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What is it lately about having to pull teeth to get quotes?
My main house needs some big ticket repairs, new roof (34sq) siding, stone work, etc. I have spent the last 4 months trying to gather quotes. The only ones getting them to me are the overpriced, huge conglomerates that have sales staff doing quotes every night. The $96k they want is not in my budget.
I have been on a list two have two roof leaks repaired since December. I am tired of waiting and might as well go for a new roof, as mine is in bad shape anyway.
I have had small local contractors out, but I have been waiting months. One guy that I feel will be in my budget, I have been begging since last summer to give me a quote. Texted him again last night... He said today. I will be shocked if that happens.
I need concrete work done at my other house, in order to sell it. I have called 4 different companies... Nothing.
Facebook messaged a guy that I know does concrete work, he read it but no response. Gues he is not interested.
I requested a quote for a microwave and dishwasher from local Appliance store 3 weeks ago... You guessed
right. I am still waiting.
What is with people? Are times so good they don't need work?
I really agree with you. What's up. I thought companies would be glad for the business I was offering and compete for it.
I ended up paying a lot more than I could have done if I had more bids.
I rarely ask for bids. I just pick a good contractor by references, then tell him to do the work time and materials. I typically save a lot of money over bid work, because bids contain worst case contingencies.
New electrical service. Bid: $1800. Actual cost: $800
New heat pump. Bid: $3400. Actual cost: $1700.
New roof. Bid: $14,800. Actual cost $11,400.
Complete remodel of the kitchen with cabinets, house floor plan, hardwood floors and tile, added windows, crown molding, etc. I didn't even ask for a bid. I just picked the top contractor and told him to come do the work. I ended up with two phenomenally expert carpenters who did things exactly as I asked. The whole project cost me $41,000. The project fell over Christmas, so I told the guys to write down time and a half for the 3-day Christmas weekend. It was the first paid holiday either of them had ever had. They invested their hearts into my home, and I really appreciated it. The contractor used our house as a remodel example for the Parade of Homes.
What you pay for: Labor costs (not hourly wage, labor plus comp insurance, FICA, and other direct expenses to the contractor). Materials retail costs, not the contractor's wholesale cost. 25% P&O, which covers liability insurance, equipment, tools, office costs, licensing and profit.
There is no such thing as a "free estimate." You are paying for the estimator's time, travel, and all the other estimates that people balk at just like you did.
Selecting your contractor is critical. Pick people who are experienced and know their business. DO NOT do business with a tailgate contractor except as casual labor. Check their contractor's board and BBB references. If you are hiring subs like a roofer, ask a general contractor who he recommends.
Not sure about this......I was quoted a time and materials bid to install a pre hung, pre stained entry door at $1800. I got another guy to come out and I asked how much to do the door with trim work and everything.....he was a third of the cost of the time and materials guy.
I'm not disagreeing with your advice, but...if a fairly large percentage of contractors never bother to return phone calls from prospective customers, and if some of those who do return phone calls don't bother to show up for appointments (and fail to call back to make a new appointment), how does one even get to the stage of being respectful and being sure of what you want?
As I stated in an earlier post, my brother and SIL went with an electrical contractor simply because he was the only one of 8 who actually showed up. In my case, when I was switching from one lawn care company to another, I phoned everyone listed in the yellow pages for my area, and--naturally--I wound up speaking to answering machines in every case.
When somebody finally called me back 3 days later, and showed up for an estimate later that day, he got the job. Four other lawn care companies never bothered to call back, and two others called back over one week later, after I had signed a contract. Whether my brother & SIL's electrician was the best (or even the cheapest), and whether my new lawn contractor was the best or the cheapest, both of those tradesmen got the jobs by default, simply because they were the only ones in their category who bothered to show up.
IMHO--and according to virtually everyone with whom I come into contact--the absolute biggest problem in this realm is getting tradesmen/contractors to act in a responsible manner by returning phone calls, by showing up for appointments, and by calling to book new appointments if something unforeseen happens.
It has been two weeks since one of the retaining wall contractors came to my yard to have a look......last thing this one said was...."I'll have a quote for you in a day or two". Sigh!
A little respect for the trades would probably go a long way in getting a call back.
Tradesman are not ignorant, uneducated, or inexperienced. Have you looked at any of their training materials? Do you know how long it takes to become a master plumber? Have you seen the electrician exam?
I never called them ignorant, uneducated, or inexperienced or said I didn't have respect for their skills.
I said I didn't want to be overcharged for their -- or anyone else's -- services, as I wouldn't overcharge for mine.
We are wanting to build a new house in another state for our retirement. We have plans for a house that we had built previously. Fairly simple, L shape. no fancy roof breaks, straight walls, etc. A bit over 1800 sq ft plus a large 2 car garage.
Contacted first general contractor, explained what we were looking to do. They are interested in building the house for us. Sent them the plans for an estimate. After a month of no response, contacted them; still hasn't had time to work on an estimate. Two months out now, still no response.
