Contractors & Communication

[Brad P.]

Being relatively new to the game (working on our second flip), we do not have a big list of contractor connections yet. So we've been using google, references, craigslist, etc to find potential contractors (plumbing, electrical, gutters, chimney, etc). We've found 2 common themes:

1. They don't call back.
2. They don't provide a bid when they tell you they will, if at all.

Here is a rough breakdown of how our search has gone:
-Called approx. 12 contractors
-3 answered their phone
-Another 4 called back
-7 walkthroughs
-All 7 saying they would get us a bid within the week
-3 actually did

These aren't big jobs but we try to explain what we are doing and that we are looking at future works as well.

Is this normal?

It seems that 1) you answer your phone and 2) you deliver on your promises, you would be on your way to being a successful contractor.

[J Scott]

This is pretty typical. The goal is to find one or two great contractors, and then start asking THEM for referrals -- great contractors know other great contractors and wouldn't risk their reputation by providing bad references.