“Contractor Issues”
We were working at a house in La Canada and the next door neighbor walked over to say hello. We had seen his house being worked on but had not yet met him. We had a nice chat.
He asked for a favor. He was having a heck of a time getting contractors to his property to give quotes for work he needs done. Asking for a sheet metal contractor, a landscaper, roofer and tile setter.
Of course we would want to help the neighbor of our project and he was a really nice guy. We went right into our phones and proceeded to give him names and numbers of contractors we know and use for these trades. It felt nice to be of help to someone and not having a feeling that we needed to be compensated.
Fast forward three weeks later. We pull up to the job site and see the neighbor in his yard. He waves and begins to run over to meet us. He proceeds to tell us how only one of the contractors even called him back. The one that did seemed great and came to the house, discussed the project and said he’d give a bid within a couple days.
Two weeks later, no bid and no call backs.
“What is going on?” He asks us. The neighbor is now looking at us with a look of “don’t you have good subcontractors? Don’t you have the relationship with them to get the job done?”
Only weeks before this incident had we called all of those contractors and received bids for work we needed on our project. Hmmm, so what is the difference. Don’t these contractors want the work?
This situation revealed to us a problem we already knew about but hadn’t yet solved. Here’s the irony of the this. The neighbor is a smart, confident, wealthy and available person (he’s retired so has extra time). So he figured he’d run his own project and save money. Plus it’s fun!
Maybe not that much fun when you can’t get bids and can’t finish your project.
We thought about this problem and remembered the many homeowners we’ve come into contact with in our 25-year plus career who have had these same issues. While thinking about the solution, we realized the real problem is that the homeowner is just one project for these contractors. Not much motivation to perform when they could go get another project.
A GC or a Construction Consultant, will be able to provide these contractors numerous projects. There we have a motivation. So, the homeowner may want to hire a GC or hire a Consultant.
TRC Consulting is that. Maybe this homeowner had always dreamed of being the contractor on his own project. That’s great! But why go it alone. How about hiring an “Owner Advocate”. Someone who can provide the resources, design ideas or construction management service that only enhances his project to completion.
If you want to Save Money, Save Time and Save Frustration, you should hire TRC Consulting form the start. Yeah it will cost you money you previously thought you wouldn’t have to pay however will also save you far more in both dollars and frustrations.
Tim and Angela Ryan
