If I want a small job done I create a leaflet in Word and copy off 30 copies and post them through my neighbours letter boxes asking for recommendations
I tend to get some new friends and usually a Good Job.
Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
My problem is the trusted people have all retired! Some have passed the business to their children but that didn't last too long as they married and moved away. Brilliant decorator is the last one standing but he is 72 so not expecting he will want to come back in ?years to redo the stairwell
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
There's a nationwide (for all I know, global) website for local networking, called NextDoor, where you can make or request recommendations for tradesmen, shops or anything else. Also to advertise community events, offer things for sale, ask people to look out for your lost wristwatch or dog, anything really that is, or might be, of interest to people in your neighbourhood.
A lot of tradespeople become switched off to customers due to the insane amount of time wasters out there. We get booked up for months, referrals and friends of customers.
So where's the motivation to keep people happy when your radar tells you they are likely to be a pain?
Clock-watchers, those with predetermined ideas of what you should be charging per hour who try to work it out on fixed price work, people who can't/won't use email or digital payments, the ones who say "I'm getting a few quotes", the ones who change what they've asked for, or complain about the previous 3 contractors they've had oit (who is the real problem there?)...
I'm not siding with people who break promises or fail to deliver, but giving some ideas why it can be so hard to get someone who takes new leads seriously.
Every single decent gardener I know around here is full and closed to new business.
I just want people to have the courtesy to at least return a call or email even if it is just to say they are too busy to take the job. Nobody can know if you are a time-waster if there is no contact in the first place! Another of the builders came to see me today ( ) so with the one that comes tomorrow I will have to choose between the two! It's all or nothing!!!
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
Try email, personally I sit at night to do admin, when it's too late to call people back. I genuinely find it hard to take 2 minutes to call back each of the 5-6 calls a day I get.
Try email, personally I sit at night to do admin, when it's too late to call people back. I genuinely find it hard to take 2 minutes to call back each of the 5-6 calls a day I get.
Tried emails,still no joy! I had 10 builders to try,all emailed and phoned leaving messages. One actually phoned back within the hour and the other was one I saw in person as they were working next door. Not one has answered an email
“Every day is ordinary, until it isn't.” - Bernard Cornwell-Death of Kings
@madpenguin - I feel your pain. A good business should reply, even if it's to tell you they can't fulfill a job, or it'll be x amount of weeks etc. The one that didn't reply to me was one that had contacted me in the first place. Makes no sense to me. The ones who did my extension were very efficient, and although there was a few things I wasn't happy with, there was more than enough that I was happy with.
I'm well used to builders and workmen, having had work done in every house I've had, and a husband who was 'in the trade', but nowadays, there's no excuse not to reply to people's enquiries when email is so easy, and much better than phoning, as @glasgowdan says.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I find it really difficult to get anyone to come because I live all of 25km from them, or because I need a small job done and they are too busy with the big ones. I dread it when something goes wrong that I cannot fix because trying to get a builder or contractor is a nightmare.
I have one contractor that I have to go to his office in person and use all my charms of flattery and persuasion on him - I practically have to grovel. They never answer emails or return calls. I am very clear about what I need done, flexible about dates, never change my mind and never quibble over bills unless someone is outrageously trying to rip me off. In fact, I usually end up chasing the contractor for invoices and pay by bank transfer immediately. I hope that by being a good client they will deign to do work for me, but it doesn’t always work.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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I tend to get some new friends and usually a Good Job.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
So where's the motivation to keep people happy when your radar tells you they are likely to be a pain?
Clock-watchers, those with predetermined ideas of what you should be charging per hour who try to work it out on fixed price work, people who can't/won't use email or digital payments, the ones who say "I'm getting a few quotes", the ones who change what they've asked for, or complain about the previous 3 contractors they've had oit (who is the real problem there?)...
I'm not siding with people who break promises or fail to deliver, but giving some ideas why it can be so hard to get someone who takes new leads seriously.
Every single decent gardener I know around here is full and closed to new business.
Nobody can know if you are a time-waster if there is no contact in the first place!
Another of the builders came to see me today (
It's all or nothing!!!
I had 10 builders to try,all emailed and phoned leaving messages.
One actually phoned back within the hour and the other was one I saw in person as they were working next door.
Not one has answered an email
The ones who did my extension were very efficient, and although there was a few things I wasn't happy with, there was more than enough that I was happy with.
I'm well used to builders and workmen, having had work done in every house I've had, and a husband who was 'in the trade', but nowadays, there's no excuse not to reply to people's enquiries when email is so easy, and much better than phoning, as @glasgowdan says.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have one contractor that I have to go to his office in person and use all my charms of flattery and persuasion on him - I practically have to grovel. They never answer emails or return calls. I am very clear about what I need done, flexible about dates, never change my mind and never quibble over bills unless someone is outrageously trying to rip me off. In fact, I usually end up chasing the contractor for invoices and pay by bank transfer immediately. I hope that by being a good client they will deign to do work for me, but it doesn’t always work.