“I’m the Bad Contractor”
No service provider comes out and says, “I’m the bad one!”
No service provider says, "I'm the bad one!" When getting a quote, many contractors claim, "I’d never do what that guy did," yet find other ways to cut corners. Accountability is often missing. Good companies who figure it out sometimes lose the magic when they scale, while others stay consistently excellent but cost more. Profit isn’t a bad word; it funds quality work and rectifying mistakes.
Then there’s the other ones. They will get away with what they can. They will accept a substandard result that’s not easy to spot. They will leave a job site just unclean enough that you end up cleaning it yourself. They’ll take a deposit and start the work, then disappear as they take the next project deposit. If you’ve owned a home or business long enough, you’ve seen plenty.
Yet still…as consumers, we need to give them the benefit of the doubt; give an honest and polite report on mistakes made, document with photos, and give them a chance to fix it. There is no easy job on the planet, and many times they are training new folks into their company. We are all a part of that system whether we like it or not. Photo document, put it in writing, and stay polite and to the point. As an aside, many court cases involving poor workmanship or incomplete projects get thrown out because the customer didn’t give the contractor a fair chance to fix it (documented and in writing)
I genuinely believe that most of the folks doing a poor job do so unintentionally (at first). But when they get away with it, that’s where the problem spirals. It becomes OK to miss things, and they start telling other new contractors in their industry what the standard is. Then the bar lowers, and more inexperienced folks get into the trade. Their prices lower, because that’s the only way they can get work. Once it’s saturated with mediocrity, then we have a mediocre bar with a few great providers. Customers look at the prices of those great providers and say, “I can’t pay that, look at this guy’s price…” So a great provider’s margins shrink or disappear altogether.
You vote with your dollars. When you vote poorly, you fund the problem.
So how do we protect ourselves? How do we ensure that we found ‘the right one?’
Relationships are the key.
A brief anecdote…
I was at a networking event and I met with a roofing company. As a mold/air quality guy with experience in the energy efficiency world, I know a lot of roofers. I handed him my card, and I told him how I’d like my referrals to be handled. I set my expectations…
“If I send my people to you, this is how I INSIST they will be handled.”
I described to the owner and 2 of his salespeople…If I give you a customer, I want you to propose a true solution. Not a bandaid. Not a substandard cut-down price with crap materials so that you can compete with the garbage competition in your industry. I want the real project, done really well. That doesn’t mean you get to price gouge or offer some Rolls Royce solution that nobody needs. But it does mean you can charge the real price for a really, really great product with really, really great service and really, really, REALLY happy customers that give you more referrals in the future!
He appreciated this clarity, and had a chuckle at my insistent and direct candor (he seemed a little annoyed). But I continued because I’ve sent plenty of referrals out over the years.
“If this customer…my customer…balks at the price, you need to make me the bad guy and tell them, “If I pitch a poor project to Mike’s people, he will read me the riot act…that guy will GIVE ME HELL. He doesn’t want complaints and he doesn’t want to see it redone. He sends them to me because he trusts me to do the right thing. I am Mike’s “Right Thing Guy” in this industry.”
This is the nature of true businesspersonship (not a word). You as a consumer build relationships, have some failure, and come to trust one or two providers. They tell you who else you can trust. If my people drop the ball, I am going to call my people! If they tell me that you negotiated down a number for sub-standard material or a rush job, or skipped a step to save money, then I’ll come back to you and be real with you. You chose cost! You didn’t choose quality, reputation, and professionalism. You made my guy cut down to compete with a bunch of delinquents that can’t hold a candle to him, but my guy still has to eat. I will still give my guy hell, but I will still forward business to him and send my customers this article.
I am always looking for great people to do business with. I am always doing my best to advocate for them, and to do my best for them in return.
Let’s spend our money with great people!! When great people have the money, they train and lead others to be like them. When we shove our money into the pockets of the lowest bidder knowingly, and then they bring a team of AC/DC t-shirt wearing folks who were making lattes at Starbucks 2 days ago, that’s what we get. It’s on us.
Thanks for reading. Wishing all the best.
Sincerely,
Michael P. Baker
