"Noozer" wrote on 04 Jan 2005:

If I'm paying contractor rates, I want an experienced
contractor. Not the kid that came to install my tile. Not the
moron who doesn't know the difference between a black and white
appliance. I want someone who can count past 10 on a tape
measure, not explain why something is in the wrong place after
the fact.

This gets to the crux of the problem. There just aren't enough
contractors out there. Despite the fact that remodeling and
construction are highly satisfying jobs most of the time, no one
wants their children to grow up to be cowboys...er, contractors.
Let them fix computers and networks and such.

The consequence is that there's no good contractor out there who
doesn't have more business than he or she can handle. If it's a
small contractor who swings a hammer during the day and does
estimates during the evenings, it's especially hard to spend an
hour with a potential client knowing that the likelihood of
actually getting the work is slim or none.

And if the contractor wants to hire help, it will be VERY difficult
to find someone who will show up for work on time every day and is
willing to learn. And if the contractor does find someone who will
show up, can read and do simple math, and is willing to learn, once
that person is trained they either want to go in business for
themselves or they get lured away by another contractor desperate
for help.

Bottom line - this is not going to be an easy problem to solve.
Home builders address it by building houses in a factory setting
and trucking the work to a building site. A decline in the new
housing market will direct more workers to remodeling. And as
prices for quality work go up, more and more people will consider a
contracting career.

But that's no help for the job you want to start next month.

--
Doug Boulter

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