Contractor shortage?

[Grumpy's Gal]

Gotta be a first time client in order to be a repeat client

Agree! And also, twenty other houses on my short street. So everyone knows we had work done. Houses are all about same age and now other houses will also need work and they will ask us for the name of “ our guy.” So if you get one satisfied customer, word of mouth... you could get a lot of business.

 

[sam_gordon]

Technology strikes again. This contractor uses software that converts voicemails to emails and his email software moved my VM to spam.
Got the bid, the fans go in tomorrow. $265 per fan to pull the wire, center the fan in the ceiling, punch through the sheetroom, install the junction box and the fan. $115 to replace the existing fans and upgrade the junction boxes to beefer ones now required by code.

Wait, so it's not a "Contractor Shortage"? FAKE NEWS!

 

[tvguy]

Wait, so it's not a "Contractor Shortage"? FAKE NEWS!

Not at all. Still waiting for calls back from the other two contractors. Cliches don't become you Sam.

 

[sam_gordon]

Not at all. Still waiting for calls back from the other two contractors. Cliches don't become you Sam.

It was a joke.

 

[Poohlove]

My BIL owns a real electrical company and won't consider taking a job that small. It's not worth his time or effort to bid on those.

Some will, if they cater to all calls. Others won't.

To each their own

 

[wenrob]

I’m fortunate that my DH is kind of a jack of all trades. He’s been my extended family’s “handyman” for years. He’s taught me a thing or two so most things get done by the two of us.

Here it’s a bit harder to find someone to do a job than it used to be but you can still find people to do them in a somewhat timely manner. I did have someone no call/no show on me on Monday. I don’t get that. If you can’t do the job or don’t want to take the job why waste someone’s time by having them spend the day waiting around for you? Why not just say no?

As far a young people “not wanting to work that hard” I think that’s a situation that “we” created. They’re taking trades out of the schools and the focus in HS is degree, degree, degree. Look at the dozens of threads on kids careers and college right here on the DIS. People don’t want their kids to have to work that hard. That’s a natural instinct I think. Even my dad and my DD’s godfather (both chefs) tried to talk DD out of becoming a baker/pastry chef because they know how physically demanding it can be.

I think blue collar careers have a lot to do with demographics. It’s still somewhat sought after here because there’s no shortage of jobs. The kid running the backhoe to remove my rock looked to be 25-27. I’m fairly certain he’s making a pretty good living.

 

[MillauFr]

Sure the blue collar jobs are paying $40-50 an hour but that pales in comparison to the $100k you get right out of school working at the tech firms.

 

[wenrob]

Sure the blue collar jobs are paying $40-50 an hour but that pales in comparison to the $100k you get right out of school working at the tech firms.

That’s kind of my point though. There were some “kids don’t want to work that hard” posts as if these kids are entitled or lazy but why would they want to if they don’t have to? IMO it’s a smart decision not a lazy one. $50 an hour is a $100k a year give or take. So which would you choose for the same amount of money? There are people who are suited for blue collar life and those who are not. My DH and DD would both be miserable sitting in an office vs. busting their butts everyday. They thrive on it. The problem is that it’s not being encouraged anymore. It’s not that kids are saying “eh, I don’t want to work that hard,” it’s that we’re telling them they don’t need to or shouldn’t want to.

 

[longboard55]

If you take 10 years to learn a trade, and can convert to being a good business manager who can manage others, you can make a lot of money in construction, a lot more than 100k a year. But it takes the right person.

 

[RUDisney]

I work in IT. The hours are long and grueling. While it's not necessarily physical like construction, systems administrators, developers, systems analysts, etc. put in a boatload of time at all hours of the day and night. Some days, I wish I was working at a physical job. Just, as I'm sure that construction employees wish they had a desk job. We all want what we don't have.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

I beg to differ, my son works for a "real electrical company" and a job is a job.

I don't agree with what's "real" or not, but I encounter the "job too small" think when I wanted to put a walkway from the driveway to the porch.