Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Flaky business practices

We are renovating a rental property for sale in CO. As you might imagine, there are lots of contract jobs and short term tasks to complete, not to mention big jobs such as roofing, gutters, and siding.

Aside from the roofing company, trying to find people who will communicate, reply, respond, etc. is nearly impossible. I recognize everyone is still thinking they can live on the $1200 COVID checks or help from Pedo Joe, but it is really hard to grasp just how stupid and unresponsive people are.

My life has evolved into Adult Management 101. If it isn't sending the 3rd repetitive email, or 2nd text message, or making repeated calls, it is correcting folks on the job they agreed to. I don't know how you fellas in construction deal with it. Even people who stand to make good money (realtors) can BARELY be bothered to answer a phone call and voicemail within 3 days.

On top of this, I am dealing with 3 different insurance claims due to a recent hail storm. Insurance companies may be the worst of them all. Claims submitted on time as is my duty, but trying to get a claim settled is a chore. I finally hired an independent adjuster to go after American Family. When I bought my classic car 11 months back, I called my State Farm agent and they told me that insuring the car would be impossible without an inspection at their local office. WTF??? One call to Hagerty and the car was insured. Pizz on State Farm.

Yes, I know the housing market is red hot, and people figure they don't need to hustle to make money. Perhaps true, but I will be damned and gone to hell before I beg some jackazz to take my money. I just canceled 3 jobs this morning due to this flaky behavior.

Am I the only one experiencing this kind of stupid?

No, you’re not alone.

Call some supply houses and ask for a couple trade guys they know and recommend . You mentioned roofer , call a shingle distributor .

If the roofing contractor is good, ask him for references on the other work.

Sadly your experience is typical rather than the exception. A great many people in any business may have the skill and knowledge on the technical side but have NO IDEA about the business side. Ask me how I know.

I haven’t had to hire any contractors but I feel you on the insurance.

My auto insurance co will NOT, under any circumstance as far as I can get out of them, provide full coverage on a vehicle more than 8 years old. Nobody will they say, even when you show them that numerous companies will.
A cousin who owned a cherry 1969 Ford Bronco he bought new stopped driving it because he couldn’t get full coverage through them and knew if he was in a wreck it would be a $50k replacement. When he passed a couple months ago his son insured it with someone else and is driving it again which is cool.

My brother in law backed into my pickup the other day, sucks but just one of those things, I don’t hold it against him. Him and my sister submit the claim as soon as they get back to SD and I have my body shop buddy do an estimate. We send his estimate up and they want to do their own estimate which is fine. Except I’m not driving it 13 hours up for them to look at. So I have to download an app and take some pictures. They wanted 360 degree photos of the truck from about 10 yards away and 1, only one, pic of the damage, from the same distance.
They go radio silent on me and won’t answer the phone or email for a week when I suddenly get a check in the mail from them. For not quite half of the estimate from my body shop. Tried for two weeks, both me and the body man, to get ahold of them and nobody would answer the phone, text, or email.

My sister went to her agent, who doesn’t really have anything to do with the adjuster who wouldn’t answer correspondence, and told him this was BS and he’d best try to help. Took him and us filing a complaint with corporate for us to get any movement out of them. And that was only to send another check, for less than the total estimated cost, with a note saying they’d approved replacement of the doors that were ruined but with salvage yard parts.

I HATE insurance companies with a passion. And my grandad owned the agency for 40 years before selling it to my uncle, who is my agent now. If they weren’t family I’d be inclined to go elsewhere but none of the others are much better.

Subcontractors are a PIA, and the main reason I do most of my own work. Remember you don't need an IQ above your shoe size to nail shingles, or even be sober.

It comes down to finding the "needle in the haystack" employee.

I am 60... have gone thru hundreds and hundreds of mechanics, tradesmen, welders, machinists et al.

2% make the cut in the end. I retain them well.

I imagine Colorado is true chaos on skilled reliable labor... white or blue collar.

My gunsmith turns 73 today... his replacement DOES NOT EXIST.

End of an era... like a quality truck (...or anything built).

Sober with an average IQ helps one stay on the roof tho.

Lots of Meskins tho. My brother hired one such crew to tile his floors in Twin Lakes. Excellent!

Very true... the right crew with a clear understanding of the work... can outwork most "American crews" 2:1 or 3:1.

Cash Is King...

