Frustrating. Over the last several weeks I’ve lost the opportunity for a garage, three bathroom renovations, and a handicap ramp that was going to end up somewhere in southcentral Jersey all because the people waited until the day before they wanted it built to find someone to do it. The end of the line is a few months back but most people seem to want it now.
Not much I can do about it, I know, and I’m glad to have the ‘unfortunate’ work that is pushing new projects back, but sometimes a project crops up that I seriously want to take a crack at, but the clients can’t wait.
Aw well, such is life.
I never met a tool I didn’t like!
Replies
Whatever you do nick, don't get caught in the trap of trying to squeeze them in.
Holy moly, does that wreeeeek havoc on an already busy but ordered schedule.
It's usually the returning customer that will lure you into that void.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Whatever you do nick, don't get caught in the trap of trying to squeeze them in.
Squeeze them in, and the next guy too. Go start the job and leave it for a couple of weeks while you take care of all the other jobs you've got going.
Devote a few evenings each week for creating interesting excuses.
I see a ton of guys doing it this way and most are driving newer trucks than the one I've got.
Shhh...........you're giving away the secret to becoming a successful contractor................lol
I hear you on the appearance of more success from those that start 'em and leave 'em.
I tried to do more than I should a couple times at the insistance of the client...........(could you just get it started, we don't care how long...........you can come and go as you please...........a little at a time.........blah blah blah) until their INSISTANCE of another kind drove me up the wall. One man operation cannot do this for long. One at a time is the way I've been for a long time, no other way. Still, there's the "emergency" or the little thing for that long time customer that totally #### up the relative orderliness of my schedule. Add that to those (all of 'em) that add a couple days work to the two week job after you get there...........and the week extra on the month job and soon you are a month behind and you thought (they thought) you were on schedule.
I can get to you in about 4 months............
Cripes, didn't know they wrote it down and even x'd the calendar. " Bout ready to start on our project right?"Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
LOL. Just got off the phone with another, full blown interior remodel. Wants to start within the month. Sigh. Heavy sigh. Isn't willing to wait till Feb. and I can't push off anyone else for the length that project would take. They asked for a reference for someone else, and I said I knew no one else. Maybe they'll call back in a few months...
Maybe.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
I will give out the name and number of a fella I've worked with in the past. We co-conspired on a few projects over the years, so I know his work and responsibility enough to be able to refer w/o giving me a bad name. Sure I might lose the prospect once they use geno, but it's better to lose it to a friend than to lose it to ?
Still drains me to have to watch a prospect (especially the sweet ones) go.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
What I can't understand is the contractors who ARE able to start immediately.
Don't these HOs realize there's a reason these guys aren't busy?
Shep, being able to start now, happens on occasion, even by the best. The right size job, the time slot open, slay 'em with response time.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
But aren't those the return clients you spoke of earlier, anticipating a quick return on their new project?
You're right, every once in while I can slip in a (relatively) short project when the scheduling allows; I usually allow extra time so when the inevitable happens, the next client isn't pushed back, if possible. Sometimes, like when my son pitches in, the work is completed in close to 60% of what I had estimated doing it myself. But that happens a lot less now he is in Pa. at college.
He's coming home next week, maybe I can get him to demo a mud bed shower stall...
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Shep, having an opening in a schedule doesn't necessarily equate to bad contracting. When your running a one man show, and not using subs, it's almost impossible to create a steady calender...depending on your trade.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Blue-
You and Calvin are right about having openings. I guess I tend to over simplify sometimes.
I'm a one man show, and I sometimes just get frustrated with the lack of knowledge, courtesy, or whatever that HOs display about our work.
I try to give my customers a schedule of when I'll get to them, but, since I do mostly remodeling and repairs, I get a lot of "while you're here" work. Its nice for the checkbook, but it plays havok on a schedule.
I've had jobs where the extras took more time than the original job. And I'd rather just stay there and finish everything than keep running back and forth between jobs.
"I see a ton of guys doing it this way and most are driving newer trucks than the one I've got."
Some of those guys are way behind on the lease payments for those trucks. I'm pretty sure Kovacs is up on his payments.
"I'm pretty sure Kovacs is up on his payments."
Payments? What payments? Don't you guys pay cash for your trucks with all the down-payment money you collect on those spiked jobs?
Geez......so many secrets y'all have left to learn.....lol.
You're absolutely right, David. I learned a long time ago not to just a contractor's success by the truck he drove or the new tools he carried. I've seen more than my fair share of those trucks repo'd and tools pawned when the payments caught up to them.
Bob
"...all because the people waited until the day before they wanted it built to find someone to do it. The end of the line is a few months back but most people seem to want it now."
I suspect your thread's title was rhetorical but if I may, I'd like to take a stab at answering it from the PITA HOs perspective; i.e. we frequently want the work done ASAP because we've (finally) gotten the money arranged to support the work, and so are eager to get started, and finished.
Not having the finances ready to GO, otherwise yields "the look of disdain" (fleeting though it may be!) from construction professionals when they come out to quote or estimate a job. Y'all teach HOs not to do that; and as a result, when HOs are ready to go, we're eager to get the work started, and we're hoping you are ready and available too.
Please know that it is worth letting the customer know you are truly interested in doing the particular job if the timing changes because, in my experience, sometimes other things happen and the job actually CAN or DOES take a delay before beginning...and they'll pull out your card/quote and see if you may then be able to do it in that new timeframe.
