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Post by Ken on May 6, 2020 8:06:41 GMT -6
I'm sure my threads on the blueboard are numerous on this topic. What is it with contractors who say they're going to be somewhere at this date and time and they don't show up? My sealcoat guy was supposed to be here Monday. I park cars on the street as do my neighbors and the guy never shows. I text him "coming today?" and he says, "Oh no. Wednesday. It's too cold today". Too cold for YOU or too cold for the material you use? Either way, how about a text or something? The last guy that did that to me... I told him to feck right off.  |
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Post by Leftympfrmde on May 6, 2020 8:31:58 GMT -6
you should tell 'em to feck right the feck off.
As a contractor, being punctual is a paramount customer service move. that, and being competent at your trade. that alone gives me repeat customers.
I've had some contractors call and come in for work, last year and i call 'em a half hour after they said they will be there, even after a confirmation text the night before. a hour or so later, they show up, and tell 'em I want the down payment back. now. Then it's all smiles and a bit of pleading.
Nah, homes. cut me a check. I'll find someone else.
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Post by bklmt2000 on May 6, 2020 9:18:02 GMT -6
The biggest problem we've had with contractors in recent years is on repeat jobs. We've had several where the contractor does a good job on whatever project we hire them for, but when we have them come back for a future project, the future project always turns out to be a headache. That happened when we had our kitchen redone 4 years ago; the guy (general contractor, in business since the late 70's) did a great job there, no real problems, but when we had him back 2 years ago to do our upstairs bathrooms, it was one problem after another. It seemed like the guy's heart just wasn't in to the bathroom job; my wife got so frustrated with the guy that she'd stay late at work and not come home until the guy and his workers were gone for the day. Even worse was our flooring guy, when he replaced all of the flooring in our house last fall. He did the flooring in our kitchen and bathroom remodels, and we had no issues on either with him, so we hired him a 3d time for our whole-house floor job.
I think he underbid the job and underestimated how long it would take (he quoted 2-3 weeks; ended up being a little over 5), he'd show up late every day, and the last day of the job, it took him 6 hours to install 6 transition strips in 6 different doorways.
I'm not a flooring person, but even I, taking my time, could've installed all 6 of those, in an hour. End of the day comes, and I'm expecting a "Hey, I'm leaving, be back tomorrow". If he'd said that, I would've taken $1k off what I owed him. Thankfully, he said he was done with the job, we did a walkaround and checked everything, and he got a check for the full amount due when he left. Not sad we don't have to hire a contractor anytime soon. |
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Post by Ken on May 6, 2020 9:30:08 GMT -6
Yeah, I just don't get it. I've had people say they would be here on "Friday at 3 o'clock"... it's 3:15 and the dude is not here so I call him. He answers and I say, "Hey, I have you down for 3pm today" and you can tell that I surprised him... Oh... yeah. Uh. I'm... um, at a job site right now and I'm running late. So. Should we reschedule?. LOL. Nope!
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matt6150
Full Member
Patient Zero
Posts: 142
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Post by matt6150 on May 6, 2020 9:48:15 GMT -6
I've got 3 different guys, possibly a 4th I'm waiting on right now.
#1 Plumper. This is actually a buddy of mine that is in the plumbing business. I got this small leak coming out of a metal pipe in my well house. I just don't want to deal with it. I got it mostly plugged with some water weld stuff. Anyway call my buddy and ask him if he wants the side work or should I just call his company. This was two Sundays ago. He said he will take the side work and be there after 5 on Tuesday. No show. I text him and he said sorry I got tied up on a job but will come tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday come and same story. Friday comes and no show and I didn't even bother texting. I text him Saturday and no response till yesterday. Says he is coming today, we will see.
#2 Window tint. I got a number to a mobile window tint guy. I want some tint put on my and my wife's vehicles. Mainly to keep the sun out of the kids eyes. I called last Monday and he said too windy that day. I told him I didn't expect to get it done that day but let me know when you can come. I also told him I have a shop he can do it indoors. I give it a couple days and I don't hear from him. Call again and no answer so I left a message. Still haven't heard anything.
#3 Tree company. The owners of the place live right down the road from me. I've been calling and texting over the last week trying to get them to stop by and check out the pile of trees/branches I want them to haul away. I keep getting excuses and no shows. Just waiting on them to show up.
Possible #4 is a buddy of mine that owns a landscape business. I've been trying to get him to come out here to help me pull some stumps with his tractor. I told him when ever he had time between his normal jobs. Today is the day he said he would come out. No show as of yet.
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Post by Leftympfrmde on May 6, 2020 10:01:47 GMT -6
contracting is a feast or famine line of business; so if you get all the bids you can! where a lot of guys fail in, is scheduling work. there is variables; weather, jobs running longer then they should, etc. Its happened to me, sure! but a phone call, in a reasonable window of time, works wonders.
I'm not trying to crap on fellow contractors, but a lot of them have piss pour time management and communication skills. For the record, I have a dozen or so customer base; and its all small jobs; fix an outlet, they want to add lights to this room, add a new circuit or upgrade their electrical panel etc- In and out jobs without a lot of variables. I've stepped away from bigger jobs like a kitchen remodel or an addition, because all the finger pointing among the other trades (the electrician is always the one holding up the job-universal truth), and breakdowns with supply houses, among other things.
while those jobs are a good payday, its not worth the headache between the customers, the suppliers, and dealing with other trades. its the main reason why I don't want to run my own electrical business; defiantly have all the certs and insurance for it. The work is the easy part, and the pay is better then working for someone else, but the hassle isn't worth the cash, IMO.
