We would like to have some work done at our home this summer, so I’ve been busy contacting various contractors during the past few weeks. My experiences with getting people to call me back, come to my house and provide a quote have ranged from surprisingly pleasant to sorely disappointing.
The areas where we need some help are removing a large rotting tree, getting some new windows installed and improving insulation in our basement and third floor area. This means I’ve been calling arborists, window installers and insulation contractors.
The arborists were by far the most responsive and professional of the bunch. I called five companies and all of them called back fairly promptly and came to our house within a few days. With each arborist we explained the work that we wanted to have done and they went over various methods and options because it’s a fairly large job. Each gave us a quote on the spot and didn’t make us wait for days. The prices were quite varied which made me a little concerned. I mentioned to the last arborist (a very respected and well known company) that I didn’t understand why one of his competitors quoted me twice the amount he was quoting me. He explained that the twice-as-much arborist hates working around power lines and doesn’t really want my job, hence the crazy quote price. That made sense to me. We’ve since decided on a company, put down our deposit and will be having our tree removed in the next few weeks. Be on the lookout for a blog post with lots of pictures when that job is taking place. So, hiring the arborist was a snap compared to the rest of the work we wanted done.
Next was on to window installers. They must really be in busy season because I have yet to successfully find someone who will actually give me a quote so I can schedule the work to be done. I called several. One called me back (after I called him twice) and came to my house. That was two weeks ago. I still do not have a quote from this individual, even though I’ve left a few voicemails asking for my estimate. I could understand the unresponsiveness if we only wanted one or two windows replaced. But we’re looking to have 15 windows replaced. It’s not that tiny of a job. Just send me my stinkin’ quote for crying out loud so I can hire you and get my darn windows replaced!
Finally, insulation contractors. I must have called six of these guys. One called me back. He said he was friends with someone that lives on my street. I thought this would be a good sign. He came to my house and spent awhile talking to us about various options and what would be most effective. He told us he would have the quote to us that night and gave us the name of a sheetrocker that would need to help us with some prep work before he could do the job. We called the sheetrocker and he came to our house and gave us a quote 12 hours later. That was three weeks ago. Do I have the insulation quote yet? Heck no. How many times have I called asking for the quote? Three. I could understand if he didn’t want the job, but why the heck would he have us call his sheetrocker friend if he didn’t want the job? Gah!
Perhaps I am a touch more annoyed with this process than I should be. Honestly, I just wish people would tell me outright that they don’t want my job rather than wasting my time by coming over to my house and telling me that they’ll get me a quote which they never seem to produce. I’m telling people on the phone the extent of the work, just say no then if you think the job is too small. You’re not going to hurt my feelings, I’ll just move on to the next person.
Readers, what are your experiences with getting multiple quotes? Do you find some contractors are more responsive than others? Are window installers and insulation contractors always this frustrating? I seem to have fine luck with roofers, painters and masons. Thoughts?
I’ve run into this with fence contractors and, to a lesser extent, chimney guys – it’s awful! God forbid you try to pay someone to do something. Maybe try the window people Rachel Lutzger does the commercial for. Who is the arborist you’re using?
My experience, like yours, has been mixed – and in a similiar fashion to your experience. Fairy easy to get tree and landscaping quotes that are timely and detailed. A bit tougher to find a mason – tried 4 companies, 2 didn’t even bother responding, 1 scheduled a meeting to come a look and didn’t show up or ever call again, and the last one actually showed up, quoted, got the job and got it done- so that was most pleassing. Driveway replacement crews, so – so. Air conditioning – same- some seemed interested and quoted right away, others drifted off after some initial communications. I tend to think that many of these businesses are small and simply don’t operate in a manner that we associate with larger customer service driven businesses. Others I think don’t want to deal with older houses, for instance, but don’t come out and say it. I’d rather they just say honestly- “hey, good luck but this job isn’t for me.” Its not like my feelings are going to be hurt…
Like you, I just want to close on a deal and move on. Personally, at this point, I will only followup once with a contractor of any sort — I figure if they aren’t that interested or need the work, best not to use them – it may show up in their work product.
