Online Construction Referral Services Creates Restoration Problems
I needed to find a heating and air-conditioning
contractor for the house I was remodeling and decided to use a popular
online construction referral service. At the time, I was familiar with
the process, because I used their services before, but this time, I was
about to learn a lesson that I would never forget.
The online construction referral service recommended four contractors to
me and each one of them called to set up an appointment and I was happy
to find four contractors that wanted my business. Being a contractor
myself, I understand the construction referral process, but this was
coming from a website where these heating and air conditioning
contractors purchased their sales leads.
The first contractor gave me a price that was about 30% higher than I
was expecting. The next contractor gave me a price of about 50% higher
than I was expecting to pay. Understand something here, as a restoration
contractor, I had a pretty good idea of what it should cost to install a
new heating and air-conditioning unit.
The third and fourth contractors weren't even in the ballpark and I
explained this to them. One guy told me that there was no way that he
could lower his price and the fourth guy, didn't even want to discuss
it. I was just trying to get to the bottom of their pricing and didn't
want to get gouged during a remodeling project.
I was in a hurry and decided to go with the first contractor, even
though I knew that I was going to be paying a little bit more to get the
job done. After it was all said and done, the lesson that I learned from
the project, was never to use one of these companies again.
Even though the contractor did an excellent job and I'm not kidding
around, this company did a good job, except for the cheap thermostat
that they installed, but that's something that I could replace later if
I chose to.
The biggest problem I had with these companies, was their outrageous
pricing and I'm here to warn anyone who uses these companies to find
some other contractors, just to check their pricing and make sure that
these other contractors are giving them a good price.
I was on a time constraint and needed to hire someone immediately.
Planning ahead can give you the luxury of time needed to find the right
contractors.