The Real Reason Why
I have come to the conclusion that the real reason why more women (and men) are trying to do-it-themselves is this: the vast majority of us get no respect. Not just respect--we get NOTHING from most contractors, builders, carpenters, and home improvement companies. Unless you have a project that is estimated to cost $75,000 or more, most businesses don't want to give you the time of day. At least that's been my experience.
A couple of years ago, when we first considered building the twin desks/bookshelves/window seat in our daughter's room, we called about five companies listed in the Yellow Pages as "home improvement contractors" or "cabinet makers." Before calling, we checked out all of them with the Better Business Bureau, and they were all members in good standing. They all listened to my project description over the phone and agreed to come give us an estimate. Four scheduled an appointment. One said he would but never called back and never returned my repeated calls. Three showed up. One gave me a verbal estimate and promised to send a written one. He never did, though he did repeat his promise on the phone a few weeks later. Another one gave us a verbal estimate and also promised a written estimate--but we never heard from him again. Mind you, this fellow lives 10 houses down the street from us! He even walked to our house to do the personal inspection. Yet, despite repeated calls to his office, we never got a response. My last message (about #5) was quite blunt: "If you don't want to do this job, please give me the courtesy of calling to tell me!" No response. Only one of the contractors gave us the courtesy of a written estimate--and her bid was about 10 times more than the other verbal ones, probably because she kept suggesting add-ons that upped the price.
The same thing happened when we renovated the kitchen last year. We needed a carpenter to custom-make a base cabinet. There were many cabinetmakers listed in the phone book, and we called several. No one was willing to come out and look at it. A neighbor recommended one of his co-workers who freelanced such work, so we contacted him. He came out, took digital photos of the layout, and spent about an hour talking with me, and promised to get me a written estimate within the week. He also said he could finish the job within a couple of weeks. As you can probably guess by now, I never heard from him again. And this guy was also someone who lived in my neighborhood!
I might have chalked this up to discrimination against females, since I was the one who met with most of the contractors. And after all, the only one who provided the estimate as promised was the female owner of a home improvement company. But my husband was there for two of the meetings, so I don't think that was the problem. I suppose it's just the nature of the business these days, at least in my area. It's not worth the professionals' time to take small or medium-sized home projects.
So what are we to do? Learn to do it ourselves. At least if we screw it up, we're not paying exhorbitant prices to someone else for the privilege. And if we change our minds halfway through the project and want to add something or delete something, we just do it. No changes to a contract or haggling with the carpenter.
Who knows, maybe this is a conspiracy between the hardware stores and the contracting business. The stores could give the contractors huge discounts for their materials, and the contractors refuse small jobs--forcing people like me to spend untold amounts of money buying this, that, and the other to do them ourselves. Then they figure that eventually, most newbies will screw up the project and have to call in a contractor to repair a HUGE mess--one that costs more than the original project ever would have. Everybody wins, except the homeowner.
Maybe I'm being paranoid. No wonder--it's another Saturday, and it's raining all day. Not much work getting done around here by anybody.
A couple of years ago, when we first considered building the twin desks/bookshelves/window seat in our daughter's room, we called about five companies listed in the Yellow Pages as "home improvement contractors" or "cabinet makers." Before calling, we checked out all of them with the Better Business Bureau, and they were all members in good standing. They all listened to my project description over the phone and agreed to come give us an estimate. Four scheduled an appointment. One said he would but never called back and never returned my repeated calls. Three showed up. One gave me a verbal estimate and promised to send a written one. He never did, though he did repeat his promise on the phone a few weeks later. Another one gave us a verbal estimate and also promised a written estimate--but we never heard from him again. Mind you, this fellow lives 10 houses down the street from us! He even walked to our house to do the personal inspection. Yet, despite repeated calls to his office, we never got a response. My last message (about #5) was quite blunt: "If you don't want to do this job, please give me the courtesy of calling to tell me!" No response. Only one of the contractors gave us the courtesy of a written estimate--and her bid was about 10 times more than the other verbal ones, probably because she kept suggesting add-ons that upped the price.
The same thing happened when we renovated the kitchen last year. We needed a carpenter to custom-make a base cabinet. There were many cabinetmakers listed in the phone book, and we called several. No one was willing to come out and look at it. A neighbor recommended one of his co-workers who freelanced such work, so we contacted him. He came out, took digital photos of the layout, and spent about an hour talking with me, and promised to get me a written estimate within the week. He also said he could finish the job within a couple of weeks. As you can probably guess by now, I never heard from him again. And this guy was also someone who lived in my neighborhood!
I might have chalked this up to discrimination against females, since I was the one who met with most of the contractors. And after all, the only one who provided the estimate as promised was the female owner of a home improvement company. But my husband was there for two of the meetings, so I don't think that was the problem. I suppose it's just the nature of the business these days, at least in my area. It's not worth the professionals' time to take small or medium-sized home projects.
So what are we to do? Learn to do it ourselves. At least if we screw it up, we're not paying exhorbitant prices to someone else for the privilege. And if we change our minds halfway through the project and want to add something or delete something, we just do it. No changes to a contract or haggling with the carpenter.
Who knows, maybe this is a conspiracy between the hardware stores and the contracting business. The stores could give the contractors huge discounts for their materials, and the contractors refuse small jobs--forcing people like me to spend untold amounts of money buying this, that, and the other to do them ourselves. Then they figure that eventually, most newbies will screw up the project and have to call in a contractor to repair a HUGE mess--one that costs more than the original project ever would have. Everybody wins, except the homeowner.
Maybe I'm being paranoid. No wonder--it's another Saturday, and it's raining all day. Not much work getting done around here by anybody.
posted by Tif at 8:07 AM
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