burnt it to the
proverbial crisp! Similarly one tube (an #AX4 diode) tested OK but
didn't work, whereas a brand new one worked fine. Again knowing the
customer might take it to the drug store tube tester and diodes being
particularly suspect to erratic test readings might again claim its
replacement was not required. So a touch of mains voltage took care of
that!
And that friends is my public admission of the one and only time I
falsified the condition of any parts. Most customers when the replaced
parts were brought back with the repaired set, would say "Here chuck
em in the garbage" or, if they said "Any use to you?" I would make a
point of trashing them myself right then and there.
As mentioned suspicious customers were rare, once one's reputation had
been established. Later we were in the catering business (weddings and
such) and again only the occasional customer was a problem.
But isn't it interesting communicating with people?