Contractors.

[Jackalope]

I've heard Beener and hicks say it before. If you own a business and return calls, show up and do what you say then you'll have a leg up on 95% of your competition.

I called three roofing companies this morning at 9:30 and not a one answered the phone. Left the all voicemails. Not a single return call.

I also called 5 concrete contractors. Every one of them went to voicemail. One had a $3,000 minimum. Wtf. One was only quoting government, commercial, and large residential like full driveways and slabs. Both said so right in their message. The other three have not called back as of 5:15.

For fucks sake who would have ever thought it so hard to give someone work.

 

[Dustinb80]

The Fuck

 

["J"]

They all want too be able too retire off of one job....
That’s the tip of the iceberg when it comes too contractors on average...

 

[Floki]

Well shit where ya live? You want a roof I’m your huckleberry.. Depending on location.

 

[cspot]

If looking for concrete contractors call some of the redi-mix suppliers in your area and ask them who they recommend. They will usually give you some good people. They know who pays their bills and does a good job. Plus they know that they will be the ones selling them concrete so it is in their best interest to do so.

Alot of the larger contractors that do commercial, government, and other large projects simply don't waste their time with small concrete work. It takes alot of time to mess with it and they know that they won't be competitive because of their overhead and insurance rates. Pretty hard to compete against a small business where the guy who doing the estimate is also the guy running the backhoe, who is also the guy pouring the concrete.

 

[Floki]

If looking for concrete contractors call some of the redi-mix suppliers in your area and ask them who they recommend. They will usually give you some good people. They know who pays their bills and does a good job. Plus they know that they will be the ones selling them concrete so it is in their best interest to do so.

Alot of the larger contractors that do commercial, government, and other large projects simply don't waste their time with small concrete work. It takes alot of time to mess with it and they know that they won't be competitive because of their overhead and insurance rates. Pretty hard to compete against a small business where the guy who doing the estimate is also the guy running the backhoe, who is also the guy pouring the concrete.

As you said if the contractor is doing commercial or government work.Your never going to be called back. If somone does answer the phone, you will be immediately told they don’t do residential work. It’s a waste of their time.To be absolutely honest.

 

[jagermeister]

I think it's a result of there being a limited supply of contractors available. Guys are busy. And when you're busy, you can afford to be picky about taking jobs. I do it all the time with my business. Granted, I at least call people back 90% of the time... But it does sometimes take me a couple days to respond. And now and then I simply don't call back. It is what it is. Frustrating from the customers perspective for sure.

 

[Jamie]

that's a terrible way to run a business, Joe. many of those guys that are too busy to return a phone call don't stay in business very long.

every tradesman I know is busier than they've been in 15 years. every contractor that is worth a fuck has as much work or more than they can do, myself included, and we are all cherry picking now. still, it is my personal rule that I return every phone call, email or text message I get that is a request for a quote or work related within 24 hours. no exceptions. I turned away three people today who want exterior painting done this fall and I'm fully booked. I always offer to inspect the work and to give them a price anyway. I'll need some work to do next spring, and some of them can and do wait. some don't, but people always appreciate the honesty.

if you are wanting work for you residence I'd suggest joining Angie's List (it's free) and look for contractors there. you can punish them if they don't return your call.

 

[Jackalope]

that's a terrible way to run a business, Joe. many of those guys that are too busy to return a phone call don't stay in business very long.

every tradesman I know is busier than they've been in 15 years. every contractor that is worth a fuck has as much work or more than they can do, myself included, and we are all cherry picking now. still, it is my personal rule that I return every phone call, email or text message I get that is a request for a quote or work related within 24 hours. no exceptions. I turned away three people today who want exterior painting done this fall and I'm fully booked. I always offer to inspect the work and to give them a price anyway. I'll need some work to do next spring, and some of them can and do wait. some don't, but people always appreciate the honesty.

if you are wanting work for you residence I'd suggest joining Angie's List (it's free) and look for contractors there. you can punish them if they don't return your call.

It's a great philosophy and business practice to have buddy. Not returning phone calls is the easiest way to earn bad word of mouth referrals. Anyone I meet that needs roof or concrete work I may not be able to tell them who to call, but I can damn sure tell them who NOT to call.

Like you said people are busy and obviously not hurting for jobs so to them crappy business practices don't really impact their bottom line. What I see is easy money left on the table. Money that's right there for the earning. I understand some are content and don't want to grow their business further but they must also realize the economic sun doesn't shine forever. We could very easily end up back in a 2010 market where they're driving around looking at roofs and knocking on doors trying to scrap a job together.

 

[Floki]

My house that I built.. From the Ground up here is the blue print for the roof...

 

[Jackalope]

Well shit where ya live? You want a roof I’m your huckleberry.. Depending on location.

Flashinhs on roof penetrations. Naildown / reseal or replace. And repair / replace two rubber weather boots. I would do it myself but it real estate sale post inspection repairs.

