excellent post, robert, you hit the proverbial nail on the head


"Robert Allison" wrote in message
news:4jyHd.2234$Hg6.1583@trnddc09...


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