Hiring the right contractor? Think again!

(Photo: Eugene Levy in Multiplicity 1996)

Alright! Alright! Alright! I'm excited to be writing to everyone again. This time the topic is Hiring the right contractor." So what does that mean? It's no secret that when you hire a "Home Builder" that you are trusting that they have good relationships with their sub contractor base and that "base" will do a good job for the agreed upon price. But what happens when the home builder is forced into a new relationship because of availability issues or distance issues? I am going to go over an experience I recently had a HVAC contractor, why I hired them and why I fired them and how I was able to put trust in a a brand new relationship and how they wowed me.

Ok, so I am just like every other contractor. Just like Mr. Wonderful (Kevin O'leary) from NBC's "Shark Tank" I want to make MONEY. One of the best ways to make money in construction is in the margin. If I can build for less, I make more margin If I build more, that eats away profit and margin. So, with that said, my case study is in an HVAC company that promised me to be on my project in the middle of October. I said "wonderful let's meet then."

On the day we were to meet up I had planned a combined meeting with my Plumber. This plumber was to coordinate with the HVAC contractor regarding placement of equipment in the mechanical room. RED FLAG numero uno....My contractor didn't show. Instead he sent his Dad and brother. I thought to myself," okay...no big deal...They are related and will relay the information from today to the original spokesman.." RED FLAG Number dos! While we are in the meeting with the plumber, this particular HVAC professional told me I needed to upgrade my system, move this wall... cut through this wall and "Oh by the way...I know you wanted us to start today but we can't. We need to catch up on some other jobs. After that we are all yours."

This created an issue. The HVAC is critical path. Without the HVAC completed, the Electrician can't start. Well they can it just creates a little scheduling mess and they would need to come back. So, I'm a little bit of a push over and I agreed to the two-week delay and instead focused on exterior items, some non-critical path items until finally the 2 weeks were up and boy was I excited to see them again....NOT! (remember that from the 90's?) On the day of them showing back up, I called the original spokesman for the company and guess what he said. Yup...RED FLAG #3.Oh, they can't show up. One of the guys has COVID and everyone else is in quarantine. Heres how that conversation went:

Ben-"Ok! well how long until you're back on site?"

HVAC- "One more week" but don't worry we can be building some things in our shop."

Ben.."Umm..ok! I hope they feel better soon." When will they be back? "

HVAC- "in a week."

(....Sponge Bob Square pants narrator.... "One week Later...!")

Ben, "Hey! Hows everyone doing? Are we ready to get back to work on my job?

HVAC- "I don't know what their plan is... you might want to talk to them... Here is their numbers-

Here is some screen shots of the back and forth.

Turns out long story made shorter...they were deer hunting! They could have just told me that. Honesty is the best policy right? So during my original meeting with my plumber and HVAC representative, actually had a bad feeling about this group of HVAC contractors. He gave me their number just in case I need a new HVAC contractor. Funny thing is, the last straw for me was I finally did my due diligence and asked for 2 references from the last 2 jobs. They refused to give me them and went off on a tangent that "They have been in business for the last 75 years and have never been asked to give a reference! " I fired those contractors that day and the new HVAC contractor gave me an estimate the following day and got started the following day.

So, the moral of the story is this: Do the due diligence upfront. Trust your gut. Trust other subs that have been in the business longer than yourself and don't go with the least expensive guy unless he has has the references to back up his resume.