I've been playing a sort of tag with the person I had wanted to use for my deck project, and I think I'm going to look for someone else - it's just not working out. He is a friend of a friend, and supposedly does good work, blah, blah, but he's made it so hard to get to see said work, I'm done.
We've communicated largely by email, with week-long pauses between emails, and me finally asking (via email) if he was still interested in the project. The answer was yes, come by and see the project he was working on to get an idea of the quality of his work. All well and good. I email him several days ago, saying that Wednesday (today) would be good, and that I'd call him to confirm.
So I call today, and he's got the gall to say I could come by, but he wouldn't be there because the floors are being installed. And I sputter just a little and say the point is for him to show me his work, and maybe next week would work? OK, next week.
I thought about this a little, and it's just too much damn work. It feels like I'm pursuing a relationship with someone who's not interested, as opposed to someone I'd like to pay a few thousand dollars to do some work for me. No thanks, there must be some decent workers around who can do this relatively simple project. Back to square one on this.
I know how you feel. I've had someone over - twice - to give me a quote on 100 amp electrical service and hooking the generator up. He's friendly enough, but I've gotten no quotes. The problem is that the good people are the busy ones. They don't often realize that managing where their next job is coming from is as important, if not more so.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys have Angie's List in Fort Collins? We pretty much use them exclusively, as experiences like the ones you've had get reported quickly to the website.
ReplyDeleteBTY,I've got Franny at work with me today. She went to service (resident's care home) and the kids have been fawning over her like crazy. She's in doggie heaven.
Spring break on Friday. Will meet up w/John. xoo Mary
Ya know, the situation you have just described is all too frequent a happening these days. I don't care whether the person is too busy or if he is "good," he doesn't care enough about getting your business . . . nor does he deserve it. You are right to go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I personally feel that when someone neglects simple responsibility BEFORE the actual job, I'm suspicious as to what he will neglect while DOING the job.
Yeah, our foreman took off Friday as his roof was leaking BIG TIME and the guy was supposed to be there first thing in the a.m. to look it over and give him a quote. No Show..Later in the afternoon he called his nephew to ask something else and asked him the name of the guy he sometimes does backhoe work for. The nephew says I'll call him. 15 minutes later, the guy calls- says he'd stop on his way by, but he doesn't have a ladder on his truck, so he could stop later or 1st thing in the morning. Buz says there's a ladder up to the roof right now. The guy's there within 1/2 hour, inspects the job, quotes it. Says he will talk to the other job he hasn't ripped out yet, since this roof is leaking bad. The shingles arrived yesterday and they'd be there at 7:30 this morning to start. 3-4 days and it'll be done. Just like the old days.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the good ones seem to stay busy, and that this goofy lack of contact stuff says something about the worker.
ReplyDeleteI'll see about using Angie's List, which I am more than happy to pay for if it covers my area. I remember looking into it a few years ago and they covered Denver, but not Fort Collins.
Mary - I'll be Franny was soaking up all that kid love - how sweet. If you got the DNA stuff back - start that betting pool! For the rest of you, Franny's picture is up as one of the followers of my blog (under my brother's name).
Thanks for your thoughts, all.
I've noticed that the whole "friend of a friend" person generally ends up being totally unreliable. What a bummer, not to mention a huge waste of time.
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