mild rant, contractors and repair folks

time2roll wrote:
That about sums it up right there. Just as a customer never really knows how the work will turn out... the contractor never knows what they are stepping into.

Walk a mile in the contractors boots before you are too hard on them.

True dat.
All I can do is hold up my end of the deal. After that whether its good or bad, I spread my experience as widely as I can to let others know. Works for both sides.

Lantley wrote:
Correct and this is why contractors don't waste their time even trying to appease/satisfy some customers. There are good and bad contractors and there are reasonable and unreasonable customers.

That about sums it up right there. Just as a customer never really knows how the work will turn out... the contractor never knows what they are stepping into.

Walk a mile in the contractors boots before you are too hard on them.

WTP-GC wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:

allen8106 wrote:
In 2001 we had a large addition put on our old farm house. In 2017 we had some major storm damage to the inside and outside of the house. Contractor that did the addition told me "we don't do insurance claims, we are only doing new construction or new additions".

They lost my business and referral forever.

Really? Are you not going to refer a plumber because he doesn't want to do your electrical work? Yes I know it's not quite the same but insurance work can be a entirely different animal and there are companies that specialize in that type of work. You cannot penalize some for not wanting do it.

Dan

This is the perfect example of how some customers refused to be or become satisfied. The customer in this case has an unreasonable expectation of services which they feel entitled to. Its the same thing as if a mechanic added a stereo to your old beater car 20 years ago, but now the same mechanic doesn't want to do body work on your brand new Tesla.

16 year later, you call a company to ask if they do something entirely different than your first experience and they turn you down? I surely don't understand why you'd be upset. When I first started in business, I'd take almost any job in my field, even those that didn't have much profit. Now, about 12 years later, I wouldn't even give those same jobs the time of day. Its not worth my time or effort anymore. So does that mean that when the economy turns, I'll be hurtin? Maybe, maybe not, but it won't be because I chose to quit doing tiny projects in order to focus on larger, higher profit jobs.

Correct and this is why contractors don't waste their time even trying to appease/satisfy some customers. There are good and bad contractors and there are reasonable and unreasonable customers.

Hammerboy wrote:

allen8106 wrote:
In 2001 we had a large addition put on our old farm house. In 2017 we had some major storm damage to the inside and outside of the house. Contractor that did the addition told me "we don't do insurance claims, we are only doing new construction or new additions".

They lost my business and referral forever.

Really? Are you not going to refer a plumber because he doesn't want to do your electrical work? Yes I know it's not quite the same but insurance work can be a entirely different animal and there are companies that specialize in that type of work. You cannot penalize some for not wanting do it.

Dan

This is the perfect example of how some customers refused to be or become satisfied. The customer in this case has an unreasonable expectation of services which they feel entitled to. Its the same thing as if a mechanic added a stereo to your old beater car 20 years ago, but now the same mechanic doesn't want to do body work on your brand new Tesla.

16 year later, you call a company to ask if they do something entirely different than your first experience and they turn you down? I surely don't understand why you'd be upset. When I first started in business, I'd take almost any job in my field, even those that didn't have much profit. Now, about 12 years later, I wouldn't even give those same jobs the time of day. Its not worth my time or effort anymore. So does that mean that when the economy turns, I'll be hurtin? Maybe, maybe not, but it won't be because I chose to quit doing tiny projects in order to focus on larger, higher profit jobs.

News flash... There's good contractors and bad contractors. And there's good customers and bad customers.
Awesome garage door story though. Busted another door spring. Torsion spring last month. Have to dang near have a contractor install one to even purchase one. Apparently too many lawsuits from homeowners who don't understand stored energy, lol.
So wife finds a guy who'll sell her a spring. (Btw, there's only a couple places in the entire south Sound area that will even sell a homeowner a door spring)
She has to bring the spring and sign a waiver, his spring, his rules. Means another day goes by because I have to take it apart at 9pm when I get home from work so she can have the privlege of buying a new one....
I tell her what dia, length and wind but she has the spring with her, so no issue matching it. Guy sells her the opposite wind of what we brought to him. I come home, fark, wrong wind. Guy argues with me about it. This re-Todd argued twice over the phone with me about how he's been a door guy for 37 years and I'm wrong. Finally couldn't be nice anymore and had to rip his ass and threaten him just to get the right spring.

