There has been a steady stream of complaints about tradesmen and contractors on the social media site ‘Nextdoor.’
I never had that problem in the three homes I owned beginning in the mid 1970s.
Now,in this 4th home,a real fixer, no-shows and ghosting are the norm.
F’rinstance, a carpenter (son of a friend) came and spent a half hour taking measurements for a partition wall. 8 weeks later he still hasn’t called back.
A tile guy came out twice to double check a kitchen tile job, twice said “probably next week” and has ghosted us since.
We needed a 240v/50amp outlet installed in the kitchen for a new induction range. I called a bunch of numbers and left call back information.
Few called back. Of those who did, some said “We’ll call you back when we have a time slot for you.”
…and never called back
Some said “I can come over next week to give you and estimate.” and never showed up.
One showed up and said “My wife runs my calendar and will call you with to arrange a date.”
Wife never called, electrician showed up when nobody was home. I called the guy after a while and he said, “Oh sorry, I can do the job in 3 weeks.” In 3 weeks he called and said “I got an emergency call, I have to postpone.”
Finally I spotted an electricians truck working at a neighbors. Nice guy, took a look, said “no problem, I’ll text you an estimate.” He did!! I approved the estimate and he texted back a date… May 13. And he showed up! And he did the job in 6 hours; a tough job on a steep hill house with minimal crawl space.
Theres a shortage of manpower these days. You are not surprised at these problems.
People you have worked with in the past are your best shot. They know you and you hope appreciate your business. But these days they are probably swamped with new business opportunities.
No easy answers. Just keep trying.
And what do you think its like to get someone to show up when you live in the boonies?
And what do you think its like to get someone to show up when you live in the boonies?
The daily traffic flow of work trucks shows that most live a goodly distance away from the small central coast towns where rents have soared and construction severely limited by lack of water.
Finally I spotted an electricians truck working at a neighbors. Nice guy, took a look, said "no problem,…
Lucky you. I’ve given up on the contractors and where at all humanly possible, we’ve been making friends with YouTube videos to teach ourselves how to do things.
Last weekend I painted our two story cabin, all except for the top half of the front where I can’t handle the heights. Just can’t. If we can borrow a taller ladder, DH will do the front.
About 2 weeks ago I gave up calling for a plumber, 3 of whom refused to come out or give pricing. Finally pulled up a primer on line and looked at videos for how to diagnose and fix the water heater, which happily was not leaking. Two thermostats and $90 later, including a diagnostic tool we needed, our water heater was working better than it ever had.
The rubber gaskets on our metal roof on our cabin need replacing. Yeah, I am not touching that. Heights.
IP,
wondering if this oncoming recession will be a boon to those of us who need people to work on the house
wondering if this oncoming recession will be a boon to those of us who need people to work on the house
Our last house, needed major hardscape due to 30 years of settling and a pine tree whose roots wrecked a common wall with the neighbors etc etc etc. Driveway, walkway, cinder block common wall, drip irrigated, the works.
The contractors who came gave us high prices and start dates many many months out. The 2008 recession had them knocking on our door with immediate availability and estimates more in line with our expectations. The contractor we went with put 2 full crews on the job and finished in half the time we had anticipated.
As the major work we need done on this house has been so delayed (thanks to understaffed, arguably incompetent City planning Dept engineers) , maybe we’ll see a similar situation.
I’ve luckily only had one total loser do that to me; the others I’ve needed have been very local neighbor recommendations.
With the crazy parabolic distorted real estate market and ZIRP making refis dirt cheap, many of these guys can name their price and work on only the biggest and most expensive jobs. They’re not gonna do $1 to $5K jobs when loaded people with $100sK to blow is throwing money around or big GCs are promising them steady work at great rates.