Contractors who never get back to you--a local problem?

[cdmurphy]

I try to use people who live in my neighborhood or who have ties to it in some way. My landscaping company is owned by a neighbor; I see him out and about; his kids go to preschool with mine. There are a couple of guys in the community who run general handyman-type businesses. Otherwise, another good source is the neighborhood message board; contractors who pay to advertise there are less likely to do "bad business" if they know they are going to get called out online, particularly in a venue they are sponsoring.

[Margery]

Originally Posted by khuntrevor

No need to use a licensed contractor for smaller jobs. For every licensed contractor, there are 40 people, who can do ceramic tile. Some of you may not be getting bids because you have no equity in your homes and their is nothing to lien against if you don't pay.

How would a contractor know the balance of your mortgage? (market value of home - amount owed = equity)

[irisheyes13]

We have been dealing with this ourselves recently. We were looking for a handyman to do some projects around the house and we started with the website the Washington Post started a few months back called Service Alley. We were upfront with the first 2 we contacted and said it was a short list of pretty minor repairs etc. The first guy came out the next day and a week later after calls and e-mails, he sent a partial estimate (list included about half of what we went over). We wrote back and asked about the other items and 2 weeks later, no response. The other company asked us to e-mail our list and we never heard back from them.. We have 2 other contractors who have come out and received the estimate from one over the weekend and are waiting to hear back from the other. I didn’t expect this to be so difficult.

[NC211]

I think this also has something to do with the time of year. It's constuction season now, and time for these guys to get the bigger profit makers. I think if you can wait until fall, you'll have more luck. We made one call to one guy in October for a fence and a deck. They started the process that day. Spent over $10,000 with this small outfit. Now, I want crown molding and some additional ceiling fans installed. I can't get him to respond beyond the "sure, we can do that for you". I bet it'll be fall before a small project of this nature actually happens.

[Novadhd5150]

I would be interested to know how other people feel when they were in other cities.? We have run into problems like this with contractors even when we get them off local listserves and referrals!
Some dont know what they are doing, some overcharge and many dont call you back.
The last guy who replaced my windows forgot to bring a third window! He never sent me an estimate either as we did it over the phone, but at least he negotiated with me although still paid way too much.

[North Beach Person]

Southern MD experience:
Twelve years trying to get a bid for a new roof, countless roofers came, looked, said "I'll get back to you.". None ever did, it is an easy straight forward roofing job, no strange valleys or anything like that.

Finally got a bid, put down a deposit. Eight months later roof still hadn't been done and finally starts to leak. Call the contractor and a month later it gets done.

A note, the roof was at least 35 years old by that point, probably older.

So it's just not you.

[Pammyd]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Since January we've been trying to get a contractor to give us a bid on retiling our master bath and replacing the shower. It's been a bizarrely frustrating problem.
We've now had 7-8 contractors come out to our house. They spend an hour or so looking at the job, taking measurements, etc. They usually give a rough estimate as to how much the job will run. It's usually a price we like. They shake our hands, and say they will e-mail a detailed bid in a few days. It all sounds like it's going to happen.
Then we never hear from them again. What's up with this?
At first I thought our job was too small, that they were blowing us off because they got a bigger job. So I made a point of telling contractors that it was a small job and we wanted to pay in the ball park of a certain figure. They know this information going in--they make a point of saying they are looking for a job that size--and they come out to the house and tell us they want the job. And then we never hear from them again.
We've also tried bringing the subject up. With the last two people we saidl them "The important thing to us is to hear from you--it's ok if you just want to say you need more time or if you can't do the job, just let us know." And they nod and say that's what they do and that's how to run a good business.
And then weeks go by and we never hear from them again. I usually try calling or e-mailing, just to make sure they haven't lost our number--doesn't seem to matter.
Anyone else having this experience? Is this a new trend or maybe something that's local to Nova? Or maybe just an issue with tiling people? We've done work on other homes in other states and not had this problem. Are contractors really so busy that they can't spare 2 minutes to send a simple e-mail if they can't do a job? Why bother coming out to my house if you aren't going to send the bid or even let us know what happened to you?

I use to work part time from home "screening" contractors for potential customers. I would check them out on the Better Business Bureau Website and also on www.contractor.org On that last site, you will be able to verify insurance info, license info and see if there have been any complaints against the particular contractor you are interested in. ALWAYS be sure to get the contractors insurance information which is also where you can research and find out if there have been complaints. Never, not ever should you let a contractor into your home until he has been checked out.

We are in CT, and yes we have had issues with contractors not coming back. We had a contractor who did roof replacement for us and one gutter has begun to fall away from the roof. I have called him and my husband has also called him and he has not set foot on our property to do this half hour job. Will I refer him again to anyone else? NOPE.

About the only thing you can do is go online and check out the contractors in your area, then verify their info on www.contractor.org and see how they "fair". Worse case scenario, you can also go through Home Depot who will send you one of their authorized contractors. We did a pool fence thru Home Depot and it worked out quite well. Good Luck!

[Yankeesfan]

I've never had this problem, except for a guy named "Jim the Handyman" who advertised extensively. We scheduled for him to come out once and he never showed up and never called to say why.

I've used "Mr. Handyman" extensively and they are excellent. They bill by the hour with just a two-hour minimum and will do just about any kind of work so you can combine different repairs or upgrades into one trip. They can save you time and money by not having to call out separate contractors for multiple parts of a project.

They're franchised and have different areas but this is the one I use and they are really superb:

Professional Manassas Handyman Services & Home Repairs - Mr. Handyman

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Pammyd

I would check them out on the Better Business Bureau Website and also on www.contractor.org On that last site, you will be able to verify insurance info, license info and see if there have been any complaints against the particular contractor you are interested in.

Am I looking at this page correctly? All I get is a blank page that wants me to start writing a blog. I tried using the search function for the one contractor that we may end up using, it said "no reply." Am I supposed to go to a certain sub page to get the licensing info?

[snowdenscold]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Am I looking at this page correctly? All I get is a blank page that wants me to start writing a blog. I tried using the search function for the one contractor that we may end up using, it said "no reply." Am I supposed to go to a certain sub page to get the licensing info?

I can't speak for that poster, but maybe he meant: Contractors | General Home Contractor Services | Free Contractor Estimates (note the 's').
Although I don't see exactly how to look up license and insurance info easily...