I know that this was suppose to be a thread complaining about contractors
but I've been contracting on the side for years and have found that the same
complaint you have about the contractors goes for the people looking for
contractors, I will not work for anyone that has not been referred by
another one of my respected clients. My clients know that when they refer a
friend if they turn out to be a "loser" it affects their reputation and in
the past 5 years I haven't had only one dud. I agree with the other
contractors who are sick of pricing jobs only to find out the clients wanted
to just do the work themselves or figure out what to pay their brother in
law. I've gotten to the point where even I believe my rates are crazy but it
keeps the duds from even asking me to take a look at their job.

I think that there need to be more honesty and respect from the client and
the contractors. If you don't know what you want tell them, this means more
work for us. If you want a ball park figure just tell us the truth and a lot
of the time we will help out. Meet us half way by coming to out location and
save both of us a lot of hassle.