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The future is now?

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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I've been wanting to get an estimate of construction costs for a large storage building for our town library.

Telephoned a general contractor in Hartford, who specializes in what I'm looking for. Get voice mail. After two days, still no call back.

Call again, go through phone menu, reach human being. "I'm so sorry - I can put you through to his voice mail, or you can email him directly."

Stupid me - I chose voice mail. Still no call back.

Try again, but this time I use the guy's email address. Immediate reply: "I'm out of the office; please contact my associate at xxxx@xxxx".

Emailed associate. Also get "I'm out of the office" reply.

Call main number again, get the same poor human, who again apologizes. She suggests I use their Contact Us webpage. I go to the webpage, fill the blanks, click the "I'm not a robot" box, enter the building details, click Submit.

Immediate result: "404 error. We're sorry, but you have reached a page you cannot reach."

Call human being again, who again apologizes. This time she transfers me to another "project consultant", who actually answers the phone! After a few minutes, says I should email details of my building idea.

Emailed details. After three days, no reply or acknowledgement, so I email consultant again. Reply: "Been really busy, sorry. What do you want to know?"

Email details again. Immediately get "I'm out of the office" reply.

This would almost be funny, except that for the most part it's happened on all five contractors I've contacted.

Other than giving up on the entire building project ... is there some magic I've overlooked? How do you guys do these things?

Thanks.
Tom M.
 
I feel your pain, Tom. I'll be kind and say that the general populace still hasn't figured out how best to use all this new technology.

I just checked Comcast's website to see what options I might have in changing TV providers. Used to have them, but switched a while back, keeping their internet service. When I went to see options, it said there were none - only options to change internet speed!

Oh, and another peeve, regarding access to businesses. Why is it that ads, either printed or online, contain no addresses; some not even phone numbers? Do they not know that failure to provide same makes one think they're not legit?

As you would say, SHEESH!
 
NutmegCT said:
I've been wanting to get an estimate of construction costs for a large storage building for our town library.

Telephoned a general contractor in Hartford, who specializes in what I'm looking for. Get voice mail. After two days, still no call back.

Call again, go through phone menu, reach human being. "I'm so sorry - I can put you through to his voice mail, or you can email him directly."

Stupid me - I chose voice mail. Still no call back.

Try again, but this time I use the guy's email address. Immediate reply: "I'm out of the office; please contact my associate at xxxx@xxxx".

Emailed associate. Also get "I'm out of the office" reply.

Call main number again, get the same poor human, who again apologizes. She suggests I use their Contact Us webpage. I go to the webpage, fill the blanks, click the "I'm not a robot" box, enter the building details, click Submit.

Immediate result: "404 error. We're sorry, but you have reached a page you cannot reach."

Call human being again, who again apologizes. This time she transfers me to another "project consultant", who actually answers the phone! After a few minutes, says I should email details of my building idea.

Emailed details. After three days, no reply or acknowledgement, so I email consultant again. Reply: "Been really busy, sorry. What do you want to know?"

Email details again. Immediately get "I'm out of the office" reply.

This would almost be funny, except that for the most part it's happened on all five contractors I've contacted.

Other than giving up on the entire building project ... is there some magic I've overlooked? How do you guys do these things?

Thanks.
Tom M.
Click to expand...

If their this reluctant to answer your calls, you don't want to deal with them. Obviously they don't want or need your business. Not professional at all, I personally do not deal with people like that.
 
I would find a contractor who is responsive (if you can), then email a very direct letter to the others who were unresponsive and let them know in no uncertain terms why they are not getting your business and why you will never recommend them to anyone.
 
Just think if you are having this much trouble getting a reply when you are trying to give them money wait till they have done a bad job and you want it fixed.

David
 
I second both Paul and Basil. That is no way to do business.
 
Thanks gents. You don't do business with someone who's "hard to get". No problem there.

More to my point, however, is how businesses seem to have embraced digital tech (websites, email, social media, etc.), but probably have no idea how much business they're losing due to (potential) customer frustration.

When I brought up the 404 error and "I'm out of the office" fiascos with one human being, she immediately tried to use those methods (webpage and phone) herself, and got the same results. All she could think of next was to tell her supervisor - but her supervisor isn't part of the company I was trying to reach. That company had contracted out customer support, and she was actually handling customer inquiries for about two dozen different "US based" building contractors.

This may be a reasonable explanation of why buildings are often built by companies owned by "a friend of a friend". Few people want to go through the nightmare of trying to get competing bids anymore.

grumble grumble
 
My experience has been that contractors with good reviews on sites like Angie's List or Yelp are good about returning calls.

And once I've found one I like, they're usually good about recommending others they've worked well with. My plumber (who only does liquid work) introduced me to my HVAC guy. My Tile gang introduced me to my glass shower enclosure guy, etc.
 
Another approach is to find someone who has a similar building, and ask them who put it up for them.

Frankly, at least in my experience, a lot of the ones you find on the Internet are fakes anyway. They'll come out and talk to you, and maybe give you a bid (I've had one flat refuse to even put a bid in writing), and then farm the job out to someone else (who probably doesn't speak English very well). They know they can't compete with someone doing the work directly, so their business model depends on finding people who don't bother shopping for competitive bids.
 
