"TheScullster" wrote in message
. uk...
Hi all

Whilst I do DIY a lot of the jobs around the house, some are frankly
beyond me physically (niggling back probs etc).
So it's time to get a man in as-they-say.
I made the mistake of talking to one of these cold calls about repaving
the drive - turned out to be a shady Irish operator who needed some
straight talk just to get rid of him!
Anyway I digress - the point is, even if this guy knew chapter and verse
and came with excellent references (which he wouldn't actually supply), I
would have been reluctant to deal with him. His van, whilst having a
fancy logo job on the side, did not display a land line phone number or,
more importantly, a business address.
The lack of a displayed address makes me very wary - does anyone else feel
the same?

From another point of view, I know one guy (sole trader) who does all his
quotes in the evenings. In his case the potential customer has phoned him
and he has not cold called. His only advertising is the local paper, word of
mouth and the numbers on his van.

When he quotes on the posh estates he turns up in a brand new BMW is clean
shaven and well dressed. When he quotes on the rough estates he turns up in
his van just after finishing work. He claims that he gets more jobs that
way.

Adam