Construction and Perversion

[selfishgene]

I need some fairly urgent house repairs done. I have been waiting this week for 4 separate builders to return my call and give a quote. How bad can the economy be, if not one of them bothers to do so? I suspect the stimulus is working. Construction workers would rather have a long term overpaid government contract than do a quick market priced job

Comments

[polyanarch]

Tell them you will be paying in cash.

That will make a huge difference. Unless you can pay in cash right now, your money isn't any good to them.

And no, the stimulus hasn't trickled down to the construction companies right now/yet. Most of us are still out of work. The contractors are loathe to take on new employees until they know they can keep them.

[selfishgene]

Thanks for the advice.
Why is cash particularly relevant now? If you are unemployed most of the year your tax will be low or zero anyway, so you won't need to hide it from the IRS.
If I do pay cash, how much should I pay up front?

[polyanarch]

It doesn't even have to be green cash, it just needs to be liquid. A certified check is good. It's not so much a matter of hiding it from the taxman (although that doesn't hurt with some smaller shops).

Credit isn't worth anything right now. Even if they get the money, it's a month or so down the road -maybe more.

Never, ever, pay a contractor up front for anything but his materials. this is usually around 50% or less. If you can get away with it don't pay anything but the minimum they demand.

Hostile fire

[hodja]

Hostile fire tends to speed things up, sometimes by orders of magnitude. Imagine yourself in those people's place. Wouldn't you work much faster knowing that while you are working you might get killed?

[pasquin]

Paid by the hour and union wages, baby. That shovel doesn't lean by itself, you know.

[boffo]

This reminds me of how I, as a responsible person, decided to continue renting until I could afford to buy a house. Now I not only have to pay the mortgages of the irresponsible people who bought houses they couldn't afford, but this is in an effort to artificially increase home prices, making it even harder for me to buy one.

[waitingforoct]

I don't think that's it. Builders are just notoriously flakey. Just keep calling until you find someone who can come over, like, today. You'll find someone.
People here are so desperate for work - I have a flyer in my mailbox every day for people soliciting any kind of work - handyman, landscaping, etc.