# Contractors need not call!



## smellslike$tome (Jan 22, 2006)

Kind of ironic to say such a thing on ContractorTalk I know but I've had it with crybaby contractors.

A guy came out about a month ago to look at installing some glass block to replace a bathroom window in my house. He didn't show or call when he was supposed to in fact it was about a week later before we heard from him. I was about to try and tackle it myself (which I did not want to do) when he just shows up unannounced one morning. So he looks at it, prices it, I say ok, and we schedule it. He's 3 days late with the install. He finally gets it in, it looks ok, I pay him without complaint.

The day before yesterday we get a call from his partner who is going to install granite counter tops for ho w/ss undermount ks and he wants us to come out after 4:00 pm the same day to install the faucet and trim out the sink. Ok, we schedule it, call him to let him know we are on the way, show up on time. When we called him to let him know we were on the way we reminded him that when we got there we would look at it, price it, and call him back to give him the price before we did anything. So I call him about 30 minutes later and get his voice mail. I ask him to call me back, 10 minutes later I decide to just go ahead and do it. He never calls me back. So I take it pretty easy on him since the sink is already mounted and the ho is providing the faucet. It broke down like this $59 service charge got me out there and looked at it. $199 to install the faucet (single hole spout spray), $369 to trim out the sink including upgraded finish for basket strainer and disposer flange (he suggested using the old ones from the old sink earlier, that should have been a huge red flag), re-install existing disposer, new waste, new trap, and $99 to replace hot side dual stop. Total was $726. So I call him this morning to find out how I get him the invoice and to make arrangements to get the check. He asks how much, I tell him, and he totally freaks out on the telephone! You would have thought I was John Dillinger himself! He procedes to tell me how outrageous that is blah, blah, blah. I ask him what he expected and he says "it's just hooking up a ks for cryin' out loud. We've been paying $250. To which I respond "well that explains why you can't get you're regular plumber to show up!" $250! Can you believe that! I don't think he even has a regular plumber. I think he's been using Joe or Jose' Handyman who he can't get to go back and fix everything when the ho complains.

So the bottom line is this, if you are any type of contractor looking for a plumbing sub in the Birmingham, Alabama area, DO NOT CALL ME! You are all alike, expecting my kids to live on fish sticks and spaghetti and every one of you that I encounter squeal like stuck pigs when I won't bend over and take it.


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## MALCO.New.York (Feb 27, 2008)

What part of "difficult by design" do you not get. You stepped in to it. Do not make the same mistake again.

By the way......Made the same mistakes years ago. I feel for you.


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## essrmo (May 2, 2007)

smellsliketrolltome.


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## SelfContract (Dec 6, 2007)

Smells-Like-Dollars, the two mistakes you made are : 

1. Perform service first before any agreement on price? (just 10 minutes after hang up?.. need $$ quick?)

2. Price/bill high on him then electric shock him first on the phone?


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## smellslike$tome (Jan 22, 2006)

essrmo said:


> smellsliketrolltome.


Thanks, but I don't need any help pricing my work. I know what it's worth for me to climb into the Isuzu every day. I have a plenty long enough history on this forum, which you are welcome to peruse in depth, to never be confused with someone who is searching for info. If I want to know something I will ask and frankly, listening to what other "plumbers" were charging or what the "going rate" was, nearly put me out of business a few years back. 

BTW that is not a mistake I will make again.


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## smellslike$tome (Jan 22, 2006)

SelfContract said:


> Smells-Like-Dollars, the two mistakes you made are :
> 
> 1. Perform service first before any agreement on price? (just 10 minutes after hang up?.. need $$ quick?)
> 
> 2. Price/bill high on him then electric shock him first on the phone?


1. Yes this was a risk I virtually never take but did in this case. It won't happen again. No I did not need money quick. It was after 4:00 pm, I had already put in a full day, there was no possibility of doing it the following day as I was fully booked. That was his scheduled time, he was told I would be calling him back in about 30 minutes, I had expected to get his authorization over the phone before I did anything, I didn't have any more time to wait and even if I had it wouldn't have mattered because he never did call me back. Had I refused to proceed, as perhaps I should have, I would have received and angry phone call from him wanting to know why I didn't do what I said I would do. I did everything I said I would do down to the smallest detail. I am a professional, he is not.

2. I really don't understand what this means? I will tell you what is shocking to me though, it's that any plumber would do this job for $250. Even in the days when I had absolutely no clue about how to run a plumbing business I would not have done this job for so little. For the time I was there, had I done this for $250, I would have lost money. No one can stay in business if they lose money.


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## SelfContract (Dec 6, 2007)

1. If you really know the guy before (like friend) or know before hand how well he reacts (to price/situation like this) then you could do like that saying *"...looks, I cant wait, very busy scheduled tomorrow and if you don't call me back in 10 min then I would go ahead do these things ok..so..etc.*"; If not, then say *"...if you don't call me back in 10 min, I just walk man sorry!" *

2. On the "*electrical shock treatment*", I was just referred from what info you post above .."...*he is just a partner of a guy you know*"...so he is stranger you don't know real well before how he reacts right??.. that what I meant by electic shock, sorry man, no pun intended.


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## Grumpyplumber (May 6, 2007)

*I only have one question:*
*Did you get paid?*


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## smellslike$tome (Jan 22, 2006)

Grumpyplumber said:


> *I only have one question:*
> *Did you get paid?*


Not yet but I'm not worried about it. He'll cry and fuss some more I'm sure and it may come to me threatening to place a lien on the ho's property but one way or another we'll get paid.


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## threaderman (Nov 15, 2007)

What did it take to do the job,less than 3 hrs? Gotta be complete idiots who pay 225.00 plus an hour or 726.00 to trim out a sink.