Agree with Michael 100%. If they dont follow up within a reasonable amount of time or after one call, move on. Either they’re too busy, don’t want the job, or not good at customer service – all signs to stay away. We had our basement windows replaced and I went with a guy recommended by a friend. He gave us prompt quote which was in line with the other quote I got. The job was held up all winter due to the crazy amount of snow, and then some health issues the contractor had. I like dealing with smaller operations since you usually interact with the owner, but there’s always the risk that the job is held up due to lack of staff. Anyway, once he was able to do the job it was quick and I’m happy with the work.
I had the same experience around wildly different prices, with some chimney work we need to get done. One quote wasnmore than double, and those guys took longer to get me the quote and seemed nervous about the height of our house. So a couple signs indicating they might not be the best bet.
When we had drainage work done in our yard I never heard back from one company. It’s very hit and miss and time-consuming, unfortunately. This is the idea behind angie’s list, which I’m sure you’ve heard of (http://www.angieslist.com/). It’s a pay service, and I haven’t tried it out. Seems like the right idea, though.
Don’t know if you guys would want to take this on, but a forum to share experiences and recommend local contractors would be extremely helpful. I’m sure there are plenty of folks going through the same thing in the west end alone.
Thanks all for the comments. I am getting to the point where I will only call contractors once however the people I’m calling have been referred to me by others that have had good experiences with the people. I kind of feel like there are only so many people that are comfortable (or willing) to work on these older houses, that’s why I find myself calling the same people again and again trying to get them to respond.
I was skeptical about Angie’s List (probably because I’m just cheap), but seeing as it’s only $29 for a year we’ll probably bite the bullet and sign up for it. If anything, it will give me some blog fodder.
River, while establishing a forum to recommend contractors is a good idea, it’s too much of a liability for me to be doing that in a public forum. If people ask me for recommendations on a contractor I typically try to give them a few options privately through email. I can’t be posting recommendations publically because that just exposes me too much. Hope that makes sense.
I was thinking it was a personal curse, so it is (almost) nice to know that others are going through the same difficulties with contractors. I have been facing a combination of no returned phone calls (3/5), not showing up for appointments, not willing to do the work because it’s an old house, or showing up and finding out they’re not the right person to do the work even though they said they were. I am only 1/3 for bringing back contractors who did work for me last year, even.
Now I am shameless about asking for referrals of contractors I do get in touch with and anyone I talk to. If I can get a person willing to do the job, who can give me an estimate and start date, I’ll hire them without multiple quotes if I can find a price range for the job from a neighbor.
Is there a shortage of contractors in the area? Are they making so much money they don’t need much work? Do houses over a certain age have to have things replaced rather than repaired because no one will work on them?
I’d love to hear if Angie List works. Based on other online review site like citysearch and yelp, there aren’t enough people in the area posting reviews online to be helpful.
We wanted to turn our deck into a 3 season room. I called four contractors. All four came out and said they’d give me a quote. Only two ended up giving me a quote, one quote was double the price of the other. And, the cheaper one was a contractor that was highly recommended.
I used a free service to find a painting contractor last year, servicemagic.com. They give you several in your area and you can send requests for them to contact you right through their website. The thing I liked about this was that servicemagic actually called me 2 days later to follow up, and only one contractor had called me so far. Servicemagic then actually contacted the other 2 places for me and told them they had to get in touch with me right away. It was kind of nice having someone else do the follow-up work. Also, their website has you rate not only the performance of the contractor you choose, but also the response time of everyone they referred you to. I imagine Angie’s List is similar-there is incentive to do the right thing and get back to you, as otherwise their ratings will drop and they may not get referrals anymore.
Amy, I definitely understand the issues around liability and conflicts of interest for you. I was thinking more along the lines of a community forum where people could share their own experiences, as a service. Don’t know if a disclaimer stating that you make no guarantees or endorsements, blah blah, would resolve the issues, but that’s what in was suggesting. You could stay off the forum completely. Anyway. Thanks for prompting the good discussion.