Add: Businesses can't get good help.
We take good care[the best we can with the employees we have] of our long term customers right now and that's about the best that we can do.
I'm certain of the fact that we've most likely lost some what would be 'new long term' customers solely due to the fact that we are understaffed and can't turn things around like we used to.
It becomes a vicious cycle, compounded by FJB and his kind handing monies out endlessly.

Contractors being flakes is new?

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Put them with cable companies, Real Estate Agents and Lawyers.



Lie SOBs.
Dates only have nearing if there are penalties.

Most def not a customer oriented climate in most everything now.

A take what we are gonna make or do for the most we can make type of mentality.


Most def alot of exploitation of the economics by those WDGAF about customers in everything

You find good people who provide good service or are reliable in anything is like a 1 out of 10 thing at least now.
People in the work force who couldn't even fill out a application let alone have a interview after screening apps.
Are valued things to have working.
Pre C19 they was expendable.
Now being paid over inflated wages per their actual
" worth"
Any drive thru is living proof of it when ya see some of the freaks.
Fishing tackle box faces.
Meth mouth strung the fuug out skeletor looking fuggs.
75 yr Olds slow as fuuk returning to work for the awesome 15 an hour...
425 pd on the hoof I ain't here to please you Mr customer she boons...
Ect ect ect.

We all see it daily....



It's fuuuking clown world.....

Like all the untouchables at the bottom of the Hindu caste system are suddenly valuable and have worth...





What ever happened to show up on time, like 10 or heaven fuuking forbid even 5 mins early to be on fuuuking time.

Do what your told and how your told.

Do it right the 1st time.

Show initiative and take charge of schitt to move the fuuuk up the food chain...


Totally fuuuking alien concepts now I geuss....

I went to buy a simple belt for my pony tiller last week one place wanted to know engine model #.I told them I swapped motors they were fugkin clueless.Went to another place and they used common sense and measured it ppl are fugkin lazy

There's two basic types of contractors.

Contractors that are good - These guys know what they're doing, both business wise and installation wise. Most of these guys, right now in my business, are booked out at least two or three months. During Covid, they were booked out a year. If they're booked way out, most won't ever call you back unless they know you. They feel that there's no reason to call you because they can't take the job anyway.

Contractors that suck - These guys don't know what they're doing and are generally bad businessmen. They can jump right on it because nobody will hire them because they suck. They keep busy by doing work for people that don't know any better. They won't call you back because they've got enough work for now, or they're just irresponsible.

I see so many contractors that have no idea what they're doing and fly by the seat of their pants. I can't believe that anybody hires them. They throw people prices for jobs without pricing the material first. Then when it costs 50% more than what they guessed at, they want me to drop my price. Sucks to be you. Anytime I have to hire someone to do stuff around the house, I make damn sure that they're a good reputable contractor because I come in contact with so many that suck.

Sometimes you might have to wait a little bit in order to get a good contractor.

My neighbor that is a contractor says that if the Mexicans all went back to Mexico like some folks want them to do we would be sending buses and airplanes down there begging them to come back.

I don't know about the work force in the eastern USA but from here and west we would be in trouble without them. They frame houses, roof, work cattle, clean hotels, slaughter cattle, process chickens, operate the Mexican restaurants, you name it they do the grunt work and a bunch of skilled or semi-skilled work.

Next time you hear about Mexicans taking over jobs ask that person if they want that job.

Operating akin to Russia! Name of game there is 'fug the guvment'!!

Mexicans are only working because they have to. Once they get the system figured out like the negros, deadbeats and freeloaders have the taxpayers will be supporting them also. My SIL is only 25 and is already a supervisor in underground utilities. Has a 6 figure income, really nice 4x4 company truck and CC for all expenses. All you need is to be a hard worker, keep you noise clean and stay out of trouble. The kicker is to find the right Union company to work for. And I hate Unions but companies will just take advantage of you if your not union.

That is a good reason to have unions. A union employee can be fired for not showing up or for not working.

If I don't know of them and their work personally or from someone close that knows their sh*t - I ain't using them.

If they aren't booked out at least 6-8 weeks, probably don't want to use them.

If they don't answer the phone/texts multiple days in a row, they don't want the work cause they already have enough and you're small potatoes - or you'd be hearing from them.

If you have to babysit onsite - you shouldn't be using them.