Three Contractors - Three Wildly Different Estimates and a Trump Bumper Sticker

[MineralMan]

for the same re-roofing job on the house we'll be selling. It was interesting, and demonstrates why you need to get multiple estimates.

All three contractors have solid 5-star review ratings. All have A+ BBB ratings and were recommended by HomeAdvisor.

Between the lowest and highest bid, with the exact same materials and services provided, there was about a $4000 difference for the basic re-roofing, which shocked me a little.

The third contractor to provide an estimate had the highest bid AND a Trump bumper sticker on his truck. He also left the back yard gate open after checking the roof on that side. Fortunately our dogs did not go out the doggy door into the back yard while he was here. He also could not promise me a completion date by the end of July.

I liked the first contractor, but his bid was considerably higher than the second one who came by an hour later.

The second contractor got the job. Same exact materials, same exact services, but lower basic price and lower pricing if additional work is needed, which is always possible on an older house. I got a solid promise that the job would be done in my time frame, too.

Interestingly enough, yesterday I told my wife what I thought the price range would be for the basics and worst case scenario. The contractor I'm hiring gave me an estimate that was almost exactly my guesstimate.

What does this have to do with politics? Well, the guy with the Trump bumper sticker also had the highest bid of the three. He even tried to get me to tell him what the other contractors bid on the job. "Sorry," I said. "I'll keep that to myself, actually." I didn't tell him that his bumper sticker disqualified him from the very beginning. Why do people do that crap, and then provide an overpriced bid? Thanks, Donald! Your clones are everywhere.

[Blue Owl]

1. I wish some of these tRump-loving contractors would get hired by tRump himself

Then they could find out first-hand, when they never get compensated for their time and materials, who the REAL Donald tRump is...

[MineralMan]

4. Good point!

[malaise]

12. Great point:hi:

[malaise]

13. Great point:hi:

[PatSeg]

21. Oh, wouldn't that be perfect?

We can dream.

[kirkuchiyo]

2. From reading your previous posts you don't seem like the kind of person to do this but

I'd have been mightily tempted to tell him after he did the work of giving me the quote that he wouldn't get it merely for having that sticker.

[MineralMan]

3. Yeah, well that's not my style.

I keep that stuff out of business dealings altogether. If I'm talking business, you can't get me to talk about politics, ever. However, I do form my own opinions based on things like that.

[hibbing]

7. But the Trumpsters usually can't help themselves

Have a neighbor who I just don't go over and talk to anymore. Regardless of the talk about weather, sports, or garden, politics comes up.

I would not have hired the guy either.

Peace

[48656c6c6f20]

37. Well, the disciples of TFG

Have no issue bringing their TFG values into business. Personally I would have told the guy I couldn't trust someone that supported a lying cheating scoundrel. That reflects a defect of character and I could never trust them. You might not bring it into business dealings but I guarantee you they do.

[aeromanKC]

26. That was my first thought as well

HOWEVER, upon reflection, these people are unhinged and would be apt to come back and vandalize my house/yard.

[Grins]

27. NO!!!!!

Then he would have removed that sticker and no one would know to reject him! He’s providing us a service!

[slightlv]

5. We got multiple bids on a fence around our yard.

The first guy came in at what I figured he'd come in at... and tho he didn't have a Trump sticker (that I saw) he had the Trumper attitude. Really didn't like him. AND I figured he'd come in at the high end (he did).

We went with a small company 40 miles from us who bid $1800 less for the job, and promised to get it done in our timeframe. In fact, they're working now. One speaks no English whatsoever, and seems so young. But man, are they working... and we're in the middle of a heat wave!

I have an English-to-Spanish dictionary open so I can talk to them when I take them a glass of water, or offer to let them cool off in our front room. I worked all week getting the brush cleared back to get this fence in, and it nearly killed me. But these guys are great, and as an added bonus, they're from around the block where we lived prior to us moving here! So, it kinda felt like giving work to a "local" Mom and Pop company. Besides, the guy that did the bid has five dogs he dotes over, and doted over my overgrown pony of a dog. The other guy considered my Lexie to be a bother. Yea, it didn't take long to figure who to go with!

[PatSeg]

19. Oh, they sound great

I can see why you went with them, especially the dog part.

[mnhtnbb]

6. I would have been inclined to ask the Trump guy

"I guess it won't matter to you if I decide to stiff you on your bill? Isn't that what your boy likes to do to guys like you?"

