DIYbanter - View Single Post - Home Depot at home services, any good reports?

wrote:
hearing an reading so many bad things about the companies homedepot
sends. Has anyone been pleased?

Here is a slightly different take on this and one that may help you
to understand the process.

About 5 years ago, business was a bit slow, so I looked into having
my company do installations for HD. I talked to the fellow in
charge and he wanted me to fill out the application, credit history,
etc. before he would talk to me about the work.

I went through all the 9 pages of info and finally was able to talk
about pricing, policies, etc. Come to find out that what they
offered me (the contractor) to do the work was less than 50% of what
I normally would charge. As an example, I usually charge 200.00 to
remove an entry door and install a new one (door, jamb, casing,
hardware). They were offering 79.00. There is no way I can do it
for that much.

What this does is force the subs to be the lowest on the totem pole
in terms of pay, so the job must be done as fast as possible. No
time to pay much attention to detail, as they must do three of these
installations to make as much as I do on one.

HD charges about what I do to install the door (about 200.00), so
the choice is pay HD where they get the lions share and the actual
installer gets a pittance, or just pay a contractor directly.

Given the odds, which do you think will come out better most often?

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX