Shiloh

I am many posts behind. We have had much activity. But I have been wanting to write this particular one for a while.

It continually amazes me when dealing with small businesses how unprofessional they can  be. I have been in touch with many of them over the last two months. Often they don’t answer the phone, don’t return phone calls, say they are going to bid on something and then don’t or tell me something will be done by a certain time and then don’t get it finished.

On the other hand, I have had some great experiences. I needed an interior blueprint done and called a local architect about 7:00 pm on a Friday night. He called back at 8:30 pm and talked about it. The next day we met and went over what we needed and he had the plans drafted by Tuesday. Was it necessary? No, I didn’t expect to meet with him before Monday. It was reasonable to have a few days .. maybe Thursday or Friday before it was done. Was it a great experience? Absolutely. Will I go back to him again? Yes.

As an example of a bad experience, last week I was securing bids on electrical work. We need temporary power and will need the house roughed in when the roof and interior framing is up. Well, I called or emailed six places. I received replies from three. One returned a bid in three days that was crazy high. One (the winner) returned a reasonable bid in two days. Another promised a bid on Friday of last week when I called on Thursday morning. On Monday afternoon I called again. Oh, we will have that to you by the end of the day. On Tuesday at 10:00 am I called and left a message on the voice mail saying if I didn’t have a quote by 1:00 pm to not call.  Well, at least they listened that time and didn’t bother calling.

If you are building and find a good business to do your concrete, well, electrical, plumbing or whatever hang on to them. They are worth gold.

Ask around. Friends, neighbors whoever. What has been their experience? You shouldn’t just blindly trust what they think, but it makes a good reference for your search.

Good luck!