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Post by Ken on May 6, 2020 10:08:49 GMT -6
The other part that frosts my flakes are places that have to do a certain amount of jobs per day to make money so... they're working quickly and quality suffers. This could be landscapers, sealcoaters, window washers, painters, gutter cleaners, etc. The truth is that NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR STUFF AS MUCH AS YOU DO and so you really do have to do some things yourself or you will not be happy. I have a landscape guy that I have used for years. He will do a spring cleanup. In the old days it was just him by himself. He would show up at 8am and stay until 7pm. I would make him lunch and/or dinner... Heriberto, do you want a burger?! YES PLEASE! What do you want on it!? EVERYTHING! He would be down on his hands and knees picking up weeds or dead leaves or whatever. He was the bomb and for all of that... $180. These days he shows up and is here for 2 hours and it's $375 and the work is not the same. He's bigger now so he has more guys but the work is still not as good.
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Post by Ken on May 6, 2020 10:29:20 GMT -6
I've got 3 different guys, possibly a 4th I'm waiting on right now. #1 Plumper. This is actually a buddy of mine that is in the plumbing business. I got this small leak coming out of a metal pipe in my well house. I just don't want to deal with it. I got it mostly plugged with some water weld stuff. Anyway call my buddy and ask him if he wants the side work or should I just call his company. This was two Sundays ago. He said he will take the side work and be there after 5 on Tuesday. No show. I text him and he said sorry I got tied up on a job but will come tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday come and same story. Friday comes and no show and I didn't even bother texting. I text him Saturday and no response till yesterday. Says he is coming today, we will see.#2 Window tint. I got a number to a mobile window tint guy. I want some tint put on my and my wife's vehicles. Mainly to keep the sun out of the kids eyes. I called last Monday and he said too windy that day. I told him I didn't expect to get it done that day but let me know when you can come. I also told him I have a shop he can do it indoors. I give it a couple days and I don't hear from him. Call again and no answer so I left a message. Still haven't heard anything. #3 Tree company. The owners of the place live right down the road from me. I've been calling and texting over the last week trying to get them to stop by and check out the pile of trees/branches I want them to haul away. I keep getting excuses and no shows. Just waiting on them to show up. Possible #4 is a buddy of mine that owns a landscape business. I've been trying to get him to come out here to help me pull some stumps with his tractor. I told him when ever he had time between his normal jobs. Today is the day he said he would come out. No show as of yet. This right here is what kills me. They say they're coming and no show. Do they realize they could be wasting your time because you're waiting for them? My hot tub was installed by a Mom & Pop place and they're getting older. So they hired a kid to maintain their tubs but the kid has a full-time plumbing job so it's always "I'll be there after work or this weekend". He never shows up. So many times he's told me he would be here and he doesn't show. So I have no choice but to call the Mom & Pop and explain. The "Pop" comes out with the kid and they fix the problem. Afterwards the old guy puts his hand on the kid's shoulder and goes into a speech about how you don't treat customers this way, communication is very easy these days, all it takes is a call or text, treating customers poorly is how you lose customers, we have to be better than this, etc. I couldn't say it better myself. The kid got all red and then apologized. He's a kid... probably 25. I don't necessarily want to crush his spirit but he needs to hear it so he can adjust. |
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Post by jkor on May 6, 2020 10:35:26 GMT -6
I've often been tempted to quit my job and become a general handy man contractor. I figure if you just show up when you say you will and do the job you said you would in the time you said you would do it you'd be in the top 1% of all contractors and would probably be having to turn down work because you'd be so busy.
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Post by Ken on May 6, 2020 10:55:55 GMT -6
I've often been tempted to quit my job and become a general handy man contractor. I figure if you just show up when you say you will and do the job you said you would in the time you said you would do it you'd be in the top 1% of all contractors and would probably be having to turn down work because you'd be so busy. Agreed. When I have a guy who does what he says, I make sure to tell them. I told a couple of my guys, "Every homeowner has their stable of guys: Electric, plumbing, exterior, sprinkler, pool guy, whatever. You're one of the good guys because you do what you say you will and there are never any surprises". They always like to hear it and I figure it may help me continue to get good service in the future. |
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deerslyr
Full Member
Cheesehead
Posts: 158
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Post by deerslyr on May 7, 2020 9:17:31 GMT -6
Is everyone just gonna let the "plumper" error go by? Especially when followed up with discussion about "pipes"  It's like I hardly know you guys anymore. Ha ha ha |
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matt6150
Full Member
Patient Zero
Posts: 142
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Post by matt6150 on May 7, 2020 9:50:19 GMT -6
Is everyone just gonna let the "plumper" error go by? Especially when followed up with discussion about "pipes" It's like I hardly know you guys anymore. Ha ha ha Oops, not sure how that happened I was typing on my phone.
Anyway the PLUMBER showed up yesterday evening, the leak is fixed.
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matt6150
Full Member
Patient Zero
Posts: 142
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Post by matt6150 on May 7, 2020 9:50:48 GMT -6
Oh and #4 guy never showed up.
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Post by jkor on May 7, 2020 10:25:35 GMT -6
You know it's a good day when the plumper shows up to handle your pipe.
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Post by Ken on May 7, 2020 10:43:39 GMT -6
You know it's a good day when the plumper shows up to handle your pipe.  LOL, the plumper. Also... a loosely-related tangent: The Klopeks' landscaper A) blows everything onto adjacent properties with their leafblowers and 2) leaves piles of cut grass in the street. Every. Damn. Time. Another tangent if I didn't mention it in the wifi thread: I named my new Eero wifi network "The Klopeks". |
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LOL, the plumper.