chuck yerkes wrote on 15 Aug 2004:

And recommendations on a carpenter and a plumber.
Shall we discuss the lists of nightmare installs done by HD and
Lowe's "Contractors" (those willing to low bid and still give HD
their vig).

I had a friend who was a carpet layer who started doing installs
for Home Depot. They made him adhere to what he considered were
very strict standards, and he had always done excellent work
before.

Why would a contractor do these installs? Maybe because he or she
was tired of driving all over town to do estimates for those people
who had gotten the idea that they needed three estimates for every
job, even $200 ones. Let's not forget the customer who wants the
rock-bottom price, even when the contractor can't make a living at
that level without cutting major corners. Estimating can chew up a
ton of time, and if the contractor doesn't get the job, all that
time is wasted. With the big box, they bring your jobs to the
contractor, and he/she doesn't have to worry about being stiffed by
the customer.

For a lot of different reasons, there's lots of bad work out there.
You're as likely to get bad work from an independent as you are
from one of a big box's contractors.

--
Doug Boulter

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