[Grokenstein]

8. Nothing says, "I'm Trustworthy" like

worshipping America's best-known con-man.

[3catwoman3]

9. Even if the Trump bumper sticker guy had come in...

…with the lowest bid, he would not have gotten the job at this house.

[Foolacious]

10. "In it for myself" versus "fair deal for everyone"

Those two attitudes align fairly well with modern conservatives versus traditional liberals. And an "in it for myself" person is more likely to come in at the higher bid, hoping that the client is uninformed about other options. That's my observation, anyway.

[East-A-Squared]

11. You should have told the MAGAt that Trump International

has some great contracts for him.

[bluecollar2]

14. Should have given the trumper the job then stiffed him...

Use the money to give the guy you would have hired to do the rework...

[Mr.Bill]

15. I woild hire the Trump guy.

He would probably understand when he got the job done and I refused to pay him.

[PatSeg]

17. Ha, ha, ha!!!

Probably not, but still it's fun to fantasize.

[PatSeg]

16. I just commented elsewhere

that business owners should leave their politics and religions at home. It is just plain bad business to advertise your politics. There are some things that we shouldn't take to work. I wonder if that contractor had any idea what a negative impact a Trump bumper sticker could have on his overall credibility.

Interesting that he was also overpriced and careless with your property, though I suppose not surprising.

[Bluesaph]

18. You should have asked him if he would expect to be paid?

Then when he looks puzzled add, “Hmmm just wondering because I see you’re a fan of the guy who stiffs his contractors!”

[GulfCoast66]

20. As a rule I don't care who a business owner voted for. However, if they use their business

To push a Republican I won’t use them or shop there.

There is a great brewery in Orlando that has solid beer. But they have a trump sign in one of their windows. Until that comes down I won’t go there. And besides, there a couple of breweries with generally better beer. They may be owned by conservatives but do not use their businesses to push a political agenda.

[winagawaukee]

22. Three Quotes

I had three quotes for my roofing job. The highest was made by someone who estimated the cost by walking around and eyeballing my roof. The other two did their estimates from the air. The mid-point person was kind of pushy and I was turned off by his demeanor (maybe it was our age difference). The low bidder was professional, gave me a detailed quote and the sales guy was my age and likely had been doing roofs his whole life.

What I liked about the low bidder was instead having a huge dumpster placed in my driveway they came with an over-sized pick up truck. Every two days the truck was filled up with debris and they hauled it away. Then they came back with the truck for another two day fill-up. They also went over the lawn, flowerbeds, driveway, and around the house with a magnetic roller to pick up stray nails.

I was very lucky with my 35 year old cedar shake roof. While the shakes were cosmetically ugly, underneath the roof was unharmed and I did not need to replace any plywood. The original shakes were installed properly. Ice shields are important too to prevent ice dams. The new roof is also cedar shakes and is supposed to last a lifetime and is transferable. The new shakes have been treated with a preservative. My homeowners association requires natural materials. Though after I did my roof, another homeowner got the association to permit dimensional roof shingles.

They also replaced two skylights which leaked. It was the skylights not the roof that were leaking.

[Hekate]

23. Glad to hear things are coming right along, MM!

[The Roux Comes First]

24. Sorry, I Can't Resist a Musical Followup to Your Last Line

"You've left it for somebody other than you to be the one to care."

One of ever-so-many Jackson Browne lyrics I am delighted to have tattooed on my gray matter!

[Nittersing]

25. Reminded me of this homeowner in Atlanta

[NoSheep]

32. the hubris

[Texasgal]

28. Cool story, bro

[nuxvomica]

29. I'm wary of doing business with Trumpsters

People who tolerate liars are not likely to be honest themselves. Hopefully that guy only gets business from other Trumpsters so no decent people are harmed.

[Bo Zarts]

30. How 'bout a $2200 screen door?

That was the estimate to me from a local contractor in my mountain community, who thinks he has a corner on the market (and, yes, he is a Trumper). But when I mentioned it to a Hispanic guy who does a lot of work for me (trail building and maintenance, mulch, tree trimming, etc), he said that he would build me a custom screen door, stain it, and install it for $350.

The $350 screen door is installed and beautiful. I never even acknowledged the ridiculous estimate from the other guy.

[NoSheep]

31. Nothing says "selfish, greedy capitalist pig" better than a Trump bumper sticker.

[davsand]

33. I don't do business with anybody or any business advertising their politics or religion.

It offends me. You can vote how you choose or worship how you want, but don't try and make a profit off of it.

