As a contractor it really depends on how much you’re paying. Yes even a cheap contractor is expensive as hell but you really do get what you pay for.

We are basically the most expensive local option available for our trade so reasonably we get customers that leave and go with cheaper contractors all the time. They almost always come back to us. We regularly get called out to fix the issues caused by other budget outfits. Just last year one of our customers had one of our competitors install 5 brand new rooftop airhandlers for their grocery store. The airhandlers never worked after being installed and that contractor sent people back out 5 times to try and fix them with no success. The customer then called us out at which point one of our techs immediately found that the other company never moved the built in smoke detectors in the airhandlers out of the shipping position. Within less than an hour the problem was resolved and all 5 airhandlers were running perfectly.

The trades are incredibly short on workers right now so the tradesmen who are good at their jobs tend to get snapped up by the highest paying companies who just so happen to also be the more expensive ones. That leaves the budget outfits with the workers who tend to be less experienced/adept.

Sure, I’ve had both good and bad experiences. The contractors putting a new heating system into my house did quite a good job for example. They even took the time to explain to me how to do some troubleshooting myself if there are any issues.

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who were supposed to put solar panels on my roof, as they decided that they didn’t like my roof when they were about a quarter of the way done (no panels installed) but still wanted me to pay like 3000€. Did not end up having to pay anything, but only after threatening with a lawyer.

Following my wife’s leg amputation in February, we had to have a BUNCH of work done before the hospital would let me bring her home.

Bonus, I had to arrange for ALL of this between getting a cancer diagnosis and having surgery.

1. Wheelchair ramp. Approved the bid on a Friday, ramp was installed the next Monday. All told, stellar work. Post install, needed one modification to keep from being fenced out of part of the property, they took care of that too.

Problem was their BILLING department. I paid 1/2 up front to get the job started, 1/2 on completion, but they failed to track the deposit and kept insisting I owed $5,900 that I did not. I kept the receipts and showed them, no, paid in full.

2. Bathroom. This was actually TWO contractors. #1 pulled the bathtub and converted it to a walk in shower. #2 widened the bathroom door for wheelchair access, shortened a wall that was blocking access, pulled the double sink and vanity to install a smaller single sink, and all that required pulling and replacing the floor.

Everything went as expected. The only problem was they said not to use the shower for 24 hours and when I went to use it, they had forgotten to turn the water back on. 😔 They did come back and fix it the next morning.

3. They wanted to saddle us with this 300 lb. behemoth wheelchair that we had no way of transporting. They said we couldn’t use my existing wheelchair because it needed a “limb support” for the amputation and there was no way to mount it on my chair.

So step 1: Obtain limb support. Nobody locally had one. Special order only. So I bought one online for $500.

THEN I had to figure out how to attach it. Under the seat on mine there was an aluminum strut in exactly the right spot, so it was a matter of finding a local metal shop, having them weld an aluminum tube onto that strut, inserting the support into the tube and bolting it into place.

The guys at the metal shop were amazing, figured out the process, proof of concept worked for the hospital and my wife now has her own modified chair in purple and gold. LOL.

Both tubes have now been painted to match their respective chairs.

I get genuine gratitude for my work from my customers every single week. I have gotten gift baskets too and people have even offered to pay more than I was charging. One of my customers recently moved to a different city and is now paying me extra for the travel time just so that they can get me to work on their home because they know I have high standards for quality.

Not all contractors are the same. Some just do it for the money - for me it’s a passion. It’s easy to stand out when the bar is so low.

Yes. We bought cabinets and a new floor for our kitchen and the guy who installed them was an independent contractor old guy who worked with his son. I always stay away from the bigger companies. This was a case where he made money, we paid money, and we both walked away happy.

We have an incredible contractor. A friend who used them to remodel two homes referred us, they modernized an apartment then remodeled a home to fit their several kids better. He’s super nice, super professional, can do almost anything or knows a guy who can. His two sons work for him and they’re also just so nice and pleasant. Everything they do is perfect or they make it perfect for free after the fact. I love our contractor and if anyone lives in the PNW who’s looking for an incredible contractor…. He’s not cheap but you get what you pay for and what he builds is built to last.

Yes. The trick is not to be a cheap ass, but also not to get hustled. So I guess you have to know something about the work being done?

Edit:

Also, I keep the extra materials. I paid for them. They are mine.

