The economy can't be THAT bad...

[wendyzski]

Because roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of the contractors I'm calling to come bid on condo stuff don't bother to show up!

Let's see - Monday night at least both contractors I had scheduled showed up. Tuesday night I had an electrician and a concrete guy scheduled. Electrician never showed.

Last night I had 2 concrete guys scheduled. One showed up 75 minutes late! I was meeting with my 6:45 and he stopped me in the street. I'm like "Dude - see those guys over there? *points to jcw_da_dmg and woody_whistler who are standing by my front door with instruments in hand* They are waiting for me. You know, like I waited for you. Sorry - we'll be going with someone who keeps appointments" He was really snotty about it too. Srsly - you don't call, you just show up when you feel like it - um no. If that's how you do business we really don't need you.

The pest control guys at least have showed up on time - thank goodness for THAT. But WTF people? Do you not want our money?

Comments

[justphoenix.livejournal.com]

Nicely done.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that it's taken more than a month to get 3 bids on a concrete project!

[popebuck1.livejournal.com]

It never fails to amaze me how unprofessional people can be. It's like when I was an extra - which is honestly a job a monkey could do, since it consists of nothing but showing up, wearing vaguely appropriate clothing, and following the simplest of directions - and yet there were tons of people who managed to fuck it up. WTF?

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Srsly. I'm not just looking at price - I'm looking at professional people who have references, who show up for meetings, who meet deadlines, who ask questions to make sure they understand what I want, etc.

Only one so far said things like "You're going to have to take that fence down anyway, but if you get that scheduled *before* we come in you'll get a nicer neat concrete edge and we won't have to come back in a couple of years to repair it." He's also the one who looked at the masonry work we need and said "We're not qualified or insured for that kind of thing, but I know some guys who are. Can I send you some contact info?"

I like when a contractor says "I can do what you want, but the city code says you're supposed to have this instead - I can send you a link to where it says that" and then he did. THAT kind of attitude is going to get you called back when we need those nasty electrical boards down in the basement replaced.