Not that I told them that and I pulled the sale pending realtor sign until I have quotes.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I wish I knew a trade because I know business and I know I could make damn good money leveraging my business IQ with an in-demand trade. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about how I can build a contracting business by "managing" subs. Just had this talk with my dad tonight actually. I wish I could go back 20 years and talk some sense and direction into 16-year old me.

 

[cspot]

that's a terrible way to run a business, Joe. many of those guys that are too busy to return a phone call don't stay in business very long.

every tradesman I know is busier than they've been in 15 years. every contractor that is worth a fuck has as much work or more than they can do, myself included, and we are all cherry picking now. still, it is my personal rule that I return every phone call, email or text message I get that is a request for a quote or work related within 24 hours. no exceptions. I turned away three people today who want exterior painting done this fall and I'm fully booked. I always offer to inspect the work and to give them a price anyway. I'll need some work to do next spring, and some of them can and do wait. some don't, but people always appreciate the honesty.

if you are wanting work for you residence I'd suggest joining Angie's List (it's free) and look for contractors there. you can punish them if they don't return your call.

I agree. Every phone call should be returned.

 

[giles]

I wish I knew a trade because I know business and I know I could make damn good money leveraging my business IQ with an in-demand trade. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about how I can build a contracting business by "managing" subs. Just had this talk with my dad tonight actually. I wish I could go back 20 years and talk some sense and direction into 16-year old me.

Don’t let it slow you down. If you want to do that, do it! You have plenty of life left to make a career jump to something you’d enjoy.

 

[Jackalope]

I wish I knew a trade because I know business and I know I could make damn good money leveraging my business IQ with an in-demand trade. I spend a fair amount of time thinking about how I can build a contracting business by "managing" subs. Just had this talk with my dad tonight actually. I wish I could go back 20 years and talk some sense and direction into 16-year old me.

Its in my plans also buddy. If you can serve a market that has a problem, and then solve that problem, you're guaranteed. From what I've seen the problem is not getting business but rather servicing demand to scale. I told Jessica tonight that we could start an LLC tomorrow and with her actually answering phones we'd have more work than we could handle in short order.

One business that I've seen be successful time and time again is vehicle mechanics. My FIL is proof of this. He has a shop with a lift and paint booth from where he was doing full chevelle builds. Now that he's only doing frames he doesn't need the space so he has a body guy, part time welder, and a mechanic. He has more work than he can shake a stick at and doesn't lift a finger in the shop except to point at shit.

 

[hickslawns]

I do my best to return every call. Even the one time mowing job 30min away gets a return call politely declining the work with an explanation why.

Employees is the biggest hurdle for every business owner I talk to right now. There aren't enough of them. I was turning down high school kids this summer but needed drivers of our equipment. Need to be 21 with clean driving record. Hired 3 this summer. Not a single one showed up on their first day. I can find bodies to fill a void. Can't find quality employees. When the local labor union has "Accepting applications" on their sign all summer. . . And has never advertised for workers? Yep. Even the trash employees are getting hours.

 

[Jamie]

I do my best to return every call. Even the one time mowing job 30min away gets a return call politely declining the work with an explanation why.

Employees is the biggest hurdle for every business owner I talk to right now. There aren't enough of them. I was turning down high school kids this summer but needed drivers of our equipment. Need to be 21 with clean driving record. Hired 3 this summer. Not a single one showed up on their first day. I can find bodies to fill a void. Can't find quality employees. When the local labor union has "Accepting applications" on their sign all summer. . . And has never advertised for workers? Yep. Even the trash employees are getting hours.

my company has been in business for 30 years this year. It's been a big company with numerous employees and vehicles doing big commercial work. I've had a business partner. I've been a one man show and everything in between. I've always had plenty of work except for the first few Obama years. watched half of my competitors vanish during that time. The biggest hurdle I've had to overcome as a business owner/tradesman is finding help. I'd be thrilled to take on an apprentice. to find a young person with manual skills and is motivated to learn and grow. I'm pretty well convinced that young person does not exist. this country is going have an enormous shortage of skilled tradesman in another 20 years. the best money I've made was when I had two good painters working for me. I went through 5 guys in 6 weeks this spring and said fuck it. I just don't need that aggravation. been working alone ever since. I don't need to make money like I used to, and in truth, I don't make much less working by myself, I don't have to worry about keeping somebody else busy or if they will be late or not show every day. It's pretty comfortable now, but there are some jobs that you just cannot do alone. I won't be doing those any more. I never set out to be a captain of industry, anyway. I like being able to earn a living in 8 months and go hunting for the other 4 and not think twice about it. that is more important to me than the money, but the money has always been adequate.

 

[bowhunter1023]

My current job is trying to solve our workforce issue. From laborers to CEOs, there's a shortage of good people. I'm yet to meet a business that doesn't have personnel issues.

 

["J"]

One of the first things I’d require as an employer, no cell phones in the workplace. Leave em in the car.

All social media would be blocked from company computers. As well as a lot of other websites.....

Seems too be the major of the problems theses days.

Pretty bad when companies offer bonuses for showing up too work on time.... SMDH...

 

[giles]

Employees ruin everything...