We often use our unavailability as a qualifier for customers. If they are willing to wait for us, they usually have confidence in our abilities, are going to take our advice seriously and understand the importance of doing their homework. They also have time to get a head start on doing their homework, such as nailing down the details in their design.
Wow, such an interesting reply. Not sure I read it right?
When I have someone available to do a job, in whatever the timeframe for the job is, it is because I have established some confidence in their abilities, etc etc. And yes, I have occasionally waited on a contractor to become available and slid the desired start date because I wanted him/her to do the work and nobody else.
I am scratching my head trying to think of whether you meant to imply that you might actually BE AVAILABLE, but would say you weren't, just to "qualify" a customer?
Sure I musta misread that.Vini, Vidi, Vino! I came, I saw, I wine!
"our unavailability "
That means that they already "possess" unavailablity.
For a busy contractor, an uncommited clieant assigned a time slot is a very dangerous thing.
efore any client should ever be assigned a slot they must commit to the contract.
SamT
Ah.
Muchos grassy azz. <g>Vini, Vidi, Vino! I came, I saw, I wine!
The crazy season has started here. From now on there will be customers wanting stuff done before Xmas ( they wait all year, then need it done NOW ).
I tell them if a gap opens up...........fine. If not.......next year. If they want to wait then cool. If not, they probably wouldnt be the kind of customer I want anyway.
I have noticed the ones who want NOW, usually want CHEAP. I dont think so..........
Last year, a week out from Xmas, got a call about a big fence. A months worth at least. Needed it done right away........HAAHAAHAAHAA
Everything, 100% of it, depends on how you look at it.
DW
Another day, another phone call: Closing is on Nov. 30, the (one and only) bathroom needs to be renovated before they move in a week later, can they get an estimate. I estimate sometime in Feb. Click. Thank you very much, have a sparkling day.
All we are saying, is give me a chance... (With regards to Lenon and Yoko the yoyo)
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Edited 11/17/2004 4:24 pm ET by NickNuke'em
Nick, it sounds like your burning leads.
Do you know others, maybe of less quality that could use those leads? You could sell them....$25...50...$100.
Also, gathering the names and numbers of those leads that have called you are a great source for a direct mail ad campaign.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Hmmm, that sounds like an ethical question for another thread; selling leads you can't persue. Can't say I've even thought of selling them, and I know several good remodelers, but the kick is, they are strung out as much as I, maybe more.
But thanks anyway. I don't think I could sell a lead, though, maybe give their name, ala Calvin, but not for cash. Maybe with the hint that they could reciprocate some time.
At time this business is like the tides, ebbing and flowing. Cycles mostly unpredicable, however, spring to late fall are pretty flat out, winter mostly high and dry. Sometimes I wish I could be like the chipmunks with the cheeks bulging, storing up for the winter, lol.
One things for sure, whenever the light at the end of the work tunnel begins to loom, another train comes along and I climb aboard for another ride.
Did I get enough metaphores in there?
Just glad I can go to work tomorrow. Although that interior remodel sounded pretty sweet...
I never met a tool I didn't like!
lawyers call them "referrals"
and they don't do them for $20, $50, or even $100.
they are done on a percentage basis
I understand your resistance to the idea, I feel the same way, but then, I'm not the greatest business man in the world....
carpenter in transition
Tim, I also don't see anything wrong with selling leads. IF you spend hard cash to develope them, they are yours...and worth something.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Rather than thinking about this as selling leads, which smells bad, why not think about it as a contractor cooperative effort within your area. One of the biggest problems for most small businesses is maintaining cash flow/business given that it is almost impossible to keep your schedule full and to make money every day. Customers are fickle, but you can't have a business without them. So, by getting together with those you trust in your area not to embarrass you, you can create a referral network so that when you can't take a job, someone else can and fill in the holes in his schedule. He can do the same for you. You give each other a referral fee for the services rendered and everything evens out in the end. What it does most is help each of you to keep your time full and money flowing.
BTW, lawyers refer to other lawyers in certain areas, and don't in others. Ethically, the referral fee is limited to the amount of work provided, but this is generally ignored in areas like personal injury and medical malpractice. The biggest problem is referring to competent lawyers, as most good lawyers are concerned that the lawyer to whom they referred someone provide excellent representation, and not just be some shyster with a law degree. This is harder than you would think. The same may be true for you, as the person to whom you refer reflects back on you.
I'm sorry if you were misled. We are only immediately available if an unexpected hole opens in our schedule. We have a number of customers ready to jump into those holes for small projects. Any large project or new customer will have to wait. This has been the case for the last decade. It has a downside in that we are sometimes unable to do interesting and profitable work because of our committments. I was just pointing out a positive side to this backlog, that we can gauge a customer's interest in what we offer compared with our competition.
I'm taking close on 9 months to a year to get to the jobs I have booked, I must be doing something right 'cause the people are prepared to wait. So don't worry about, everybody would like to get the job done starting tomorrow.
I also get people who wait until the last minute. I've even had people walk in and tell me they needed me to look at their prints and tell them how much the trusses would cost while they wait.
Like SCHELLINGM said. maybe that should be something thatshould be included in the initial pre-qualifying discussions with potential customers. Right up there with the budget.