I've had better luck, partly because I built a relationship with a really
good
general contractor before the boom. But, yeah, he's not the cheapest.
He's
totally word-of-mouth now, and I've had two friends initially collect bids
on
jobs, find him on the high side, and go with him anyway. Some of the OP's
problem may be a problem with going with bottom bidder. If you don't
really
know the contractors (new to the area, perhaps), a rule of thumb is do
three,
and tend to the middle. The bottom guy may be cutting corners, the top
guy may
not really want the job unless he can sucker you. Or maybe not - it's
just a
rule of thumb. BTW this particualr guy is kind of bad about schedule.
Over the
past eight years I know why - he just can't stand cutting corners to
finish a
job. Might not be the right guy for a lot of people (if you want to have
your
new bathroom before MIL visits so that you can impress her - well, dont'
hire
this guy, but, hey, I don't worry so much about that stuff.)

I don't go by references unless I *really* know the reference personally.
If
you ask a contractor for reference, sure, they all got a bunch of good
references from people you don't know and might owe them favors. So what.

I tend strongly to go with the bidder with whom I find good communication.
I
recently with the high-side bid (by more than I really want to think
about....
:-/ ) for an extensive foundation repair job. I might have been suckered
a bit
as to price, but I tell you, this was the guy that was all over the job
when he
looked at it, listened and talked, didn't try to add on, and wanted right
away
to talk to the engineer who I had hired earlier to look at the problem
(frost
heaving, totally inadequate footer, house built before code). So I went
with
him. Job went well. He was on schedule, coordinated all the
excavation, all
the materials, all the pouring, smooth as silk, and had a pleasant crew to
boot
(including his wife doing a lot of the pointing!). BTW, this mason is
also
totally word-of-mouth - I knew about him only because I used him *years*
ago for
a little parging job.

There's a lot to be said for the customer being flexible and realistic in
attitiude. I think the contractors are vetting the customer, too, and can
pick
up on some things just like I can pick up on some things while I talk to a
guy
during an estimate.

I dunno - one can't of course always know these things, it's a bit of a
leap of
faith. But if one repeatedly has problems, one should look at what one
is
doing wrong. And I dont' think it's possible to expect to always get the
optimal quality vs. price. I certainly can't swear that I have! Over the
long
run, though, I think a bias for apparent quality is the best value.

I'm in an area which is hugely booming as far as new construction, BTW.

Banty


Yeah, you gotta know the refs personally or they dont mean jack. I wasn't
going with the lowest bidder per say. The problem with the smaller jobs is
that a lot of times you can't find anyone to come out. People that work on
larger jobs are just as sloppy and flaky. I had a $2000 electrical job and
an $8000+ tile job and while both did good work and showed up reliably when
they said they would, they both left the house is huge disarray.

Another problem is that "a jack of all trades" handy man, is usually
horrible all around. A single guy that works is going to have a tough time
getting a carpenter to come in to do something, then getting a painter to
come in to do something, etc. Acting as a general contractor.