Home Improvement Contractor - Licensed Contractors

Why do home contractor over-extend themselves accepting new jobs?

I had a contractor once that was always putting off doing the work because he "had to go look at another job." This happened about 10 times. Why do they spend so much time looking for other jobs when they should be doing the ones for which they are hired? I finally got fed up and told him to forget it. He responded that I had no idea how the contracting business worked. So, how does it work?

Public Comments

1. One word: Greed.
2. The contractors need to plan their work schedules. The homeowners want the estimator now, and for a small shop that is also the boss. In a booming economy, every one is working, in a depression like now, everyone is after the next job.
3. a contractor will take on extra work to maximise his profit margin. it is difficult to price a job without assessing the job propably.he is covering his shortfalls on costing a job ,somebody has to pay.my advice set time limits for start and finnish times.
4. they do it because they can. If you get the contract fixed priced and write in a clause for a time frame for completion and a fine for every day the contractor goes over you end up with an honest contractor. Just keep an eye on quality so there aren't any short cuts
5. Well both of you are right. He has to keep a load of work in front of him for various reasons. He has to work and do some jobs when the weather will allow it IE no rain for repair of a roof. Above 50' for concreet... And for the customer that cant let him in to do the work cause the cat might get out. Then there is his hired help, sometimes its the crews expierance and expertise - ok in one area but not others, and neither the contractor or you want substandard work. Also there is scheduling other trades for some jobs like HVAC for duct removal or extending, electrician for adding or removing circuts, or plumbing for adding on baths or water closets. Some times these folks hold up a job and they have the licenses and know the codes to make your project safe and opperate in the future for several years. Now If you lok at the job and dont see any of these reasons on your project then the contractor should be up font with you and tell you his hold up is ... This is how I as a HVAC contractor would handel it. Ive had folks get testy with me for being 2 weeks out and call every day thinking I might rin someone ahead of them. I want my work to be like it was going in my moms home or mine. If I cant do it this way then the customer needs to fire me and get some one that will do it their way and forget about the way I feel about my work. Not every contractor works this way but it works best for my sleep at night. If you think about it just ask what the hold up is. He'll probably tell you what hes trying to do where he's at and that the first steps to be taked on your project will be this or that. And remember this most all the projects cant allow for everythjing to be figured cause 1 you cant see them all, 2 the way it was done before has changed 3 the way it was done before was the wrong way altogether, 4 people are human and make mistakes. Most people want to help out those who are with them. Get him to "feel like you understand" and it will go a long way to getting started then completed. It never hurst to ask for a start date and a finish date but remember its just a guess because of the above reasons.
6. I owned a painting contracting business for many years as well as having spent many years working for other contractors. There are several things I can tell you about contractors in general: 1) much work is seasonal, meaning that business is really slow part of the year. As for jobs like painting it is hard to have enough to do to keep working in the winter so in the summer it is necessary to get as many jobs as possible. 2) Contractors may, depending on the business, lay off workers during slow times of the year. Then when they get busy they may not be able to hire the old employees back because the employees have already found a job. 3) Some contractors will bid to low and then look for other jobs so that they will not have to do the low bid job. There are many other issues that may be involved in your case. Best advice I can give is this: There are a lot of scam artist out there to avoid them do this. 1) Never hire any contractor that contacts you unless you ask them to contact you. 2) Never hire someone that has sent you a flyer. They are a big risk. 3) Always check out the references of anyone that you may hire to do a job for you. Ne references, no job. 4) Be sure that the contractor is liscensed and insured before hiring them. 5) Be wary of anyone that ask for all or most of the money up front. Check you local laws. Many states have laws that prevent contractor from accepting more than a certain percentage before the job is started. When in doubt check you local laws.