Sure, yes. And even more often impressed with the work we got done ‘under the table’ so to speak - jobs we asked for done by people who did work on the side, we have an electrician who works commercial jobs but does side gigs, he put hurricane proof lights and fans on our back porch, it turned out exactly as I wanted and did survive a hurricane. We have a plumber friend who does side work on weekends.

Also the permitted and legally sanctioned work has been good. Happy with the guys who did the roof, and with our windows, happy with the work we got done when we moved in (moving walls and plumbing around).

I love to negotiate, in general, but absolutely do not when contracting for house renovations. I pay what they ask for. Might ask if there is a more affordable solution or do some of the work to help some if time permits, and do get multiple quotes on some of it, but with a couple of exceptions we have been so happy with the work done to our house. I have a clear vision and am able to communicate it, and I guess it has all been possible to do.

Yup. Everything from the guy who built an Ikea wardrobe for me when my back was out to the guys who built our extension. Personal recommendations and not going with the cheapest quote seem to work for me.

Mostly, no.

We hired someone to paint our house almost 30 years ago. That guy was fantastic. He was the only one we spoke to who would guarantee his work. He would test the moisture content if the surface he was painting before beginning, and he would only start when it was dry enough to ensure his adhesion.

We also found an HVAC company that we could trust to work on our boiler.

We’ve had at least 8 other companies do work so incompetently, I’ve just about given up.

One problem we have is that we have an older (>100 years) house, and people don’t appear to know how to work on older homes anymore.

The other problem is just plain incompetence and lack of care.

I’ve never been one to balk at a high quote, but apart from the painter, it doesn’t appear to matter. Paying more just gets you more expensive incompetence.

We had one contractor who was really good, but he’s getting older and he’s having his son take over, and his son isn’t up to the challenge.

Edit: my mom has been satisfied with the work she’s had done, but she hounds them mercilessly. If she doesn’t like what they do, they have to redo it. We’ve had some satisfaction with that technique, but it wears you down. I’ve already got a full time job. I don’t have any slack left to manage the people I hire to work on the house.

My plumber is good. We were among his first customers, and we paid him on time. Since then, we get top notch service every time.

Like when he came in on Christmas morning to fix our kitchen tap.

I’m paranoid enough about it (and also stingy enough) that I mostly do my own work. I hired somebody to fix my HVAC once or twice because I know very little about troubleshooting it and they satisfactorily replaced the compressor capacitor, but later when the blower motor quit working (and I was able to figure out the problem on my own) I replaced that myself. Everything else, including plumbing, electrical, drywall, etc. that’s been done to my house in the last decade and a half, I’ve done myself.

I need to replace my roof soon, which (being critical to finish quickly once you start) is not a job I feel comfortable DIYing, but I can’t bring myself to try to hire anybody either. It’s a dilemma.

Every single time

The secret is to do a lot of research, read reviews from multiple sources, and shop around

Yes:

chimney guys

masonry guy

and technically a handyman and not a contractor, but the guy who replaced the pump for my boiler

Satisfied but not completely happy:

HVAC guy

roofing subcontractors

framer who redid the finished attic

plumber

Unsatisfied:

local do-it-all

HUD-approved contractor who did initial work

any and all carpenters

kitchen guy

electrician

I would like to shout-out to the window sash repair guy at the local hardware store who does do site visits but can fix vintage window sashes I remove and bring in, he’s amazing

Due to a hail storm last week, I’m getting ready to put the 4th roof on my house in the 20 years I’ve lived here. The first time I had a storm chaser do the work and honestly they did a great job. The next was done by a local contractor because my wife wanted to change some colors and I wanted to upgrade some of the materials. The local contractor did a great job, the only real difference than the storm chaser was they took a lot longer. In the end though the job they did was really good.

Three years ago we had the basement finished by a local contractor. Very happy with the work and the few minor issues that were revealed during the final inspection were quickly fixed. The only complaint was with the plumber. They spec’d the cheapest crap for the bathroom and I missed it on the bid. I’ve had to replace the toilet and am getting ready to replace the sink faucet already.

I have found the secret to picking contractors for working on a house is asking people involved in the industry. The realtor we bought the house through is the wife of MY wife’s coworkers. She had decades of experience in the housing market in our area. So we asked her and she gave us several contractors she trusted. We then asked those contractors who they liked working with and so on and so forth. So now 20 years later I have a full list of contractors to do just about any type of work on the house.

It’s been great as the house ages. When the hot water heater failed, the plumber was out here with a new unit, installed it and was out the door within 8 hours. We didn’t even miss a shower. Just a note, this is not the same plumber that did the installation during the basement finishing. I would not go back to them.