I understand that things happen but in today's age of cell phones theres no excuse for not calling when you know you cant make it or will be late.

I called out a small local garage door outfit to give them a chance once when a spring broke. Family company- father and 2 adult sons (30 somethings) show up. Did fine job, very personable. We talked a bit about my old and noisy garage door opener. I have put them in myself and family for decades but they had one in stock that I liked and we agreed on a price. This was a Friday afternoon. They said son will be here tomorrow to switch the openers out. I said no need, Monday is fine. No, he'll be here tomorrow. Really, this one works albeit noisy and Monday is fine. No No we insist on tomorrow. OK then, tomorrow it is.

So I sat around all Saturday with no worker, no call, nothing. Saturday night I went to HomeD and bought a superquiet unit and installed it. Monday NIGHT daddy calls me to apologize. No prob, job is done, thanks for the call. I could tell he was going to ream the son after he got off the phone with me.

allen8106 wrote:
In 2001 we had a large addition put on our old farm house. In 2017 we had some major storm damage to the inside and outside of the house. Contractor that did the addition told me "we don't do insurance claims, we are only doing new construction or new additions".

They lost my business and referral forever.

Really? Are you not going to refer a plumber because he doesn't want to do your electrical work? Yes I know it's not quite the same but insurance work can be a entirely different animal and there are companies that specialize in that type of work. You cannot penalize some for not wanting do it.

Dan

4x4van wrote:


I have no problem being told no. I DO have a problem being ignored, or worse, being told that you will show up at a certain time and then you don't bother. Newsflash, my time is just as important as yours, if not more so.

That statement shows a strong sense of entitlement. You don't like being ignored? Well, how does your rights of attention trump my rights of not being bothered? In this case, the customer calls the contractor, not the other way around. Should I feel a required to respond to something that I didn't request? That's really no different than a spam call or junk mail. Your time is absolutely not important than my time...and vice versa.

There seems to be a common theme in this thread that when the economy turns, somehow those people who didn't return calls will be hurting. However, when the economy turns, it effects everyone...contractor and customer. During these times, the customer's budget will also be looking for the most competitive price. Money has a funny way of convincing people to do things that they once said they wouldn't do on an Internet forum.

Depsite all the back and forth, it should be noted that there is a plethora of contractor types, from those who do only service work to those who only work when they are selected through a dog and pony show. Not everyone is on call 24/7 and not everyone relies on referrals, word of mouth, or websites testimonials for work. I do a lot of work for clients that have never heard of me, but I pursued them and their work and put on a good showing. I've never made a house call or sent a service truck to fix a problem. So my line of work is somewhat unique...which is why I don't entertain cold calls.

BillyBob Jim wrote:

down home wrote:
Wife delted his nme from phone but if I find it I will post it all over Southern Michigan where 80% of the people are wife's relatives.

ROFLMAO...

I bet he's shaking in his boots since your wife has about 7.5 million relatives :B

Never know. Her family goes back to the 1500s in Ontario, and in the Northeast and two lines 1620 on the Mayflower. Several graveyards f, i guess what you would say the family of clan in northern Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and beyond. Just how many there are we don't know. Not many show for reunions but her emails runneth over. And in the Coldwater Michigan area including Jonesbille or Jonesboro(I don't remember which) she is related to a lot of people, that has not just moved in in the last three decades.

4x4van wrote:
I have a hard time believing that any business is SO busy that they can't return calls from potential customers, even if it is to say, sorry I can't/don't/won't do your requested project. It takes all of 30 seconds to do so, and while you may consider it wasted time, it may very well be the difference between staying in business and going bankrupt 2-5-8 years down the road when the economy changes (which it always does) and you are scraping for work.

As current business slows down, contractors usually start returning calls more frequently. I'm not saying its right, IMO, it's just what happens.

"Newsflash, my time is just as important as yours, if not more so."

Now if I could get everybody else to believe that, (and act that way) I'd be all set.

Chum lee (not currently holding my breath)