I gotta say, however, that I really don't care for many of the builders and contractors I run across here locally. I've been an appraiser for 20 years and a tax assessor for most of that time. I'1ve seen a thing or two in that time, and I've met several over the years. Trust me when I say they are not all created equal. I am not the person to lie to about this stuff.

My most recent offender was a cement contractor trying to tell me a 100 sq ft of cement (a replacement sidewalk from my deck to my driveway) was gonna add $10,000 in market value to my property. Um, no. NO it will not. When I explained to hm nicely that in my experience that was an overly optimistic statement he told me I just didn't understand how good his work is.



Home Advisor had recommended him, and after I hung up on him, I called them and tore them a new asshole for recommending such a terrible liar. I have a friend who is a disabled retired cement finisher and I called him as soon as I got done chewing on Home Adviser. (I should have called Andy first, but I really didn't want to bother him right now because I know his wife is ill and I just hated to interrupt him.) Andy had a lot of information about that guy and his reputation is in tatters right now--way before I ever spoke to him. The concrete companies won't delver to one of his jobs unless he pays up front because he's burned so many people. Andy gave me the names of a couple guys that I called and they both were absolutely terrific. I hired one of them and the work was beautifully done two weeks later with no fuss and at a fair price.

My point in saying this is do not to take Home Advisor or any of the referral services as the gospel on this stuff. If somethings sounds wrong to you it should be a red flag as far as contractors go.


Laura

[Butterflylady]

34. The bumper sticker just shows the stupidity of the MAGAs.

A business owner should never ever advertise their politics no matter where they live. Super, super stupid.

[Lettuce Be]

35. We just had our roof done by a crew that worked less than 3 hours a day

They'd work for an hour-and-a-half then "take a break," union you know, wink wink. WTF? Then they'd say it was too hot so they needed to stop (it was 68°); next it sprinkled one day (literally the lightest sprinkling I'd ever seen) and they took off running. "Well come back when it's not raining."

It was insane. They did eventually finish and the work looks good but OMG how on earth do they make money?

[Zeitghost]

36. I would guess he didn't really want/need the work

Many contractors (and other companies) will overbid a deal that they really don't want. We do it all the time at work. If we have a tight schedule and would have to move things around to make it work or the job looks like it might end up being worse than expected or the client is a pain, we jack the price sky high instead of declining the work. That way we let them say no and if they do say yes, the additional profit makes up for whatever it was we didn't really want to deal with.

Sometimes it's better to price some of your customers out of your market. If you raise prices 20% and only lose 10% of your business, you are making more for less work. I made the mistake of mentioning this to my wife's manicurist when I was told that a cancelation might not be able to be re-booked for weeks due to a nearly 100% booked up schedule. I told her if she was that popular it was the market's way of saying she needed to raise prices, so she did.

[CaptainTruth]

38. Good for you for confirming exact same materials & services...

...same fasteners, applied the same way, proper starter row (if needed) etc etc etc.

A lot of details can vary on different estimates & as a contractor I know that 99% of homeowners don't know what details to look for, don't understand why they're important, & don't understand the consequences of hiring a low bidder who cuts corners on all the details. In my years of doing this (starting as a young kid helping my dad) I've seen the results of cutting corners because many times we (& now I) get called to fix it & do it right. I've seen some really scary & downright dangerous things over the years, & it's sad how some unscrupulous contractors try to compete on price only & don't care about doing things right so they will last, & homeowners don't know any different.

[Jon King]

39. Good job, boycott anyone who supports Trump....

Shun them, do not go into their business, don't use their services. We need to start treating Trumpers as the enemies of America that they truly are.

[Grins]

40. On jobs like this I ask...

1.
Employees have health insurance?
2.
Employees have liability insurance?
3.
Employees have long term disability income insurance?

If they do I may go with them vs. the low bidder.

[Historic NY]

41. I went through this in March with at ancient house...

I figured out a max bid, but decided to call for estimates. The first gave all kinds of gobble gook, warranty, gutters, rafters (wait what) the house has solid mahogany 6X4 rafters. That ended the discussion, they are a farm it out max profit company. They used the same materials as the final bidder would, that bidder put in some solar powered venting. The price was 9 thousand cheaper. They were there 3 days and gone. The owner worked with his crew, he did a complete inspection and found none of the high bidders stuff bad. He knew we were non-profit.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

42. You need multiple estimates