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## PARA1 (Jul 18, 2007)

*Smellslike$*

We've all been there. I've made that mistakr, learned from it and made it again. Yeah man SOP GC --not all of them suck:whistling.


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## Brock (Dec 16, 2007)

I've had 4 or 5 plumbers try to pul the same crap on me. I just refused an $1,800 payment to the last one when we caught him sitting in truck for two hours on my dime(among other things). He didn't know my foreman was inside the home the whole time.

The guy before him tried to pull the same "750.00 for $50.00 job" without the OK from me. I paid him, then two weeks later his truck was parked at the chiropractors office and when he came out he noticed all 4 tires had been punctured. I have no idea who would have done such a thing.

It's always the same thing qwith these scum plumbers. They do the first two jobs for fair money then as soon as they know you pay on time it's $300 per hour and 4 thousand percent markup on everything.


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## threaderman (Nov 15, 2007)

Brock said:


> I've had 4 or 5 plumbers try to pul the same crap on me. I just refused an $1,800 payment to the last one when we caught him sitting in truck for two hours on my dime(among other things). He didn't know my foreman was inside the home the whole time.
> 
> The guy before him tried to pull the same "750.00 for $50.00 job" without the OK from me. I paid him, then two weeks later his truck was parked at the chiropractors office and when he came out he noticed all 4 tires had been punctured. I have no idea who would have done such a thing.
> 
> It's always the same thing qwith these scum plumbers. They do the first two jobs for fair money then as soon as they know you pay on time it's $300 per hour and 4 thousand percent markup on everything.


 Well,I don't want you to get me wrong.There is nothing wrong with flat-rating if people are willing to pay it,so I am not condeming smells.I was merely thinking out loud,but I am always a little louder in the A.M.


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## skyhook (Mar 17, 2007)

Mr. plumber came to me and said he was ready for a 6k draw because 2 houses passed rough. I gave him a check and he filed BK the same day. 
It's not always the GC who does the screwing.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Wow I must be a jack ass, because I would never award a job to somebody that:



smellslike$tome said:


> A guy came out about a month ago to look at installing some glass block to replace a bathroom window in my house. *He didn't show or call when he was supposed to* in fact *it was about a week later before we heard from him.* I was about to try and tackle it myself (which I did not want to do) when *he just shows up unannounced one morning.* So he looks at it, prices it, I say ok, and we schedule it. He's 3 days late with the install. He finally gets it in, it looks ok, I pay him without complaint..


In fact I would probably torture the guy when he had the unimaginable moronic balls of showing up a week later, unannounced even, to be allowed to still pursue the estimate, let alone the job. There would probably be a lot of " Are you F'n kidding me?" "How long have you been in business?" "Are you drunk or what?" and more along those lines before he got the door slammed in his face.



smellslike$tome said:


> Ok, we schedule it, call him to let him know we are on the way, show up on time. When we called him to let him know we were on the way we reminded him that when we got there we would look at it, price it, and call him back to give him the price before we did anything. So I call him about 30 minutes later and get his voice mail. I ask him to call me back, *10 minutes later I decide to just go ahead and do it*. He never calls me back. ...I call him this morning to find out how I get him the invoice and to make arrangements to get the check. He asks how much, I tell him, and he totally freaks out on the telephone!


That's a roll of the dice everytime you do that. It should be no shock if you get that reaction. Customer's can't read our minds, that's why we tell them the price up front and get their agreement.


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## essrmo (May 2, 2007)

skyhook said:


> Mr. plumber came to me and said he was ready for a 6k draw because 2 houses passed rough. I gave him a check and he filed BK the same day.
> It's not always the GC who does the screwing.


:furious: without builders i'd be nowhere. :furious:


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## Song Dog (Feb 3, 2006)

Smells, Been there. I don't do work for GC's hardly. They are out to make $, and the way to do that is to get cheap subs. Unless there is another way, don't know. I have a few I do work for but they know my work, product used (not all plumbing parts are equal), and I guarantee it. They know I am more that the average T&M plumber but the ones around here are usually high, smell, hungover and have to go back and fix the things they screwed up. Its sad in a way.
This kinda happened a few months ago, almost the same thing. They expect you to drop what you are doing, cuz they only exist. I show up and they are not there, and I wait. Call and call, nothing. I leave and send him a Svc fee. So I don't really juggle my customers for them, cuz my customers (ho's) are the most important to my business.
There are great GCs around and I have a few here that I will bend over backwards for, cuz they would do it for me. Sometimes its a nuisance but I get paid back:thumbsup:.
I know it gets your gord, but I would be upset to. 

In Christ,

Song Dog


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## silvertree (Jul 22, 2007)

Well, I get along great with the subs, I don't expect them to work for nothing.
If my plumber charged $250 an hour though, I would have to find another plumber. I get bids for most jobs and that seems to work for all of us. 
Bad GC's are around, but there are more good ones than bad so hearing most GC's are bad and clueless is news to me. Thanks for the education, I'll tell people I'm a plumber from now on and finally get some respect.


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## essrmo (May 2, 2007)

:clap: :clap::clap:


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## Song Dog (Feb 3, 2006)

silvertree said:


> Well, I get along great with the subs, I don't expect them to work for nothing.
> If my plumber charged $250 an hour though, I would have to find another plumber. I get bids for most jobs and that seems to work for all of us.
> Bad GC's are around, but there are more good ones than bad so hearing most GC's are bad and clueless is news to me. Thanks for the education, I'll tell people I'm a plumber from now on and finally get some respect.


Yep, There is good GC's and bad GC's as there is good Plumbers and bad Plumbers. When a Gc finds a plumber or a plumber finds a Gc with good ethics, morals, professionalism, and credibility. Hang to those:thumbsup: Its mixed nomatter where you go. 

In Christ,

Song Dog


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