Problem giving away money..........

[Donny Lawson]

I've been trying to get someone to build me a shop for about 3 weeks now and it seems like nobody even wants to give me a price. I had one person wanted to pour me a floor over a week ago but he has not called or showed up. Another contractor said he would call me back with a price but that's been 2 weeks ago.One more said he would come out the next day but that's been a week ago. These are licensed contractors so what could be the problem? If I told a man I would give a price or come by I would at least follow through or just tell him I'm not interested. I understand they might be busy but at least find a little time to get a price. I've got one more that is suppose to call me TODAY with a price so lets see what happens.
Donny

[John Coloccia]

I'll think about it and get back to you tomorrow.

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[David G Baker]

Donny,
I will not do business with contractors that don't keep appointments. My time is as valuable to me as theirs is to them. After I do get the work done by a contractor that does show up I call the no shows and let them know that they lost my business and that I have put out the word to all of my friends.

[Bruce Page]

I had a small cedar fence installed last summer by a long established fence company. When they finished and I was writing the check I told the Foreman that I would also be interested in getting a quote for an 8’ x 100’ block wall. He said he would have the guy that did their block wall estimating get back to me. I never heard back from them.
You’d think with the way the economy is that they would be more responsive.

[Mike Cruz]

Consider yourself lucky. You found out about their MO before you signed with them..

[Donny Lawson]

Well, just like I thought, the one that was suppose to call me today never did. I thought the economy was bad but apparently the contractors around here are rich enough.
Donny

[Chip Lindley]

Any Amish folks in your area? If so, look them up. They are hard workers and do good work. They also do what they SAY they will do. It's worth a shot!

Otherwise, post an ad in the TOOLS section of your CraigsList for constructon bids. Specify exactly what you want and expect in the building of your shop up front. The Go-Getters will be in touch with you fast. Ask for ready references of their past work. No references, no Work. There are many individuals who can get the job done. They don't advertise in the newspaper,etc. because word-of-mouth is the BEST advertising there is--and they stay plenty busy!

[Mike Davis NC]

You'll probably have to get it built in China and shipped over here.

[Matt Meiser]

Pretty much the standard from what I've seen. I called 5 HVAC contractors at the beginning of the summer to get quotes on doing a natural gas conversion. Some were companies we or someone we know had used and others were picked because I knew of them and they were on Trane's dealer locator. One was a no-show, no call, never heard from them again. One politely declined to bid since they aren't a Trane dealer and they were worried about affecting the warranty coverage on my 2 year old furnace. I'd consider them in the future. One, the company who installed our furnace 2 years ago and who has a 1 gave me an quote missing a few things we talked about and a post it with a number for a guy to call about the trenching work. I asked for a revised bid which was still missing stuff. 1 gave me a quote with everything we talked about except for all the underground work for which he referred me to another company--who's number was disconnected. He never returned my call asking for another recommendation. The fifth, a pick off the Trane site, showed up on time, sent me a complete, accurate quote for the work, and talked to me about a few other things we might want to eventually look at but in an "advising" way rather than a "sales" way if that makes sense. They checked out good so I went with them. By the end of this week they'll have gotten close to $8K worth of business from me, about $5K of which is a heat pump which we didn't even know was something we might want before the summer started. And we'll probably have them put in a generator in a year or two. Sure seems like the sales time they put in with us was a good payback for them.

We had someone out this week to quote a very small fencing job and it was pretty much the same situation as with our new HVAC guy, though he did make a mistake on the quote since we talked about 2 options and and he quoted the one we decided not to do. One phone call got it revised. I checked him out with a neighbor who used them for a bigger job and was very happy. I probably won't even bother with a second quote since his is only about $100 more than I could buy just the materials for.

So keep up the search. There are good contractors out there. They are usually the ones who are busy--but not too busy to do sales work too.

[Bill Leonard]

Interesting thread. I have kind of an opposite problem. I recently applied for and received a permit to build a dock. In the permitting process a notice is reguired to be posted in the local paper regarding the request. Not long after receiving the permit approval, I received in the mail a typed signed contract for my signature from one of the largest and well respected dock builders in the area. Bear in mind that he had not seen the proposed location nor contacted me prior. There had been no contact with the company prior, however, his proposaL included drawings, material lists, construction schedule and cost breakdown for various options. The proposed plan will not work as to orientation to the water, and is no where close to what we visualize as the finished product. Furthermore it is about 40% higher than the other bids, but he was responsive.

[Dan Hintz]

I feel your pain, Donny... the wife and I keep thinking we're on some form of contractor blacklist. Plenty of people say they'll call back or come back out, but nada. Like you, we're practically standing there with checkbook in hand, but it doesn't appear to make a difference. One of the deck contractors who came out for a quote also said they do additions... great, I'd like to extend one corner of the house. This was a higher-end deck, everyone was quoting in the $17k range (yeah, that's not gonna happen), but as far as this guy was concerned, they could get two jobs out of one customer... never heard back from them.

[Lee Schierer]

This is an ongoing problem. 5 or 6 years ago we decided to replace the old windows in our house (22 of them), the siding and the roof. We went to the local "Home Show" and talked with 5-6 contractors all of whom took our name and number. We received calls from three of them two actually showed up and one gave us a bid. One of the local stations interviewed one of the contractors we spoke with. He stated that the inquiries at the show were very slow due to the poor economy and it was really hard to find work. Even though we had filled out a form in his booth and handed it to him, he never even called. That job was worth $22K and kept 3-4 guys employed for several weeks.

Seems all contractors want is to build entire subdivisions or stay home.

[Paul McGaha]

Donny,

It sounds like you need to be talking to a better group of contractors.

If you cant find some by any other means I suggest you call or visit your local lumbar yards and ask them to recommend some general contractors that do were work similar to the project you have and that pay their supply bills on time. A good indicator they have some business ethics to them.

PHM

[Callan Campbell]

There DOES seem to be a large disconnect on what is going on with contractors and trades. One can see lots of equipment being sold on Craigslist from business either downsizing their stuff and their staff, or closing their doors outright. This lowers the pool of available/working contractors to choose from. Then you hear from these people that they can't get any work, or not enough steady work. Finally you and others state what we run into, no call-backs or you're chasing someone via phonetag or e-mails. Makes little sense. Either the people left are too overstretched to keep their commitments or they're able to cherry-pick any future work and they just don't tell you that they've driven by and sized up your project with a look-see from the outside of the house, and don't really want your job. What they don't seem to realize is that the world is so much more "instant" than it used to be.
Now, if a contractor ticks someone off, that person can report them to Angies list if they subscribe to it or other "lists" like it. Or they can mass e-mail everyone on their contact list, or Twitter about, or blog about it.
Lots of possible future jobs might go out the window with a tidal wave of bad press before the contractor even tries to show up for a bid[if they show up]
It's only going to get "smaller" as every younger generation gets more in-depth with instant messages of all types. You'd hope contractors are thinking about this. It goes both ways, good work gets hopefully rewarded with posted praise for the people who performed the job, and bad or criminal work gets its own reward.

[Don Jarvie]

Do you know anyone who knows anyone they can recommend?