I own a home in Northern Virginia and it's been discussed in the local
papers and among friends that it's really hard to get contractors to work on
residential projects lately. So I understand that. The contractors are having
booming business right now and they're swamped. I wonder if any contractors
here can advise me on how to get some quotes for work on my house.
I originally decided to have some driveway and sidewalk work done this
fall, and then to get a new roof in the spring. A few weeks ago I called all
the concrete/paving contractors in the yellow pages to try to schedule a
meeting to get a bid. (Not all together, obviously.) The contractors who
answered the phone took my name, number, and address and said someone would
call me back to schedule the time. Only one actually drove by the place to
look, but he called me like 5 minutes before he was there, without scheduling
it ahead of time, so I couldn't be there to show him what exactly I wanted.
None of the others called me back. I went through the book again and emailed
those that had email addresses or URL's, stating in my email exactly what work
I wanted done. Haven't heard from them either.
Now I'm thinking I should start calling the roofers also, since by the
time I get a roof bid or two, summer will be here.
Cynicism aside, how long should I wait before calling the pavers again
to re-request an appointment to get a bid? Given how busy they are, I'm
willing to keep trying, but I don't want to call them so often that I make a
pest out of myself.

Off on a tangent, I'm pretty surprised that the contractors I've called
have shown very little customer service ability. I think it's basic
politeness to tell a customer you're too busy right now but you might be able
to get to them at some future time, instead of just never calling back. Also
call the customer at least a few hours before you show up at their house,
instead of springing a surprise visit and then trying to guess what work the
customer wanted. Another example is that last spring I called lots of tree
contractors to have some tree trimming done. At least two different
contractors actually did schedule an appointment, and then failed to show up
and none of them called to tell me why they missed the appointment or to
re-schedule. If I ran a business I wouldn't use the excuse of booming workload
to treat potential customers like dirt. What's up with that?

- Sharon
"Gravity... is a harsh mistress!"