Loyalty versus price

I have been having a lot of discussions with my contractor friends lately about the status of the remodeling market. What I have been experiencing and continually hearing about is that even contractors with great relationships with longstanding clients are being "bid against" by two or more other contractors. It is hard to speculate why, but I have a few opinions I would like to offer up to the consumers.

If you are bidding contractors against one another you are certainly only going to eliminate the opportunity to work with the best in the business. The reason that the best contractors have been in the business for a long time is that they understand the costs and time necessary to do a job properly. Because the best contractors have strong ethics, they will not cut corners or provide mediocre product on a job. If you combine this with the fact that the operating costs of a business rarely decrease significantly, then it is irrational to think that this is the time to seek a bargain in the contracting world. Despite what you are hearing from the news and print media, experienced contracting professionals are not willing to reduce their price to match the cost of an inexperienced low quality contractor.

Another observation I can tell you I see all the time is that a low quality job does NOT show it's ugly head until months and even years after the job is done. Once the check is written to the low priced guy, the odds are he won't even be in business when you need your repair done. Remember the guy who you trusted and USED to use for your work? People have a memory of disloyalty and when the economic conditions return, as they already are beginning to do, you may be surprised that your best asset disappeared. So when your floor squeaks, your roof leaks, and your toilet overflows you may find your best guy doesn't have the time for you because his loyalty isn't there any more.

Finally I would like to point out as a member of the Oregon Remodelers Association that I do not know of a single contractor who strikes me as REALLY WEALTHY regarding money and material items. They may live a comfortable existence, but our trades are filled with simply great honest people who would rather work for a living and deliver quality service to good people. Wealth is measured in so many ways beyond money and the wealth of a quality contractor is his client relationships. So please consider that bargain hunting only hurts consumers, not quality experienced contractors with integrity.