Contractors: A ZView From The Customers' Perspactive

[renosteinke]

These days, I'm more in the business of hiring contractors than actually being one. I'd like to mention a few things that I had observed, even when I first started working, that can still be a PITA.

Customers expect a lot, and their expectations can be another entire discussion. Yet, I have to ask: is it unfair to expect a contractor to show up prepared to work?

It's one thing for a contractor to use the overhead crane to move the equipment the crane services, or the forklift to move the JoBox. It's another for the contractor to expect you to supply the ladders, jackhammer, concrete saw, etc. Likewise, the crew need to have their own PPE. Nor is the customers' parts room intended to supply the contractors with every manner of bolt, anchor, etc.

My favorite (extreme) example was the 'roofer' who was dropped off by a friend, with only a nail gun. No nails, no air hose, no compressor, no hammer, no knife, and of course no ladder or harness.

I suppose the only worse example was the sprinkller contractor who arrived with everything he needed - but left with an extension cord that wasn't his and he didn't use.

I've got to tell you, we really love it when we find, after the job, where the contractor's crew stashed all their lunch wrappers, cigarette butts, and whiskey bottles.

Leaving one of your crew stranded because his personal truck broke down makes a bad impression. Argue "fault" all you want, it reflects poorly on you when the guy has to call a cab for the run to the parts store, hustle up some cash for the parts, and work in your parking lot until O-dark-thirty trying to revive Chitty-chitty-bang-bang.

I'll be the first to admit that customers have bad habits as well - the point of this thread is to give you the feedback so you can address the things you can control.

 

[cowboyjwc]

Had someone come by to repair our oven. As we were trying to explain what was wrong he kept kind of brushing us off telling us that he would check everything. They finally decided that it was just the clock controls and they would take it out and have it repaired, that was the second trip just to get the clock. Four weeks go by without an oven, and he finally comes back and puts it in and tells us that everything is good, I simply told him that we'll see and that he was welcome to come back as many times as he needed in order to repair the oven. First night we tried to use it, the oven got hot and off went the error code (which it had been doing all along).

That's when I finally get mad, tell them who I am and what I do for a living and don't treat me like an ididot. They send out the supervisor this time, the oven throws an error code, I tell him what the code means and he tell me he knows what it means, and I then remind him that his guy should have known what it meant too, since that's why he was there.

As a customer I try to remind the "experts" that if I had wanted it done half assed, I would have done it myself.

 

[charlie b]

To describe my unfortunate experience with an electrical contractor, I must first mention the plumbing contractor. They replaced my water tank and removed (at my request) a solar water heating system tank. They hauled away both old tanks and all other trash that their work had generated. Nice!

Among other tasks I asked him to perform, the electrical contractor replaced my old Zinsco panel. He, however, left the old panel in my driveway, presuming it should be my responsibility to dispose of it. What really bothered me was that before leaving the panel, he removed all the circuit breakers. I suppose he thought that he owned any parts that had cash value, and that I owned any parts that did not. Next time I need electrical work done, I will not be calling that contractor.

 

[Sierrasparky]

To describe my unfortunate experience with an electrical contractor, I must first mention the plumbing contractor. They replaced my water tank and removed (at my request) a solar water heating system tank. They hauled away both old tanks and all other trash that their work had generated. Nice!

Among other tasks I asked him to perform, the electrical contractor replaced my old Zinsco panel. He, however, left the old panel in my driveway, presuming it should be my responsibility to dispose of it. What really bothered me was that before leaving the panel, he removed all the circuit breakers. I suppose he thought that he owned any parts that had cash value, and that I owned any parts that did not. Next time I need electrical work done, I will not be calling that contractor.

The scary part is he will use those Zinsco breakers as replacements and charge the customer 60 bucks a pop for used crap!
Something I will not do! I use new replacements. I once saw a guy install a 100 amp heavily used zinsco main to backfeed a 150 amp fed main loadcenter where the main lugs burned up. He charged the customer 450.00 to do this butcher work. Never told the customer he now had only 100 amps. OOPS
The customer complained and no resolve was made. gotta love that.

