Contractor has to see you AND the wife????

Group: alt.home.repair Date: Fri, Aug 22, 2003, 12:21pm (EDT-3) From:
mnd@jaacom (MSH)
I have been a small contractor for about 15 years and have worked in the
front office for two large and highly reputable contractors. Before that
I worked 6 years in the union as well as being involved in its training
program. I can't speak for every contractor around, I understand there
are slime balls, I have to deal with them too. The statements below
prompt me to shed some insight on why the good ones won't respond to
every Tom Dick and Harry making demands.
"'nuther Bob" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 18:25:38 -0700, "Desert Traveler"
wrote:
I guess you missed the posts from the guy who had estimates left in the
mailbox and he had the work done. Never and always are two dangerous
words.
STeve
One anectdote does not make good business practice.
I agree. Around here it's hard to get most contractors to come by and
meet with you. Unless it's a major job, most of them want to just come
by, take a look, and leave you an estimate. There are a few that will go
out of their way to meet up with you, not many.
That is, aside from the sleazy high pressure ones who insist on seeing
you and your wife together.
Bob
Then you are simply dealing with contractors who adon't expect to ever
get the job because of something you said or from too many previous
callers just price shopping. It is quite common to waste contractors'
time by calling around to get estimates you already know you will never
use. We see it in this newsgroup all the time, or bthey are too busy
to give estimates because there is a severe shortage of skilled
tradesmen. Our society does little to train or encourage our young to
pursue a career in the trades. Every child who can barely read is now
paid and expected to go to college, and votech schools are given no
thought. This is a real problem. Also the unrelenting pressure to keep
construction labor prices low. Many seem to expect a craftsman to work
for poverty wages at a third of the pay of lets say your average web
page designer with a liberal arts degree(Silicon Valley here).
Back to the estimates. It takes real time to prepare a good, accurate
estimate. Time to take your call, drive to the house, try to sell
yourself and your services, drive back to the shop, research products,
research prices, calculate and write the estimate and deal with any
subsequent questions. I spent 2.5 full days driving to LA last week
chasing a job that will never happen because the moisture tests failed.
All for free. A part of doing business for sure, but a contractor is a
fool to not weed out price shoppers. Who do you think ultimately pays?
The next consumer, of course. The fact that he/she misses a few live
ones happens. As for the little jobs, they just don't pay for a shop
with overhead unless they get a minimum charge which is usually very
high for the work performed. There is no other way unless you expect the
contractor to lose money for the honor of working on your project. The
smaller contractors who might be more interested in the small jobs don't
have the resources to answer every request that they have no hope of
fulfilling.
Additionally, trying to consolidate your chances of getting the job by
meeting all the participating parties is hardly "sleazy", it is smart,
for everybody! I didn't get the original post, but we didn't hear the
conversation which prompted the estimator to ask to meet with the wife.
(At least he didn't ask to see the wife alone.) It is far better
business to get all parties together to answer as many questions as
possible on the first meet. I refuse jobs if I can't make eye contact
with the customer. Doing otherwise is crazy, customers can be just as
sleazy as the contractors you seem to hate. Interesting you slam the
ones who don't respond and then slam the one who wants to meet all
participants together. A good contractor prefers an educated customer.
I often hear complaints about bad contractors. I cringe because they
hurt all of us. I regularly see the general distrust it sows. On the
other hand the consumer bears some of the responsibility by not
researching who they hire. In their never-ending quest to get something
on the cheap, they hire the lowest bidder, don't check for references,
don't check for licenses, insurance, or can't even be bothered to meet
those who will work on their most valuable possession(see above). They
are the enablers. Without this attitude, the lowlifes would be either
shaped up or out of business.
We all reap what we sow.
M Hamlin
+++++++++++++++++++++

John wrote:

Very good Hamlin, wish I could have put it so well.