Tree Man
Have any of your ever tried getting a contractor to actually show up and do work at your house? Here's the lament I just composed based on the futile effort to do so:
Tree Man (To the Tune of Greensleeves)
Alas tree man you do me wrong
To blow me off discourteously
For I would pay you well and long
If you'd cut down my tree
Tree man I need your saw
Tree man please take my call
Tree man o schedule me
Oh who but my missing tree man
Your dates you've broken like my will
Oh why did you say you'd be by
Now I remain in a world of shade
And my roof remains all moldy
Tree man...
Tree Man (To the Tune of Greensleeves)
Alas tree man you do me wrong
To blow me off discourteously
For I would pay you well and long
If you'd cut down my tree
Tree man I need your saw
Tree man please take my call
Tree man o schedule me
Oh who but my missing tree man
Your dates you've broken like my will
Oh why did you say you'd be by
Now I remain in a world of shade
And my roof remains all moldy
Tree man...
Sounds like a market failure.
ReplyDeleteI think this is, in fact, a great topic for an enterprising Austrian to do some empirical work on. Why is the home contractor market so weird that it can take many months just to get someone to show up to look at the job you need done? This problem is so widely reported that I suspect there must be some systematic explanation for it.
ReplyDeleteAs the air comes out of the credit bubble it seems the contractors are getting hungry.
ReplyDeleteHere on the Gulf Coast of Florida contractors are much more eager, and actually making reasonable estimates for work. The business climate is much different than it was last year.
Longer term, one must also consider that consumer preferences have changed. Consumer crap, like Big TVs and Wendy's kids' meals with "free" toy, keeps getting cheaper. Disposable Clown Bucks more freely flow to the home. Contractors have been making a good living these past few years, but perhaps these fat profits won't last as many of the college educated morons figure out that "white collar" ain't part of their future, despite the fact that the Gov'mint has been in the business of pushing edutainment. Everyone should be a contractor.