PC said:
And once I've found one I like, they're usually good about recommending others they've worked well with. My plumber (who only does liquid work) introduced me to my HVAC guy. My Tile gang introduced me to my glass shower enclosure guy, etc.
Click to expand...


This has been our best way to get anything done. "Networking". Word of mouth recommendations.
 
NutmegCT said:
Thanks gents. You don't do business with someone who's "hard to get". No problem there.

More to my point, however, is how businesses seem to have embraced digital tech (websites, email, social media, etc.), but probably have no idea how much business they're losing due to (potential) customer frustration.
Click to expand...

Not defending - because it makes me insane too.

However, this is part of a much bigger issue of which at least a couple of dimensions are,

1. A massive shortage of skilled trades during a building boom.,

2. The reality that these guys went into the biz because they were good at construction, not web design, or administration, or accounting or any of the many other skills needed.

3. It is often really difficult for these folk (or any entrepreneurs) to know when to hire because next year (or month) might be dry.

My roofer who was excellent, finally got someone this year to organize his jobs and return his calls - made all the difference in the world.

PS a number of years ago we were chatting with a real estate agent who said that every year in the USA one and a half million housing unit need to be built just to keep up with demand. The years since 2008 when everything shut down set that number waaay back.
 
JP - your three points sound very familiar. They turn up in many news reports here from time to time.

Do you find those same three problem areas spreading through Canada also?

Thanks.
Tom M.


JPSmit said:
Not defending - because it makes me insane too.

However, this is part of a much bigger issue of which at least a couple of dimensions are,

1. A massive shortage of skilled trades during a building boom.,

2. The reality that these guys went into the biz because they were good at construction, not web design, or administration, or accounting or any of the many other skills needed.

3. It is often really difficult for these folk (or any entrepreneurs) to know when to hire because next year (or month) might be dry.

My roofer who was excellent, finally got someone this year to organize his jobs and return his calls - made all the difference in the world.

PS a number of years ago we were chatting with a real estate agent who said that every year in the USA one and a half million housing unit need to be built just to keep up with demand. The years since 2008 when everything shut down set that number waaay back.
Click to expand...
 
absolutely! For a number of reasons - mostly related to a different banking/ mortgage system - we didn't have the same housing crash you all did. However the shortage of workers/ inability to get people to respond continues. Toronto and Vancouver in particular face ongoing housing (and affordable housing) shortages.
 
Just a follow up. On Monday I called and made a Tuesday appointment with a respected building contractor in Hartford. Drove in at the set time. Secretary said he'd been called out at the last minute, but she'd have him call me that afternoon. Drove back home.

In the afternoon the Great Phone Call finally occurred! But he was calling from a construction site, using his cell - and we constantly got cut off, or couldn't hear each other due to background noise. We both got frustrated as heck. So I put my shaky understanding of the conversation into an email, to make sure we understood what we'd been trying to say. Sent to the email address on the guy's business card. (How quaint - a piece of cardboard.)

You guessed it - just after sending the email, I got "550 No such user here". I immediately called the company in Hartford; human said they're working on a new email system. I asked her if the staff realize what's going on. Her reply: I can't reach the staff.

:wall:
 
J.P. I must "confess" you have hit it square on the head with #2.
 
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I must be the "odd man out" on this. From an early age I learned: "The job isn't finished until the paperwork's done." From my pseudo-drill sergeant mother ("You wait 'til the Army gets ahold of you!"), to working in retail as a teen and actually joining the military after college. Working as an independent photojournalist, an NDT nuclear grade tubing inspector, a car salesman and currently an IT consultant, the estimating/work process/billing has been a normal progression, regardless of the job. Knowledge, ability, expertise and my time are my assets. Trading them for money buys me my 'stuff'. Estimating and billing are an essential part of that process. But communicating with the clients has always been the most essential.
 
DrEntropy said:
I must be the "odd man out" on this. From an early age I learned: "The job isn't finished until the paperwork's done." From my pseudo-drill sergeant mother ("You wait 'til the Army gets ahold of you!"), to working in retail as a teen and actually joining the military after college. Working as an independent photojournalist, an NDT nuclear grade tubing inspector, a car salesman and currently an IT consultant, the estimating/work process/billing has been a normal progression, regardless of the job. Knowledge, ability, expertise and my time are my assets. Trading them for money buys me my 'stuff'. Estimating and billing are an essential part of that process. But communicating with the clients has always been the most essential.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I've been thinking I'm the odd man out too. I'm one of the Ancients, who expects businesses to act professionally to the public - not just friends of theirs who happen to be contractors themselves. Yeesh

As long as we're on the subject ... can I get an estimate from you on the construction of a 3000 square foot insulated steel building with concrete foundation?

:jester:
 
Truly wish I could, Tom.
 
Builders get a bad rap from many outside the trades, some justly deserved but much due to misunderstanding. Building is not cut and dry. Many variables are involved, both foreseen and unforeseen. Communication and understanding are terribly important aspects of the trade and it goes both ways.
I value this association of individuals, it appears that we are all "odd men out. We are fortunate, thank you Basil. Keepin it lite and non political, elrey
 
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