Bait and Switch

If a homeowner contracts with you to do a job, can you please do the job. The owner hired you because of your qualifications, abilities, etc. It is not fair to an owner if you substitute other people in your place. Especially those who do not have any skills needed to do the job. A homeowner works darn hard for their money and have allocated a certain amount to do needed repairs, upgrades, etc to their home. Please have the decency to show up to do the job YOU signed on for. Don't disrespect the owner by doing a bait and switch. You charge high because of your skills, then substitute a worker with no skills. Do you then lower the price along with that? Of course not. It is so not fair to hardworking people. We are all getting gouged at the gas station, grocery stores, etc but we know what we are getting for our money and we make that choice ourselves. The poor homeowner thinks he's getting one thing, but is soooo not. If they only knew what goes on while they are away working to earn that elusive dollar. My husband is a contractor, and he feels very bad for these unsuspecting people. Please, in an industry based on customer service and relations, value your clients and show them some respect. And if possible, try to take a few minutes out of your schedule one day, and drop in when they are not suspecting. You'd be amazed at what you find.

Easy Money

There's no such thing as easy money. Now, as a disclaimer I will freely admit that I am not an expert on the construction area, but I have been married to a contractor for over 16 years, so I know a little something about the industry. But, speaking as a consumer, I would have to beg you, as a professional, please treat my money with respect. I know that everybody needs to make money, but please, can you do something to earn it? My husband came home, again, frustrated with the other contractor on the job. Now this contractor negotiated with the owner directly. My husband and him walked the job and my husband gave him his professional opinion about what he would charge. The contractor then added quite a few more thousand to that price and bizarrely enough got the job (that's another blog). My husband has been on this job doing the work every day (except for the one day he took off, for my son's field trip), the other one has yet to show up. Now, at the end of the project is it fair that each make the same amount of money? I don't think so. The other contractor has been sending laborers (as in they don't have the specific skills needed for the job) in his place. He wants their pay to come partially out of my husband's share and not as a price to be paid for not showing up on the job himself. That was the choice you made, to now show up. The secondary problem with sending other people to the job is that my husband has to take the time to show them what needs to be done. When he gets to the job and finds people standing around just talking, spending working hours continually on the phone, leaving work early, etc. that is a problem. There's a deadline people!!! The job has to be completed within a certain time frame for them to get paid. 1) sending unqualified people that need to be babysat takes time away from the job; 2) wanting to get paid for just showing up is not cool either. A body means nothing, at least pretend to be working. Your casual attitude towards your customers, towards work, etc. is impacting my family's income. That affects my children and that makes me angry. Whatever happened to an honest wage for an honest day's work?