 

[ptonsparky]

Told my auto repair shop the damper control for my van was not working properly. Had plenty of heat, no cooling. I did not have the time or inclination to learn the repair myself. They adjusted the freon charge. Next day. Guys I still get no cooling. Check the damper. Later I hear the such and such valve is out and we will need to order it in. OK, the valve may be out I will not argue that point but has anyone checked the damper? Uh, No.

Give you two guesses as to what the problem was.

My most often repeated offense is showing up without flashlight in hand, besides not being able to find one of the 5 pencils I left the office with.:ashamed1:

 

[petersonra]

A fair number of subs seem to feel that misc parts like nuts and bolts are not their responsibility to provide if they can scrounge them up from someone else. I really don't get that, but it is less expensive for everyone if small quantities of such things are not the subject of a last minute supply run when there is stuff on site already. But it can get ridiculous.

I don't really have an issue with concrete saws and forklifts not being in their scope. It does not seem to me that should be in their scope unless specifically contracted for. A lot of places won't allow contractors to even operate equipment of this type except in the specified work area and sometimes the route from the loading dock to the work area is not in the specified area. I have run across cases where the customer ended up towing self powered equipment from the loading dock to the work area because of such rules because the contractor was not allowed to operate them outside of the construction area and the customer's people were not trained to operate them so were not allowed to do so.

 

[wawireguy]

You get what you pay for sometimes. If you hire doosh bag electric that's who you're getting. I have ZERO sympathy for the customer or general contractor.

 

[petersonra]

I was on a job site once where one of the subcontractors had several employees who had to sleep in their cargo container out in the parking lot one night when they worked past the last bus and could not get back to their motel room because their employer was too cheap to rent them a car.

 

[renosteinke]

Petersonna, that's one dickens of a story!

Leaving his guys high and dry ... I'm glad I started this thread; it opens the door to so many aspects of management / leadership / marketing / etc.

I was recently quoted a roofing job, and THAT guy made it a point to explain how his firm had the dedicated equipment, that he had a stable crew, that they used fall-arrest gear, etc. That all his guys were factory certified, and covered by insurance. He made the point that all of this costs money, so his price was going to be more than the posers with pick-ups. He also made clear what his firm could do besides simply replacing the shingles.

We always gripe about the customer only looking to the 'bottom line,' but I think we also often fall short when it comes to getting the message across: we're not about doing just enough to get by.

I'll be first to admit that my employer commits all the worst sins of the CUSStomer. I've explained to them that this ensures poor service and high pricing. Every contractor within 200 miles is well aware of this firm's foibles. It can be frustrating, as I'm in a position to know exactly how much more this corporate ego-trip is costing them.

But, dad-gum it, if you quote a job to cut a slab and run some pipe .... come prepared with whatever you need to cut the slab! Again, it's often a matter of scale ....

Also, as a trade we often focus on rather detaild discussions as to what the "law" is. That's all fine, but don't forget that your bottom line can be directly affected by how thing LOOK to the customer. If you had the "Home Improvement" crew come by, who would you call again? Tim Taylor or Al Borlyn? (Let's leave Heidi out of this )

We have one contractor here today who, it is clear, got most of today's help from the Mission. I mean, they were surprised to find grease in the grease traps! OK, I'm sure they're well supervised .... but the marginal manner of the crew doesn't inspire confidence.

 

[petersonra]

Petersonna, that's one dickens of a story!

Leaving his guys high and dry ... I'm glad I started this thread; it opens the door to so many aspects of management / leadership / marketing / etc.

At least they had a cargo container to sleep in.

A lot of customers seem to prohibit construction workers from using their bathrooms and breakrooms. Kind of understandable, due to the mess often created by people in muddy boots, but does not endear the place to the people doing the work.

One plant I was in prohibited the construction workers from using their bathrooms but had the decency to rent a trailer with urinals and toilets with a sewer hookup and heat so the construction workers could use it without freezing or enduring the other indignities of porta-potties.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I don't mind paying for the work, but the guy in the pickup probably gave me the same sales pitch as the guy in the service truck, but guess what, the guy in the service truck better not give me the same work as I could have gotten from the guy in the pickup.

