A little dose of common sense around customers and some basic manners sure would help some of these guys out when it comes to dealing with customers. And on the same token, it's no surprise why some contractors are successful and always booked simply because they can show up on time and act like someone you can handle having in your house.
I'm in the process of getting estimates for a new roof.
A guy showed up today, introduced himself, and said "Let's take a quick walk around the house, while I ask you a few questions". We proceeded to walk around, him pointing out things that he noticed, and asking me about other things. As we are doing this, he explains "We'll be stripping the shingles, putting on new drip edge, new ice guard, new flashing around the skylights, etc, etc, etc". He points out that the flashing on the stone chimney looks like it is mortared in, but he has dealt with that before, and shouldn't be a problem.
Then he starts to take measurements, sketching the roof as he goes.
You get the idea.
At the end, he says that he'll need to go back to the shop to work an accurate quote, and that he hopes to have it out to me in a few days.
At this point, I confessed to him, about another "contractor" that had come out a few days ago to give me a bid.
This guy "paces" off the house, grabs his phone to do the math, and within a few minutes, gives me a price. I asked "What is included in that price?", as he had basically told me nothing up to that point. His response?
"Well, ya know, like pretty much everything that should be included".
WHAT???
"PRETTY much everything"??
How about ALL of everything, and how about explaining what "everything" encompasses?
The second guy just laughed (I'm sure he LOVES having competition like the first guy; makes it much easier to score work!
).
Needless to say, only one is in contention for the job right now.....
