Writing by Ear

And does it read, “Contractors, ignore me!”?

Or maybe it’s more direct: “Screw these people!”?

Or maybe it’s just this:

Why is it that no one wants to work on our house? (OK, I don’t really want to work on it either, but no one has offered to pay me to.)

1. There’s the plumber who won’t call us back — week and a half. (This is plumber #2: plumber #1 came once, gave us an estimate, and never came back when we called, so we got #2 to do that work (bathroom). Now #2’s not calling back to finish the project he started a few months ago that just needs a final hook-up so we can have heat in our kitchen again.)
2. There’s the porte cochere pier/garage contractor whom we lined up in May, who started in September, who took 2 months to do a 2-week job, who repeatedly fails to show up when he says he will, and who’s left us with a pile of rubble in the driveway that I’m quite certain will stay there unless Mike calls and bitches to him. Even then, it might stay there until we haul it away.
3. There’s the landscape company who did such a beautiful job on our neighbor’s retaining wall in record time. I called them last week to give us an estimate, and they assured me they’d be out then, even earned points by calling me back when they couldn’t make it last week, and said they’d be here first thing this week. It’s now Tuesday, and I’ve not heard a word.
4. There’s the kitchen countertop installers who would have completely mismeasured had Mike not been there to guide them and who still had to come back twice when the sink countertop was wrong (and it still wasn’t quite right but we couldn’t bear it and left it be).

It’s no wonder we’ve ended up doing so much work on our own. Yes, it saves money, but most of all it’s the only way we can get anything done.

I really don’t understand it. Being in business for myself, I know what hoops I jump through for my clients. How is it that the standards essential in the corporate world go out the window in the contracting/trades world? Is it a case of demand trumping supply? Is it that even less-than-stellar people can get all the work they need? Is it that the work is just too hard and there’s more than enough easy pickins to go around?

Or do I just need to get that darn sign off my back?

One only needs two tools in life: 
WD-40 to make things go, and duct tape to make them stop. 
                                                        ~ G.M. Weilacher