Keeping the story short, local contractor comes by my house to do some repair work after the earthquake in '94 because I was to busy to do it. I had my wife call them and they came out and didn't do even close to what needed to be done. I then called, told them who I was and they apologized and sent the guy right back out. The guy asked my wife why she hadn't told him that I was one of the local inspectors and my wife told him that that shouldn't have made a difference.

 

[Strife]

I did it a few times.
BUT
I told the customer upfront:"Look I got these used zinsco breakers. The new ones are 80+ (including my profit and warranty). I can either charge you the regular price and give you 2 years warranty, or I'll sell them to you for 25, but no warranty." And no, I'm not talking about breakers that show signs of overheating and melting.
Every time the customer chose the latter.

The scary part is he will use those Zinsco breakers as replacements and charge the customer 60 bucks a pop for used crap!
Something I will not do! I use new replacements.

 

[kwired]

I don't mind paying for the work, but the guy in the pickup probably gave me the same sales pitch as the guy in the service truck, but guess what, the guy in the service truck better not give me the same work as I could have gotten from the guy in the pickup.

Keeping the story short, local contractor comes by my house to do some repair work after the earthquake in '94 because I was to busy to do it. I had my wife call them and they came out and didn't do even close to what needed to be done. I then called, told them who I was and they apologized and sent the guy right back out. The guy asked my wife why she hadn't told him that I was one of the local inspectors and my wife told him that that shouldn't have made a difference.

Who the customer is should not make a difference. You should not have to tell them who you are, you should only have to tell them you are dissatisfied with the work they did. Nothing I hate more than people that think because of who they are they deserve something special over anyone else, even if I did do something wrong.
Some people that have a high level of education are the ones I just want to slap over and over. They are just as human as anyone else. Not going to go any further into detail on this.

I did it a few times.
BUT
I told the customer upfront:"Look I got these used zinsco breakers. The new ones are 80+ (including my profit and warranty). I can either charge you the regular price and give you 2 years warranty, or I'll sell them to you for 25, but no warranty." And no, I'm not talking about breakers that show signs of overheating and melting.
Every time the customer chose the latter.

There are a few members of this forum that will tell you how wrong that is, I don't think they have ever bought anything used their entire life.

 

[Minuteman]

I did it a few times.
BUT
I told the customer upfront:"Look I got these used zinsco breakers. The new ones are 80+ (including my profit and warranty). I can either charge you the regular price and give you 2 years warranty, or I'll sell them to you for 25, but no warranty." And no, I'm not talking about breakers that show signs of overheating and melting.
Every time the customer chose the latter.

W

 

[Minuteman]

I did it a few times.
BUT
I told the customer upfront:"Look I got these used zinsco breakers. The new ones are 80+ (including my profit and warranty). I can either charge you the regular price and give you 2 years warranty, or I'll sell them to you for 25, but no warranty." And no, I'm not talking about breakers that show signs of overheating and melting.
Every time the customer chose the latter.

Would you allow a garage to install used break pads on your wife/kid's car?

 

[satcom]

I did it a few times.
BUT
I told the customer upfront:"Look I got these used zinsco breakers. The new ones are 80+ (including my profit and warranty). I can either charge you the regular price and give you 2 years warranty, or I'll sell them to you for 25, but no warranty." And no, I'm not talking about breakers that show signs of overheating and melting.
Every time the customer chose the latter.

You must not have license laws in your state that require you to warranty the material, but why would you assume the liability of selling uses material, I bet your insurance underwriters are thrilled to have you as a policy holder

 

[kwired]

W

Would you allow a garage to install used break pads on your wife/kid's car?

Is that how you stutter on a forum?

 

[Minuteman]

Is that how you stutter on a forum?

:happyyes:

 

[Chamuit]

Is that how you stutter on a forum?

ROFLMAO. Good one!

 

[Minuteman]

Is that how you stutter on a forum?

It doesn't happen often, but I was shocked!