contractors vent, from the other side.

[FroggyinArk]

OK a lot of y our know that i own a home repair service that has been handled by dw since my accident, work has been very slow this year to the point my wife is looking for a job and probably will be working as receptionist at local radio station this week or next, and that leaves me and a helper trying to keep jobs going with our biz.
We have already dropped our rates, even been trying to take bare minimum profit to stay doing something. Work during the last 2 weeks we finnally started getting some calls in and a few estimates to do, we even managed to work one day last week. We went yesterday and did an estimate for a lady and she gave us the job go ahead on the spot, we scheduled her for next Monday ( to give my surgery a week to heal before i went to work) this morning i called my helper set him up, have everything lined out to do this job Monday, she just now called and has decided not to do the work, that she wasn't ready to spend that much money right now, etc. Now i have a man expecting to work Monday, materials lined up for the job, and no job to do. why if you are going to think about it and need time to decide, why would you Tell a contractor to go ahead? I am not just doing this as a sideline, or in my spare time, this is a business that i am trying to keep going and stay afloat while i am not able to work full time. she even went as far as to show me the materials she already had, even made preliminary set up marks during the estimate., i suspect that she has now used my markings and material list to get some relative to build the gate for her, and thats why she cant spend that much right now,,, and i was quoting her a variable price and doing it by the hour,, i stood to make up to 250 bucks off the entire thing,, and was swilling to go lower if we did it faster. now unless i can find another job for next week I'll have to stop my helper from coming in and i look like the idiot, this guy needs to work as much as i do, and hes counting on my advertising and sales skill to keep him going. so please,, do me favor,, don't tell a contractor to go ahead unless you are sure, if you want time to think he has a phone,, tell him you will let them know,, then actually do,, either way, we want to know if we don't get the job too.

 

[doxdogy]

I am very sorry this has happened to you. I don't blame you one bit for being frustrated.

 

[FroggyinArk]

is just glad to have a place i can vent i guess it stinks being partially disabled and not being 100 percent, then to have ppl do me that way was just all i couldtake today

 

[monkeyboy]

Hang in there Froggy

 

[Crankyshank]

I'm sorry you're so frustrated. Hang in there, it'll get better.

 

[Patty3]

You should move to the DC area, you would get plenty of work. It is hard to even get folks to call you back for an estimate. Over 4 months ago, I contacted a friend's DH who was starting out and I am still waiting for an estimate. DH and a friend ended up doing one of the jobs and the other, we are going to Lowe's.

I hope you are better soon and that you will be loaded with more work than you know what to do with!

 

[Tiziminchac]

Keep your head up. If you've been around you know how the buisness is. Feast or famine.

 

[FroggyinArk]

been considering a trip to orlando with my resume,, i could work mouse maintenance and moonligh tas a pirate on p o c

 

[4greatboys]

Come to Houston....we need competent contractors. Out of 3 I used only one was decent. I also have a friend who is a realtor looking for good contractor to ref her clients to.

 

[nativetxn]

I'm sorry this happened to you I sure wish you were in my area, I have lots and lots of work you could do.

Katholyn

 

[FroggyinArk]

no wayyy would i return to houston,, almost lost everytthing trying to work out there.. 10 yrs ago i ran a crew in houston for 6 months and the company was ran into the dirt, literally,,,

 

[clh2]

Froggy - why not just do a cross-country tour to all the DIS'ers houses that need odd jobs done! You could start at my place - I'm the one who wants to "move a closet" because I don't like where it is.

Sorry to hear about your cancelled job.

Hang in there!

 

[orvilleair]

Than the price of materials are going through the roof, especially earlier in the year. Hoping you get the "dream" client where they want everything gold plated and finished with mahagony.

 

[Tiggeroo]

believe me I uderstand. DH and I had an hvac contracting business for many years. These things happened alot. That's where dh and I would disagree. I wanted every job to have a signed contract with the price and every bit of info in it. I wouldn't order material, schedule help, or put them into my schedule til I had that. I would not consider it money earned til then, and I had a deposit in my hand. Every job, no matter how small I took deposits on. This way they were unlikely to cancel.
Currently dh is working for a large union company and handling a small client list for our own business, sometimes using subs to do the work. And I have one of those clients who we did a good deal of work for, and made an exception to the deposit rule, who is not paying after 2 months.