Contractors - failure to respond!

[Account Closed]

I own a house in Easton Maryland, the tenant is moving after 12 years, I need to ready the house to sell - notified several home improvement contractors - 5 days ago - and have yet to hear from them. I'd like to start the clean up and get that house on the market. Any ideas why they seem to be so independent? My money is good and we pay on time!

[Anthony McEvoy]

@Account Closed - I know your pain.  I did two things when I had the same struggle.  I physically went to their office to try and catch them - I had luck catching one of the guys and his schedule was way out there for my timeline.  The second thing I did was go through someone else that had a relationship - in this case, it was a property manager.  I paid a little extra but it got done in a timely manner - time is money... right?

One time I paid a couple hundred dollars more than other bids to a roofing contractor for calling me back the same day.  A little nervous about desperation and needing work but they had an overall 4.9 star review on Google.  Two other bids came in after I signed up for their services.

I have always thought about starting a communication service for contractors...

Best of luck and let me know how you end up getting in contact with them!

[Don Spafford]

@Account Closed I'm having the same problem in Eastern Idaho, even before the current pandemic exploded. The last few weeks I've called a few places for a moderate rehab job, mainly just a basement to finish, even called businesses that specialize in finishing basements. Could not get through to any and none returned my calls. I finally called one of my wife's clients (she's a Realtor) that does flips and he will likely be doing the job for me now. Which is a win-win since giving him the cash he will use it to do another deal through my wife so it is like getting a second return on that investment besides the flip itself. And I've seen his work so I know the quality I will get. But yeah, I assume most of the contractors have been busy with new construction that they don't want to take on smaller jobs. Their loss I guess and they'll suffer for it when the new builds dry up soon.

[Jennifer OBrien]

I'm a Realtor and investor in Moscow, ID and we have the same issue with smaller jobs. Some of our most reliable contractors now charge to do estimates because they are so busy. In my humble opinion, there are not enough young people entering the trades. I wish we had a vo-tech school up here...it would make a big difference in the long run. In the meantime,  my kids (who are both contractors) are about to be making more money than me soon!

[Account Closed]

It's always hard to find good contractors. I've started tapping into my network more often and asking for more referrals. Yelp reviews just don't do it anymore.