Contacted second general contractor and he is interested in building our house. Sent him the plans four weeks ago. Still no response.
Third general contractor is interested in building our house. Has had the plans for two weeks; we'll see what happens there.
With every one of them, when I first contact them and explain what we are planning on doing, they are very nice and seem to really want to work with us. Planning to get up there the last of April and buy the land we are interested in and sit down face to face with them to work on more details. But I was hoping to get some broad estimates prior to meeting with them to get a better feel for each one.
It will be interesting to see if/when they get back to me. If it winds up that no one wants to work with us, we'll just buy an existing house. Even if we wouldn't get exactly what we want, it sure would be less hassle.
I really agree with you. What's up. I thought companies would be glad for the business I was offering and compete for it.
I ended up paying a lot more than I could have done if I had more bids.
They mostly just want easy jobs with low expectations and high payout. It's a natural human tendency, laziness and greed; no reason to expect contractors to rise above what most people do not. The minute they sense that they might not make easy money, or that the client might expect a high standard of work, they are less interested, and who can blame them? There are plenty of clients out there who will pay too much for a lousy job. For contractors, life is too short to compete, or to meet high standards of workmanship. There are more important things in their worlds.
They mostly just want easy jobs with low expectations and high payout. It's a natural human tendency, laziness and greed; no reason to expect contractors to rise above what most people do not. The minute they sense that they might not make easy money, or that the client might expect a high standard of work, they are less interested, and who can blame them? There are plenty of clients out there who will pay too much for a lousy job. For contractors, life is too short to compete, or to meet high standards of workmanship. There are more important things in their worlds.
What a lot of the posters including the OP simply do not understand is the contracting business. You are having a hard time getting bids for one or all of the following reasons.
1: The contractor is so busy and working at his full capacity, and has to turn down the prospects for a lot of work. They don't call back when you leave a message, as they simply do not have time to do the work so just ignore requests for bids. This is common, all over the nation.
2: The type of project, does not appeal to them as they have other projects that are more interesting and more profitable. Example the OP has an older home in an area the contractor normally does not work. He has other jobs available that take all of his available crew working full time and often some overtime to handle. He will only take the cleanest and most profitable jobs.
3: The contractor has all the new construction jobs they can handle, and they are much easier and more profitable than a tear off and replace a roof job. They don't have time to take on the less desirable jobs like ht OP has. The problem with an older house that was ran down, is until they tear off the roof, they don't really know the full extent of what it is going to take to do the job. It is not easy to estimate what it will cost, until the roof is off. So they bid high, to cover having to replace everything above the rafters, etc. If it ends up being a simple tear off, and replace they will have extra money they either keep as a profit, or return to the home owner.
4: Talking to a home owner, they get the impression that the home owner wants a job on the cheap side, and it will not be profitable as another job would be if the owner gets what they want in terms of cost. Being they can't do both due to they are running at capacity, they simply do not want the job. They will only take a cut rate job, if they really need the business, which most do not need today.
When our roof was replaced 3 years ago, we had to wait for nearly 3 months to get it replaced when there was an opening available. That time due to storm damage in the area, some people had to wait over 6 months. A lot of homes had to have the roof covered in heavy blue plastic to protect the house waiting for roof replacement.
CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM: Millennials are going to college, and are not going into the trades. Except in areas with lots of recent immigrants with many of them here illegally, there are not enough people going into the trades such as roofing, to replace the ones that are retiring. Labor is in short supply, and the demand for services exceeds the labor supply. Contractors simply do not have enough available labor pool, to take a lot of the jobs that are out there.
For this reason alone, contractors are only going to take the jobs, where they are easy to estimate, and the most profitable. They are all turning down a lot of work, as they simply do not have the people to do any more work. There only 4 houses on our lane, with 3 on one side, and our home on the other side. 5 acre parcels. It runs down to the road, that separates the best part of the town from the county. We own the lane, and the other homes have legal access. Two of them have been built over the last 2 years. Both took a couple of extra months to build, as the subs were so busy they simply had a hard time finding the time to work on these 2 homes. The roofer started at 7a.m. and worked till 5p.m., as they were trying to keep up with the jobs they had ahead. We are talking about nice solid middle class homes.
Those are the reasons, the OP and others are having a hard time getting bids to do work. The contractors simply have all the work they can handle.
One thing people might want to consider when hiring contractors is not waiting until the situation: roofing, siding, whatever, is in dire straits before you go looking for estimates to repair or replace it. Keeping up with maintenance is one of the most important things any homeowner can do, and regular visual inspections of your home can be invaluable. Anyone can take a pair of binoculars and look at their roof to see if the shingles are curling or granulating. Take a look in the attic for signs of water damage on the sheathing. Check the siding for rot or missing/cracked pieces. That way, when you call contractors for estimates, you have a cushion of time built in for the actual work to take place if they're busy, instead of being in a crisis situation. Being proactive about your home's maintenance will save you money in the long run, believe me.
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