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Many in the contracting and construction industry are notorious for their indecent behavior. By that I mean that there are all too many that show up to a job-site late or not at all, that don’t return phone calls in a timely manner (anything more than 24 hours is totally inexcusable), or that treat their customers with a general lack of respect. Of course this trend is not exclusive to our industry, but it seems more widespread in our line of work than most others. How else do you explain the explosive growth of companies like Angie’s List?
The downside to all this is that those of us that DO show up on time, that DO return phone calls, that DO send a thank you letter to every customer, and that DO make a real attempt to treat every customer or homeowner with respect will nevertheless be lumped in with those that do not, at least intitially. In the eyes of many homeowners, contractors are guilty until proven innocent. This can make for some interesting and occasionally tense first meetings and estimates with potential clients who view us as being modern-day snake oil salesmen. But can you blame them? This business has a way of attracting some unsavory practitioners, and one can hardly open a newspaper or watch the nightly local news without seeing a story about how some poor widow homeowner got screwed by a contractor in one way or another. These are the kinds of people that give the rest of us a bad name, and that contribute in ultimately making our society one of increasing distrust and skepticism. But I digress.
The upside to all this, from the contractor-entrepreneur’s viewpoint, is that the bar of excellence has been lowered so drastically that any amount of general decency, competency, and professionalism on your part will almost certainly gain you repeat business, free construction leads, and tremendous demand for your services. In other words, if you want to become a contractor who is highly successful just know that it’s almost a GUARANTEE if you simply do what you say you will do and charge a price that is fair to both the homeowner and yourself. Of course nothing happens overnight, and this is certainly not the field for you if you are a get-rich-quick junkie or are expecting to make a lot of money without breaking a sweat, but with the right attitude and a good work ethic you’ll find that the playing field is heavily skewed in your favor. The Golden Rule applies here, and its daily application in your business will return plenty of “gold” back to you. What you put out there in the universe comes back to you ten-fold.
In contracting, as in life, those that show up to the game prepared, eager, and honest will be richly rewarded. Just be decent, and you’ll find that there’s virtually no competition.
My name is Jeff and I created this blog in 2007 to help and inspire contractors and home service providers. It’s come a long way since then.