Civility and Courtesy

What is the biggest consumer complaint about contractors? "They don't respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner or not at all." For the most part, this is true. Customers may have to call 4-5 contractors before they receive a call back from 1 or 2 of them.

So what is the biggest contractor complaint about consumers? "When they respond to consumer inquiries with a written proposal, they do not hear back from them unless the contract is accepted." In our daily life, none of us, contractors or consumers tend to act this way. We usually return phone calls to people that we know. We respond back to provide feedback or at least an answer to each other.

Imagine that you call a doctor's office to make an appointment. They call you the day before your appointment to confirm. If you have to cancel your appointment, you would call and inform that you will not be coming in to see the doctor. This is just a common courtesy and a requirement of civility. Why should we act differently when it comes to contracting business?

We can all do better, as contractors and consumers, if we only returned phone calls and provided feedback (yea or nae) to written proposals that we receive. Happy Easter to all that celebrates it.

Best Regards,

Murat Aksu
A1A
April 5th, 2007